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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+by Frederich Schiller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+
+Author: Frederich Schiller
+
+Release Date: October 25, 2006 [EBook #6780]
+Last Updated: August 31, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REVOLT OF NETHERLANDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+                THE WORKS
+
+                  OF
+
+              FREDERICK SCHILLER
+
+
+
+            Translated from the German
+
+
+
+                Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE EDITION.
+
+
+
+The present is the best collected edition of the important works of
+Schiller which is accessible to readers in the English language.
+Detached poems or dramas have been translated at various times since
+the first publication of the original works; and in several instances
+these versions have been incorporated into this collection. Schiller
+was not less efficiently qualified by nature for an historian than for
+a dramatist. He was formed to excel in all departments of literature,
+and the admirable lucidity of style and soundness and impartiality of
+judgment displayed in his historical writings will not easily be
+surpassed, and will always recommend them as popular expositions of the
+periods of which they treat.
+
+Since the publication of the first English edition many corrections and
+improvements have been made, with a view to rendering it as acceptable
+as possible to English readers; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages
+of a translation, the publishers feel sure that Schiller will be
+heartily acceptable to English readers, and that the influence of his
+writings will continue to increase.
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS was translated by Lieut.
+E. B. Eastwick, and originally published abroad for students’ use. But
+this translation was too strictly literal for general readers. It has
+been carefully revised, and some portions have been entirely rewritten
+by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, who also has so ably translated the
+HISTORY OF THE THIRTY YEARS WAR.
+
+THE CAMP OF WALLENSTEIN was translated by Mr. James Churchill, and first
+appeared in “Frazer’s Magazine.” It is an exceedingly happy version of
+what has always been deemed the most untranslatable of Schiller’s works.
+
+THE PICCOLOMINI and DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN are the admirable version of
+S. T. Coleridge, completed by the addition of all those passages which
+he has omitted, and by a restoration of Schiller’s own arrangement of
+the acts and scenes. It is said, in defence of the variations which
+exist between the German original and the version given by Coleridge,
+that he translated from a prompter’s copy in manuscript, before the
+drama had been printed, and that Schiller himself subsequently altered
+it, by omitting some passages, adding others, and even engrafting
+several of Coleridge’s adaptations.
+
+WILHELM TELL is translated by Theodore Martin, Esq., whose well-known
+position as a writer, and whose special acquaintance with German
+literature make any recommendation superfluous.
+
+DON CARLOS is translated by R. D. Boylan, Esq., and, in the opinion of
+competent judges, the version is eminently successful. Mr. Theodore
+Martin kindly gave some assistance, and, it is but justice to state,
+has enhanced the value of the work by his judicious suggestions.
+
+The translation of MARY STUART is that by the late Joseph Mellish,
+who appears to have been on terms of intimate friendship with Schiller.
+His version was made from the prompter’s copy, before the play was
+published, and, like Coleridge’s Wallenstein, contains many passages not
+found in the printed edition. These are distinguished by brackets. On
+the other hand, Mr. Mellish omitted many passages which now form part of
+the printed drama, all of which are now added. The translation, as a
+whole, stands out from similar works of the time (1800) in almost as
+marked a degree as Coleridge’s Wallenstein, and some passages exhibit
+powers of a high order; a few, however, especially in the earlier
+scenes, seemed capable of improvement, and these have been revised,
+but, in deference to the translator, with a sparing hand.
+
+THE MAID OF ORLEANS is contributed by Miss Anna Swanwick, whose
+translation of Faust has since become well known. It has been.
+carefully revised, and is now, for the first time, published complete.
+
+THE BRIDE OF MESSINA, which has been regarded as the poetical
+masterpiece of Schiller, and, perhaps of all his works, presents the
+greatest difficulties to the translator, is rendered by A. Lodge, Esq.,
+M. A. This version, on its first publication in England, a few years
+ago, was received with deserved eulogy by distinguished critics. To the
+present edition has been prefixed Schiller’s Essay on the Use of the
+Chorus in Tragedy, in which the author’s favorite theory of the “Ideal
+of Art” is enforced with great ingenuity and eloquence.
+
+
+
+                  THE HISTORY
+
+                    OF THE
+
+            REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+AUTHOR’S PREFACE
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+BOOK I.----Earlier History of The Netherlands up to the Sixteenth Century
+
+BOOK II.---Cardinal Granvella
+
+BOOK III.--Conspiracy of the Nobles
+
+BOOK IV.---The Iconoclasts
+   Trial and Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn
+   Siege of Antwerp by the Prince of Parma, in the Years 1584 and 1585
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE.
+
+Many years ago, when I read the History of the Belgian Revolution in
+Watson’s excellent work, I was seized with an enthusiasm which political
+events but rarely excite. On further reflection I felt that this
+enthusiastic feeling had arisen less from the book itself than from the
+ardent workings of my own imagination, which had imparted to the
+recorded materials the particular form that so fascinated me. These
+imaginations, therefore, I felt a wish to fix, to multiply, and to
+strengthen; these exalted sentiments I was anxious to extend by
+communicating them to others. This was my principal motive for
+commencing the present history, my only vocation to write it. The
+execution of this design carried me farther than in the beginning I had
+expected. A closer acquaintance with my materials enabled me to
+discover defects previously unnoticed, long waste tracts to be filled
+up, apparent contradictions to be reconciled, and isolated facts to be
+brought into connection with the rest of the subject. Not so much with
+the view of enriching my history with new facts as of seeking a key to
+old ones, I betook myself to the original sources, and thus what was
+originally intended to be only a general outline expanded under my hands
+into an elaborate history. The first part, which concludes with the
+Duchess of Parma’s departure from the Netherlands, must be looked upon
+only as the introduction to the history of the Revolution itself, which
+did not come to an open outbreak till the government of her successor.
+I have bestowed the more care and attention upon this introductory
+period the more the generality of writers who had previously treated of
+it seemed to me deficient in these very qualities. Moreover, it is in
+my opinion the more important as being the root and source of all the
+subsequent events. If, then, the first volume should appear to any as
+barren in important incident, dwelling prolixly on trifles, or, rather,
+should seem at first sight profuse of reflections, and in general
+tediously minute, it must be remembered that it was precisely out of
+small beginnings that the Revolution was gradually developed; and that
+all the great results which follow sprang out of a countless number of
+trifling and little circumstances.
+
+A nation like the one before us invariably takes its first steps with
+doubts and uncertainty, to move afterwards only the more rapidly for its
+previous hesitation. I proposed, therefore, to follow the same method
+in describing this rebellion. The longer the reader delays on the
+introduction the more familiar he becomes with the actors in this
+history, and the scene in which they took a part, so much the more
+rapidly and unerringly shall I be able to lead him through the
+subsequent periods, where the accumulation of materials will forbid
+a slowness of step or minuteness of attention.
+
+As for the authorities of our history there is not so much cause to
+complain of their paucity as of their extreme abundance, since it is
+indispensable to read them all to obtain that clear view of the whole
+subject to which the perusal of a part, however large, is always
+prejudicial. From the unequal, partial, and often contradictory
+narratives of the same occurrences it is often extremely difficult to
+seize the truth, which in all is alike partly concealed and to be found
+complete in none. In this first volume, besides de Thou, Strada, Reyd,
+Grotius, Meteren, Burgundius, Meursius, Bentivoglio, and some moderns,
+the Memoirs of Counsellor Hopper, the life and correspondence of his
+friend Viglius, the records of the trials of the Counts of Hoorne and
+Egmont, the defence of the Prince of Orange, and some few others have
+been my guides. I must here acknowledge my obligations to a work
+compiled with much industry and critical acumen, and written with
+singular truthfulness and impartiality. I allude to the general history
+of the United Netherlands which was published in Holland during the
+present century. Besides many original documents which I could not
+otherwise have had access to, it has abstracted all that is valuable in
+the excellent works of Bos, Hooft, Brandt, Le Clerc, which either were
+impossible for me to procure or were not available to my use, as being
+written in Dutch, which I do not understand. An otherwise ordinary
+writer, Richard Dinoth, has also been of service to me by the many
+extracts he gives from the pamphlets of the day, which have been long
+lost. I have in vain endeavored to procure the correspondence of
+Cardinal Granvella, which also would no doubt have thrown much light
+upon the history of these times. The lately published work on the
+Spanish Inquisition by my excellent countryman, Professor Spittler of
+Gottingen, reached me too late for its sagacious and important contents
+to be available for my purpose.
+
+The more I am convinced of the importance of the French history, the
+more I lament that it was not in my power to study, as I could have
+wished, its copious annals in the original sources and contemporary
+documents, and to reproduce it abstracted of the form in which it was
+transmitted to me by the more intelligent of my predecessors, and
+thereby emancipate myself from the influence which every talented author
+exercises more or less upon his readers. But to effect this the work of
+a few years must have become the labor of a life. My aim in making this
+attempt will be more than attained if it should convince a portion of
+the reading public of the possibility of writing a history with historic
+truth without making a trial of patience to the reader; and if it should
+extort from another portion the confession that history can borrow from
+a cognate art without thereby, of necessity, becoming a romance.
+
+WEIMAR, Michaelmas Fair, 1788.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+Of those important political events which make the sixteenth century to
+take rank among the brightest of the world’s epochs, the foundation of
+the freedom of the Netherlands appears to me one of the most remarkable.
+If the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious lust of power
+claim our admiration, how much more so should an event in which
+oppressed humanity struggled for its noblest rights, where with the good
+cause unwonted powers were united, and the resources of resolute despair
+triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts of tyranny.
+
+Great and encouraging is the reflection that there is a resource left us
+against the arrogant usurpations of despotic power; that its
+best-contrived plans against the liberty of mankind may be frustrated;
+that resolute opposition can weaken even the outstretched arm of tyranny;
+and that heroic perseverance can eventually exhaust its fearful
+resources. Never did this truth affect me so sensibly as in tracing the
+history of that memorable rebellion which forever severed the United
+Netherlands from the Spanish Crown. Therefore I thought it not unworth
+the while to attempt to exhibit to the world this grand memorial of
+social union, in the hope that it may awaken in the breast of my reader a
+spirit-stirring consciousness of his own powers, and give a new and
+irrefragible example of what in a good cause men may both dare and
+venture, and what by union they may accomplish. It is not the
+extraordinary or heroic features of this event that induce me to describe
+it. The annals of the world record perhaps many similar enterprises,
+which may have been even bolder in the conception and more brilliant in
+the execution. Some states have fallen after a nobler struggle; others
+have risen with more exalted strides. Nor are we here to look for eminent
+heroes, colossal talents, or those marvellous exploits which the history
+of past times presents in such rich abundance. Those times are gone; such
+men are no more. In the soft lap of refinement we have suffered the
+energetic powers to become enervate which those ages called into action
+and rendered indispensable. With admiring awe we wonder at these gigantic
+images of the past as a feeble old man gazes on the athletic sports of
+youth.
+
+Not so, however, in the history before us. The people here presented to
+our notice were the most peaceful in our quarter of the globe, and less
+capable than their neighbors of that heroic spirit which stamps a lofty
+character even on the most insignificant actions. The pressure of
+circumstances with its peculiar influence surprised them and forced a
+transitory greatness upon them, which they never could have possessed
+and perhaps will never possess again. It is, indeed, exactly this want
+of heroic grandeur which renders this event peculiarly instructive; and
+while others aim at showing the superiority of genius over chance, I
+shall here paint a scene where necessity creates genius and accident
+makes heroes.
+
+If in any case it be allowable to recognize the intervention of
+Providence in human affairs it is certainly so in the present history,
+its course appears so contradictory to reason and experience. Philip
+II., the most powerful sovereign of his line--whose dreaded supremacy
+menaced the independence of Europe--whose treasures surpassed the
+collective wealth of all the monarchs of Christendom besides--whose
+ambitious projects were backed by numerous and well-disciplined armies
+--whose troops, hardened by long and bloody wars, and confident in past
+victories and in the irresistible prowess of this nation, were eager for
+any enterprise that promised glory and spoil, and ready to second with
+prompt obedience the daring genius of their leaders--this dreaded
+potentate here appears before us obstinately pursuing one favorite
+project, devoting to it the untiring efforts of a long reign, and
+bringing all these terrible resources to bear upon it; but forced, in
+the evening of his reign, to abandon it--here we see the mighty Philip
+II. engaging in combat with a few weak and powerless adversaries, and
+retiring from it at last with disgrace.
+
+And with what adversaries? Here, a peaceful tribe of fishermen and
+shepherds, in an almost-forgotten corner of Europe, which with
+difficulty they had rescued from the ocean; the sea their profession,
+and at once their wealth and their plague; poverty with freedom their
+highest blessing, their glory, their virtue. There, a harmless, moral,
+commercial people, revelling in the abundant fruits of thriving
+industry, and jealous of the maintenance of laws which had proved their
+benefactors. In the happy leisure of affluence they forsake the narrow
+circle of immediate wants and learn to thirst after higher and nobler
+gratifications. The new views of truth, whose benignant dawn now broke
+over Europe, cast a fertilizing beam on this favored clime, and the free
+burgher admitted with joy the light which oppressed and miserable slaves
+shut out. A spirit of independence, which is the ordinary companion of
+prosperity and freedom, lured this people on to examine the authority of
+antiquated opinions and to break an ignominious chain. But the stern
+rod of despotism was held suspended over them; arbitrary power
+threatened to tear away the foundation of their happiness; the guardian
+of their laws became their tyrant. Simple in their statecraft no less
+than in their manners, they dared to appeal to ancient treaties and to
+remind the lord of both Indies of the rights of nature. A name decides
+the whole issue of things. In Madrid that was called rebellion which in
+Brussels was simply styled a lawful remonstrance. The complaints of
+Brabant required a prudent mediator; Philip II. sent an executioner.
+The signal for war was given. An unparalleled tyranny assailed both
+property and life. The despairing citizens, to whom the choice of
+deaths was all that was left, chose the nobler one on the battle-field.
+A wealthy and luxurious nation loves peace, but becomes warlike as soon
+as it becomes poor. Then it ceases to tremble for a life which is
+deprived of everything that had made it desirable. In an instant the
+contagion of rebellion seizes at once the most distant provinces; trade
+and commerce are at a standstill, the ships disappear from the harbors,
+the artisan abandons his workshop, the rustic his uncultivated fields.
+Thousands fled to distant lands, a thousand victims fell on the bloody
+field, and fresh thousands pressed on. Divine, indeed, must that
+doctrine be for which men could die so joyfully. All that was wanting
+was the last finishing hand, the enlightened, enterprising spirit, to
+seize on this great political crisis and to mould the offspring of
+chance into the ripe creation of wisdom. William the Silent, like a
+second Brutus, devoted himself to the great cause of liberty. Superior
+to all selfishness, he resigned honorable offices which entailed on him
+obectionable duties, and, magnanimously divesting himself of all his
+princely dignities, he descended to a state of voluntary poverty, and
+became but a citizen of the world. The cause of justice was staked upon
+the hazardous game of battle; but the newly-raised levies of mercenaries
+and peaceful husbandmen were unable to withstand the terrible onset of
+an experienced force. Twice did the brave William lead his dispirited
+troops against the tyrant. Twice was he abandoned by them, but not by
+his courage.
+
+Philip II. sent as many reinforcements as the dreadful importunity of
+his viceroy demanded. Fugitives, whom their country rejected, sought a
+new home on the ocean, and turned to the ships of their enemy to satisfy
+the cravings both of vengeance and of want. Naval heroes were now
+formed out of corsairs, and a marine collected out of piratical vessels;
+out of morasses arose a republic. Seven provinces threw off the yoke at
+the same time, to form a new, youthful state, powerful by its waters and
+its union and despair. A solemn decree of the whole nation deposed the
+tyrant, and the Spanish name was erased from all its laws.
+
+For such acts no forgiveness remained; the republic became formidable
+only because it was impossible for her to retrace her steps. But
+factions distracted her within; without, her terrible element, the sea
+itself, leaguing with her oppressors, threatened her very infancy with a
+premature grave. She felt herself succumb to the superior force of the
+enemy, and cast herself a suppliant before the most powerful thrones of
+Europe, begging them to accept a dominion which she herself could no
+longer protect. At last, but with difficulty--so despised at first was
+this state that even the rapacity of foreign monarchs spurned her
+opening bloom--a stranger deigned to accept their importunate offer of a
+dangerous crown. New hopes began to revive her sinking courage; but in
+this new father of his country destiny gave her a traitor, and in the
+critical emergency, when the foe was in full force before her very
+gates, Charles of Anjou invaded the liberties which he had been called
+to protect. In the midst of the tempest, too, the assassin’s hand tore
+the steersman from the helm, and with William of Orange the career of
+the infant republic was seemingly at an end, and all her guardian angels
+fled. But the ship continued to scud along before the storm, and the
+swelling canvas carried her safe without the pilot’s help.
+
+Philip II. missed the fruits of a deed which cost him his royal honor,
+and perhaps, also, his self-respect. Liberty struggled on still with
+despotism in obstinate and dubious contest; sanguinary battles were
+fought; a brilliant array of heroes succeeded each other on the field of
+glory, and Flanders and Brabant were the schools which educated generals
+for the coming century. A long, devastating war laid waste the open
+country; victor and vanquished alike waded through blood; while the
+rising republic of the waters gave a welcome to fugitive industry, and
+out of the ruins of despotism erected the noble edifice of its own
+greatness. For forty years lasted the war whose happy termination was
+not to bless the dying eye of Philip; which destroyed one paradise in
+Europe to form a new one out of its shattered fragments; which destroyed
+the choicest flower of military youth, and while it enriched more than a
+quarter of the globe impoverished the possessor of the golden Peru.
+This monarch, who could expend nine hundred tons of gold without
+oppressing his subjects, and by tyrannical measures extorted far more,
+heaped, moreover, on his exhausted people a debt of one hundred and
+forty millions of ducats. An implacable hatred of liberty swallowed up
+all these treasures, and consumed on the fruitless task the labor of a
+royal life. But the Reformation throve amidst the devastations of the
+sword, and over the blood of her citizens the banner of the new republic
+floated victorious.
+
+This improbable turn of affairs seems to border on a miracle; many
+circumstances, however, combined to break the power of Philip, and to
+favor the progress of the infant state. Had the whole weight of his
+power fallen on the United Provinces there had been no hope for their
+religion or their liberty. His own ambition, by tempting him to divide
+his strength, came to the aid of their weakness. The expensive policy
+of maintaining traitors in every cabinet of Europe; the support of the
+League in France; the revolt of the Moors in Granada; the conquest of
+Portugal, and the magnificent fabric of the Escurial, drained at last
+his apparently inexhaustible treasury, and prevented his acting in the
+field with spirit and energy. The German and Italian troops, whom the
+hope of gain alone allured to his banner, mutinied when he could no
+longer pay them, and faithlessly abandoned their leaders in the decisive
+moment of action. These terrible instruments of oppression now turned
+their dangerous power against their employer, and wreaked their
+vindictive rage on the provinces which remained faithful to him.
+The unfortunate armament against England, on which, like a desperate
+gamester, he had staked the whole strength of his kingdom, completed his
+ruin; with the armada sank the wealth of the two Indies, and the flower
+of Spanish chivalry.
+
+But in the very same proportion that the Spanish power declined the
+republic rose in fresh vigor. The ravages which the fanaticism of the
+new religion, the tyranny of the Inquisition, the furious rapacity of
+the soldiery, and the miseries of a long war unbroken by any interval of
+peace, made in the provinces of Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, at once
+the arsenals and the magazines of this expensive contest, naturally
+rendered it every year more difficult to support and recruit the royal
+armies. The Catholic Netherlands had already lost a million of
+citizens, and the trodden fields maintained their husbandmen no longer.
+Spain itself had but few more men to spare. That country, surprised by
+a sudden affluence which brought idleness with it, had lost much of its
+population, and could not long support the continual drafts of men which
+were required both for the New World and the Netherlands. Of these
+conscripts few ever saw their country again; and these few having left
+it as youths returned to it infirm and old. Gold, which had become more
+common, made soldiers proportionately dearer; the growing charm of
+effeminacy enhanced the price of the opposite virtues. Wholly different
+was the posture of affairs with the rebels. The thousands whom the
+cruelty of the viceroy expelled from the southern Netherlands, the
+Huguenots whom the wars of persecution drove from France, as well as
+every one whom constraint of conscience exiled from the other parts of
+Europe, all alike flocked to unite themselves with the Belgian
+insurgents. The whole Christian world was their recruiting ground.
+The fanaticism both of the persecutor and the persecuted worked in their
+behalf. The enthusiasm of a doctrine newly embraced, revenge, want, and
+hopeless misery drew to their standard adventurers from every part of
+Europe. All whom the new doctrine had won, all who had suffered, or had
+still cause of fear from despotism, linked their own fortunes with those
+of the new republic. Every injury inflicted by a tyrant gave a right of
+citizenship in Holland. Men pressed towards a country where liberty
+raised her spirit-stirring banner, where respect and security were
+insured to a fugitive religion, and even revenge on the oppressor. If
+we consider the conflux in the present day of people to Holland, seeking
+by their entrance upon her territory to be reinvested in their rights as
+men, what must it have been at a time when the rest of Europe groaned
+under a heavy bondage, when Amsterdam was nearly the only free port for
+all opinions? Many hundred families sought a refuge for their wealth in
+a land which the ocean and domestic concord powerfully combined to
+protect. The republican army maintained its full complement without the
+plough being stripped of hands to work it. Amid the clash of arms trade
+and industry flourished, and the peaceful citizen enjoyed in
+anticipation the fruits of liberty which foreign blood was to purchase
+for them. At the very time when the republic of Holland was struggling
+for existence she extended her dominions beyond the ocean, and was
+quietly occupied in erecting her East Indian Empire.
+
+Moreover, Spain maintained this expensive war with dead, unfructifying
+gold, that never returned into the hand which gave it away, while it
+raised to her the price of every necessary. The treasuries of the
+republic were industry and commerce. Time lessened the one whilst it
+multiplied the other, and exactly in the same proportion that the
+resources of the Spanish government became exhausted by the long
+continuance of the war the republic began to reap a richer harvest. Its
+field was sown sparingly with the choice seed which bore fruit, though
+late, yet a hundredfold; but the tree from which Philip gathered fruit
+was a fallen trunk which never again became verdant.
+
+Philip’s adverse destiny decreed that all the treasures which he
+lavished for the oppression of the Provinces should contribute to enrich
+them. The continual outlay of Spanish gold had diffused riches and
+luxury throughout Europe; but the increasing wants of Europe were
+supplied chiefly by the Netherlanders, who were masters of the commerce
+of the known world, and who by their dealings fixed the price of all
+merchandise. Even during the war Philip could not prohibit his own
+subjects from trading with the republic; nay, he could not even desire
+it. He himself furnished the rebels with the means of defraying the
+expenses of their own defence; for the very war which was to ruin them
+increased the sale of their goods. The enormous suns expended on his
+fleets and armies flowed for the most part into the exchequer of the
+republic, which was more or less connected with the commercial places of
+Flanders and Brabant. Whatever Philip attempted against the rebels
+operated indirectly to their advantage.
+
+The sluggish progress of this war did the king as much injury as it
+benefited the rebels. His army was composed for the most part of the
+remains of those victorious troops which had gathered their laurels
+under Charles V. Old and long services entitled them to repose; many of
+them, whom the war had enriched, impatiently longed for their homes,
+where they might end in ease a life of hardship. Their former zeal,
+their heroic spirit, and their discipline relaxed in the same proportion
+as they thought they had fully satisfied their honor and their duty, and
+as they began to reap at last the reward of so many battles. Besides,
+the troops which had been accustomed by their irresistible impetuosity
+to vanquish all opponents were necessarily wearied out by a war which
+was carried on not so much against men as against the elements; which
+exercised their patience more than it gratified their love of glory; and
+where there was less of danger than of difficulty and want to contend
+with. Neither personal courage nor long military experience was of
+avail in a country whose peculiar features gave the most dastardly the
+advantage. Lastly, a single discomfiture on foreign ground did them
+more injury than any victories gained over an enemy at home could profit
+them. With the rebels the case was exactly the reverse. In so
+protracted a war, in which no decisive battle took place, the weaker
+party must naturally learn at last the art of defence from the stronger;
+slight defeats accustomed him to danger; slight victories animated his
+confidence.
+
+At the beginning of the war the republican army scarcely dared to show
+itself in the field; the long continuance of the struggle practised and
+hardened it. As the royal armies grew wearied of victory, the
+confidence of the rebels rose with their improved discipline and
+experience. At last, at the end of half a century, master and pupil
+separated, unsubdued, and equal in the fight.
+
+Again, throughout the war the rebels acted with more concord and
+unanimity than the royalists. Before the former had lost their first
+leader the government of the Netherlands had passed through as many as
+five hands. The Duchess of Parma’s indecision soon imparted itself to
+the cabinet of Madrid, which in a short time tried in succession almost
+every system of policy. Duke Alva’s inflexible sternness, the mildness
+of his successor Requescens, Don John of Austria’s insidious cunning,
+and the active and imperious mind of the Prince of Parma gave as many
+opposite directions to the war, while the plan of rebellion remained the
+same in a single head, who, as he saw it clearly, pursued it with vigor.
+The king’s greatest misfortune was that right principles of action
+generally missed the right moment of application. In the commencement
+of the troubles, when the advantage was as yet clearly on the king’s
+side, when prompt resolution and manly firmness might have crushed the
+rebellion in the cradle, the reigns of government were allowed to hang
+loose in the hands of a woman. After the outbreak had come to an open
+revolt, and when the strength of the factious and the power of the king
+stood more equally balanced, and when a skilful flexible prudence could
+alone have averted the impending civil war, the government devolved on a
+man who was eminently deficient in this necessary qualification. So
+watchful an observer as William the Silent failed not to improve every
+advantage which the faulty policy of his adversary presented, and with
+quiet silent industry he slowly but surely pushed on the great
+enterprise to its accomplishment.
+
+But why did not Philip II. himself appear in the Netherlands? Why did
+he prefer to employ every other means, however improbable, rather than
+make trial of the only remedy which could insure success? To curb the
+overgrown power and insolence of the nobility there was no expedient
+more natural than the presence of their master. Before royalty itself
+all secondary dignities must necessarily have sunk in the shade, all
+other splendor be dimmed. Instead of the truth being left to flow
+slowly and obscurely through impure channels to the distant throne, so
+that procrastinated measures of redress gave time to ripen ebullitions
+of the moment into acts of deliberation, his own penetrating glance
+would at once have been able to separate truth from error; and cold
+policy alone, not to speak of his humanity, would have saved the land a
+million citizens. The nearer to their source the more weighty would his
+edicts have been; the thicker they fell on their objects the weaker and
+the more dispirited would have become the efforts of the rebels. It
+costs infinitely more to do an evil to an enemy in his presence than in
+his absence. At first the rebellion appeared to tremble at its own
+name, and long sheltered itself under the ingenious pretext of defending
+the cause of its sovereign against the arbitrary assumptions of his own
+viceroy. Philip’s appearance in Brussels would have put an end at once
+to this juggling. In that case, the rebels would have been compelled to
+act up to their pretence, or to cast aside the mask, and so, by
+appearing in their true shape, condemn themselves. And what a relief
+for the Netherlands if the king’s presence had only spared them those
+evils which were inflicted upon them without his knowledge, and contrary
+to his will. [1] What gain, too, even if it had only enabled him to
+watch over the expenditure of the vast sums which, illegally raised on
+the plea of meeting the exigencies of the war, disappeared in the
+plundering hands of his deputies.
+
+What the latter were compelled to extort by the unnatural expedient of
+terror, the nation would have been disposed to grant to the sovereign
+majesty. That which made his ministers detested would have rendered the
+monarch feared; for the abuse of hereditary power is less painfully
+oppressive than the abuse of delegated authority. His presence would
+have saved his exchequer thousands had he been nothing more than an
+economical despot; and even had he been less, the awe of his person
+would have preserved a territory which was lost through hatred and
+contempt for his instruments.
+
+In the same manner, as the oppression of the people of the Netherlands
+excited the sympathy of all who valued their own rights, it might have
+been expected that their disobedience and defection would have been a
+call to all princes to maintain their own prerogatives in the case of
+their neighbors. But jealousy of Spain got the better of political
+sympathies, and the first powers of Europe arranged themselves more or
+less openly on the side of freedom.
+
+Although bound to the house of Spain by the ties of relationship, the
+Emperor Maximilian II. gave it just cause for its charge against him
+of secretly favoring the rebels. By the offer of his mediation he
+implicitly acknowledged the partial justice of their complaints, and
+thereby encouraged them to a resolute perseverance in their demands.
+Under an emperor sincerely devoted to the interests of the Spanish
+house, William of Orange could scarcely have drawn so many troops and so
+much money from Germany. France, without openly and formally breaking
+the peace, placed a prince of the blood at the head of the Netherlandish
+rebels; and it was with French gold and French troops that the
+operations of the latter were chiefly conducted. [2] Elizabeth of
+England, too, did but exercise a just retaliation and revenge in
+protecting the rebels against their legitimate sovereign; and although
+her meagre and sparing aid availed no farther than to ward off utter
+ruin from the republic, still even this was infinitely valuable at a
+moment when nothing but hope could have supported their exhausted
+courage. With both these powers Philip at the time was at peace, but
+both betrayed him. Between the weak and the strong honesty often ceases
+to appear a virtue; the delicate ties which bind equals are seldom
+observed towards him whom all men fear. Philip had banished truth from
+political intercourse; he himself had dissolved all morality between
+kings, and had made artifice the divinity of cabinets. Without once
+enjoying the advantages of his preponderating greatness, he had,
+throughout life, to contend with the jealousy which it awakened in
+others. Europe made him atone for the possible abuses of a power of
+which in fact he never had the full possession.
+
+If against the disparity between the two combatants, which, at first
+sight, is so astounding, we weigh all the incidental circumstances which
+were adverse to Spain, but favorable to the Netherlands, that which is
+supernatural in this event will disappear, while that which is
+extraordinary will still remain--and a just standard will be furnished
+by which to estimate the real merit of these republicans in working out
+their freedom. It must not, however, be thought that so accurate a
+calculation of the opposing forces could have preceded the undertaking
+itself, or that, on entering this unknown sea, they already knew the
+shore on which they would ultimately be landed. The work did not
+present itself to the mind of its originator in the exact form which it
+assumed when completed, any more than the mind of Luther foresaw the
+eternal separation of creeds when he began to oppose the sale of
+indulgences. What a difference between the modest procession of those
+suitors in Brussels, who prayed for a more humane treatment as a favor,
+and the dreaded majesty of a free state, which treated with kings as
+equals, and in less than a century disposed of the throne of its former
+tyrant. The unseen hand of fate gave to the discharged arrow a higher
+flight, and quite a different direction from that which it first
+received from the bowstring. In the womb of happy Brabant that liberty
+had its birth which, torn from its mother in its earliest infancy, was
+to gladden the so despised Holland. But the enterprise must not be less
+thought of because its issue differed from the first design. Man works
+up, smooths, and fashions the rough stone which the times bring to him;
+the moment and the instant may belong to him, but accident develops the
+history of the world. If the passions which co-operated actively in
+bringing about this event were only not unworthy of the great work to
+which they were unconsciously subservient--if only the powers which
+aided in its accomplishment were intrinsically noble, if only the single
+actions out of whose great concatenation it wonderfully arose were
+beautiful then is the event grand, interesting, and fruitful for us, and
+we are at liberty to wonder at the bold offspring of chance, or rather
+offer up our admiration to a higher intelligence.
+
+The history of the world, like the laws of nature, is consistent with
+itself, and simple as the soul of man. Like conditions produce like
+phenomena. On the same soil where now the Netherlanders were to resist
+their Spanish tyrants, their forefathers, the Batavi and Belgee, fifteen
+centuries before, combated against their Roman oppressors. Like the
+former, submitting reluctantly to a haughty master, and misgoverned by
+rapacious satraps, they broke off their chain with like resolution, and
+tried their fortune in a similar unequal combat. The same pride of
+conquest, the same national grandeur, marked the Spaniard of the
+sixteenth century and the Roman of the first; the same valor and
+discipline distinguished the armies of both, their battle array inspired
+the same terror. There as here we see stratagem in combat with superior
+force, and firmness, strengthened by unanimity, wearying out a mighty
+power weakened by division; then as now private hatred armed a whole
+nation; a single man, born for his times, revealed to his fellow-slaves
+the dangerous Secret of their power, and brought their mute grief to a
+bloody announcement. “Confess, Batavians,” cries Claudius Civilis to
+his countrymen in the sacred grove, “we are no longer treated, as
+formerly, by these Romans as allies, but rather as slaves. We are
+handed over to their prefects and centurions, who, when satiated with
+our plunder and with our blood, make way for others, who, under
+different names, renew the same outrages. If even at last Rome deigns
+to send us a legate, he oppresses us with an ostentatious and costly
+retinue, and with still more intolerable pride. The levies are again at
+hand which tear forever children from their parents, brothers from
+brothers. Now, Batavians, is our time. Never did Rome lie so prostrate
+as now. Let not their names of legions terrify you. There is nothing
+in their camps but old men and plunder. Our infantry and horsemen are
+strong; Germany is allied to us by blood, and Gaul is ready to throw off
+its yoke. Let Syria serve them, and Asia and the East, who are used to
+bow before kings; many still live who were born among us before tribute
+was paid to the Romans. The gods are ever with the brave.” Solemn
+religious rites hallowed this conspiracy, like the League of the Gueux;
+like that, it craftily wrapped itself in the veil of submissiveness, in
+the majesty of a great name. The cohorts of Civilis swear allegiance on
+the Rhine to Vespasian in Syria, as the League did to Philip II. The
+same arena furnished the same plan of defence, the same refuge to
+despair. Both confided their wavering fortunes to a friendly element;
+in the same distress Civilis preserves his island, as fifteen centuries
+after him William of Orange did the town of Leyden--through an
+artificial inundation. The valor of the Batavi disclosed the impotency
+of the world’s ruler, as the noble courage of their descendants revealed
+to the whole of Europe the decay of Spanish greatness. The same
+fecundity of genius in the generals of both times gave to the war a
+similarly obstinate continuance, and nearly as doubtful an issue; one
+difference, nevertheless, distinguishes them: the Romans and Batavians
+fought humanely, for they did not fight for religion.
+
+[1] More modern historians, with access to the records of the Spanish
+Inquisition and the private communications between Phillip II. and his
+various appointees to power in the Netherlands, rebut Shiller’s kind but
+naive thought. To the contrary, Phillip II. was most critical of his
+envoys lack of severity. See in particular the “Rise of the Dutch
+Republic” and the other works of John Motley on the history of the
+Netherlands all of which are available at Project Gutenberg.--D.W.
+
+[2] A few French generals who were by and large ineffective; and many
+promises of gold which were undelivered.--D.W.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                BOOK I.
+
+  EARLIER HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS UP TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+Before we consider the immediate history of this great revolution, it
+will be advisable to go a few steps back into the ancient records of the
+country, and to trace the origin of that constitution which we find it
+possessed of at the time of this remarkable change.
+
+The first appearance of this people in the history of the world is the
+moment of its fall; their conquerors first gave them a political
+existence. The extensive region which is bounded by Germany on the
+east, on the south by France, on the north and northwest by the North
+Sea, and which we comprehend under the general name of the Netherlands,
+was, at the time when the Romans invaded Gaul, divided amongst three
+principal nations, all originally of German descent, German
+institutions, and German spirit. The Rhine formed its boundaries. On
+the left of the river dwelt the Belgae, on its right the Frisii, and the
+Batavi on the island which its two arms then formed with the ocean. All
+these several nations were sooner or later reduced into subjection by
+the Romans, but the conquerors themselves give us the most glorious
+testimony to their valor. The Belgae, writes Caesar, were the only
+people amongst the Gauls who repulsed the invasion of the Teutones and
+Cimbri. The Batavi, Tacitus tells us, surpassed all the tribes on the
+Rhine in bravery. This fierce nation paid its tribute in soldiers, and
+was reserved by its conquerors, like arrow and sword, only for battle.
+The Romans themselves acknowledged the Batavian horsemen to be their
+best cavalry. Like the Swiss at this day, they formed for a long time
+the body-guard of the Roman Emperor; their wild courage terrified the
+Dacians, as they saw them, in full armor, swimming across the Danube.
+The Batavi accompanied Agricola in his expedition against Britain, and
+helped him to conquer that island. The Frieses were, of all, the last
+subdued, and the first to regain their liberty. The morasses among
+which they dwelt attracted the conquerors later, and enhanced the price
+of conquest. The Roman Drusus, who made war in these regions, had a
+canal cut from the Rhine into the Flevo, the present Zuyder Zee, through
+which the Roman fleet penetrated into the North Sea, and from thence,
+entering the mouths of the Ems and the Weser, found an easy passage into
+the interior of Germany.
+
+Through four centuries we find Batavian troops in the Roman armies, but
+after the time of Honorius their name disappears from history.
+Presently we discover their island overrun by the Franks, who again lost
+themselves in the adjoining country of Belgium. The Frieses threw off
+the yoke of their distant and powerless rulers, and again appearad as a
+free, and even a conquering people, who governed themselves by their own
+customs and a remnant of Roman laws, and extended their limits beyond
+the left bank of the Rhine. Of all the provinces of the Netherlands,
+Friesland especially had suffered the least from the irruptions of
+strange tribes and foreign customs, and for centuries retained traces of
+its original institutions, of its national spirit and manners, which
+have not, even at the present day, entirely disappeared.
+
+The epoch of the immigration of nations destroyed the original form of
+most of these tribes; other mixed races arose in their place, with other
+constitutions. In the general irruption the towns and encampments of
+the Romans disappeared, and with them the memorials of their wise
+government, which they had employed the natives to execute. The
+neglected dikes once more yielded to the violence of the streams and to
+the encroachments of the ocean. Those wonders of labor, and creations
+of human skill, the canals, dried up, the rivers changed their course,
+the continent and the sea confounded their olden limits, and the nature
+of the soil changed with its inhabitants. So, too, the connection of
+the two eras seems effaced, and with a new race a new history commences.
+
+The monarchy of the Franks, which arose out of the ruins of Roman Gaul,
+had, in the sixth and seventh centuries, seized all the provinces of the
+Netherlands, and planted there the Christian faith. After an obstinate
+war Charles Martel subdued to the French crown Friesland, the last of
+all the free provinces, and by his victories paved a way for the gospel.
+Charlemagne united all these countries, and formed of them one division
+of the mighty empire which he had constructed out of Germany, France,
+and Lombardy. As under his descendants this vast dominion was again
+torn into fragments, so the Netherlands became at times German, at
+others French, or then again Lotheringian Provinces; and at last we find
+them under both the names of Friesland and Lower Lotheringia.
+
+With the Franks the feudal system, the offspring of the North, also came
+into these lands, and here, too, as in all other countries, it
+degenerated. The more powerful vassals gradually made themselves
+independent of the crown, and the royal governors usurped the countries
+they were appointed to govern. But the rebellions vassals could not
+maintain their usurpations without the aid of their own dependants,
+whose assistance they were compelled to purchase by new concessions.
+At the same time the church became powerful through pious usurpations
+and donations, and its abbey lands and episcopal sees acquired an
+independent existence. Thus were the Netherlands in the tenth,
+eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries split up into several small
+sovereignties, whose possessors did homage at one time to the German
+Emperor, at another to the kings of France. By purchase, marriages,
+legacies, and also by conquest, several of these provinces were often
+united under one suzerain, and thus in the fifteenth century we see the
+house of Burgundy in possession of the chief part of the Netherlands.
+With more or less right Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had united
+as many as eleven provinces under his authority, and to these his son,
+Charles the Bold, added two others, acquired by force of arms. Thus
+imperceptibly a new state arose in Europe, which wanted nothing but the
+name to be the most flourishing kingdom in this quarter of the globe.
+These extensive possessions made the Dukes of Burgundy formidable
+neighbors to France, and tempted the restless spirit of Charles the Bold
+to devise a scheme of conquest, embracing the whole line of country from
+the Zuyder Zee and the mouth of the Rhine down to Alsace. The almost
+inexhaustible resources of this prince justify in some measure this bold
+project. A formidable army threatened to carry it into execution.
+Already Switzerland trembled for her liberty; but deceitful fortune
+abandoned him in three terrible battles, and the infatuated hero was
+lost in the melee of the living and the dead.
+
+   [A page who had seen him fall a few days after the battle conducted
+   the victors to the spot, and saved his remains from an ignominious
+   oblivion. His body was dragged from out of a pool, in which it was
+   fast frozen, naked, and so disfigured with wounds that with great
+   difficulty he was recognized, by the well-known deficiency of some
+   of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger-nails. But that,
+   notwithstanding the marks, there were still incredulous people who
+   doubted his death, and looked for his reappearance, is proved by
+   the missive in which Louis XI. called upon the Burgundian States to
+   return to their allegiance to the Crown of France. “If,” the
+   passage runs, “Duke Charles should still be living, you shall be
+   released from your oath to me.” Comines, t. iii., Preuves des
+   Memoires, 495, 497.]
+
+The sole heiress of Charles the Bold, Maria, at once the richest
+princess and the unhappy Helen of that time, whose wooing brought misery
+on her inheritance, was now the centre of attraction to the whole known
+world. Among her suitors appeared two great princes, King Louis XI. of
+France, for his son, the young Dauphin, and Maximilian of Austria, son
+of the Emperor Frederic III. The successful suitor was to become the
+most powerful prince in Europe; and now, for the first time, this
+quarter of the globe began to fear for its balance of power. Louis, the
+more powerful of the two, was ready to back his suit by force of arms;
+but the people of the Netherlands, who disposed of the hand of their
+princess, passed by this dreaded neighbor, and decided in favor of
+Maximilian, whose more remote territories and more limited power seemed
+less to threaten the liberty of their country. A deceitful, unfortunate
+policy, which, through a strange dispensation of heaven, only
+accelerated the melancholy fate which it was intended to prevent.
+
+To Philip the Fair, the son of Maria and Maximilian, a Spanish bride
+brought as her portion that extensive kingmdom which Ferdinand and
+Isabella had recently founded; and Charles of Austria, his son, was born
+lord of the kingdoms of Spain, of the two Sicilies, of the New World,
+and of the Netherlands. In the latter country the commonalty
+emancipated themselves much earlier than in other; feudal states, and
+quickly attained to an independent political existence. The favorable
+situation of the country on the North Sea and on great navigable rivers
+early awakened the spirit of commerce, which rapidly peopled the towns,
+encouraged industry and the arts, attracted foreigners, and diffused
+prosperity and affluence among them. However contemptuously the warlike
+policy of those times looked down upon every peaceful and useful
+occupation, the rulers of the country could not fail altogether to
+perceive the essential advantages they derived from such pursuits. The
+increasing population of their territories, the different imposts which
+they extorted from natives and foreigners under the various titles of
+tolls, customs, highway rates, escort money, bridge tolls, market fees,
+escheats, and so forth, were too valuable considerations to allow them
+to remain indifferent to the sources from which they were derived..
+Their own rapacity made them promoters of trade, and, as often happens,
+barbarism itself rudely nursed it, until at last a healthier policy
+assumed its place. In the course of time they invited the Lombard
+merchants to settle among them, and accorded to the towns some valuable
+privileges and an independent jurisdiction, by which the latter acquired
+uncommon extraordinary credit and influence. The numerous wars which
+the counts and dukes carried on with one another, or with their
+neighbors, made them in some measure dependent on the good-will of the
+towns, who by their wealth obtained weight and consideration, and for
+the subsidies which they afforded failed not to extort important
+privileges in return. These privileges of the commonalties increased as
+the crusades with their expensive equipment augumented the necessities
+of the nobles; as a new road to Europe was opened for the productions of
+the East, and as wide-spreading luxury created new wants to their
+princes. Thus as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find in
+these lands a mixed form of governmeut, in which the prerogative of the
+sovereign is greatly limited by the privileges of the estates; that is
+to say, of the nobility, the clergy, and the municipalities.
+
+These, under the name of States, assembled as often as the wants of the
+province required it. Without their consent no new laws were valid, no
+war could be carried on, and no taxes levied, no change made in the
+coinage, and no foreigner admitted to any office of government. All the
+provinces enjoyed these privileges in common; others were peculiar to
+the various districts. The supreme government was hereditary, but the
+son did not enter on the rights of his father before he had solemnly
+sworn to maintain the existing constitution.
+
+Necessity is the first lawgiver; all the wants which had to be met by
+this constitution were originally of a commercial nature. Thus the
+whole constitution was founded on commerce, and the laws of the nation
+were adapted to its pursuits. The last clause, which excluded
+foreigners from all offices of trust, was a natural consequence of the
+preceding articles. So complicated and artificial a relation between
+the sovereign and his people, which in many provinces was further
+modified according to the peculiar wants of each, and frequently of some
+single city, required for its maintenance the liveliest zeal for the
+liberties of the country, combined with an intimate acquaintance with
+them. From a foreigner neither could well be expected. This law,
+besides, was enforced reciprocally in each particular province; so that
+in Brabant no Fleming, in Zealand no Hollander, could hold office; and
+it continued in force even after all these provinces were united under
+one government.
+
+Above all others, Brabant enjoyed the highest degree of freedom. Its
+privileges were esteemed so valuable that many mothers from the adjacent
+provinces removed thither about the time of their accouchment, in order
+to entitle their children to participate, by birth, in all the
+immunities of that favored country; just as, says Strada, one improves
+the plants of a rude climate by removing them to the soil of a milder.
+
+After the House of Burgundy had united several provinces under its
+dominion, the separate provincial assemblies which, up to that time, had
+been independent tribunals, were made subject to a supreme court at
+Malines, which incorporated the various judicatures into one body, and
+decided in the last resort all civil and criminal appeals. The separate
+independence of the provinces was thus abolished, and the supreme power
+vested in the senate at Malines.
+
+After the death of Charles the Bold the states did not neglect to avail
+themselves of the embarassment of their duchess, who, threatened by
+France, was consequently in their power. Holland and Zealand compelled
+her to sign a great charter, which secured to them the most important
+sovereign rights. The people of Ghent carried their insolence to such a
+pitch that they arbitrarily dragged the favorites of Maria, who had the
+misfortune to displease them, before their own tribunals, and beheaded
+them before the eyes of that princess. During the short government of
+the Duchess Maria, from her father’s death to her marriage, the commons
+obtained powers which few free states enjoyed. After her death her
+husband, Maximilian, illegally assumed the government as guardian of his
+son. Offended by this invasion of their rights, the estates refused to
+acknowledge his authority, and could only be brought to receive him as a
+viceroy for a stated period, and under conditions ratified by oath.
+
+Maximilian, after he became Roman Emperor, fancied that he might safely
+venture to violate the constitution. He imposed extraordinary taxes on
+the provinces, gave official appointments to Burgundians and Germans,
+and introduced foreign troops into the provinces. But the jealousy of
+these republicans kept pace with the power of their regent. As he
+entered Bruges with a large retinue of foreigners, the people flew to
+arms, made themselves masters of his person, and placed him in
+confinement in the castle. In spite of the intercession of the Imperial
+and Roman courts, he did not again obtain his freedom until security had
+been given to the people on all the disputed points.
+
+The security of life and property arising from mild laws, and, an equal
+administration of justice, had encouraged activity and industry. In
+continual contest with the ocean and rapid rivers, which poured their
+violence on the neighboring lowlands, and whose force it was requisite
+to break by embankments and canals, this people had early learned to
+observe the natural objects around them; by industry and perseverance to
+defy an element of superior power; and like the Egyptian, instructed by
+his Nile, to exercise their inventive genius and acuteness in
+self-defence. The natural fertility of their soil, which favored
+agriculture and the breeding of cattle, tended at the same time to
+increase the population. Their happy position on the sea and the great
+navigable rivers of Germany and France, many of which debouched on their
+coasts; the numerous artificial canals which intersected the land in all
+directions, imparted life to navigation; and the facility of internal
+communication between the provinces, soon created and fostered a
+commercial spirit among these people.
+
+The neighboring coasts, Denmark and Britain, were the first visited by
+their vessels. The English wool which they brought back employed
+thousands of industrious hands in Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp; and as
+early as the middle of the twelfth century cloths of Flanders were
+extensively worn in France and Germany. In the eleventh century we find
+ships of Friesland in the Belt, and even in the Levant. This
+enterprising people ventured, without a compass, to steer under the
+North Pole round to the most northerly point of Russia. From the
+Wendish towns the Netherlands received a share in the Levant trade,
+which, at that time, still passed from the Black Sea through the Russian
+territories to the Baltic. When, in the thirteenth century, this trade
+began to decline, the Crusades having opened a new road through the
+Mediterranean for Indian merchandise, and after the Italian towns had
+usurped this lucrative branch of commerce, and the great Hanseatic
+League had been formed in Germany, the Netherlands became the most
+important emporium between the north and south. As yet the use of
+the compass was not general, and the merchantmen sailed slowly and
+laboriously along the coasts. The ports on the Baltic were, during the
+winter months, for the most part frozen and inaccessible. Ships,
+therefore, which could not well accomplish within the year the long
+voyage from the Mediterranean to the Belt, gladly availed themselves of
+harbors which lay half-way between the two.
+
+With an immense continent behind them with which navigable streams kept
+up their communication, and towards the west and north open to the ocean
+by commodious harbors, this country appeared to be expressly formed for
+a place of resort for different nations, and for a centre of commerce.
+The principal towns of the Netherlands were established marts.
+Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians, French, Britons, Germans, Danes, and
+Swedes thronged to them with the produce of every country in the world.
+Competition insured cheapness; industry was stimulated as it found a
+ready market for its productions. With the necessary exchange of money
+arose the commerce in bills, which opened a new and fruitful source of
+wealth. The princes of the country, acquainted at last with their true
+interest, encouraged the merchant by important immunities, and neglected
+not to protect their commerce by advantageous treaties with foreign
+powers. When, in the fifteenth century, several provinces were united
+under one rule, they discontinued their private wars, which had proved
+so injurious, and their separate interests were now more intimately
+connected by a common government. Their commerce and affluence
+prospered in the lap of a long peace, which the formidable power of
+their princes extorted from the neighboring monarchs. The Burgundian
+flag was feared in every sea, the dignity of their sovereign gave
+support to their undertakings, and the enterprise of a private
+individual became the affair of a powerful state. Such vigorous
+protection soon placed them in a position even to renounce the Hanseatic
+League, and to pursue this daring enemy through every sea. The
+Hanseatic merchants, against whom the coasts of Spain were closed,
+were compelled at last, however reluctantly, to visit the Flemish fairs,
+and purchase their Spanish goods in the markets of the Netherlands.
+
+Bruges, in Flanders, was, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the
+central point of the whole commerce of Europe, and the great market of
+all nations. In the year 1468 a hundred and fifty merchant vessels were
+counted entering the harbor of Sluys it one time. Besides the rich
+factories of the Hanseatic League, there were here fifteen trading
+companies, with their countinghouses, and many factories and merchants’
+families from every European country. Here was established the market
+of all northern products for the south, and of all southern and
+Levantine products for the north. These passed through the Sound, and
+up the Rhine, in Hanseatic vessels to Upper Germany, or were transported
+by landcarriage to Brunswick and Luneburg.
+
+As in the common course of human affairs, so here also a licentious
+luxury followed prosperity. The seductive example of Philip the Good
+could not but accelerate its approach. The court of the Burgundian
+dukes was the most voluptuous and magnificent in Europe, Italy itself
+not excepted. The costly dress of the higher classes, which afterwards
+served as patterns to the Spaniards, and eventually, with other
+Burgundian customs, passed over to the court of Austria, soon descended
+to the lower orders, and the meanest citizen nursed his person in velvet
+and silk.
+
+   [Philip the Good was too profuse a prince to amass treasures;
+   nevertheless Charles the Bold found accumulated among his effects,
+   a greater store of table services, jewels, carpets, and linen than
+   three rich princedoms of that time together possessed, and over and
+   above all a treasure of three hundred thousand dollars in ready
+   money. The riches of this prince, and of the Burgundian people,
+   lay exposed on the battle-fields of Granson, Murten and Nancy.
+   Here a Swiss soldier drew from the finger of Charles the Bold, that
+   celebrated diamond which was long esteemed the largest in Europe,
+   which even now sparkles in the crown of France as the second in
+   size, but which the unwitting finder sold for a florin. The Swiss
+   exchanged the silver they found for tin, and the gold for copper,
+   and tore into pieces the costly tents of cloth of gold. The value
+   of the spoil of silver, gold, and jewels which was taken has been
+   estimated at three millions. Charles and his army had advanced to
+   the combat, not like foes who purpose battle, but like conquerors
+   who adorn themselves after victory.]
+
+Comines, an author who travelled through the Netherlands about the
+middle of the fifteenth century, tells us that pride had already
+attended their prosperity. The pomp and vanity of dress was carried by
+both sexes to extravagance. The luxury of the table had never reached
+so great a height among any other people. The immoral assemblage of
+both sexes at bathing-places, and such other places of reunion for
+pleasure and enjoyment, had banished all shame--and we are not here
+speaking of the usual luxuriousness of the higher ranks; the females of
+the common class abandoned themselves to such extravagances without
+limit or measure.
+
+But how much more cheering to the philanthropist is this extravagance
+than the miserable frugality of want, and the barbarous virtues of
+ignorance, which at that time oppressed nearly the whole of Europe!
+The Burgundian era shines pleasingly forth from those dark ages, like
+a lovely spring day amid the showers of February. But this flourishing
+condition tempted the Flemish towns at last to their ruin; Ghent and
+Bruges, giddy with liberty and success, declared war against Philip the
+Good, the ruler of eleven provinces, which ended as unfortunately as it
+was presumptuously commenced. Ghent alone lost many thousand men in an
+engagement near Havre, and was compelled to appease the wrath of the
+victor by a contribution of four hundred thousand gold florins. All the
+municipal functionaries, and two thousand of the principal citizens,
+went, stripped to their shirts, barefooted, and with heads uncovered, a
+mile out of the town to meet the duke, and on their knees supplicated
+for pardon. On this occasion they were deprived of several valuable
+privileges, all irreparable loss for their future commerce. In the year
+1482 they engaged in a war, with no better success, against Maximilian
+of Austria, with a view to, deprive him of the guardianship of his son,
+which, in contravention of his charter, he had unjustly assumed. In
+1487 the town of Bruges placed the archduke himself in confinement, and
+put some of his most eminent ministers to death. To avenge his son the
+Emperor Frederic III. entered their territory with an army, and,
+blockading for ten years the harbor of Sluys, put a stop to their entire
+trade. On this occasion Amsterdam and Antwerp, whose jealousy had long
+been roused by the flourishing condition of the Flemish towns, lent him
+the most important assistance. The Italians began to bring their own
+silk-stuffs to Antwerp for sale, and the Flemish cloth-workers likewise,
+who had settled in England, sent their goods thither; and thus the town
+of Bruges lost two important branches of trade. The Hanseatic League
+had long been offended at their overweening pride; and it now left them
+and removed its factory to Antwerp. In the year 1516 all the foreign
+merchants left the town except only a few Spaniards; but its prosperity
+faded as slowly as it had bloomed.
+
+Antwerp received, in the sixteenth century, the trade which the
+luxuriousness of the Flemish towns had banished; and under the
+government of Charles V. Antwerp was the most stirring and splendid
+city in the Christian world. A stream like the Scheldt, whose broad
+mouth, in the immediate vicinity, shared with the North Sea the ebb and
+flow of the tide, and could carry vessels of the largest tonnage under
+the walls of Antwerp, made it the natural resort for all vessels which
+visited that coast. Its free fairs attracted men of business from all
+countries.
+
+   [Two such fairs lasted forty days, and all the goods sold there
+   were duty free.]
+
+The industry of the nation had, in the beginning of this century,
+reached its greatest height. The culture of grain, flax, the breeding
+of cattle, the chase, and fisheries, enriched the peasant; arts,
+manufactures, and trade gave wealth to the burghers. Flemish and
+Brabantine manufactures were long to be seen in Arabia, Persia, and
+India. Their ships covered the ocean, and in the Black Sea contended
+with the Genoese for supremacy. It was the distinctive characteristic
+of the seaman of the Netherlands that he made sail at all seasons of the
+year, and never laid up for the winter.
+
+When the new route by the Cape of Good Hope was discovered, and the East
+India trade of Portugal undermined that of the Levant, the Netherlands
+did not feel the blow which was inflicted on the Italian republics. The
+Portuguese established their mart in Brabant, and the spices of Calicut
+were displayed for sale in the markets of Antwerp. Hither poured the
+West Indian merchandise, with which the indolent pride of Spain repaid
+the industry of the Netherlands. The East Indian market attracted the
+most celebrated commercial houses from Florence, Lucca, and Genoa; and
+the Fuggers and Welsers from Augsburg. Here the Hanse towns brought the
+wares of the north, and here the English company had a factory. Here
+art and nature seemed to expose to view all their riches; it was a
+splendid exhibition of the works of the Creator and of the creature.
+
+Their renown soon diffused itself through the world. Even a company of
+Turkish merchants, towards the end of this century, solicited permission
+to settle here, and to supply the products of the East by way of Greece.
+With the trade in goods they held also the exchange of money. Their
+bills passed current in the farthest parts of the globe. Antwerp, it is
+asserted, then transacted more extensive and more important business in
+a single month than Venice, at its most flourishing period, in two whole
+years.
+
+In the year 1491 the Hanseatic League held its solemn meetings in this
+town, which had formerly assembled in Lubeck alone. In 1531 the
+exchange was erected, at that time the most splendid in all Europe, and
+which fulfilled its proud inscription. The town now reckoned one
+hundred thousand inhabitants. The tide of human beings, which
+incessantly poured into it, exceeds all belief. Between two hundred and
+two hundred and fifty ships were often seen loading at one time in its
+harbor; no day passed on which the boats entering inwards and outwards
+did not amount to more than five hundred; on market days the number
+amounted to eight or nine hundred. Daily more than two hundred
+carriages drove through its gates; above two thousand loaded wagons
+arrived every week from Germany, France, and Lorraine, without reckoning
+the farmers’ carts and corn-vans, which were seldom less than ten
+thousand in number. Thirty thousand hands were employed by the English
+company alone. The market dues, tolls, and excise brought millions to
+the government annually. We can form some idea of the resources of the
+nation from the fact that the extraordinary taxes which they were
+obliged to pay to Charles V. towards his numerous wars were computed at
+forty millions of gold ducats.
+
+For this affluence the Netherlands were as much indebted to their
+liberty as to the natural advantages of their country. Uncertain laws
+and the despotic sway of a rapacious prince would quickly have blighted
+all the blessings which propitious nature had so abundantly lavished on
+them. The inviolable sanctity of the laws can alone secure to the
+citizen the fruits of his industry, and inspire him with that happy
+confidence which is the soul of all activity.
+
+The genius of this people, developed by the spirit of commerce, and by
+the intercourse with so many nations, shone in useful inventions; in the
+lap of abundance and liberty all the noble arts were carefully
+cultivated and carried to perfection. From Italy, to which Cosmo de
+Medici had lately restored its golden age, painting, architecture, and
+the arts of carving and of engraving on copper, were transplanted into
+the Netherlands, where, in a new soil, they flourished with fresh vigor.
+The Flemish school, a daughter of the Italian, soon vied with its mother
+for the prize; and, in common with it, gave laws to the whole of Europe
+in the fine arts. The manufactures and arts, on which the Netherlanders
+principally founded their prosperity, and still partly base it, require
+no particular enumeration. The weaving of tapestry, oil painting, the
+art of painting on glass, even pocketwatches and sun-dials were, as
+Guicciardini asserts, originally invented in the Netherlands. To them
+we are indebted for the improvement of the compass, the points of which
+are still known by Flemish names. About the year 1430 the invention of
+typography is ascribed to Laurence Koster, of Haarlem; and whether or
+not he is entitled to this honorable distinction, certain it is that the
+Dutch were among the first to engraft this useful art among them; and
+fate ordained that a century later it should reward its country with
+liberty. The people of the Netherlands united with the most fertile
+genius for inventions a happy talent for improving the discoveries of
+others; there are probably few mechanical arts and manufactures which
+they did not either produce or at least carry to a higher degree of
+perfection.
+
+Up to this time these provinces had formed the most enviable state in
+Europe. Not one of the Burgundian dukes had ventured to indulge a
+thought of overturning the constitution; it had remained sacred even to
+the daring spirit of Charles the Bold, while he was preparing fetters
+for foreign liberty. All these princes grew up with no higher hope than
+to be the heads of a republic, and none of their territories afforded
+them experience of a higher authority. Besides, these princes possessed
+nothing but what the Netherlands gave them; no armies but those which
+the nation sent into the field; no riches but what the estates granted
+to them. Now all was changed. The Netherlands had fallen to a master
+who had at his command other instruments and other resources, who could
+arm against them a foreign power.
+
+   [The unnatural union of two such different nations as the Belgians
+   and Spaniards could not possibly be prosperous. I cannot here
+   refrain from quoting the comparison which Grotius, in energetic
+   language, has drawn between the two. “With the neighboring
+   nations,” says he, “the people of the Netherlands could easily
+   maintain a good understanding, for they were of a similar origin
+   with themselves, and had grown up in the same manner. But the
+   people of Spain and of the Netherlands differed in almost every
+   respect from one another, and therefore, when they were brought
+   together clashed the more violently. Both had for many centuries
+   been distinguished in war, only the latter had, in luxurious
+   repose, become disused to arms, while the former had been inured to
+   war in the Italian and African campaigns; the desire of gain made
+   the Belgians more inclined to peace, but not less sensitive of
+   offence. No people were more free from the lust of conquest, but
+   none defended its own more zealously. Hence the numerous towns,
+   closely pressed together in a confined tract of country; densely
+   crowded with a foreign and native population; fortified near the
+   sea and the great rivers. Hence for eight centuries after the
+   northern immigration foreign arms could not prevail against them.
+   Spain, on the contrary, often changed its masters; and when at last
+   it fell into the hands of the Goths, its character and its manners
+   had suffered more or less from each new conqueror. The people thus
+   formed at last out of these several admixtures is described as
+   patient in labor, imperturbable in danger, equally eager for riches
+   and honor, proud of itself even to contempt of others, devout and
+   grateful to strangers for any act of kindness, but also revengeful,
+   and of such ungovernable passions in victory as so regard neither
+   conscience nor honor in the case of an enemy. All this is foreign
+   to the character of the Belgian, who is astute but not insidious,
+   who, placed midway between France and Germany, combines in
+   moderation the faults and good qualities of both. He is not easily
+   to be imposed upon, nor is he to be insulted with impunity. In
+   veneration for the Deity, too, he does not yield to the Spaniard;
+   the arms of the Northmen could not make him apostatize from
+   Christianity when he had once professed it. No opinion which the
+   church condemns had, up to this time, empoisoned the purity of his
+   faith. Nay, his pious extravagance went so far that it became
+   requisite to curb by laws the rapacity of his clergy. In both
+   people loyalty to their rulers is equally innate, with this
+   difference, that the Belgian places the law above kings. Of all
+   the Spaniards the Castilians require to be, governed with the most
+   caution; but the liberties which they arrogate for themselves they
+   do not willingly accord to others. Hence the difficult task to
+   their common ruler, so to distribute his attention, and care
+   between the two nations that neither the preference shown to the
+   Castilian should offend the Belgian, nor the equal treatment of the
+   Belgian affront the haughty spirit of the Castilian.”--Grotii
+   Annal. Belg. L. 1. 4. 5. seq.]
+
+Charles V. was an absolute monarch in his Spanish dominions; in the
+Netherlands he was no more than the first citizen. In the southern
+portion of his empire he might have learned contempt for the rights of
+individuals; here he was taught to respect them. The more he there
+tasted the pleasures of unlimited power, and the higher he raised his
+opinion of his own greatness, the more reluctant he must have felt to
+descend elsewhere to the ordinary level of humanity, and to tolerate any
+check upon his arbitrary authority. It requires, indeed, no ordinary
+degree of virtue to abstain from warring against the power which imposes
+a curb on our most cherished wishes.
+
+The superior power of Charles awakened at the same time in the
+Netherlands that distrust which always accompanies inferiority. Never
+were they so alive to their constitutional rights, never so jealous of
+the royal prerogative, or more observant in their proceedings. Under,
+his reign we see the most violent outbreaks of republican spirit, and
+the pretensions of the people carried to an excess which nothing but the
+increasing encroachments of the royal power could in the least justify.
+A Sovereign will always regard the freedom of the citizen as an
+alienated fief, which he is bound to recover. To the citizen the
+authority of a sovereign is a torrent, which, by its inundation,
+threatens to sweep away his rights. The Belgians sought to protect
+themselves against the ocean by embankments, and against their princes
+by constitutional enactments. The whole history of the world is a
+perpetually recurring struggle between liberty and the lust of power and
+possession; as the history of nature is nothing but the contest of the
+elements and organic bodies for space. The Netherlands soon found to
+their cost that they had become but a province of a great monarchy. So
+long as their former masters had no higher aim than to promote their
+prosperity, their condition resembled the tranquil happiness of a
+secluded family, whose head is its ruler. Charles V. introduced them
+upon the arena of the political world. They now formed a member of that
+gigantic body which the ambition of an individual employed as his
+instrument. They ceased to have their own good for their aim; the
+centre of their existence was transported to the soul of their ruler.
+As his whole government was but one tissue of plans and manoeuvres to
+advance his power, so it was, above all things, necessary that he should
+be completely master of the various limbs of his mighty empire in order
+to move them effectually and suddenly. It was impossible, therefore,
+for him to embarrass himself with the tiresome mechanism of their
+interior political organization, or to extend to their peculiar
+privileges the conscientious respect which their republican jealousy
+demanded. It was expedient for him to facilitate the exercise of their
+powers by concentration and unity. The tribunal at Malines had been
+under his predecessor an independent court of judicature; he subjected
+its decrees to the revision of a royal council, which he established in
+Brussels, and which was the mere organ of his will. He introduced
+foreigners into the most vital functions of their constitution, and
+confided to them the most important offices. These men, whose only
+support was the royal favor, would be but bad guardians of privileges
+which, moreover, were little known to them. The ever-increasing
+expenses of his warlike government compelled him as steadily to augment
+his resources. In disregard of their most sacred privileges he imposed
+new and strange taxes on the provinces. To preserve their olden
+consideration the estates were forced to grant what he had been so
+modest as not to extort; the whole history of the government of this
+monarch in the Netherlands is almost one continued list of imposts
+demanded, refused, and finally accorded. Contrary to the constitution,
+he introduced foreign troops into their territories, directed the
+recruiting of his armies in the provinces, and involved them in wars,
+which could not advance even if they did not injure their interest, and
+to which they had not given their consent. He punished the offences of
+a free state as a monarch; and the terrible chastisement of Ghent
+announced to the other provinces the great change which their
+constitution had already undergone.
+
+The welfare of the country was so far secured as was necessary to the
+political schemes of its master; the intelligent policy of Charles would
+certainly not violate the salutary regiment of the body whose energies
+he found himself necessitated to exert. Fortunately, the opposite
+pursuits of selfish ambition, and of disinterested philanthropy, often
+bring about the same end; and the well-being of a state, which a Marcus
+Aurelius might propose to himself as a rational object of pursuit, is
+occasionally promoted by an Augustus or a Louis.
+
+Charles V. was perfectly aware that commerce was the strength of the
+nation, and that the foundation of their commerce was liberty. He
+spared its liberty because he needed its strength. Of greater political
+wisdom, though not more just than his son, he adapted his principles to
+the exigencies of time and place, and recalled an ordinance in Antwerp
+and in Madrid which he would under other circumstances have enforced
+with all the terrors of his power. That which makes the reign of
+Charles V. particularly remarkable in regard to the Netherlands is the
+great religious revolution which occurred under it; and which, as the
+principal cause of the subsequent rebellion, demands a somewhat
+circumstantial notice. This it was that first brought arbitrary power
+into the innermost sanctuary of the constitution; taught it to give a
+dreadful specimen of its might; and, in a measure, legalized it, while
+it placed republican spirit on a dangerous eminence. And as the latter
+sank into anarchy and rebellion monarchical power rose to the height of
+despotism.
+
+Nothing is more natural than the transition from civil liberty to
+religious freedom. Individuals, as well as communities, who, favored by
+a happy political constitution, have become acquainted with the rights
+of man, and accustomed to examine, if not also to create, the law which
+is to govern them; whose minds have been enlightened by activity, and
+feelings expanded by the enjoyments of life; whose natural courage has
+been exalted by internal security and prosperity; such men will not
+easily surrender themselves to the blind domination of a dull arbitrary
+creed, and will be the first to emancipate themselves from its yoke.
+Another circumstance, however, must have greatly tended to diffuse the
+new religion in these countries. Italy, it might be objected, the seat
+of the greatest intellectual culture, formerly the scene of the most
+violent political factions, where a burning climate kindles the blood
+with the wildest passions--Italy, among all the European countries,
+remained the freest from this change. But to a romantic people, whom a
+warm and lovely sky, a luxurious, ever young and ever smiling nature,
+and the multifarious witcheries of art, rendered keenly susceptible of
+sensuous enjoyment, that form of religion must naturally have been
+better adapted, which by its splendid pomp captivates the senses, by its
+mysterious enigmas opens an unbounded range to the fancy; and which,
+through the most picturesque forms, labors to insinuate important
+doctrines into the soul. On the contrary, to a people whom the ordinary
+employments of civil life have drawn down to an unpoetical reality, who
+live more in plain notions than in images, and who cultivate their
+common sense at the expense of their imagination--to such a people that
+creed will best recommend itself which dreads not investigation, which
+lays less stress on mysticism than on morals, and which is rather to be
+understood then to be dwelt upon in meditation. In few words, the Roman
+Catholic religion will, on the whole, be found more adapted to a nation
+of artists, the Protestant more fitted to a nation of merchants.
+
+On this supposition the new doctrines which Luther diffused in Germany,
+and Calvin in Switzerland, must have found a congenial soil in the
+Netherlands. The first seeds of it were sown in the Netherlands by the
+Protestant merchants, who assembled at Amsterdam and Antwerp. The
+German and Swiss troops, which Charles introduced into these countries,
+and the crowd of French, German, and English fugitives who, under the
+protection of the liberties of Flanders, sought to escape the sword of
+persecution which threatened them at home, promoted their diffusion. A
+great portion of the Belgian nobility studied at that time at Geneva, as
+the University of Louvain was not yet in repute, and that of Douai not
+yet founded. The new tenets publicly taught there were transplanted by
+the students to their various countries. In an isolated people these
+first germs might easily have been crushed; but in the market-towns of
+Holland and Brabant, the resort of so many different nations, their
+first growth would escape the notice of government, and be accelerated
+under the veil of obscurity. A difference in opinion might easily
+spring up and gain ground amongst those who already were divided in
+national character, in manners, customs, and laws. Moreover, in a
+country where industry was the most lauded virtue, mendicity the most
+abhorred vice, a slothful body of men, like that of the monks, must have
+been an object of long and deep aversion. Hence, the new religion,
+which opposed these orders, derived an immense advantage from having the
+popular opinion on its side. Occasional pamphlets, full of bitterness
+and satire, to which the newly-discovered art of printing secured a
+rapid circulation, and several bands of strolling orators, called
+Rederiker, who at that time made the circuit of the provinces,
+ridiculing in theatrical representations or songs the abuses of their
+times, contributed not a little to diminish respect for the Romish
+Church, and to prepare the people for the reception of the new dogmas.
+
+The first conquests of this doctrine were astonishingly rapid. The
+number of those who in a short time avowed themselves its adherents,
+especially in the northern provinces, was prodigious; but among these
+the foreigners far outnumbered the natives. Charles V., who, in this
+hostile array of religious tenets, had taken the side which a despot
+could not fail to take, opposed to the increasing torrent of innovation
+the most effectual remedies. Unhappily for the reformed religion
+political justice was on the side of its persecutor. The dam which, for
+so many centuries, had repelled human understanding from truth was too
+suddenly torn away for the outbreaking torrent not to overflow its
+appointed channel. The reviving spirit of liberty and of inquiry, which
+ought to have remained within the limits of religious questions, began
+also to examine into the rights of kings. While in the commencement
+iron fetters were justly broken off, a desire was eventually shown to
+rend asunder the most legitimate and most indispensable of ties. Even
+the Holy Scriptures, which were now circulated everywhere, while they
+imparted light and nurture to the sincere inquirer after truth, were the
+source also whence an eccentric fanaticism contrived to extort the
+virulent poison. The good cause had been compelled to choose the evil
+road of rebellion, and the result was what in such cases it ever will be
+so long as men remain men. The bad cause, too, which had nothing in
+common with the good but the employment of illegal means, emboldened by
+this slight point of connection, appeared in the same company, and was
+mistaken for it. Luther had written against the invocation of saints;
+every audacious varlet who broke into the churches and cloisters, and
+plundered the altars, called himself Lutheran. Faction, rapine,
+fanaticism, licentiousness robed themselves in his colors; the most
+enormous offenders, when brought before the judges, avowed themselves
+his followers. The Reformation had drawn down the Roman prelate to a
+level with fallible humanity; an insane band, stimulated by hunger and
+want, sought to annihilate all distinction of ranks. It was natural
+that a doctrine, which to the state showed itself only in its most
+unfavorable aspect, should not have been able to reconcile a monarch who
+had already so many reasons to extirpate it; and it is no wonder,
+therefore, that be employed against it the arms it had itself forced
+upon him.
+
+Charles must already have looked upon himself as absolute in the
+Netherlands since he did not think it necessary to extend to these
+countries the religious liberty which he had accorded to Germany.
+While, compelled by the effectual resistance of the German princes, he
+assured to the former country a free exercise of the new religion, in
+the latter he published the most cruel edicts for its repression. By
+these the reading of the Evangelists and Apostles; all open or secret
+meetings to which religion gave its name in ever so slight a degree; all
+conversations on the subject, at home or at the table, were forbidden
+under severe penalties. In every province special courts of judicature
+were established to watch over the execution of the edicts. Whoever
+held these erroneous opinions was to forfeit his office without regard
+to his rank. Whoever should be convicted of diffusing heretical
+doctrines, or even of simply attending the secret meetings of the
+Reformers, was to be condemned to death, and if a male, to be executed
+by the sword, if a female, buried alive. Backsliding heretics were to
+be committed to the flames. Not even the recantation of the offender
+could annul these appalling sentences. Whoever abjured his errors
+gained nothing by his apostacy but at farthest a milder kind of death.
+
+The fiefs of the condemned were also confiscated, contrary to the
+privileges of the nation, which permitted the heir to redeem them for a
+trifling fine; and in defiance of an express and valuable privilege of
+the citizens of Holland, by which they were not to be tried out of their
+province, culprits were conveyed beyond the limits of the native
+judicature, and condemned by foreign tribunals. Thus did religion guide
+the hand of despotism to attack with its sacred weapon, and without
+danger or opposition, the liberties which were inviolable to the secular
+arm.
+
+Charles V., emboldened by the fortunate progress of his arms in Germany,
+thought that he might now venture on everything, and seriously meditated
+the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. But the
+terror of its very name alone reduced commerce in Antwerp to a
+standstill. The principal foreign merchants prepared to quit the city.
+All buying and selling ceased, the value of houses fell, the employment
+of artisans stopped. Money disappeared from the hands of the citizen.
+The ruin of that flourishing commercial city was inevitable had not
+Charles V. listened to the representations of the Duchess of Parma, and
+abandoned this perilous resolve. The tribunal, therefore, was ordered
+not to interfere with the foreign merchants, and the title of Inquisitor
+was changed unto the milder appellation of Spiritual Judge. But in the
+other provinces that tribunal proceeded to rage with the inhuman
+despotism which has ever been peculiar to it. It has been computed that
+during the reign of Charles V. fifty thousand persons perished by the
+hand of the executioner for religion alone.
+
+When we glance at the violent proceedings of this monarch we are quite
+at a loss to comprehend what it was that kept the rebellion within
+bounds during his reign, which broke out with so much violence under his
+successor. A closer investigation will clear up this seeming anomaly.
+Charles’s dreaded supremacy in Europe had raised the commerce of the
+Netherlands to a height which it had never before attained. The majesty
+of his name opened all harbors, cleared all seas for their vessels, and
+obtained for them the most favorable commercial treaties with foreign
+powers. Through him, in particular, they destroyed the dominion of the
+Hanse towns in the Baltic. Through him, also, the New World, Spain,
+Italy, Germany, which now shared with them a common ruler, were, in a
+measure, to be considered as provinces of their own country, and opened
+new channels for their commerce. He had, moreover, united the remaining
+six provinces with the hereditary states of Burgundy, and thus given to
+them an extent and political importance which placed them by the side of
+the first kingdoms of Europe.
+
+   [He had, too, at one time the intention of raising it to a kingdom;
+   but the essential points of difference between the provinces, which
+   extended from constitution and manners to measures and weights,
+   soon made him abandon this design. More important was the service
+   which he designed them in the Burgundian treaty, which settled its
+   relation to the German empire. According to this treaty the
+   seventeen provinces were to contribute to the common wants of the
+   German empire twice as much as an electoral prince; in case of a
+   Turkish war three times as much; in return for which, however, they
+   were to enjoy the powerful protection of this empire, and not to be
+   injured in any of their various privileges. The revolution, which
+   under Charles’ son altered the political constitution of the
+   provinces, again annulled this compact, which, on account of the
+   trifling advantage that it conferred, deserves no further notice.]
+
+By all this he flattered the national pride of this people. Moreover,
+by the incorporation of Gueldres, Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen with
+these provinces, he put an end to the private wars which had so long
+disturbed their commerce; an unbroken internal peace now allowed them to
+enjoy the full fruits of their industry. Charles was therefore a
+benefactor of this people. At the same time, the splendor of his
+victories dazzled their eyes; the glory of their sovereign, which was
+reflected upon them also, had bribed their republican vigilance; while
+the awe-inspiring halo of invincibility which encircled the conqueror of
+Germany, France, Italy, and Africa terrified the factious. And then,
+who knows not on how much may venture the man, be he a private
+individual or a prince, who has succeeded in enchaining the admiration
+of his fellow-creatures! His repeated personal visits to these lands,
+which he, according to his own confession, visited as often as ten
+different times, kept the disaffected within bounds; the constant
+exercise of severe and prompt justice maintained the awe of the royal
+power. Finally, Charles was born in the Netherlands, and loved the
+nation in whose lap he had grown up. Their manners pleased him, the
+simplicity of their character and social intercourse formed for him a
+pleasing recreation from the severe Spanish gravity. He spoke their
+language, and followed their customs in his private life. The
+burdensome ceremonies which form the unnatural barriers between king and
+people were banished from Brussels. No jealous foreigner debarred
+natives from access to their prince; their way to him was through their
+own countrymen, to whom he entrusted his person. He spoke much and
+courteously with them; his deportment was engaging, his discourse
+obliging. These simple artifices won for him their love, and while
+his armies trod down their cornfields, while his rapacious imposts
+diminished their property, while his governors oppressed, his
+executioners slaughtered, he secured their hearts by a friendly
+demeanor.
+
+Gladly would Charles have seen this affection of the nation for himself
+descend upon his son. On this account he sent for him in his youth from
+Spain, and showed him in Brussels to his future subjects. On the solemn
+day of his abdication he recommended to him these lands as the richest
+jewel in his crown, and earnestly exhorted him to respect their laws and
+privileges.
+
+Philip II. was in all the direct opposite of his father. As ambitious
+as Charles, but with less knowledge of men and of the rights of man, he
+had formed to himself a notion of royal authority which regarded men as
+simply the servile instruments of despotic will, and was outraged by
+every symptom of liberty. Born in Spain, and educated under the iron
+discipline of the monks, he demanded of others the same gloomy formality
+and reserve as marked his own character. The cheerful merriment of his
+Flemish subjects was as uncongenial to his disposition and temper as
+their privileges were offensive to his imperious will. He spoke no
+other language but the Spanish, endured none but Spaniards about his
+person, and obstinately adhered to all their customs. In vain did the
+loyal ingenuity of the Flemish towns through which he passed vie with
+each other in solemnizing his arrival with costly festivities.
+
+   [The town of Antwerp alone expended on an occasion of this kind two
+   hundred and sixty thousand gold florins.]
+
+Philip’s eye remained dark; all the profusion of magnificence, all the
+loud and hearty effusions of the sincerest joy could not win from him
+one approving smile.
+
+Charles entirely missed his aim by presenting his son to the Flemings.
+They might eventually have endured his yoke with less impatience if he
+had never set his foot in their land. But his look forewarned them what
+they had to expect; his entry into Brussels lost him all hearts. The
+Emperor’s gracious affability with his people only served to throw a
+darker shade on the haughty gravity of his son. They read in his
+countenance the destructive purpose against their liberties which, even
+then, he already revolved in his breast. Forewarned to find in him a
+tyrant they were forearmed to resist him.
+
+The throne of the Netherlands was the first which Charles V. abdicated.
+Before a solemn convention in Brussels he absolved the States-General of
+their oath, and transferred their allegiance to King Philip, his son.
+“If my death,” addressing the latter, as he concluded, “had placed you
+in possession of these countries, even in that case so valuable a
+bequest would have given me great claims on your gratitude. But now
+that of my free will I transfer them to you, now that I die in order to
+hasten your enjoyment of them, I only require of you to pay to the
+people the increased obligation which the voluntary surrender of my
+dignity lays upon you. Other princes esteem it a peculiar felicity to
+bequeath to their children the crown which death is already ravishing
+from then. This happiness I am anxious to enjoy during my life. I wish
+to be a spectator of your reign. Few will follow my example, as few
+have preceded me in it. But this my deed will be praised if your future
+life should justify my expectations, if you continue to be guided by
+that wisdom which you have hitherto evinced, if you remain inviolably
+attached to the pure faith which is the main pillar of your throne. One
+thing more I have to add: may Heaven grant you also a son, to whom you
+may transmit your power by choice, and not by necessity.”
+
+After the Emperor had concluded his address Philip kneeled down before
+him, kissed his hand, and received his paternal blessing. His eyes for
+the last time were moistened with a tear. All present wept. It was an
+hour never to be forgotten.
+
+This affecting farce was soon followed by another. Philip received the
+homage of the assembled states. He took the oath administered in the
+following words: “I, Philip, by the grace of God, Prince of Spain, of
+the two Sicilies, etc., do vow and swear that I will be a good and just
+lord in these countries, counties, and duchies, etc.; that I will well
+and truly hold, and cause to be held, the privileges and liberties of
+all the nobles, towns, commons, and subjects which have been conferred
+upon them by my predecessors, and also the customs, usages and rights
+which they now have and enjoy, jointly and severally, and, moreover,
+that I will do all that by law and right pertains to a good and just
+prince and lord, so help me God and all His Saints.”
+
+The alarm which the arbitrary government of the Emperor had inspired,
+and the distrust of his son, are already visible in the formula of this
+oath, which was drawn up in far more guarded and explicit terms than
+that which had been administered to Charles V. himself and all the Dukes
+in Burgundy. Philip, for instance, was compelled to swear to the
+maintenance of their customs and usages, what before his time had never
+been required. In the oath which the states took to him no other
+obedience was promised than such as should be consistent with the
+privileges of the country. His officers then were only to reckon on
+submission and support so long as they legally discharged the duties
+entrusted to them. Lastly, in this oath of allegiance, Philip is simply
+styled the natural, the hereditary prince, and not, as the Emperor had
+desired, sovereign or lord; proof enough how little confidence was
+placed in the justice and liberality of the new sovereign.
+
+
+
+
+         PHILIP II., RULER OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+Philip II. received the lordship of the Netherlands in the brightest
+period of their prosperity. He was the first of their princes who
+united them all under his authority. They now consisted of seventeen
+provinces; the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and Gueldres,
+the seven counties of Artois, Hainault, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen,
+Holland, and Zealand, the margravate of Antwerp, and the five lordships
+of Friesland, Mechlin (Malines), Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen,
+which, collectively, formed a great and powerful state able to contend
+with monarchies. Higher than it then stood their commerce could not
+rise. The sources of their wealth were above the earth’s surface, but
+they were more valuable and inexhaustible and richer than all the mines
+in America. These seventeen provinces which, taken together, scarcely
+comprised the fifth part of Italy, and do not extend beyond three
+hundred Flemish miles, yielded an annual revenue to their lord, not much
+inferior to that which Britain formerly paid to its kings before the
+latter had annexed so many of the ecclesiastical domains to their crown.
+Three hundred and fifty cities, alive with industry and pleasure, many
+of them fortified by their natural position and secure without bulwarks
+or walls; six thousand three hundred market towns of a larger size;
+smaller villages, farms, and castles innumerable, imparted to this
+territory the aspect of one unbroken flourishing landscape. The nation
+had now reached the meridian of its splendor; industry and abundance had
+exalted the genius of the citizen, enlightened his ideas, ennobled his
+affections; every flower of the intellect had opened with the
+flourishing condition of the country. A happy temperament under a
+severe climate cooled the ardor of their blood, and moderated the rage
+of their passions; equanimity, moderation, and enduring patience, the
+gifts of a northern clime; integrity, justice, and faith, the necessary
+virtues of their profession; and the delightful fruits of liberty,
+truth, benevolence, and a patriotic pride were blended in their
+character, with a slight admixture of human frailties. No people on
+earth was more easily governed by a prudent prince, and none with more
+difficulty by a charlatan or a tyrant. Nowhere was the popular voice so
+infallible a test of good government as here. True statesmanship could
+be tried in no nobler school, and a sickly artificial policy had none
+worse to fear.
+
+A state constituted like this could act and endure with gigantic energy
+whenever pressing emergencies called forth its powers and a skilful and
+provident administration elicited its resources. Charles V. bequeathed
+to his successor an authority in these provinces little inferior to that
+of a limited monarchy. The prerogative of the crown had gained a
+visible ascendancy over the republican spirit, and that complicated
+machine could now be set in motion, almost as certainly and rapidly as
+the most absolutely governed nation. The numerous nobility, formerly so
+powerful, cheerfully accompanied their sovereign in his wars, or, on the
+civil changes of the state, courted the approving smile of royality.
+The crafty policy of the crown had created a new and imaginary good, of
+which it was the exclusive dispenser. New passions and new ideas of
+happiness supplanted at last the rude simplicity of republican virtue.
+Pride gave place to vanity, true liberty to titles of Honor, a needy
+independence to a luxurious servitude. To oppress or to plunder their
+native land as the absolute satraps of an absolute lord was a more
+powerful allurement for the avarice and ambition of the great, than in
+the general assembly of the state to share with the monarch a hundredth
+part of the supreme power. A large portion, moreover, of the nobility
+were deeply sunk in poverty and debt. Charles V. had crippled all the
+most dangerous vassals of the crown by expensive embassies to foreign
+courts, under the specious pretext of honorary distinctions. Thus,
+William of Orange was despatched to Germany with the imperial crown, and
+Count Egmont to conclude the marriage contract between Philip and Queen
+Mary. Both also afterwards accompanied the Duke of Alva to France to
+negotiate the peace between the two crowns, and the new alliance of
+their sovereign with Madame Elizabeth. The expenses of these journeys
+amounted to three hundred thousand florins, towards which the king did
+not contribute a single penny. When the Prince of Orange was appointed
+generalissimo in the place of the Duke of Savoy he was obliged to defray
+all the necessary expenses of his office. When foreign ambassadors or
+princes came to Brussels it was made incumbent on the nobles to maintain
+the honor of their king, who himself always dined alone, and never kept
+open table. Spanish policy had devised a still more ingenious
+contrivance gradually to impoverish the richest families of the land.
+Every year one of the Castilian nobles made his appearance in Brussels,
+where he displayed a lavish magnificence. In Brussels it was accounted
+an indelible disgrace to be distanced by a stranger in such munificence.
+All vied to surpass him, and exhausted their fortunes in this costly
+emulation, while the Spaniard made a timely retreat to his native
+country, and by the frugality of four years repaired the extravagance of
+one year. It was the foible of the Netherlandish nobility to contest
+with every stranger the credit of superior wealth, and of this weakness
+the government studiously availed itself. Certainly these arts did not
+in the sequel produce the exact result that had been calculated on; for
+these pecuniary burdens only made the nobility the more disposed for
+innovation, since he who has lost all can only be a gainer in the
+general ruin.
+
+The Roman Church had ever been a main support of the royal power, and it
+was only natural that it should be so. Its golden time was the bondage
+of the human intellect, and, like royalty, it had gained by the
+ignorance and weakness of men. Civil oppression made religion more
+necessary and more dear; submission to tyrannical power prepares the
+mind for a blind, convenient faith, and the hierarchy repaid with usury
+the services of despotism. In the provinces the bishops and prelates
+were zealous supporters of royalty, and ever ready to sacrifice the
+welfare of the citizen to the temporal advancement of the church and the
+political interests of the sovereign.
+
+Numerous and brave garrisons also held the cities in awe, which were
+at the same time divided by religious squabbles and factions, and
+consequently deprived of their strongest support--union among
+themselves. How little, therefore, did it require to insure this
+preponderance of Philip’s power, and how fatal must have been the folly
+by which it was lost.
+
+But Philip’s authority in these provinces, however great, did not
+surpass the influence which the Spanish monarchy at that time enjoyed
+throughout Europe. No state ventured to enter the arena of contest with
+it. France, its most dangerous neighbor, weakened by a destructive war,
+and still more by internal factions, which boldly raised their heads
+during the feeble government of a child, was advancing rapidly to that
+unhappy condition which, for nearly half a century, made it a theatre of
+the most enormous crimes and the most fearful calamities. In England
+Elizabeth could with difficulty protect her still tottering throne
+against the furious storms of faction, and her new church establishment
+against the insidious arts of the Romanists. That country still awaited
+her mighty call before it could emerge from a humble obscurity, and had
+not yet been awakened by the faulty policy of her rival to that vigor
+and energy with which it finally overthrew him. The imperial family of
+Germany was united with that of Spain by the double ties of blood and
+political interest; and the victorious progress of Soliman drew its
+attention more to the east than to the west of Europe. Gratitude and
+fear secured to Philip the Italian princes, and his creatures ruled the
+Conclave. The monarchies of the North still lay in barbarous darkness
+and obscurity, or only just began to acquire form and strength, and were
+as yet unrecognized in the political system of Europe. The most skilful
+generals, numerous armies accustomed to victory, a formidable marine,
+and the golden tribute from the West Indies, which now first began to
+come in regularly and certainly--what terrible instruments were these in
+the firm and steady hand of a talented prince Under such auspicious
+stars did King Philip commence his reign.
+
+Before we see him act we must first look hastily into the deep recesses
+of his soul, and we shall there find a key to his political life. Joy
+and benevolence were wholly wanting in the composition of his character.
+His temperament, and the gloomy years of his early childhood, denied him
+the former; the latter could not be imparted to him by men who had
+renounced the sweetest and most powerful of the social ties. Two ideas,
+his own self and what was above that self, engrossed his narrow and
+contracted mind. Egotism and religion were the contents and the
+title-page of the history of his whole life. He was a king and a
+Christian, and was bad in both characters; he never was a man among men,
+because he never condescended but only ascended. His belief was dark and
+cruel; for his divinity was a being of terror, from whom he had nothing
+to hope but everything to fear. To the ordinary man the divinity appears
+as a comforter, as a Saviour; before his mind it was set up as an image
+of fear, a painful, humiliating check to his human omnipotence. His
+veneration for this being was so much the more profound and deeply rooted
+the less it extended to other objects. He trembled servilely before God
+because God was the only being before whom he had to tremble. Charles V.
+was zealous for religion because religion promoted his objects. Philip
+was so because he had real faith in it. The former let loose the fire and
+the sword upon thousands for the sake of a dogma, while he himself, in
+the person of the pope, his captive, derided the very doctrine for which
+he had sacrificed so much human blood. It was only with repugnance and
+scruples of conscience that Philip resolved on the most just war against
+the pope, and resigned all the fruits of his victory as a penitent
+malefactor surrenders his booty. The Emperor was cruel from calculation,
+his son from impulse. The first possessed a strong and enlightened
+spirit, and was, perhaps, so much the worse as a man; the second was
+narrow-minded and weak, but the more upright.
+
+Both, however, as it appears to me, might have been better men than they
+actually were, and still, on the whole, have acted on the very same
+principles. What we lay to the charge of personal character of an
+individual is very often the infirmity, the necessary imperfection of
+universal human nature. A monarchy so great and so powerful was too
+great a trial for human pride, and too mighty a charge for human power.
+To combine universal happiness with the highest liberty of the
+individual is the sole prerogative of infinite intelligence, which
+diffuses itself omnipresently over all. But what resource has man
+when placed in the position of omnipotence? Man can only aid his
+circumscribed powers by classification; like the naturalist, he
+establishes certain marks and rules by which to facilitate his own
+feeble survey of the whole, to which all individualities must conform.
+All this is accomplished for him by religion. She finds hope and fear
+planted in every human breast; by making herself mistress of these
+emotions, and directing their affections to a single object, she
+virtually transforms millions of independent beings into one uniform
+abstract. The endless diversity of the human will no longer embarrasses
+its ruler--now there exists one universal good, one universal evil,
+which he can bring forward or withdraw at pleasure, and which works in
+unison with himself even when absent. Now a boundary is established
+before which liberty must halt; a venerable, hallowed line, towards
+which all the various conflicting inclinations of the will must finally
+converge. The common aim of despotism and of priestcraft is uniformity,
+and uniformity is a necessary expedient of human poverty and
+imperfection. Philip became a greater despot than his father because
+his mind was more contracted, or, in other words, he was forced to
+adhere the more scrupulously to general rules the less capable he was of
+descending to special and individual exceptions. What conclusion could
+we draw from these principles but that Philip II. could not possibly
+have any higher object of his solicitude than uniformity, both in
+religion and in laws, because without these he could not reign?
+
+And yet he would have shown more mildness and forbearance in his
+government if he had entered upon it earlier. In the judgment which is
+usually formed of this prince one circumstance does not appear to be
+sufficiently considered in the history of his mind and heart, which,
+however, in all fairness, ought to be duly weighed. Philip counted
+nearly thirty years when he ascended the Spanish throne, and the early
+maturity of his understanding had anticipated the period of his
+majority. A mind like his, conscious of its powers, and only too early
+acquainted with his high expectations, could not brook the yoke of
+childish subjection in which he stood; the superior genius of the
+father, and the absolute authority of the autocrat, must have weighed
+heavily on the self-satisfied pride of such a son. The share which the
+former allowed him in the government of the empire was just important
+enough to disengage his mind from petty passions and to confirm the
+austere gravity of his character, but also meagre enough to kindle a
+fiercer longing for unlimited power. When he actually became possessed
+of uncontrolled authority it had lost the charm of novelty. The sweet
+intoxication of a young monarch in the sudden and early possession of
+supreme power; that joyous tumult of emotions which opens the soul to
+every softer sentiment, and to which humanity has owed so many of the
+most valuable and the most prized of its institutions; this pleasing
+moment had for him long passed by, or had never existed. His character
+was already hardened when fortune put him to this severe test, and his
+settled principles withstood the collision of occasional emotion. He had
+had time, during fifteen years, to prepare himself for the change; and
+instead of youthful dallying with the external symbols of his new
+station, or of losing the morning of his government in the intoxication
+of an idle vanity, he remained composed and serious enough to enter at
+once on the full possession of his power so as to revenge himself
+through the most extensive employment of it for its having been so long
+withheld from him.
+
+
+
+
+           THE TRIBUNAL OF THE INQUISITION
+
+Philip II. no sooner saw himself, through the peace of Chateau-Cambray,
+in undisturbed enjoyment of his immense territory than he turned his
+whole attention to the great work of purifying religion, and verified
+the fears of his Netherlandish subjects. The ordinances which his
+father had caused to be promulgated against heretics were renewed in all
+their rigor, and terrible tribunals, to whom nothing but the name of
+inquisition was wanting, were appointed to watch over their execution.
+But his plan appeared to him scarcely more than half-fulfilled so long
+as he could not transplant into these countries the Spanish Inquisition
+in its perfect form--a design in which the Emperor had already suffered
+shipwreck.
+
+The Spanish Inquisition is an institution of a new and peculiar kind,
+which finds no prototype in the whole course of time, and admits of
+comparison with no ecclesiastical or civil tribunal. Inquisition had
+existed from the time when reason meddled with what is holy, and from
+the very commencement of scepticism and innovation; but it was in the
+middle of the thirteenth century, after some examples of apostasy had
+alarmed the hierarchy, that Innocent III. first erected for it a
+peculiar tribunal, and separated, in an unnatural manner, ecclesiastical
+superintendence and instruction from its judicial and retributive
+office. In order to be the more sure that no human sensibilities or
+natural tenderness should thwart the stern severity of its statutes, he
+took it out of the hands of the bishops and secular clergy, who, by the
+ties of civil life, were still too much attached to humanity for his
+purpose, and consigned it to those of the monks, a half-denaturalized
+race of beings who had abjured the sacred feelings, of nature, and were
+the servile tools of the Roman See. The Inquisition was received in
+Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France; a Franciscan monk sat as
+judge in the terrible court, which passed sentence on the Templars. A
+few states succeeded either in totally excluding or else in subjecting
+it to civil authority. The Netherlands had remained free from it until
+the government of Charles V.; their bishops exercised the spiritual
+censorship, and in extraordinary cases reference was made to foreign
+courts of inquisition; by the French provinces to that of Paris, by the
+Germans to that of Cologne.
+
+But the Inquisition which we are here speaking of came from the west of
+Europe, and was of a different origin and form. The last Moorish throne
+in Granada had fallen in the fifteenth century, and the false faith of
+the Saracens had finally succumbed before the fortunes of Christianity.
+But the gospel was still new, and but imperfectly established in this
+youngest of Christian kingdoms, and in the confused mixture of
+heterogeneous laws and manners the religions had become mixed. It is
+true the sword of persecution had driven many thousand families to
+Africa, but a far larger portion, detained by the love of climate and
+home, purchased remission from this dreadful necessity by a show of
+conversion, and continued at Christian altars to serve Mohammed and
+Moses. So long as prayers were offered towards Mecca, Granada was not
+subdued; so long as the new Christian, in the retirement of his house,
+became again a Jew or a Moslem, he was as little secured to the throne
+as to the Romish See. It was no longer deemed sufficient to compel a
+perverse people to adopt the exterior forms of a new faith, or to wed it
+to the victorious church by the weak bands of ceremonials; the object
+now was to extirpate the roots of an old religion, and to subdue an
+obstinate bias which, by the slow operation of centuries, had been
+implanted in their manners, their language, and their laws, and by the
+enduring influence of a paternal soil and sky was still maintained in
+its full extent and vigor.
+
+If the church wished to triumph completely over the opposing worship,
+and to secure her new conquest beyond all chance of relapse, it was
+indispensable that she should undermine the foundation itself on which
+the old religion was built. It was necessary to break to pieces the
+entire form of moral character to which it was so closely and intimately
+attached. It was requisite to loosen its secret roots from the hold
+they had taken in. the innermost depths of the soul; to extinguish all
+traces of it, both in domestic life and in the civil world; to cause all
+recollection of it to perish; and, if possible, to destroy the very
+susceptibility for its impressions. Country and family, conscience and
+honor, the sacred feelings of society and of nature, are ever the first
+and immediate ties to which religion attaches itself; from these it
+derives while it imparts strength. This connection was now to be
+dissolved; the old religion was violently to be dissevered from the holy
+feelings of nature, even at the expense of the sanctity itself of these
+emotions. Thus arose that Inquisition which, to distinguish it from the
+more humane tribunals of the same name, we usually call the Spanish.
+Its founder was Cardinal Ximenes, a Dominican monk. Torquemada was the
+first who ascended its bloody throne, who established its statutes, and
+forever cursed his order with this bequest. Sworn to the degradation of
+the understanding and the murder of intellect, the instruments it
+employed were terror and infamy. Every evil passion was in its pay; its
+snare was set in every joy of life. Solitude itself was not safe from
+it; the fear of its omnipresence fettered the freedom of the soul in its
+inmost and deepest recesses. It prostrated all the instincts of human
+nature before it yielded all the ties which otherwise man held most
+sacred. A heretic forfeited all claims upon his race; the most trivial
+infidelity to his mother church divested him of the rights of his
+nature. A modest doubt in the infallibility of the pope met with the
+punishment of parricide and the infamy of sodomy; its sentences
+resembled the frightful corruption of the plague, which turns the most
+healthy body into rapid putrefaction. Even the inanimate things
+belonging to a heretic were accursed. No destiny could snatch the
+victim of the Inquisition from its sentence. Its decrees were carried
+in force on corpses and on pictures, and the grave itself was no asylum
+from its tremendous arm. The presumptuous arrogance of its decrees
+could only be surpassed by the inhumanity which executed them. By
+coupling the ludicrous with the terrible, and by amusing the eye with
+the strangeness of its processions, it weakened compassion by the
+gratification of another feeling; it drowned sympathy in derision and
+contempt. The delinquent was conducted with solemn pomp to the place of
+execution, a blood-red flag was displayed before him, the universal
+clang of all the bells accompanied the procession. First came the
+priests, in the robes of the Mass and singing a sacred hymn; next
+followed the condemned sinner, clothed in a yellow vest, covered with
+figures of black devils. On his head he wore a paper cap, surmounted by
+a human figure, around which played lambent flames of fire, and ghastly
+demons flitted. The image of the crucified Saviour was carried before,
+but turned away from the eternally condemned sinner, for whom salvation
+was no longer available. His mortal body belonged to the material fire,
+his immortal soul to the flames of bell. A gag closed his mouth, and
+prevented him from alleviating his pain by lamentations, from awakening
+compassion by his affecting tale, and from divulging the secrets of the
+holy tribunal. He was followed by the clergy in festive robes, by the
+magistrates, and the nobility; the fathers who had been his judges
+closed the awful procession. It seemed like a solemn funeral
+procession, but on looking for the corpse on its way to the grave,
+behold! it was a living body whose groans are now to afford such
+shuddering entertainment to the people. The executions were generally
+held on the high festivals, for which a number of such unfortunate
+sufferers were reserved in the prisons of the holy house, in order to
+enhance the rejoicing by the multitude of the victims, and on these
+occasions the king himself was usually present. He sat with uncovered
+head, on a lower chair than that of the Grand Inquisitor, to whom, on
+such occasions, he yielded precedence; who, then, would not tremble
+before a tribunal at which majesty must humble itself?
+
+The great revolution in the church accomplished by Luther and Calvin
+renewed the causes to which this tribunal owed its first origin; and
+that which, at its commencement, was invented to clear the petty kingdom
+of Granada from the feeble remnant of Saracens and Jews was now required
+for the whole of Christendom. All the Inquisitions in Portugal, Italy,
+Germany, and France adopted the form of the Spanish; it followed
+Europeans to the Indies, and established in Goa a fearful tribunal,
+whose inhuman proceedings make us shudder even at the bare recital.
+Wherever it planted its foot devastation followed; but in no part of the
+world did it rage so violently as in Spain. The victims are forgotten
+whom it immolated; the human race renews itself, and the lands, too,
+flourish again which it has devastated and depopulated by its fury; but
+centuries will elapse before its traces disappear from the Spanish
+character. A generous and enlightened nation has been stopped by it on
+its road to perfection; it has banished genius from a region where it
+was indigenous, and a stillness like that which hangs over the grave has
+been left in the mind of a people who, beyond most others of our world,
+were framed for happiness and enjoyment.
+
+The first Inquisitor in Brabant was appointed by Charles V. in the year
+1522. Some priests were associated with him as coadjutors; but he
+himself was a layman. After the death of Adrian VI., his successor,
+Clement VII., appointed three Inquisitors for all the Netherlands; and
+Paul III. again reduced them to two, which number continued until the
+commencement of the troubles. In the year 1530, with the aid and
+approbation of the states, the edicts against heretics were promulgated,
+which formed the foundation of all that followed, and in which, also,
+express mention is made of the Inquisition. In the year 1550, in
+consequence of the rapid increase of sects, Charles V. was under the
+necessity of reviving and enforcing these edicts, and it was on this
+occasion that the town of Antwerp opposed the establishment of the
+Inquisition, and obtained an exemption from its jurisdiction. But the
+spirit of the Inquisition in the Netherlands, in accordance with the
+genius of the country, was more humane than in Spain, and as yet had
+never been administered by a foreigner, much less by a Dominican. The
+edicts which were known to everybody served it as the rule of its
+decisions. On this very account it was less obnoxious; because, however
+severe its sentence, it did not appear a tool of arbitrary power, and it
+did not, like the Spanish Inquisition, veil itself in secrecy.
+
+Philip, however, was desirous of introducing the latter tribunal into
+the Netherlands, since it appeared to him the instrument best adapted to
+destroy the spirit of this people, and to prepare them for a despotic
+government. He began, therefore, by increasing the rigor of the
+religious ordinances of his father; by gradually extending the power of
+the inquisitors; by making the proceedings more arbitrary, and more
+independent of the civil jurisdiction. The tribunal soon wanted little
+more than the name and the Dominicans to resemble in every point the
+Spanish Inquisition. Bare suspicion was enough to snatch a citizen from
+the bosom of public tranquillity, and from his domestic circle; and the
+weakest evidence was a sufficient justification for the use of the rack.
+Whoever fell into its abyss returned no more to the world. All the
+benefits of the laws ceased for him; the maternal care of justice no
+longer noticed him; beyond the pale of his former world malice and
+stupidity judged him according to laws which were never intended for
+man. The delinquent never knew his accuser, and very seldom his crime,
+--a flagitious, devilish artifice which constrained the unhappy victim
+to guess at his error, and in the delirium of the rack, or in the
+weariness of a long living interment, to acknowledge transgressions
+which, perhaps, had never been committed, or at least had never come
+to the knowledge of his judges. The goods of the condemned were
+confiscated, and the informer encouraged by letters of grace and
+rewards. No privilege, no civil jurisdiction was valid against the holy
+power; the secular arm lost forever all whom that power had once
+touched. Its only share in the judicial duties of the latter was to
+execute its sentences with humble submissiveness. The consequences of
+such an institution were, of necessity, unnatural and horrible; the
+whole temporal happiness, the life itself, of an innocent man was at
+the mercy of any worthless fellow. Every secret enemy, every envious
+person, had now the perilous temptation of an unseen and unfailing
+revenge. The security of property, the sincerity of intercourse were
+gone; all the ties of interest were dissolved; all of blood and of
+affection were irreparably broken. An infectious distrust envenomed
+social life; the dreaded presence of a spy terrified the eye from
+seeing, and choked the voice in the midst of utterance. No one believed
+in the existence of an honest man, or passed for one himself. Good
+name, the ties of country, brotherhood, even oaths, and all that man
+holds sacred, were fallen in estimation. Such was the destiny to which
+a great and flourishing commercial town was subjected, where one hundred
+thousand industrious men had been brought together by the single tie of
+mutual confidence,--every one indispensable to his neighbor, yet every
+one distrusted and distrustful,--all attracted by the spirit of gain,
+and repelled from each other by fear,--all the props of society torn
+away, where social union was the basis of all life and all existence.
+
+
+
+
+    OTHER ENCROACHMENTS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+No wonder if so unnatural a tribunal, which had proved intolerable even
+to the more submissive spirit of the Spaniard, drove a free state to
+rebellion. But the terror which it inspired was increased by the
+Spanish troops, which, even after the restoration of peace, were kept in
+the country, and, in violation of the constitution, garrisoned border
+towns. Charles V. had been forgiven for this introduction of foreign
+troops so long as the necessity of it was evident, and his good
+intentions were less distrusted. But now men saw in these troops only
+the alarming preparations of oppression and the instruments of a
+detested hierarchy. Moreover, a considerable body of cavalry, composed
+of natives, and fully adequate for the protection of the country, made
+these foreigners superfluous. The licentiousness and rapacity, too,
+of the Spaniards, whose pay was long in arrear, and who indemnified
+themselves at the expense of the citizens, completed the exasperation of
+the people, and drove the lower orders to despair. Subsequently, when
+the general murmur induced the government to move them from the
+frontiers and transport them into the islands of Zealand, where ships
+were prepared for their deportation, their excesses were carried to such
+a pitch that the inhabitants left off working at the embankments, and
+preferred to abandon their native country to the fury of the sea rather
+than to submit any longer to the wanton brutality of these lawless
+bands.
+
+Philip, indeed, would have wished to retain these Spaniards in the
+country, in order by their presence to give weight to his edicts,
+and to support the innovations which he had resolved to make in the
+constitution of the Netherlands. He regarded them as a guarantee for
+the submission of the nation and as a chain by which he held it captive.
+Accordingly, he left no expedient untried to evade the persevering
+importunity of the states, who demanded the withdrawal of these troops;
+and for this end he exhausted all the resources of chicanery and
+persuasion. At one time he pretended to dread a sudden invasion by
+France, although, torn by furious factions, that country could scarce
+support itself against a domestic enemy; at another time they were, he
+said, to receive his son, Don Carlos, on the frontiers; whom, however,
+he never intended should leave Castile. Their maintenance should not be
+a burden to the nation; he himself would disburse all their expenses
+from his private purse. In order to detain them with the more
+appearance of reason he purposely kept back from them their arrears of
+pay; for otherwise he would assuredly have preferred them to the troops
+of the country, whose demands he fully satisfied. To lull the fears of
+the nation, and to appease the general discontent, he offered the chief
+command of these troops to the two favorites of the people, the Prince
+of Orange and Count Egmont. Both, however, declined his offer, with the
+noble-minded declaration that they could never make up their minds to
+serve contrary to the laws of the country. The more desire the king
+showed to have his Spaniards in the country the more obstinately the
+states insisted on their removal. In the following Diet at Ghent he was
+compelled, in the very midst of his courtiers, to listen to republican
+truth. “Why are foreign hands needed for our defence?” demanded the
+Syndic of Ghent. “Is it that the rest of the world should consider us
+too stupid, or too cowardly, to protect ourselves? Why have we made
+peace if the burdens of war are still to oppress us? In war necessity
+enforced endurance; in peace our patience is exhausted by its burdens.
+Or shall we be able to keep in order these licentious bands which thine
+own presence could not restrain? Here, Cambray and Antwerp cry for
+redress; there, Thionville and Marienburg lie waste; and, surely, thou
+hast not bestowed upon us peace that our cities should become deserts,
+as they necessarily must if thou freest them not from these destroyers?
+Perhaps then art anxious to guard against surprise from our neighbors?
+This precaution is wise; but the report of their preparations will long
+outrun their hostilities. Why incur a heavy expense to engage
+foreigners who will not care for a country which they must leave
+to-morrow? Hast thou not still at thy command the same brave
+Netherlanders to whom thy father entrusted the republic in far more
+troubled times? Why shouldest thou now doubt their loyalty, which, to
+thy ancestors, they have preserved for so many centuries inviolate?
+Will not they be sufficient to sustain the war long enough to give time
+to thy confederates to join their banners, or to thyself to send succor
+from the neighboring country?” This language was too new to the king,
+and its truth too obvious for him to be able at once to reply to it.
+“I, also, am a foreigner,” he at length exclaimed, “and they would like,
+I suppose, to expel me from the country!” At the same time he descended
+from the throne, and left the assembly; but the speaker was pardoned for
+his boldness. Two days afterwards he sent a message to the states that
+if he had been apprised earlier that these troops were a burden to them
+he would have immediately made preparation to remove them with himself
+to Spain. Now it was too late, for they would not depart unpaid; but he
+pledged them his most sacred promise that they should not be oppressed
+with this burden more than four months. Nevertheless, the troops
+remained in this country eighteen months instead of four; and would not,
+perhaps, even then have left it so soon if the exigencies of the state
+had not made their presence indispensable in another part of the world.
+
+The illegal appointment of foreigners to the most important offices of
+the country afforded further occasion of complaint against the
+government. Of all the privileges of the provinces none was so
+obnoxious to the Spaniards as that which excluded strangers from office,
+and none they had so zealously sought to abrogate. Italy, the two
+Indies, and all the provinces of this vast Empire, were indeed open to
+their rapacity and ambition; but from the richest of them all an
+inexorable fundamental law excluded them. They artfully persuaded their
+sovereign that his power in these countries would never be firmly
+established so long as he could not employ foreigners as his
+instruments. The Bishop of Arras, a Burgundian by birth, had already
+been illegally forced upon the Flemings; and now the Count of Feria, a
+Castilian, was to receive a seat and voice in the council of state. But
+this attempt met with a bolder resistance than the king’s flatterers had
+led him to expect, and his despotic omnipotence was this time wrecked by
+the politic measures of William of Orange and the firmness of the
+states.
+
+
+
+
+          WILLIAM OF ORANGE AND COUNT EGMONT.
+
+By such measures, did Philip usher in his government of the Netherlands,
+and such were the grievances of the nation when he was preparing to
+leave them. He had long been impatient to quit a country where he was a
+stranger, where there was so much that opposed his secret wishes, and
+where his despotic mind found such undaunted monitors to remind him of
+the laws of freedom. The peace with France at last rendered a longer
+stay unnecessary; the armaments of Soliman required his presence in the
+south, and the Spaniards also began to miss their long-absent king. The
+choice of a supreme Stadtholder for the Netherlands was the principal
+matter which still detained him. Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, had
+filled this place since the resignation of Mary, Queen of Hungary,
+which, however, so long as the king himself was present, conferred more
+honor than real influence. His absence would make it the most important
+office in the monarchy, and the most splendid aim for the ambition of a
+subject. It had now become vacant through the departure of the duke,
+whom the peace of Chateau-Cambray had restored to his dominions. The
+almost unlimited power with which the supreme Statholder would be
+entrusted, the capacity and experience which so extensive and delicate
+an appointment required, but, especially, the daring designs which the
+government had in contemplation against the freedom of the country, the
+execution of which would devolve on him, necessarily embarrassed the
+choice. The law, which excluded all foreigners from office, made an
+exception in the case of the supreme Stadtholder. As he could not be at
+the same time a native of all the provinces, it was allowable for him
+not to belong to any one of them; for the jealousy of the man of Brabant
+would concede no greater right to a Fleming, whose home was half a mile
+from his frontier, than to a Sicilian, who lived in another soil and
+under a different sky. But here the interests of the crown itself
+seemed to favor the appointment of a native. A Brabanter, for instance,
+who enjoyed the full confidence of his countrymen if he were a traitor
+would have half accomplished his treason before a foreign governor could
+have overcome the mistrust with which his most insignificant measures
+would be watched. If the government should succeed in carrying through
+its designs in one province, the opposition of the rest would then be a
+temerity, which it would be justified in punishing in the severest
+manner. In the common whole which the provinces now formed their
+individual constitutions were, in a measure, destroyed; the obedience of
+one would be a law for all, and the privilege, which one knew not how to
+preserve, was lost for the rest.
+
+Among the Flemish nobles who could lay claim to the Chief
+Stadtholdership, the expectations and wishes of the nation were divided
+between Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange, who were alike qualified
+for this high dignity by illustrious birth and personal merits, and by
+an equal share in the affections of the people. Their high rank placed
+them both near to the throne, and if the choice of the monarch was to
+rest on the worthiest it must necessarily fall upon one of these two.
+As, in the course of our history, we shall often have occasion to
+mention both names, the reader cannot be too early made acquainted with
+their characters.
+
+William I., Prince of Orange, was descended from the princely German
+house of Nassau, which had already flourished eight centuries, had long
+disputed the preeminence with Austria, and had given one Emperor to
+Germany. Besides several extensive domains in the Netherlands, which
+made him a citizen of this republic and a vassal of the Spanish
+monarchy, he possessed also in France the independent princedom of
+Orange. William was born in the year 1533, at Dillenburg, in the
+country of Nassau, of a Countess Stolberg. His father, the Count of
+Nassau, of the same name, had embraced the Protestant religion, and
+caused his son also to be educated in it; but Charles V., who early
+formed an attachment for the boy, took him when quite young to his
+court, and had him brought up in the Romish church. This monarch, who
+already in the child discovered the future greatness of the man, kept
+him nine years about his person, thought him worthy of his personal
+instruction in the affairs of government, and honored him with a
+confidence beyond his years. He alone was permitted to remain in the
+Emperor’s presence when he gave audience to foreign ambassadors--a proof
+that, even as a boy, he had already begun to merit the surname of the
+Silent. The Emperor was not ashamed even to confess openly, on one
+occasion, that this young man had often made suggestions which would
+have escaped his own sagacity. What expectations might not be formed of
+the intellect of a man who was disciplined in such a school.
+
+William was twenty-three years old when Charles abdicated the
+government, and had already received from the latter two public marks of
+the highest esteem. The Emperor had entrusted to him, in preference to
+all the nobles of his court, the honorable office of conveying to his
+brother Ferdinand the imperial crown. When the Duke of Savoy, who
+commanded the imperial army in the Netherlands, was called away to Italy
+by the exigency of his domestic affairs, the Emperor appointed him
+commander-in-chief against the united representations of his military
+council, who declared it altogether hazardous to oppose so young a tyro
+in arms to the experienced generals of France. Absent, and
+unrecommended by any, he was preferred by the monarch to the
+laurel-crowned band of his heroes, and the result gave him no cause
+to repent of his choice.
+
+The marked favor which the prince had enjoyed with the father was in
+itself a sufficient ground for his exclusion from the confidence of the
+son. Philip, it appears, had laid it down for himself as a rule to
+avenge the wrongs of the Spanish nobility for the preference which
+Charles V. had on all important occasions shown to his Flemish nobles.
+Still stronger, however, were the secret motives which alienated him
+from the prince. William of Orange was one of those lean and pale men
+who, according to Caesar’s words, “sleep not at night, and think too
+much,” and before whom the most fearless spirits quail.
+
+The calm tranquillity of a never-varying countenance concealed a busy,
+ardent soul, which never ruffled even the veil behind which it worked,
+and was alike inaccessible to artifice and love; a versatile,
+formidable, indefatigable mind, soft, and ductile enough to be
+instantaneously moulded into all forms; guarded enough to lose itself in
+none; and strong enough to endure every vicissitude of fortune. A
+greater master in reading and in winning men’s hearts never existed than
+William. Not that, after the fashion of courts, his lips avowed a
+servility to which his proud heart gave the lie; but because he was
+neither too sparing nor too lavish of the marks of his esteem, and
+through a skilful economy of the favors which mostly bind men, he
+increased his real stock in them. The fruits of his meditation were as
+perfect as they were slowly formed; his resolves were as steadily and
+indomitably accomplished as they were long in maturing. No obstacles
+could defeat the plan which he had once adopted as the best; no
+accidents frustrated it, for they all had been foreseen before they
+actually occurred. High as his feelings were raised above terror and
+joy, they were, nevertheless, subject in the same degree to fear; but
+his fear was earlier than the danger, and he was calm in tumult because
+he had trembled in repose. William lavished his gold with a profuse
+hand, but he was a niggard of his movements. The hours of repast were
+the sole hours of relaxation, but these were exclusively devoted to his
+heart, his family, and his friends; this the modest deduction he allowed
+himself from the cares of his country. Here his brow was cleared with
+wine, seasoned by temperance and a cheerful disposition; and no serious
+cares were permitted to enter this recess of enjoyment. His household
+was magnificent; the splendor of a numerous retinue, the number and
+respectability of those who surrounded his person, made his habitation
+resemble the court of a sovereign prince. A sumptuous hospitality, that
+master-spell of demagogues, was the goddess of his palace. Foreign
+princes and ambassadors found here a fitting reception and
+entertainment, which surpassed all that luxurious Belgium could
+elsewhere offer. A humble submissiveness to the government bought off
+the blame and suspicion which this munificence might have thrown on his
+intentions. But this liberality secured for him the affections of the
+people, whom nothing gratified so much as to see the riches of their
+country displayed before admiring foreigners, and the high pinnacle of
+fortune on which he stood enhanced the value of the courtesy to which he
+condescended. No one, probably, was better fitted by nature for the
+leader of a conspiracy than William the Silent. A comprehensive and
+intuitive glance into the past, the present, and the future; the talent
+for improving every favorable opportunity; a commanding influence over
+the minds of men, vast schemes which only when viewed from a distance
+show form and symmetry; and bold calculations which were wound up in the
+long chain of futurity; all these faculties he possessed, and kept,
+moreover, under the control of that free and enlightened virtue which
+moves with firm step even on the very edge of the abyss.
+
+A man like this might at other times have remained unfathomed by his
+whole generation; but not so by the distrustful spirit of the age in
+which he lived. Philip II. saw quickly and deeply into a character
+which, among good ones, most resembled his own. If he had not seen
+through him so clearly his distrust of a man, in whom were united nearly
+all the qualities which he prized highest and could best appreciate,
+would be quite inexplicable. But William had another and still more
+important point of contact with Philip II. He had learned his policy
+from the same master, and had become, it was to be feared, a more apt
+scholar. Not by making Machiavelli’s ‘Prince’ his study, but by having
+enjoyed the living instruction of a monarch who reduced the book to
+practice, had he become versed in the perilous arts by which thrones
+rise and fall. In him Philip had to deal with an antagonist who was
+armed against his policy, and who in a good cause could also command the
+resources of a bad one. And it was exactly this last circumstance which
+accounts for his having hated this man so implacably above all others of
+his day, and his having had so supernatural a dread of him.
+
+The suspicion which already attached to the prince was increased by the
+doubts which were entertained of his religious bias. So long as the
+Emperor, his benefactor, lived, William believed in the pope; but it was
+feared, with good ground, that the predilection for the reformed
+religion, which had been imparted into his young heart, had never
+entirely left it. Whatever church he may at certain periods of his life
+have preferred each might console itself with the reflection that none
+other possessed him more entirely. In later years he went over to
+Calvinism with almost as little scruple as in his early childhood he
+deserted the Lutheran profession for the Romish. He defended the rights
+of the Protestants rather than their opinions against Spanish
+oppression; not their faith, but their wrongs, had made him their
+brother.
+
+These general grounds for suspicion appeared to be justified by a
+discovery of his real intentions which accident had made. William had
+remained in France as hostage for the peace of Chateau-Cambray, in
+concluding which he had borne a part; and here, through the imprudence
+of Henry II., who imagined he spoke with a confidant of the King of
+Spain, he became acquainted with a secret plot which the French and
+Spanish courts had formed against Protestants of both kingdoms. The
+prince hastened to communicate this important discovery to his friends
+in Brussels, whom it so nearly concerned, and the letters which he
+exchanged on the subject fell, unfortunately, into the hands of the King
+of Spain. Philip was less surprised at this decisive disclosure of
+William’s sentiments than incensed at the disappointment of his scheme;
+and the Spanish nobles, who had never forgiven the prince that moment,
+when in the last act of his life the greatest of Emperors leaned upon
+his shoulders, did not neglect this favorable opportunity of finally
+ruining, in the good opinion of their king, the betrayer of a state
+secret.
+
+Of a lineage no less noble than that of William was Lamoral, Count
+Egmont and Prince of Gavre, a descendant of the Dukes of Gueldres, whose
+martial courage had wearied out the arms of Austria. His family was
+highly distinguished in the annals of the country; one of his ancestors,
+had, under Maximilian, already filled the office of Stadtholder over
+Holland. Egmont’s marriage with the Duchess Sabina of Bavaria reflected
+additional lustre on the splendor of his birth, and made him powerful
+through the greatness of this alliance. Charles V. had, in the year
+1516, conferred on him at Utrecht the order of the Golden Fleece; the
+wars of this Emperor were the school of his military genius, and the
+battle of St. Quentin and Gravelines made him the hero of his age.
+Every blessing of peace, for which a commercial people feel most
+grateful, brought to mind the remembrance of the victory by which it was
+accelerated, and Flemish pride, like a fond mother, exulted over the
+illustrious son of their country, who had filled all Europe with
+admiration. Nine children who grew up under the eyes of their
+fellow-citizens, multiplied and drew closer the ties between him and his
+fatherland, and the people’s grateful affection for the father was kept
+alive by the sight of those who were dearest to him. Every appearance
+of Egmont in public was a triumphal procession; every eye which was
+fastened upon him recounted his history; his deeds lived in the plaudits
+of his companions-in-arms; at the games of chivalry mothers pointed him
+out to their children. Affability, a noble and courteous demeanor, the
+amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits. His liberal
+soul shone forth on his open brow; his frank-heartedness managed his
+secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a thought was
+no sooner his than it was the property of all. His religion was gentle
+and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its light from
+the heart and not from, his understanding. Egmont possessed more of
+conscience than of fixed principles; his head had not given him a code
+of its own, but had merely learnt it by rote; the mere name of any
+action, therefore, was often with him sufficient for its condemnation.
+In his judgment men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not
+something bad or something good; in this system of morals there was no
+middle term between vice and virtue; and consequently a single good
+trait often decided his opinion of men. Egmont united all the eminent
+qualities which form the hero; he was a better soldier than the Prince
+of Orange, but far inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the
+world as it really was; Egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an
+imagination that embellished all that it reflected. Men, whom fortune
+has surprised with a reward for which they can find no adequate ground
+in their actions, are, for the most part, very apt to forget the
+necessary connection between cause and effect, and to insert in the
+natural consequences of things a higher miraculous power to which, as
+Caesar to his fortune, they at last insanely trust. Such a character
+was Egmont. Intoxicated with the idea of his own merits, which the love
+and gratitude of his fellow-citizens had exaggerated, he staggered on in
+this sweet reverie as in a delightful world of dreams. He feared not,
+because he trusted to the deceitful pledge which destiny had given him
+of her favor, in the general love of the people; and he believed in its
+justice because he himself was prosperous. Even the most terrible
+experience of Spanish perfidy could not afterwards eradicate this
+confidence from his soul, and on the scaffold itself his latest feeling
+was hope. A tender fear for his family kept his patriotic courage
+fettered by lower duties. Because he trembled for property and life he
+could not venture much for the republic. William of Orange broke with
+the throne because its arbitrary power was offensive to his pride;
+Egmont was vain, and therefore valued the favors of the monarch. The
+former was a citizen of the world; Egmont had never been more than a
+Fleming.
+
+Philip II. still stood indebted to the hero of St. Quentin, and the
+supreme stadtholdership of the Netherlands appeared the only appropriate
+reward for such great services. Birth and high station, the voice of
+the nation and personal abilities, spoke as loudly for Egmont as for
+Orange; and if the latter was to be passed by it seemed that the former
+alone could supplant him.
+
+Two such competitors, so equal in merit, might have embarrassed Philip
+in his choice if he had ever seriously thought of selecting either of
+them for the appointment. But the pre-eminent qualities by which they
+supported their claim to this office were the very cause of their
+rejection; and it was precisely the ardent desire of the nation for
+their election to it that irrevocably annulled their title to the
+appointment. Philip’s purpose would not be answered by a stadtholder in
+the Netherlands who could command the good-will and the energies of the
+people. Egmont’s descent from the Duke of Gueldres made him an
+hereditary foe of the house of Spain, and it seemed impolitic to place
+the supreme power in the hands of a man to whom the idea might occur of
+revenging on the son of the oppressor the oppression of his ancestor.
+The slight put on their favorites could give no just offence either to
+the nation or to themselves, for it might be pretended that the king
+passed over both because he would not show a preference to either.
+
+The disappointment of his hopes of gaining the regency did not deprive
+the Prince of Orange of all expectation of establishing more firmly his
+influence in the Netherlands. Among the other candidates for this
+office was also Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and aunt of the king,
+who, as mediatrix of the peace of Chateau-Cambray, had rendered
+important service to the crown. William aimed at the hand of her
+daughter, and he hoped to promote his suit by actively interposing his
+good offices for the mother; but he did not reflect that through this
+very intercession he ruined her cause. The Duchess Christina was
+rejected, not so much for the reason alleged, namely, the dependence of
+her territories on France made her an object of suspicion to the Spanish
+court, as because she was acceptable to the people of the Netherlands
+and the Prince of Orange.
+
+
+
+
+        MARGARET OF PARMA REGENT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+While the general expectation was on the stretch as to whom the fature
+destines of the provinces would be committed, there appeared on the
+frontiers of the country the Duchess Margaret of Parma, having been
+summoned by the king from Italy to assume the government.
+
+Margaret was a natural daughter of Charles V. and of a noble Flemish
+lady named Vangeest, and born in 1522.
+
+Out of regard for the honor of her mother’s house she was at first
+educated in obscurity; but her mother, who possessed more vanity than
+honor, was not very anxious to preserve the secret of her origin, and a
+princely education betrayed the daughter of the Emperor. While yet a
+child she was entrusted to the Regent Margaret, her great-aunt, to be
+brought up at Brussels under her eye. This guardian she lost in her
+eighth year, and the care of her education devolved on Queen Mary of
+Hungary, the successor of Margaret in the regency. Her father had
+already affianced her, while yet in her fourth year, to a Prince of
+Ferrara; but this alliance being subsequently dissolved, she was
+betrothed to Alexander de Medicis, the new Duke of Florence, which
+marriage was, after the victorious return of the Emperor from Africa,
+actually consummated in Naples. In the first year of this unfortunate
+union, a violent death removed from her a husband who could not love
+her, and for the third time her hand was disposed of to serve the policy
+of her father. Octavius Farnese, a prince of thirteen years of age and
+nephew of Paul III., obtained, with her person, the Duchies of Parma and
+Piacenza as her portion. Thus, by a strange destiny, Margaret at the
+age of maturity was contracted to a boy, as in the years of infancy she
+had been sold to a man. Her disposition, which was anything but
+feminine, made this last alliance still more unnatural, for her taste
+and inclinations were masculine, and the whole tenor of her life belied
+her sex. After the example of her instructress, the Queen of Hungary,
+and her great-aunt, the Duchess Mary of Burgundy, who met her death in
+this favorite sport, she was passionately fond of hunting, and had
+acquired in this pursuit such bodily vigor that few men were better able
+to undergo its hardships and fatigues.
+
+Her gait itself was so devoid of grace that one was far more tempted to
+take her for a disguised man than for a masculine woman; and Nature,
+whom she had derided by thus transgressing the limits of her sex,
+revenged itself finally upon her by a disease peculiar to men--the gout.
+
+These unusual qualities were crowned by a monkish superstition which was
+infused into her mind by Ignatius Loyola, her confessor and teacher.
+Among the charitable works and penances with which she mortified her
+vanity, one of the most remarkable was that, during Passion-Week she
+yearly washed, with her own hands, the feet of a number of poor men (who
+were most strictly forbidden to cleanse themselves beforehand), waited
+on them at table like a servant, and sent them away with rich presents.
+
+Nothing more is requisite than this last feature in her character to
+account for the preference which the king gave her over all her rivals;
+but his choice was at the same time justified by excellent reasons of
+state. Margaret was born and also educated in the Netherlands. She had
+spent her early youth among the people, and had acquired much of their
+national manners. Two regents (Duchess Margaret and Queen Mary of
+Hungary), under whose eyes she had grown up, had gradually initiated her
+into the maxims by which this peculiar people might be most easily
+governed; and they would also serve her as models. She did not want
+either in talents; and possessed, moreover, a particular turn for
+business, which she had acquired from her instructors, and had
+afterwards carried to greater perfection in the Italian school. The
+Netherlands had been for a number of years accustomed to female
+government; and Philip hoped, perhaps, that the sharp iron of tyranny
+which he was about to use against them would cut more gently if wielded
+by the hands of a woman. Some regard for his father, who at the time
+was still living, and was much attached to Margaret, may have in a
+measure, as it is asserted, influenced this choice; as it is also
+probable that the king wished to oblige the Duke of Parma, through this
+mark of attention to his wife, and thus to compensate for denying a
+request which he was just then compelled to refuse him. As the
+territories of the duchess were surrounded by Philip’s Italian states,
+and at all times exposed to his arms, he could, with the less danger,
+entrust the supreme power into her hands. For his full security her
+son, Alexander Farnese, was to remain at his court as a pledge for her
+loyalty. All these reasons were alone sufficiently weighty to turn the
+king’s decision in her favor; but they became irresistible when
+supported by the Bishop of Arras and the Duke of Alva. The latter, as
+it appears, because he hated or envied all the other competitors, the
+former, because even then, in all probability, he anticipated from the
+wavering disposition of this princess abundant gratification for his
+ambition.
+
+Philip received the new regent on the frontiers with a splendid cortege,
+and conducted her with magnificent pomp to Ghent, where the States
+General had been convoked. As he did not intend to return soon to the
+Netherlands, he desired, before he left them, to gratify the nation for
+once by holding a solemn Diet, and thus giving a solemn sanction and the
+force of law to his previous regulations. For the last time he showed
+himself to his Netherlandish people, whose destinies were from
+henceforth to be dispensed from a mysterious distance. To enhance the
+splendor of this solemn day, Philip invested eleven knights with the
+Order of the Golden Fleece, his sister being seated on a chair near
+himself, while he showed her to the nation as their future ruler. All
+the grievances of the people, touching the edicts, the Inquisition, the
+detention of the Spanish troops, the taxes, and the illegal introduction
+of foreigners into the offices and administration of the country were
+brought forward in this Diet, and were hotly discussed by both parties;
+some of them were skilfully evaded, or apparently removed, others
+arbitrarily repelled. As the king was unacquainted with the language of
+the country, he addressed the nation through the mouth of the Bishop of
+Arras, recounted to them with vain-glorious ostentation all the benefits
+of his government, assured them of his favor for the future, and once
+more recommended to the estates in the most earnest manner the
+preservation of the Catholic faith and the extirpation of heresy.
+The Spanish troops, he promised, should in a few months evacuate the
+Netherlands, if only they would allow him time to recover from the
+numerous burdens of the last war, in order that he might be enabled to
+collect the means for paying the arrears of these troops; the
+fundamental laws of the nation should remain inviolate, the imposts
+should not be grievously burdensome, and the Inquisition should
+administer its duties with justice and moderation. In the choice of a
+supreme Stadtholder, he added, he had especially consulted the wishes of
+the nation, and had decided for a native of the country, who had been
+brought up in their manners and customs, and was attached to them by a
+love to her native land. He exhorted them, therefore, to show their
+gratitude by honoring his choice, and obeying his sister, the duchess,
+as himself. Should, he concluded, unexpected obstacles oppose his
+return, he would send in his place his son, Prince Charles, who should
+reside in Brussels.
+
+A few members of this assembly, more courageous than the rest, once more
+ventured on a final effort for liberty of conscience. Every people,
+they argued, ought to be treated according to their natural character,
+as every individual must in accordance to his bodily constitution.
+Thus, for example, the south may be considered happy under a certain
+degree of constraint which would press intolerably on the north. Never,
+they added, would the Flemings consent to a yoke under which, perhaps,
+the Spaniards bowed with patience, and rather than submit to it would
+they undergo any extremity if it was sought to force such a yoke upon
+them. This remonstrance was supported by some of the king’s
+counsellors, who strongly urged the policy of mitigating the rigor of
+religious edicts. But Philip remained inexorable. Better not reign at
+all, was his answer, than reign over heretics!
+
+According to an arrangement already made by Charles V., three councils
+or chambers were added to the regent, to assist her in the
+administration of state affairs. As long as Philip was himself present
+in the Netherlands these courts had lost much of their power, and the
+functions of the first of them, the state council, were almost entirely
+suspended. Now that he quitted the reins of government, they recovered
+their former importance. In the state council, which was to deliberate
+upon war and peace, and security against external foes, sat the Bishop
+of Arras, the Prince of Orange, Count Egmont, the President of the Privy
+Council, Viglius Van Zuichem Van Aytta, and the Count of Barlaimont,
+President of the Chamber of Finance. All knights of the Golden Fleece,
+all privy counsellors and counsellors of finance, as also the members of
+the great senate at Malines, which had been subjected by Charles V. to
+the Privy Council in Brussels, had a seat and vote in the Council of
+State, if expressly invited by the regent. The management of the royal
+revenues and crown lands was vested in the Chamber of Finance, and the
+Privy Council was occupied with the administration of justice, and the
+civil regulation of the country, and issued all letters of grace and
+pardon. The governments of the provinces which had fallen vacant were
+either filled up afresh or the former governors were confirmed. Count
+Egmont received Flanders and Artois; the Prince of Orange, Holland,
+Zealand, Utrecht, and West Friesland; the Count of Aremberg, East
+Friesland, Overyssel, and Groningen; the Count of Mansfeld, Luxemburg;
+Barlaimont, Namur; the Marquis of Bergen, Hainault, Chateau-Cambray, and
+Valenciennes; the Baron of Montigny, Tournay and its dependencies.
+Other provinces were given to some who have less claim to our attention.
+Philip of Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, who had been succeeded by the
+Count of Megen in the government of Gueldres and Ziitphen, was confirmed
+as admiral of the Belgian navy. Every governor of a province was at the
+same time a knight of the Golden Fleece and member of the Council of
+State. Each had, in the province over which he presided, the command of
+the military force which protected it, the superintendence of the civil
+administration and the judicature; the governor of Flanders alone
+excepted, who was not allowed to interfere with the administration of
+justice. Brabant alone was placed under the immediate jurisdiction of
+the regent, who, according to custom, chose Brussels for her constant
+residence. The induction of the Prince of Orange into his governments
+was, properly speaking, an infraction of the constitution, since he was
+a foreigner; but several estates which he either himself possessed in
+the provinces, or managed as guardian of his son, his long residence in
+the country, and above all the unlimited confidence the nation reposed
+in him, gave him substantial claims in default of a real title of
+citizenship.
+
+The military force of the Low Countries consisted, in its full
+complement, of three thousand horse. At present it did not much exceed
+two thousand, and was divided into fourteen squadrons, over which,
+besides the governors of the provinces, the Duke of Arschot, the Counts
+of Hoogstraten, Bossu, Roeux, and Brederode held the chief command.
+This cavalry, which was scattered through all the seventeen provinces,
+was only to be called out on sudden emergencies. Insufficient as it was
+for any great undertaking, it was, nevertheless, fully adequate for the
+maintenance of internal order. Its courage had been approved in former
+wars, and the fame of its valor was diffused through the whole of
+Europe. In addition to this cavalry it was also proposed to levy a body
+of infantry, but hitherto the states had refused their consent to it.
+Of foreign troops there were still some German regiments in the service,
+which were waiting for their pay. The four thousand Spaniards,
+respecting whom so many complaints had been made, were under two Spanish
+generals, Mendoza and Romero, and were in garrison in the frontier
+towns.
+
+Among the Belgian nobles whom the king especially distinguished in these
+new appointments, the names of Count Egmont and William of Orange stand
+conspicuous. However inveterate his hatred was of both, and
+particularly of the latter, Philip nevertheless gave them these public
+marks of his favor, because his scheme of vengeance was not yet fully
+ripe, and the people were enthusiastic in their devotion to them. The
+estates of both were declared exempt from taxes, the most lucrative
+governments were entrusted to them, and by offering them the command of
+the Spaniards whom he left behind in the country the king flattered them
+with a confidence which he was very far from really reposing in them.
+But at the very time when he obliged the prince with these public marks
+of his esteem he privately inflicted the most cruel injury on him.
+Apprehensive lest an alliance with the powerful house of Lorraine might
+encourage this suspected vassal to bolder measures, he thwarted the
+negotiation for a marriage between him and a princess of that family,
+and crushed his hopes on the very eve of their accomplishment,--an
+injury which the prince never forgave. Nay, his hatred to the prince on
+one occasion even got completely the better of his natural
+dissimulation, and seduced him into a step in which we entirely lose
+sight of Philip II. When he was about to embark at Flushing, and the
+nobles of the country attended him to the shore, he so far forgot
+himself as roughly to accost the prince, and openly to accuse him of
+being the author of the Flemish troubles. The prince answered
+temperately that what had happened had been done by the provinces of
+their own suggestion and on legitimate grounds. No, said Philip,
+seizing his hated, and shaking it violently, not the provinces, but You!
+You! You! The prince stood mute with astonishment, and without waiting
+for the king’s embarkation, wished him a safe journey, and went back to
+the town.
+
+Thus the enmity which William had long harbored in his breast against
+the oppressor of a free people was now rendered irreconcilable by
+private hatred; and this double incentive accelerated the great
+enterprise which tore from the Spanish crown seven of its brightest
+jewels.
+
+Philip had greatly deviated from his true character in taking so
+gracious a leave of the Netherlands. The legal form of a diet, his
+promise to remove the Spaniards from the frontiers, the consideration of
+the popular wishes, which had led him to fill the most important offices
+of the country with the favorites of the people, and, finally, the
+sacrifice which he made to the constitution in withdrawing the Count of
+Feria from the council of state, were marks of condescension of which
+his magnanimity was never again guilty. But in fact he never stood in
+greater need of the good-will of the states, that with their aid he
+might, if possible, clear off the great burden of debt which was still
+attached to the Netherlands from the former war. He hoped, therefore,
+by propitiating them through smaller sacrifices to win approval of more
+important usurpations. He marked his departure with grace, for he knew
+in what hands he left them. The frightful scenes of death which he
+intended for this unhappy people were not to stain the splendor of
+majesty which, like the Godhead, marks its course only with beneficence;
+that terrible distinction was reserved for his representatives. The
+establishment of the council of state was, however, intended rather to
+flatter the vanity of the Belgian nobility than to impart to them any
+real influence. The historian Strada (who drew his information with
+regard to the regent from her own papers) has preserved a few articles
+of the secret instructions which the Spanish ministry gave her. Amongst
+other things it is there stated if she observed that the councils were
+divided by factions, or, what would be far worse, prepared by private
+conferences before the session, and in league with one another, then she
+was to prorogue all the chambers and dispose arbitrarily of the disputed
+articles in a more select council or committee. In this select
+committee, which was called the Consulta, sat the Archbishop of Arras,
+the President Viglius, and the Count of Barlaimont. She was to act in
+the same manner if emergent cases required a prompt decision. Had this
+arrangement not been the work of an arbitrary despotism it would perhaps
+have been justified by sound policy, and republican liberty itself might
+have tolerated it. In great assemblies where many private interests and
+passions co-operate, where a numerous audience presents so great a
+temptation to the vanity of the orator, and parties often assail one
+another with unmannerly warmth, a decree can seldom be passed with that
+sobriety and mature deliberation which, if the members are properly
+selected, a smaller body readily admits of. In a numerous body of men,
+too, there is, we must suppose, a greater number of limited than of
+enlightened intellects, who through their equal right of vote frequently
+turn the majority on the side of ignorance. A second maxim which the
+regent was especially to observe, was to select the very members of
+council who had voted against any decree to carry it into execution.
+By this means not only would the people be kept in ignorance of the
+originators of such a law, but the private quarrels also of the members
+would be restrained, and a greater freedom insured in voting in
+compliance with the wishes of the court.
+
+In spite of all these precautions Philip would never have been able to
+leave the Netherlands with a quiet mind so long as he knew that the
+chief power in the council of state, and the obedience of the provinces,
+were in the hands of the suspected nobles. In order, therefore, to
+appease his fears from this quarter, and also at the same time to assure
+himself of the fidelity of the regent, be subjected her, and through her
+all the affairs of the judicature, to the higher control of the Bishop
+of Arras. In this single individual he possessed an adequate
+counterpoise to the most dreaded cabal. To him, as to an infallible
+oracle of majesty, the duchess was referred, and in him there watched a
+stern supervisor of her administration. Among all his contemporaries
+Granvella was the only one whom Philip II. appears to have excepted from
+his universal distrust; as long as he knew that this man was in Brussels
+he could sleep calmly in Segovia. He left the Netherlands in September,
+1559, was saved from a storm which sank his fleet, and landed at Laredo
+in Biscay, and in his gloomy joy thanked the Deity who had preserved him
+by a detestable vow. In the hands of a priest and of a woman was placed
+the dangerous helm of the Netherlands; and the dastardly tyrant escaped
+in his oratory at Madrid the supplications, the complaints, and the
+curses of the people.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II.
+
+CARDINAL GRANVELLA.
+
+
+ANTHONY PERENOT, Bishop of Arras, subsequently Archbishop of Malines,
+and Metropolitan of all the Netherlands, who, under the name of Cardinal
+Granvella, has been immortalized by the hatred of his contemporaries,
+was born in the year 1516, at Besancon in Burgundy. His father,
+Nicolaus Perenot, the son of a blacksmith, had risen by his own merits
+to be the private secretary of Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, at that time
+regent of the Netherlands. In this post he was noticed for his habits
+of business by Charles V., who took him into his own service and
+employed him in several important negotiations. For twenty years he was
+a member of the Emperor’s cabinet, and filled the offices of privy
+counsellor and keeper of the king’s seal, and shared in all the state
+secrets of that monarch. He acquired a large fortune. His honors,
+his influence, and his political knowledge were inherited by his son,
+Anthony Perenot, who in his early years gave proofs of the great
+capacity which subsequently opened to him so distinguished a career.
+Anthony had cultivated at several colleges the talents with which nature
+had so lavishly endowed him, and in some respects had an advantage over
+his father. He soon showed that his own abilities were sufficient to
+maintain the advantageous position which the merits of another had
+procured him. He was twenty-four years old when the Emperor sent him as
+his plenipotentiary to the ecclesiastical council of Trent, where he
+delivered the first specimen of that eloquence which in the sequel gave
+him so complete an ascendancy over two kings. Charles employed him in
+several difficult embassies, the duties of which he fulfilled to the
+satisfaction of his sovereign, and when finally that Emperor resigned
+the sceptre to his son he made that costly present complete by giving
+him a minister who could help him to wield it.
+
+Granvella opened his new career at once with the greatest masterpiece of
+political genius, in passing so easily from the favor of such a father
+into equal consideration with such a son. And he soon proved himself
+deserving of it. At the secret negotiations of which the Duchess of
+Lorraine had, in 1558, been the medium between the French and Spanish
+ministers at Peronne, he planned, conjointly with the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, that conspiracy against the Protestants which was afterwards
+matured, but also betrayed, at Chateau-Cambray, where Perenot likewise
+assisted in effecting the so-called peace.
+
+A deeply penetrating, comprehensive intellect, an unusual facility in
+conducting great and intricate affairs, and the most extensive learning,
+were wonderfully united in this man with persevering industry and
+never-wearying patience, while his enterprising genius was associated
+with thoughtful mechanical regularity. Day and night the state found him
+vigilant and collected; the most important and the most insignificant
+things were alike weighed by him with scrupulous attention. Not
+unfrequently he employed five secretaries at one time, dictating to them
+in different languages, of which he is said to have spoken seven. What
+his penetrating mind had slowly matured acquired in his lips both force
+and grace, and truth, set forth by his persuasive eloquence, irresistibly
+carried away all hearers. He was tempted by none of the passions which
+make slaves of most men. His integrity was incorruptible. With shrewd
+penetration he saw through the disposition of his master, and could read
+in his features his whole train of thought, and, as it were, the
+approaching form in the shadow which outran it. With an artifice rich in
+resources he came to the aid of Philip’s more inactive mind, formed into
+perfect thought his master’s crude ideas while they yet hung on his lips,
+and liberally allowed him the glory of the invention. Granvella
+understood the difficult and useful art of depreciating his own talents;
+of making his own genius the seeming slave of another; thus he ruled
+while he concealed his sway. In this manner only could Philip II. be
+governed. Content with a silent but real power, Granvella did not grasp
+insatiably at new and outward marks of it, which with lesser minds are
+ever the most coveted objects; but every new distinction seemed to sit
+upon him as easily as the oldest. No wonder if such extraordinary
+endowments had alone gained him the favor of his master; but a large and
+valuable treasure of political secrets and experiences, which the active
+life of Charles V. had accumulated, and had deposited in the mind of this
+man, made him indispensable to his successor. Self-sufficient as the
+latter was, and accustomeded to confide in his own understanding, his
+timid and crouching policy was fain to lean on a superior mind, and to
+aid its own irresolution not only by precedent but also by the influence
+and example of another. No political matter which concerned the royal
+interest, even when Philip himself was in the Netherlands, was decided
+without the intervention of Granvella; and when the king embarked for
+Spain he made the new regent the same valuable present of the minister
+which he himself had received from the Emperor, his father.
+
+Common as it is for despotic princes to bestow unlimited confidence on
+the creatures whom they have raised from the dust, and of whose
+greatness they themselves are, in a measure, the creators, the present
+is no ordinary instance; pre-eminent must have been the qualities which
+could so far conquer the selfish reserve of such a character as Philip’s
+as to gain his confidence, nay, even to win him into familiarity. The
+slightest ebullition of the most allowable self-respect, which might
+have tempted him to assert, however slightly, his claim to any idea
+which the king had once ennobled as his own, would have cost him his
+whole influence. He might gratify without restraint the lowest passions
+of voluptuousness, of rapacity, and of revenge, but the only one in
+which he really took delight, the sweet consciousness of his own
+superiority and power, he was constrained carefully to conceal from the
+suspicious glance of the despot. He voluntarily disclaimed all the
+eminent qualities, which were already his own, in order, as it were, to
+receive them a second time from the generosity of the king. His
+happiness seemed to flow from no other source, no other person could
+have a claim upon his gratitude. The purple, which was sent to him from
+Rome, was not assumed until the royal permission reached him from Spain;
+by laying it down on the steps of the throne he appeared, in a measure,
+to receive it first from the hands of majesty. Less politic, Alva
+erected a trophy in Antwerp, and inscribed his own name under the
+victory, which he had won as the servant of the crown--but Alva carried
+with him to the grave the displeasure of his master. He had invaded
+with audacious hand the royal prerogative by drawing immediately at the
+fountain of immortality.
+
+Three times Granvella changed his master, and three times he succeeded
+in rising to the highest favor. With the same facility with which he
+had guided the settled pride of an autocrat, and the sly egotism of a
+despot, he knew how to manage the delicate vanity of a woman. His
+business between himself and the regent, even when they were in the same
+house, was, for the most part, transacted by the medium of notes, a
+custom which draws its date from the times of Augustus and Tiberius.
+When the regent was in any perplexity these notes were interchanged from
+hour to hour. He probably adopted this expedient in the hope of eluding
+the watchful jealousy of the nobility, and concealing from them, in part
+at least, his influence over the regent. Perhaps, too, he also believed
+that by this means his advice would become more permanent; and, in case
+of need, this written testimony would be at hand to shield him from
+blame. But the vigilance of the nobles made this caution vain, and it
+was soon known in all the provinces that nothing was determined upon
+without the minister’s advice.
+
+Granvella possessed all the qualities requisite for a perfect statesman
+in a monarchy governed by despotic principles, but was absolutely
+unqualified for republics which are governed by kings. Educated between
+the throne and the confessional, he knew of no other relation between
+man and man than that of rule and subjection; and the innate
+consciousness of his own superiority gave him a contempt for others.
+His policy wanted pliability, the only virtue which was here
+indispensable to its success. He was naturally overbearing and
+insolent, and the royal authority only gave arms to the natural
+impetuosity of his disposition and the imperiousness of his order. He
+veiled his own ambition beneath the interests of the crown, and made the
+breach between the nation and the king incurable, because it would
+render him indispensable to the latter. He revenged on the nobility the
+lowliness of his own origin; and, after the fashion of all those who
+have risen by their own merits, he valued the advantages of birth below
+those by which he had raised himself to distinction. The Protestants
+saw in him their most implacable foe; to his charge were laid all the
+burdens which oppressed the country, and they pressed the more heavily
+because they came from him. Nay, he was even accused of having brought
+back to severity the milder sentiments to which the urgent remonstrances
+of the provinces had at last disposed the monarch. The Netherlands
+execrated him as the most terrible enemy of their liberties, and the
+originator of all the misery which subsequently came upon them.
+
+
+1559. Philip had evidently left the provinces too soon. The new
+measures of the government were still strange to the people, and could
+receive sanction and authority from his presence alone; the new machines
+which he had brought into play required to be kept in motion by a
+dreaded and powerful hand, and to have their first movements watched and
+regulated. He now exposed his minister to all the angry passions of the
+people, who no longer felt restrained by the fetters of the royal
+presence; and he delegated to the weak arm of a subject the execution of
+projects in which majesty itself, with all its powerful supports, might
+have failed.
+
+The land, indeed, flourished; and a general prosperity appeared to
+testify to the blessings of the peace which had so lately been bestowed
+upon it. An external repose deceived the eye, for within raged all the
+elements of discord. If the foundations of religion totter in a country
+they totter not alone; the audacity which begins with things sacred ends
+with things profane. The successful attack upon the hierarchy had
+awakened a spirit of boldness, and a desire to assail authority in
+general, and to test laws as well as dogmas--duties as well as opinions.
+The fanatical boldness with which men had learned to discuss and decide
+upon the affairs of eternity might change its subject matter; the
+contempt for life and property which religious enthusiasm had taught
+could metamorphose timid citizens into foolhardy rebels. A female
+government of nearly forty years had given the nation room to assert
+their liberty; continual wars, of which the Netherlands had been the
+theatre, had introduced a license with them, and the right of the
+stronger had usurped the place of law and order. The provinces were
+filled with foreign adventurers and fugitives; generally men bound by no
+ties of country, family, or property, who had brought with them from
+their unhappy homes the seeds of insubordination and rebellion. The
+repeated spectacles of torture and of death had rudely burst the
+tenderer threads of moral feeling, and had given an unnatural harshness
+to the national character.
+
+Still the rebellion would have crouched timorously and silently on the
+ground if it had not found a support in the nobility. Charles V. had
+spoiled the Flemish nobles of the Netherlands by making them the
+participators of his glory, by fostering their national pride, by the
+marked preference he showed for them over the Castilian nobles, and by
+opening an arena to their ambition in every part of his empire. In the
+late war with France they had really deserved this preference from
+Philip; the advantages which the king reaped from the peace of
+Chateau-Cambray were for the most part the fruits of their valor, and
+they now sensibly missed the gratitude on which they had so confidently
+reckoned. Moreover, the separation of the German empire from the Spanish
+monarchy, and the less warlike spirit of the new government, had greatly
+narrowed their sphere of action, and, except in their own country, little
+remained for them to gain. And Philip now appointed his Spaniards where
+Charles V. had employed the Flemings. All the passions which the
+preceding government had raised and kept employed still survived in
+peace; and in default of a legitimate object these unruly feelings found,
+unfortunately, ample scope in the grievances of their country.
+Accordingly, the claims and wrongs which had been long supplanted by new
+passions were now drawn from oblivion. By his late appointments the king
+had satisfied no party; for those even who obtained offices were not much
+more content than those who were entirely passed over, because they had
+calculated on something better than they got. William of Orange had
+received four governments (not to reckon some smaller dependencies which,
+taken together, were equivalent to a fifth), but William had nourished
+hopes of Flanders and Brabant. He and Count Egmont forgot what had really
+fallen to their share, and only remembered that they had lost the
+regency. The majority of the nobles were either plunged into debt by
+their own extravagance, or had willingly enough been drawn into it by the
+government. Now that they were excluded from the prospect of lucrative
+appointments, they at once saw themselves exposed to poverty, which
+pained them the more sensibly when they contrasted the splendor of the
+affluent citizens with their own necessities. In the extremities to which
+they were reduced many would have readily assisted in the commission even
+of crimes; how then could they resist the seductive offers of the
+Calvinists, who liberally repaid them for their intercession and
+protection? Lastly, many whose estates were past redemption placed their
+last hope in a general devastation, and stood prepared at the first
+favorable moment to cast the torch of discord into the republic.
+
+This threatening aspect of the public mind was rendered still more
+alarming by the unfortunate vicinity of France. What Philip dreaded for
+the provinces was there already accomplished. The fate of that kingdom
+prefigured to him the destiny of his Netherlands, and the spirit of
+rebellion found there a seductive example. A similar state of things
+had under Francis I. and Henry II. scattered the seeds of innovation in
+that kingdom; a similar fury of persecution and a like spirit of faction
+had encouraged its growth. Now Huguenots and Catholics were struggling
+in a dubious contest; furious parties disorganized the whole monarchy,
+and were violently hurrying this once-powerful state to the brink of
+destruction. Here, as there, private interest, ambition, and party
+feeling might veil themselves under the names of religion and
+patriotism, and the passions of a few citizens drive the entire nation
+to take up arms. The frontiers of both countries merged in Walloon
+Flanders; the rebellion might, like an agitated sea, cast its waves as
+far as this: would a country be closed against it whose language,
+manners, and character wavered between those of France and Belgium? As
+yet the government had taken no census of its Protestant subjects in
+these countries, but the new sect, it was aware, was a vast, compact
+republic, which extended its roots through all the monarchies of
+Christendom, and the slighest disturbance in any of its most distant
+members vibrated to its centre. It was, as it were, a chain of
+threatening volcanoes, which, united by subterraneous passages, ignite
+at the same moment with alarming sympathy. The Netherlands were,
+necessarily, open to all nations, because they derived their support
+from all. Was it possible for Philip to close a commercial state as
+easily as he could Spain? If he wished to purify these provinces from
+heresy it was necessary for him to commence by extirpating it in France.
+
+It was in this state that Granvella found the Netherlands at the
+beginning of his administration (1560).
+
+To restore to these countries the uniformity of papistry, to break the
+co-ordinate power of the nobility and the states, and to exalt the royal
+authority on the ruins of republican freedom, was the great object of
+Spanish policy and the express commission of the new minister. But
+obstacles stood in the way of its accomplishment; to conquer these
+demanded the invention of new resources, the application of new
+machinery. The Inquisition, indeed, and the religious edicts appeared
+sufficient to check the contagion of heresy; but the latter required
+superintendence, and the former able instruments for its now extended
+jurisdiction. The church constitution continued the same as it had been
+in earlier times, when the provinces were less populous, when the church
+still enjoyed universal repose, and could be more easily overlooked and
+controlled. A succession of several centuries, which changed the whole
+interior form of the provinces, had left the form of the hierarchy
+unaltered, which, moreover, was protected from the arbitrary will of its
+ruler by the particular privileges of the provinces. All the seventeen
+provinces were parcelled out under four bishops, who had their seats at
+Arras, Tournay, Cambray, and Utrecht, and were subject to the primates
+of Rheims and Cologne. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had, indeed,
+meditated an increase in the number of bishops to meet the wants of the
+increasing population; but, unfortunately, in the excitement of a life
+of pleasure had abandoned the project. Ambition and lust of conquest
+withdrew the mind of Charles the Bold from the internal concerns of his
+kingdom, and Maximilian had already too many subjects of dispute with
+the states to venture to add to their number by proposing this change.
+A stormy reign prevented Charles V. from the execution of this extensive
+plan, which Philip II. now undertook as a bequest from all these
+princes. The moment had now arrived when the urgent necessities of the
+church would excuse the innovation, and the leisure of peace favored its
+accomplishment. With the prodigious crowd of people from all the
+countries of Europe who were crowded together in the towns of the
+Netherlands, a multitude of religious opinions had also grown up; and it
+was impossible that religion could any longer be effectually
+superintended by so few eyes as were formerly sufficient. While the
+number of bishops was so small their districts must, of necessity, have
+been proportionally extensive, and four men could not be adequate to
+maintain the purity of the faith through so wide a district.
+
+The jurisdiction which the Archbishops of Cologne and Rheims exercised
+over the Netherlands had long been a stumbling-block to the government,
+which could not look on this territory as really its own property so
+long as such an important branch of power was still wielded by foreign
+hands. To snatch this prerogative from the alien archbishops; by new
+and active agents to give fresh life and vigor to the superintendence of
+the faith, and at the same time to strengthen the number of the
+partisans of government at the diet, no more effectual means could be
+devised than to increase the number of bishops. Resolved upon doing
+this Philip II. ascended the throne; but he soon found that a change in
+the hierarchy would inevitably meet with warm opposition from the
+provinces, without whose consent, nevertheless, it would be vain to
+attempt it. Philip foresaw that the nobility would never approve of a
+measure which would so strongly augment the royal party, and take from
+the aristocracy the preponderance of power in the diet. The revenues,
+too, for the maintenance of these new bishops must be diverted from the
+abbots and monks, and these formed a considerable part of the states of
+the realm. He had, besides, to fear the opposition of the Protestants,
+who would not fail to act secretly in the diet against him. On these
+accounts the whole affair was discussed at Rome with the greatest
+possible secrecy. Instructed by, and as the agent of, Granvella,
+Francis Sonnoi, a priest of Louvain, came before Paul IV. to inform him
+how extensive the provinces were, how thriving and populous, how
+luxurious in their prosperity. But, he continued, in the immoderate
+enjoyment of liberty the true faith is neglected, and heretics prosper.
+To obviate this evil the Romish See must have recourse to extraordinary
+measures. It was not difficult to prevail on the Romish pontiff to make
+a change which would enlarge the sphere of his own jurisdiction.
+
+Paul IV. appointed a tribunal of seven cardinals to deliberate upon this
+important matter; but death called him away, and he left to his
+successor, Pius IV., the duty of carrying their advice into execution.
+The welcome tidings of the pope’s determination reached the king in
+Zealand when he was just on the point of setting sail for Spain, and the
+minister was secretly charged with the dangerous reform. The new
+constitution of the hierarchy was published in 1560; in addition to the
+then existing four bishoprics thirteen new ones were established,
+according to the number of seventeen provinces, and four of them were
+raised into archbishoprics. Six of these episcopal sees, viz., in
+Antwerp, Herzogenbusch, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and Ruremonde, were placed
+under the Archbishopric of Malines; five others, Haarlem, Middelburg,
+Leuwarden, Deventer, and Groningen, under the Archbishopric of Utrecht;
+and the remaining four, Arras, Tournay, St. Omer, and Namur, which lie
+nearest to France, and have language, character, and manners in common
+with that country, under the Archbishopric of Cambray. Malines,
+situated in the middle of Brabant and in the centre of all the seventeen
+provinces, was made the primacy of all the rest, and was, with several
+rich abbeys, the reward of Granvella. The revenues of the new
+bishoprics were provided by an appropriation of the treasures of the
+cloisters and abbeys which had accumulated from pious benefactions
+during centuries. Some of the abbots were raised to the episcopal
+throne, and with the possession of their cloisters and prelacies
+retained also the vote at the diet which was attached to them. At the
+same time to every bishopric nine prebends were attached, and bestowed
+on the most learned juris-consultists and theologians, who were to
+support the Inquisition and the bishop in his spiritual office. Of
+these, the two who were most deserving by knowledge, experience, and
+unblemished life were to be constituted actual inquisitors, and to have
+the first voice in the Synods. To the Archbishop of Malines, as
+metropolitan of all the seventeen provinces, the full authority was
+given to appoint, or at discretion depose, archbishops and bishops; and
+the Romish See was only to give its ratification to his acts.
+
+At any other period the nation would have received with gratitude and
+approved of such a measure of church reform since it was fully called
+for by circumstances, was conducive to the interests of religion, and
+absolutely indispensable for the moral reformation of the monkhood. Now
+the temper of the times saw in it nothing but a hateful change.
+Universal was the indignation with which it was received. A cry was
+raised that the constitution was trampled under foot, the rights of the
+nation violated, and that the Inquisition was already at the door, and
+would soon open here, as in Spain, its bloody tribunal. The people
+beheld with dismay these new servants of arbitrary power and of
+persecution. The nobility saw in it nothing but a strengthening of the
+royal authority by the addition of fourteen votes in the states’
+assembly, and a withdrawal of the firmest prop of their freedom, the
+balance of the royal and the civil power. The old bishops complained of
+the diminution of their incomes and the circumscription of their sees;
+the abbots and monks had not only lost power and income, but had
+received in exchange rigid censors of their morals. Noble and simple,
+laity and clergy, united against the common foe, and while all singly
+struggled for some petty private interest, the cry appeared to come from
+the formidable voice of patriotism.
+
+Among all the provinces Brabant was loudest in its opposition. The
+inviolability of its church constitution was one of the important
+privileges which it had reserved in the remarkable charter of the
+“Joyful Entry,”--statutes which the sovereign could not violate without
+releasing the nation from its allegiance to him. In vain did the
+university of Louvain assert that in disturbed times of the church a
+privilege lost its power which had been granted in the period of its
+tranquillity. The introduction of the new bishoprics into the
+constitution was thought to shake the whole fabric of liberty. The
+prelacies, which were now transferred to the bishops, must henceforth
+serve another rule than the advantage of the province of whose states
+they had been members. The once free patriotic citizens were to be
+instruments of the Romish See and obedient tools of the archbishop, who
+again, as first prelate of Brabant, had the immediate control over them.
+The freedom of voting was gone, because the bishops, as servile spies of
+the crown, made every one fearful. “Who,” it was asked, “will after
+this venture to raise his voice in parliament before such observers, or
+in their presence dare to protect the rights of the nation against the
+rapacious hands of the government? They will trace out the resources of
+the provinces, and betray to the crown the secrets of our freedom and
+our property. They will obstruct the way to all offices of honor; we
+shall soon see the courtiers of the king succeed the present men; the
+children of foreigners will, for the future, fill the parliament, and
+the private interest of their patron will guide their venal votes.”
+ “What an act of oppression,” rejoined the monks, “to pervert to other
+objects the pious designs of our holy institutions, to contemn the
+inviolable wishes of the dead, and to take that which a devout charity
+had deposited in our chests for the relief of the unfortunate and make
+it subservient to the luxury of the bishops, thus inflating their
+arrogant pomp with the plunder of the poor?” Not only the abbots and
+monks, who really did suffer by this act of appropriation, but every
+family which could flatter itself with the slightest hope of enjoying,
+at some time or other, even in the most remote posterity, the benefit of
+this monastic foundation, felt this disappointment of their distant
+expectations as much as if they had suffered an actual injury, and the
+wrongs of a few abbot-prelates became the concern of a whole nation.
+
+Historians have not omitted to record the covert proceedings of William
+of Orange during this general commotion, who labored to conduct to one
+end these various and conflicting passions. At his instigation the
+people of Brabant petitioned the regent for an advocate and protector,
+since they alone, of all his Flemish subjects, had the misfortune to
+unite, in one and the same person, their counsel and their ruler. Had
+the demand been granted, their choice could fall on no other than the
+Prince of Orange. But Granvella, with his usual presence of mind, broke
+through the snare. “The man who receives this office,” he declared in
+the state council, “will, I hope, see that he divides Brabant with the
+king!”  The long delay of the papal bull, which was kept back by a
+misunderstanding between the Romish and Spanish courts, gave the
+disaffected an opportunity to combine for a common object. In perfect
+secrecy the states of Brabant despatched an extraordinary messenger to
+Pins IV. to urge their wishes in Rome itself. The ambassador was
+provided with important letters of recommendation from the Prince of
+Orange, and carried with him considerable sums to pave his way to the
+father of the church. At the same time a public letter was forwarded
+from the city of Antwerp to the King of Spain containing the most urgent
+representations, and supplicating him to spare that flourishing
+commercial town from the threatened innovation. They knew, it was
+stated, that the intentions of the monarch were the best, and that the
+institution of the new bishops was likely to be highly conducive to the
+maintenance of true religion; but the foreigners could not be convinced
+of this, and on them depended the prosperity of their town. Among them
+the most groundless rumors would be as perilous as the most true. The
+first embassy was discovered in time, and its object disappointed by the
+prudence of the regent; by the second the town of Antwerp gained so far
+its point that it was to remain without a bishop, at least until the
+personal arrival of the king, which was talked of.
+
+The example and success of Antwerp gave the signal of opposition to all
+the other towns for which a new bishop was intended. It is a remarkable
+proof of the hatred to the Inquisition and the unanimity of the Flemish
+towns at this date that they preferred to renounce all the advantages
+which the residence of a bishop would necessarily bring to their local
+trade rather than by their consent promote that abhorred tribunal, and
+thus act in opposition to the interests of the whole nation. Deventer,
+Ruremond, and Leuwarden placed themselves in determined opposition, and
+(1561) successfully carried their point; in the other towns the bishops
+were, in spite of all remonstrances, forcibly inducted. Utrecht,
+Haarlem, St. Omer, and Middelburg were among the first which opened
+their gates to them; the remaining towns followed their example; but in
+Malines and Herzogenbusch the bishops were received with very little
+respect. When Granvella made his solemn entry into the former town not
+a single nobleman showed himself, and his triumph was wanting in
+everything that could make it real, because those remained away over
+whom it was meant to be celebrated.
+
+In the meantime, too, the period had elapsed within which the Spanish
+troops were to have left the country, and as yet there was no appearance
+of their being withdrawn. People perceived with terror the real cause
+of the delay, and suspicion lent it a fatal connection with the
+Inquisition. The detention of these troops, as it rendered the nation
+more vigilant and distrustful, made it more difficult for the minister
+to proceed with the other innovations, and yet he would fain not deprive
+himself of this powerful and apparently indispensable aid in a country
+where all hated him, and in the execution of a commission to which all
+were opposed. At last, however, the regent saw herself compelled by the
+universal murmurs of discontent, to urge most earnestly upon the king
+the necessity of the withdrawal of the troops. “The provinces,” she
+writes to Madrid, “have unanimously declared that they would never again
+be induced to grant the extraordinary taxes required by the government
+as long as word was not kept with them in this matter. The danger of a
+revolt was far more imminent than that of an attack by the French
+Protestants, and if a rebellion was to take place in the Netherlands
+these forces would be too weak to repress it, and there was not
+sufficient money in the treasury to enlist new.” By delaying his answer
+the king still sought at least to gain time, and the reiterated
+representations of the regent would still have remained ineffectual, if,
+fortunately for the provinces, a loss which he had lately suffered from
+the Turks had not compelled him to employ these troops in the
+Mediterranean. He, therefore, at last consented to their departure:
+they were embarked in 1561 in Zealand, and the exulting shouts of all
+the provinces accompanied their departure.
+
+Meanwhile Granvella ruled in the council of state almost uncontrolled.
+All offices, secular and spiritual, were given away through him; his
+opinion prevailed against the unanimous voice of the whole assembly.
+The regent herself was governed by him. He had contrived to manage so
+that her appointment was made out for two years only, and by this
+expedient he kept her always in his power. It seldom happened that any
+important affair was submitted to the other members, and if it really
+did occur it was only such as had been long before decided, to which it
+was only necessary for formality’s sake to gain their sanction.
+Whenever a royal letter was read Viglius received instructions to omit
+all such passages as were underlined by the minister. It often happened
+that this correspondence with Spain laid open the weakness of the
+government, or the anxiety felt by the regent, with which it was not
+expedient to inform the members, whose loyalty was distrusted. If again
+it occurred that the opposition gained a majority over the minister, and
+insisted with determination on an article which he could not well put
+off any longer, he sent it to the ministry at Madrid for their decision,
+by which he at least gained time, and in any case was certain to find
+support.--With the exception of the Count of Barlaimont, the President
+Viglius, and a few others, all the other counsellors were but
+superfluous figures in the senate, and the minister’s behavior to them
+marked the small value which he placed upon their friendship and
+adherence. No wonder that men whose pride had been so greatly indulged
+by the flattering attentions of sovereign princes, and to whom, as to
+the idols of their country, their fellow-citizens paid the most
+reverential submission, should be highly indignant at this arrogance of
+a plebeian. Many of them had been personally insulted by Granvella.
+
+The Prince of Orange was well aware that it was he who had prevented his
+marriage with the Princess of Lorraine, and that he had also endeavored
+to break off the negotiations for another alliance with the Princess of
+Savoy. He had deprived Count Horn of the government of Gueldres and
+Zutphen, and had kept for himself an abbey which Count Egmont had in
+vain exerted himself to obtain for a relation. Confident of his
+superior power, he did not even think it worth while to conceal from the
+nobility his contempt for them, and which, as a rule, marked his whole
+administration; William of Orange was the only one with whom he deemed
+it advisable to dissemble. Although he really believed himself to be
+raised far above all the laws of fear and decorum, still in this point,
+however, his confident arrogance misled him, and he erred no less
+against policy than he shined against propriety. In the existing
+posture of affairs the government could hardly have adopted a worse
+measure than that of throwing disrespect on the nobility. It had it in
+its power to flatter the prejudices and feelings of the aristocracy, and
+thus artfully and imperceptibly win them over to its plans, and through
+them subvert the edifice of national liberty. Now it admonished them,
+most inopportunely, of their duties, their dignity, and their power;
+calling upon them even to be patriots, and to devote to the cause of
+true greatness an ambition which hitherto it had inconsiderately
+repelled. To carry into effect the ordinances it required the active
+co-operation of the lieutenant-governors; no wonder, however, that the
+latter showed but little zeal to afford this assistance. On the
+contrary, it is highly probable that they silently labored to augment
+the difficulties of the minister, and to subvert his measures, and
+through his ill-success to diminish the king’s confidence in him, and
+expose his administration to contempt. The rapid progress which in
+spite of those horrible edicts the Reformation made during Granvella’s
+administration in the Netherlands, is evidently to be ascribed to the
+lukewarmness of the nobility in opposing it. If the minister had been
+sure of the nobles he might have despised the fury of the mob, which
+would have impotently dashed itself against the dreaded barriers of the
+throne. The sufferings of the citizens lingered long in tears and
+sighs, until the arts and the example of the nobility called forth a
+louder expression of them.
+
+Meanwhile the inquisitions into religion were carried on with renewed
+vigor by the crowd of new laborers (1561, 1562), and the edicts against
+heretics were enforced with fearful obedience. But the critical moment
+when this detestable remedy might have been applied was allowed to pass
+by; the nation had become too strong and vigorous for such rough
+treatment. The new religion could now be extirpated only by the death
+of all its professors. The present executions were but so many alluring
+exhibitions of its excellence, so many scenes of its triumphs and
+radiant virtue. The heroic greatness with which the victims died made
+converts to the opinions for which they perished. One martyr gained ten
+new proselytes. Not in towns only, or villages, but on the very
+highways, in the boats and public carriages disputes were held touching
+the dignity of the pope, the saints, purgatory, and indulgences, and
+sermons were preached and men converted. From the country and from the
+towns the common people rushed in crowds to rescue the prisoners of the
+Holy Tribunal from the hands of its satellites, and the municipal
+officers who ventured to support it with the civil forces were pelted
+with stones. Multitudes accompanied the Protestant preachers whom the
+Inquisition pursued, bore them on their shoulders to and from church,
+and at the risk of their lives concealed them from their persecutors.
+The first province which was seized with the fanatical spirit of
+rebellion was, as had been expected, Walloon Flanders. A French
+Calvinist, by name Lannoi, set himself up in Tournay as a worker of
+miracles, where he hired a few women to simulate diseases, and to
+pretend to be cured by him. He preached in the woods near the town,
+drew the people in great numbers after him, and scattered in their minds
+the seeds of rebellion. Similar teachers appeared in Lille and
+Valenciennes, but in the latter place the municipal functionaries
+succeeded in seizing the persons of these incendiaries; while, however,
+they delayed to execute them their followers increased so rapidly that
+they became sufficiently strong to break open the prisons and forcibly
+deprive justice of its victims. Troops at last were brought into the
+town and order restored. But this trifling occurrence had for a moment
+withdrawn the veil which had hitherto concealed the strength of the
+Protestant party, and allowed the minister to compute their prodigious
+numbers. In Tournay alone five thousand at one time had been seen
+attending the sermons, and not many less in Valenciennes. What might
+not be expected from the northern provinces, where liberty was greater,
+and the seat of government more remote, and where the vicinity of
+Germany and Denmark multiplied the sources of contagion? One slight
+provocation had sufficed to draw from its concealment so formidable a
+multitude. How much greater was, perhaps, the number of those who in
+their hearts acknowledged the new sect, and only waited for a favorable
+opportunity to publish their adhesion to it. This discovery greatly
+alarmed the regent. The scanty obedience paid to the edicts, the wants
+of the exhausted treasury, which compelled her to impose new taxes, and
+the suspicious movements of the Huguenots on the French frontiers still
+further increased her anxiety. At the same time she received a command
+from Madrid to send off two thousand Flemish cavalry to the army of the
+Queen Mother in France, who, in the distresses of the civil war, had
+recourse to Philip II. for assistance. Every affair of faith, in
+whatever land it might be, was made by Philip his own business. He felt
+it as keenly as any catastrophe which could befall his own house, and in
+such cases always stood ready to sacrifice his means to foreign
+necessities. If it were interested motives that here swayed him they
+were at least kingly and grand, and the bold support of his principles
+wins our admiration as much as their cruelty withholds our esteem.
+
+The regent laid before the council of state the royal will on the
+subject of these troops, but with a very warm opposition on the part of
+the nobility. Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange declared that the
+time was illchosen for stripping the Netherlands of troops, when the
+aspect of affairs rendered rather the enlistment of new levies
+advisable. The movements of the troops in France momentarily threatened
+a surprise, and the commotions within the provinces demanded, more than
+ever, the utmost vigilance on the part of the government. Hitherto,
+they said, the German Protestants had looked idly on during the
+struggles of their brethren in the faith; but will they continue to do
+so, especially when we are lending our aid to strengthen their enemy?
+By thus acting shall we not rouse their vengeance against us, and call
+their arms into the northern Netherlands? Nearly the whole council of
+state joined in this opinion; their representations were energetic and
+not to be gainsaid. The regent herself, as well as the minister, could
+not but feel their truth, and their own interests appeared to forbid
+obedience to the royal mandate. Would it not be impolitic to withdraw
+from the Inquisition its sole prop by removing the larger portion of the
+army, and in a rebellious country to leave themselves without defence,
+dependent on the arbitrary will of an arrogant aristocracy? While the
+regent, divided between the royal commands, the urgent importunity of
+her council, and her own fears, could not venture to come to a decision,
+William of Orange rose and proposed the assembling of the States
+General. But nothing could have inflicted a more fatal blow on the
+supremacy of the crown than by yielding to this advice to put the nation
+in mind of its power and its rights. No measure could be more hazardous
+at the present moment. The danger which was thus gathering over the
+minister did not escape him; a sign from him warned the regent to break
+off the consultation and adjourn the council. “The government,” he
+writes to Madrid, “can do nothing more injurious to itself than to
+consent to the assembling of the states. Such a step is at all times
+perilous, because it tempts the nation to test and restrict the rights
+of the crown; but it is many times more objectionable at the present
+moment, when the spirit of rebellion is already widely spread amongst
+us; when the abbots, exasperated at the loss of their income, will
+neglect nothing to impair the dignity of the bishops; when the whole
+nobility and all the deputies from the towns are led by the arts of the
+Prince of Orange, and the disaffected can securely reckon on the
+assistance of the nation.” This representation, which at least was not
+wanting in sound sense, did not fail in having the desired effect on the
+king’s mind. The assembling of the states was rejected once and
+forever, the penal statutes against the heretics were renewed in all
+their rigor, and the regent was directed to hasten the despatch of the
+required auxiliaries.
+
+But to this the council of state would not consent. All that she
+obtained was, instead of the troops, a supply of money for the Queen
+Mother, which at this crisis was still more welcome to her. In place,
+however, of assembling the states, and in order to beguile the nation
+with, at least, the semblance of republican freedom, the regent summoned
+the governors of the provinces and the knights of the Golden Fleece to a
+special congress at Brussels, to consult on the present dangers and
+necessities of the state. When the President, Viglius, had laid before
+them the matters on which they were summoned to deliberate, three days
+were given to them for consideration. During this time the Prince of
+Orange assembled them in his palace, where he represented to them the
+necessity of coming to some unanimous resolution before the next
+sitting, and of agreeing on the measures which ought to be followed in
+the present dangerous state of affairs.
+
+The majority assented to the propriety of this course; only Barlaimont,
+with a few of the dependents of the cardinal, had the courage to plead
+for the interests of the crown and of the minister. “It did not behoove
+them,” he said, “to interfere in the concerns of the government, and
+this previous agreement of votes was an illegal and culpable assumption,
+in the guilt of which he would not participate;”--a declaration which
+broke up the meeting without any conclusion being come to. The regent,
+apprised of it by the Count Barlaimont, artfully contrived to keep the
+knights so well employed during their stay in the town that they could
+find no time for coming to any further secret understanding; in this
+session, however, it was arranged, with their concurrence, that Florence
+of Montmorency, Lord of Montigny, should make a journey to Spain, in
+order to acquaint the king with the present posture of affairs. But the
+regent sent before him another messenger to Madrid, who previously
+informed the king of all that had been debated between the Prince of
+Orange and the knights at the secret conference.
+
+The Flemish ambassador was flattered in Madrid with empty protestations
+of the king’s favor and paternal sentiments towards the Netherlands,
+while the regent was commanded to thwart, to the utmost of her power,
+the secret combinations of the nobility, and, if possible, to sow
+discord among their most eminent members. Jealousy, private interest,
+and religious differences had long divided many of the nobles; their
+share in the common neglect and contempt with which they were treated,
+and a general hatred of the minister had again united them. So long as
+Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange were suitors for the regency it
+could not fail but that at times their competing claims should have
+brought them into collision. Both had met each other on the road to
+glory and before the throne; both again met in the republic, where they
+strove for the same prize, the favor of their fellow-citizens. Such
+opposite characters soon became estranged, but the powerful sympathy of
+necessity as quickly reconciled them. Each was now indispensable to the
+other, and the emergency united these two men together with a bond which
+their hearts would never have furnished. But it was on this very
+uncongeniality of disposition that the regent based her plans; if she
+could fortunately succeed in separating them she would at the same time
+divide the whole Flemish nobility into two parties. Through the
+presents and small attentions by which she exclusively honored these
+two she also sought to excite against them the envy and distrust of the
+rest, and by appearing to give Count Egmont a preference over the Prince
+of Orange she hoped to make the latter suspicious of Egmont’s good
+faith. It happened that at this very time she was obliged to send an
+extraordinary ambassador to Frankfort, to be present at the election of
+a Roman emperor. She chose for this office the Duke of Arschot, the
+avowed enemy of the prince, in order in some degree to show in his case
+how splendid was the reward which hatred against the latter might look
+for. The Orange faction, however, instead of suffering any diminution,
+had gained an important accession in Count Horn, who, as admiral of the
+Flemish marine, had convoyed the king to Biscay, and now again took his
+seat in the council of state. Horn’s restless and republican spirit
+readily met the daring schemes of Orange and Egmont, and a dangerous
+Triumvirate was soon formed by these three friends, which shook the
+royal power in the Netherlands, but which terminated very differently
+for each of its members.
+
+
+(1562.) Meanwhile Montigny had returned from his embassy, and brought
+back to the council of state the most gracious assurance of the monarch.
+But the Prince of Orange had, through his own secret channels of
+intelligence, received more credible information from Madrid, which
+entirely contradicted this report. By these means be learnt all the ill
+services which Granvella had done him and his friends with the king, and
+the odious appellations which were there applied to the Flemish
+nobility. There was no help for them so long as the minister retained
+the helm of government, and to procure his dismissal was the scheme,
+however rash and adventurous it appeared, which wholly occupied the mind
+of the prince. It was agreed between him and Counts Horn and Egmont to
+despatch a joint letter to the king, and, in the name of the whole
+nobility, formally to accuse the minister, and press energetically for
+his removal. The Duke of Arschot, to whom this proposition was
+communicated by Count Egmont, refused to concur in it, haughtily
+declaring that he was not disposed to receive laws from Egmont and
+Orange; that he had no cause of complaint against Granvella, and that he
+thought it very presumptuous to prescribe to the king what ministers he
+ought to employ. Orange received a similar answer from the Count of
+Aremberg. Either the seeds of distrust which the regent had scattered
+amongst the nobility had already taken root, or the fear of the
+minister’s power outweighed the abhorrence of his measures; at any rate,
+the whole nobility shrunk back timidly and irresolutely from the
+proposal. This disappointment did not, however, discourage them. The
+letter was written and subscribed by all three (1563).
+
+In it Granvella was represented as the prime cause of all the disorders
+in the Netherlands. So long as the highest power should be entrusted to
+him it would, they declared, be impossible for them to serve the nation
+and king effectually; on the other hand, all would revert to its former
+tranquillity, all opposition be discontinued, and the government regain
+the affections of the people as soon as his majesty should be pleased to
+remove this man from the helm of the state. In that case, they added,
+neither exertion nor zeal would be wanting on their part to maintain in
+these countries the dignity of the king and the purity of the faith,
+which was no less sacred to them than to the cardinal, Granvella.
+
+Secretly as this letter was prepared still the duchess was informed of
+it in sufficient time to anticipate it by another despatch, and to
+counteract the effect which it might have had on the king’s mind. Some
+months passed ere an answer came from Madrid. It was mild, but vague.
+“The king,” such was its import, “was not used to condemn his ministers
+unheard on the mere accusations of their enemies. Common justice alone
+required that the accusers of the cardinal should descend from general
+imputations to special proofs, and if they were not inclined to do this
+in writing, one of them might come to Spain, where he should be treated
+with all respect.” Besides this letter, which was equally directed to
+all three, Count Egmont further received an autograph letter from the
+king, wherein his majesty expressed a wish to learn from him in
+particular what in the common letter had been only generally touched
+upon. The regent, also, was specially instructed how she was to answer
+the three collectively, and the count singly. The king knew his man.
+He felt it was easy to manage Count Egmont alone; for this reason he
+sought to entice him to Madrid, where he would be removed from the
+commanding guidance of a higher intellect. In distinguishing him above
+his two friends by so flattering a mark of his confidence, he made a
+difference in the relation in which they severally stood to the throne;
+how could they, then, unite with equal zeal for the same object when the
+inducements were no longer the same? This time, indeed, the vigilance
+of Orange frustrated the scheme; but the sequel of the history will show
+that the seed which was now scattered was not altogether lost.
+
+
+(1563.) The king’s answer gave no satisfaction to the three
+confederates; they boldly determined to venture a second attempt. “It
+had,” they wrote, “surprised them not a little, that his majesty had
+thought their representations so unworthy of attention. It was not as
+accusers of the minister, but as counsellors of his majesty, whose duty
+it was to inform their master of the condition of his states, that they
+had despatched that letter to him. They sought not the ruin of the
+minister, indeed it would gratify them to see him contented and happy in
+any other part of the world than here in the Netherlands. They were,
+however, fully persuaded of this, that his continued presence there was
+absolutely incompatible with the general tranquillity. The present
+dangerous condition of their native country would allow none of them to
+leave it, much less to take so long a journey as to Spain on Granvella’s
+account. If, therefore, his majesty did not please to comply with their
+written request, they hoped to be excused for the future from attendance
+in the senate, where they were only exposed to the mortification of
+meeting the minister, and where they could be of no service either to
+the king or the state, but only appeared contemptible in their own
+sight. In conclusion, they begged his majesty would not take ill the
+plain simplicity of their language, since persons of their character set
+more value on acting well than on speaking finely.” To the same purport
+was a separate letter from Count Egmont, in which he returned thanks for
+the royal autograph. This second address was followed by an answer to
+the effect that “their representations should be taken into
+consideration, meanwhile they were requested to attend the council of
+state as heretofore.”
+
+It was evident that the monarch was far from intending to grant their
+request; they, therefore, from this tune forth absented themselves from
+the state council, and even left Brussels. Not having succeeded in
+removing the minister by lawful means they sought to accomplish this end
+by a new mode from which more might be expected. On every occasion they
+and their adherents openly showed the contempt which they felt for him,
+and contrived to throw ridicule on everything he undertook. By this
+contemptuous treatment they hoped to harass the haughty spirit of the
+priest, and to obtain through his mortified self-love what they had
+failed in by other means. In this, indeed, they did not succeed; but
+the expedient on which they had fallen led in the end to the ruin of the
+minister.
+
+The popular voice was raised more loudly against him so soon as it was
+perceived that he had forfeited the good opinion of the nobles, and that
+men whose sentiments they had been used blindly to echo preceded them in
+detestation of him. The contemptuous manner in which the nobility now
+treated him devoted him in a measure to the general scorn and emboldened
+calumny which never spares even what is holiest and purest, to lay its
+sacrilegious hand on his honor. The new constitution of the church,
+which was the great grievance of the nation, had been the basis of his
+fortunes. This was a crime that could not be forgiven. Every fresh
+execution--and with such spectacles the activity of the inquisitors was
+only too liberal--kept alive and furnished dreadful exercise to the
+bitter animosity against him, and at last custom and usage inscribed his
+name on every act of oppression. A stranger in a land into which he had
+been introduced against its will; alone among millions of enemies;
+uncertain of all his tools; supported only by the weak arm of distant
+royalty; maintaining his intercourse with the nation, which he had to
+gain, only by means of faithless instruments, all of whom made it their
+highest object to falsify his actions and misrepresent his motives;
+lastly, with a woman for his coadjutor who could not share with him the
+burden of the general execration--thus he stood exposed to the
+wantonness, the ingratitude, the faction, the envy, and all the evil
+passions of a licentious, insubordinate people. It is worthy of remark
+that the hatred which he had incurred far outran the demerits which
+could be laid to his charge; that it was difficult, nay impossible, for
+his accusers to substantiate by proof the general condemnation which
+fell upon him from all sides. Before and after him fanaticism dragged
+its victims to the altar; before and after him civil blood flowed, the
+rights of men were made a mock of, and men themselves rendered wretched.
+Under Charles V. tyranny ought to have pained more acutely through its
+novelty; under the Duke of Alva it was carried to far more unnatural
+lengths, insomuch that Granvella’s administration, in comparison with
+that of his successor, was even merciful; and yet we do not find that
+his contemporaries ever evinced the same degree of personal exasperation
+and spite against the latter in which they indulged against his
+predecessor. To cloak the meanness of his birth in the splendor of high
+dignities, and by an exalted station to place him if possible above the
+malice of his enemies, the regent had made interest at Rome to procure
+for him the cardinal’s hat; but this very honor, which connected him
+more closely with the papal court, made him so much the more an alien in
+the provinces. The purple was a new crime in Brussels, and an
+obnoxious, detested garb, which in a measure publicly held forth to view
+the principles on which his future conduct would be governed. Neither
+his honorable rank, which alone often consecrates the most infamous
+caitiff, nor his talents, which commanded esteem, nor even his terrible
+omnipotence, which daily revealed itself in so many bloody
+manifestations, could screen him from derision. Terror and scorn, the
+fearful and the ludicrous, were in his instance unnaturally blended.
+
+   [The nobility, at the suggestion of Count Egmont, caused their
+   servants to wear a common livery, on which was embroidered a fool’s
+   cap. All Brussels interpreted it for the cardinal’s hat, and every
+   appearance of such a servant renewed their laughter; this badge of
+   a fool’s cap, which was offensive to the court, was subsequently
+   changed into a bundle of arrows--an accidental jest which took a
+   very serious end, and probably was the origin of the arms of the
+   republic. Vit. Vigl. T. II. 35 Thuan. 489. The respect for the
+   cardinal sunk at last so low that a caricature was publicly placed
+   in his own hand, in which he was represented seated on a heap of
+   eggs, out of which bishops were crawling. Over him hovered a devil
+   with the inscription--“This is my son, hear ye him!”]
+
+Odious rumors branded his honor; murderous attempts on the lives of
+Egmont and Orange were ascribed to him; the most incredible things found
+credence; the most monstrous, if they referred to him or were said to
+emanate from him, surprised no longer. The nation had already become
+uncivilized to that degree where the most contradictory sentiments
+prevail side by side, and the finer boundary lines of decorum and moral
+feeling are erased. This belief in extraordinary crimes is almost
+invariably their immediate precursor.
+
+But with this gloomy prospect the strange destiny of this man opens at
+the same time a grander view, which impresses the unprejudiced observer
+with pleasure and admiration. Here he beholds a nation dazzled by no
+splendor, and restrained by no fear, firmly, inexorably, and
+unpremeditatedly unanimous in punishing the crime which had been
+committed against its dignity by the violent introduction of a stranger
+into the heart of its political constitution. We see him ever aloof and
+ever isolated, like a foreign hostile body hovering over a surface which
+repels its contact. The strong hand itself of the monarch, who was.
+his friend and protector, could not support him against the antipathies
+of the nation which had once resolved to withhold from him all its
+sympathy. The voice of national hatred was all powerful, and was ready
+to forego even private interest, its certain gains; his alms even were
+shunned, like the fruit of an accursed tree. Like pestilential vapor,
+the infamy of universal reprobation hung over him. In his case
+gratitude believed itself absolved from its duties; his adherents
+shunned him; his friends were dumb in his behalf. So terribly did the
+people avenge the insulted majesty of their nobles and their nation on
+the greatest monarch of the earth.
+
+History has repeated this memorable example only once, in Cardinal
+Mazarin; but the instance differed according to the spirit of the two
+periods and nations. The highest power could not protect either from
+derision; but if France found vent for its indignation in laughing at
+its pantaloon, the Netherlands hurried from scorn to rebellion. The
+former, after a long bondage under the vigorous administration of
+Richelieu, saw itself placed suddenly in unwonted liberty; the latter
+had passed from ancient hereditary freedom into strange and unusual
+servitude; it was as natural that the Fronde should end again in
+subjection as that the Belgian troubles should issue in republican
+independence. The revolt of the Parisians was the offspring of poverty;
+unbridled, but not bold, arrogant, but without energy, base and
+plebeian, like the source from which it sprang. The murmur of the
+Netherlands was the proud and powerful voice of wealth. Licentiousness
+and hunger inspired the former; revenge, life, property, and religion
+were the animating motives of the latter. Rapacity was Mazarin’s spring
+of action; Granvella’s lust of power. The former was humane and mild;
+the latter harsh, imperious, cruel. The French minister sought in the
+favor of his queen an asylum from the hatred of the magnates and the
+fury of the people; the Netherlandish minister provoked the hatred of a
+whole nation in order to please one man. Against Mazarin were only a
+few factions and the mob they could arm; an entire and united nation
+against Granvella. Under the former parliament attempted to obtain,
+by stealth, a power which did not belong to them; under the latter it
+struggled for a lawful authority which he insidiously had endeavored to
+wrest from them. The former had to contend with the princes of the
+blood and the peers of the realm, as the latter had with the native
+nobility and the states, but instead of endeavoring, like the former, to
+overthrow the common enemy, in the hope of stepping themselves into his
+place, the latter wished to destroy the place itself, and to divide a
+power which no single man ought to possess entire.
+
+While these feelings were spreading among the people the influence of
+the minister at the court of the regent began to totter. The repeated
+complaints against the extent of his power must at last have made her
+sensible how little faith was placed in her own; perhaps, too, she began
+to fear that the universal abhorrence which attached to him would soon
+include herself also, or that his longer stay would inevitably provoke
+the menaced revolt. Long intercourse with him, his instruction and
+example, had qualified her to govern without him. His dignity began to
+be more oppressive to her as he became less necessary, and his faults,
+to which her friendship had hitherto lent a veil, became visible as it
+was withdrawn. She was now as much disposed to search out and enumerate
+these faults as she formerly had been to conceal them. In this
+unfavorable state of her feelings towards the cardinal the urgent and
+accumulated representations of the nobles began at last to find access
+to her mind, and the more easily, as they contrived to mix up her own
+fears with their own. “It was matter of great astonishment,” said Count
+Egmont to her, “that to gratify a man who was not even a Fleming, and of
+whom, therefore, it must be well known that his happiness could not be
+dependent on the prosperity of this country, the king could be content
+to see all his Netherlandish subjects suffer, and this to please a
+foreigner, who if his birth made him a subject of the Emperor, the
+purple had made a creature of the court of Rome.” “To the king alone,”
+ added the count, “was Granvella indebted for his being still among the
+living; for the future, however, he would leave that care of him to the
+regent, and he hereby gave her warning.” As the majority of the nobles,
+disgusted with the contemptuous treatment which they met with in the
+council of state, gradually withdrew from it, the arbitrary proceedings
+of the minister lost the last semblance of republican deliberation which
+had hitherto softened the odious aspect, and the empty desolation of
+the council chamber made his domineering rule appear in all its
+obnoxiousness. The regent now felt that she had a master over her,
+and from that moment the banishment of the minister was decided upon.
+
+With this object she despatched her private secretary, Thomas
+Armenteros, to Spain, to acquaint the king with the circumstances in
+which the cardinal was placed, to apprise him of the intimations she had
+received of the intentions of the nobles, and in this manner to cause
+the resolution for his recall to appear to emanate from the king
+himself. What she did not like to trust to a letter Armenteros was
+ordered ingeniously to interweave in the oral communication which the
+king would probably require from him. Armenteros fulfilled his
+commission with all the ability of a consummate courtier; but an
+audience of four hours could not overthrow the work of many years, nor
+destroy in Philip’s mind his opinion of his minister, which was there
+unalterably established. Long did the monarch hold counsel with his
+policy and his interest, until Granvella himself came to the aid of his
+wavering resolution and voluntarily solicited a dismissal, which, he
+feared, could not much longer be deferred. What the detestation of all
+the Netherlands could not effect the contemptuous treatment of the
+nobility accomplished; he was at last weary of a power which was no
+longer feared, and exposed him less to envy than to infamy.
+
+Perhaps as some have believed he trembled for his life, which was
+certainly in more than imaginary danger; perhaps he wished to receive
+his dismissal from the king under the shape of a boon rather than of a
+sentence, and after the example of the Romans meet with dignity a fate
+which he could no longer avoid. Philip too, it would appear, preferred
+generously to accord to the nation a request rather than to yield at a
+later period to a demand, and hoped at least to merit their thanks by
+voluntarily conceding now what necessity would ere long extort. His
+fears prevailed over his obstinacy, and prudence overcame pride.
+
+Granvella doubted not for a moment what the decision of the king would
+be. A few days after the return of Armenteros he saw humility and
+flattery disappear from the few faces which had till then servilely
+smiled upon him; the last small crowd of base flatterers and eyeservants
+vanished from around his person; his threshold was forsaken; he
+perceived that the fructifying warmth of royal favor had left him.
+
+Detraction, which had assailed him during his whole administration, did
+not spare him even in the moment of resignation. People did not scruple
+to assert that a short time before he laid down his office he had
+expressed a wish to be reconciled to the Prince of Orange and Count
+Egmont, and even offered, if their forgiveness could be hoped for on no
+other terms, to ask pardon of them on his knees. It was base and
+contemptible to sully the memory of a great and extraordinary man with
+such a charge, but it is still more so to hand it down uncontradicted to
+posterity. Granvella submitted to the royal command with a dignified
+composure. Already had he written, a few months previously, to the Duke
+of Alva in Spain, to prepare him a place of refuge in Madrid, in case of
+his having to quit the Netherlands. The latter long bethought himself
+whether it was advisable to bring thither so dangerous a rival for the
+favor of his king, or to deny so important a friend such a valuable
+means of indulging his old hatred of the Flemish nobles. Revenge
+prevailed over fear, and he strenuously supported Granvella’s request
+with the monarch. But his intercession was fruitless. Armenteros had
+persuaded the king that the minister’s residence in Madrid would only
+revive, with increased violence, all the complaints of the Belgian
+nation, to which his ministry had been sacrificed; for then, he said, he
+would be suspected of poisoning the very source of that power, whose
+outlets only he had hitherto been charged with corrupting. He therefore
+sent him to Burgundy, his native place, for which a decent pretext
+fortunately presented itself. The cardinal gave to his departure from
+Brussels the appearance of an unimportant journey, from which he would
+return in a few days. At the same time, however, all the state
+counsellors, who, under his administration, had voluntarily excluded
+themselves from its sittings, received a command from the court to
+resume their seats in the senate at Brussels. Although the latter
+circumstance made his return not very credible, nevertheless the
+remotest possibility of it sobered the triumph which celebrated his
+departure. The regent herself appears to have been undecided what to
+think about the report; for, in a fresh letter to the king, she repeated
+all the representations and arguments which ought to restrain him from
+restoring this minister. Granvella himself, in his correspondence with
+Barlaimont and Viglius, endeavored to keep alive this rumor, and at
+least to alarm with fears, however unsubstantial, the enemies whom he
+could no longer punish by his presence. Indeed, the dread of the
+influence of this extraordinary man was so exceedingly great that, to
+appease it, he was at last driven even from his home and his country.
+
+After the death of Pius IV., Granvella went to Rome, to be present at
+the election of a new pope, and at the same time to discharge some
+commissions of his master, whose confidence in him remained unshaken.
+Soon after, Philip made him viceroy of Naples, where he succumbed to the
+seductions of the climate, and the spirit which no vicissitudes could
+bend voluptuousness overcame. He was sixty-two years old when the king
+allowed him to revisit Spain, where he continued with unlimited powers
+to administer the affairs of Italy. A gloomy old age, and the
+self-satisfied pride of a sexagenarian administration made him a harsh
+and rigid judge of the opinions of others, a slave of custom, and a
+tedious panegyrist of past times. But the policy of the closing century
+had ceased to be the policy of the opening one. A new and younger
+ministry were soon weary of so imperious a superintendent, and Philip
+himself began to shun the aged counsellor, who found nothing worthy of
+praise but the deeds of his father. Nevertheless, when the conquest of
+Portugal called Philip to Lisbon, he confided to the cardinal the care of
+his Spanish territories. Finally, on an Italian tour, in the town of
+Mantua, in the seventy-third year of his life, Granvella terminated his
+long existence in the full enjoyment of his glory, and after possessing
+for forty years the uninterrupted confidence of his king.
+
+
+(1564.) Immediately upon the departure of the minister, all the happy
+results which were promised from his withdrawal were fulfilled. The
+disaffected nobles resumed their seats in the council, and again devoted
+themselves to the affairs of the state with redoubled zeal, in order to
+give no room for regret for him whom they had driven away, and to prove,
+by the fortunate administration of the state, that his services were not
+indispensable. The crowd round the duchess was great. All vied with
+one another in readiness, in submission, and zeal in her service; the
+hours of night were not allowed to stop the transaction of pressing
+business of state; the greatest unanimity existed between the three
+councils, the best understanding between the court and the states. From
+the obliging temper of the Flemish nobility everything was to be had, as
+soon as their pride and self-will was flattered by confidence and
+obliging treatment. The regent took advantage of the first joy of the
+nation to beguile them into a vote of certain taxes, which, under the
+preceding administration, she could not have hoped to extort. In this,
+the great credit of the nobility effectually supported her, and she soon
+learned from this nation the secret, which had been so often verified in
+the German diet--that much must be demanded in order to get a little.
+
+With pleasure did the regent see herself emancipated from her long
+thraldom; the emulous industry of the nobility lightened for her the
+burden of business, and their insinuating humility allowed her to feel
+the full sweetness of power.
+
+
+(1564). Granvella had been overthrown, but his party still remained.
+His policy lived in his creatures, whom he left behind him in the privy
+council and in the chamber of finance. Hatred still smouldered amongst
+the factious long after the leader was banished, and the names of the
+Orange and Royalist parties, of the Patriots and Cardinalists still
+continued to divide the senate and to keep up the flames of discord.
+Viglius Van Zuichem Van Aytta, president of the privy council, state
+counsellor and keeper of the seal, was now looked upon as the most
+important person in the senate, and the most powerful prop of the crown
+and the tiara. This highly meritorious old man, whom we have to thank
+for some valuable contributions towards the history of the rebellion of
+the Low Countries, and whose confidential correspondence with his
+friends has generally been the guide of our narrative, was one of the
+greatest lawyers of his time, as well as a theologian and priest, and
+had already, under the Emperor, filled the most important offices.
+Familiar intercourse with the learned men who adorned the age, and at
+the head of whom stood Erasmus of Rotterdam, combined with frequent
+travels in the imperial service, had extended the sphere of his
+information and experience, and in many points raised him in his
+principles and opinions above his contemporaries. The fame of his
+erudition filled the whole century in which he lived, and has handed his
+name down to posterity. When, in the year 1548, the connection of the
+Netherlands with the German empire was to be settled at the Diet of
+Augsburg, Charles V. sent hither this statesman to manage the interests
+of the provinces; and his ability principally succeeded in turning the
+negotiations to the advantage of the Netherlands. After the death of
+the Emperor, Viglius was one of the many eminent ministers bequeathed to
+Philip by his father, and one of the few in whom he honored his memory.
+The fortune of the minister, Granvella, with whom he was united by the
+ties of an early acquaintance, raised him likewise to greatness; but he
+did not share the fall of his patron, because he had not participated in
+his lust of power; nor, consequently, the hatred which attached to him.
+A residence of twenty years in the provinces, where the most important
+affairs were entrusted to him, approved loyalty to his king, and zealous
+attachment to the Roman Catholic tenets, made him one of the most
+distinguished instruments of royalty in the Netherlands.
+
+Viglius was a man of learning, but no thinker; an experienced statesman,
+but without an enlightened mind; of an intellect not sufficiently
+powerful to break, like his friend Erasmus, the fetters of error, yet
+not sufficiently bad to employ it, like his predecessor, Granvella, in
+the service of his own passions. Too weak and timid to follow boldly
+the guidance of his reason, he preferred trusting to the more convenient
+path of conscience; a thing was just so soon as it became his duty; he
+belonged to those honest men who are indispensable to bad ones; fraud
+reckoned on his honesty. Half a century later he would have received
+his immortality from the freedom which he now helped to subvert.
+In the privy council at Brussels he was the servant of tyranny; in the
+parliament in London, or in the senate at Amsterdam, he would have died,
+perhaps, like Thomas More or Olden Barneveldt.
+
+In the Count Barlaimont, the president of the council of finance,
+the opposition had a no less formidable antagonist than in Viglius.
+Historians have transmitted but little information regarding the
+services and the opinions of this man. In the first part of his career
+the dazzling greatness of Cardinal Granvella seems to have cast a shade
+over him; after the latter had disappeared from the stage the
+superiority of the opposite party kept him down, but still the little
+that we do find respecting him throws a favorable light over his
+character. More than once the Prince of Orange exerted himself to
+detach him from the interests of the cardinal, and to join him to his
+own party--sufficient proof that he placed a value on the prize. All
+his efforts failed, which shows that he had to do with no vacillating
+character. More than once we see him alone, of all the members of the
+council, stepping forward to oppose the dominant faction, and protecting
+against universal opposition the interests of the crown, which were in
+momentary peril of being sacrificed. When the Prince of Orange had
+assembled the knights of the Golden Fleece in his own palace, with a
+view to induce them to come to a preparatory resolution for the
+abolition of the Inquisition, Barlaimont was the first to denounce the
+illegality of this proceeding and to inform the regent of it. Some time
+after the prince asked him if the regent knew of that assembly, and
+Barlaitnont hesitated not a moment to avow to him the truth. All the
+steps which have been ascribed to him bespeak a man whom neither
+influence nor fear could tempt, who, with a firm courage and indomitable
+constancy, remained faithful to the party which he had once chosen, but
+who, it must at the same time be confessed, entertained too proud and
+too despotic notions to have selected any other.
+
+Amongst the adherents of the royal party at Brussels, we have, further,
+the names of the Duke of Arschot, the Counts of Mansfeld, Megen, and
+Aremberg--all three native Netherlanders; and therefore, as it appeared,
+bound equally with the whole Netherlandish nobility to oppose the
+hierarchy and the royal power in their native country. So much the more
+surprised must we feel at their contrary behavior, and which is indeed
+the more remarkable, since we find them on terms of friendship with the
+most eminent members of the faction, and anything but insensible to the
+common grievances of their country.
+
+But they had not self-confidence or heroism enough to venture on an
+unequal contest with so superior an antagonist. With a cowardly
+prudence they made their just discontent submit to the stern law of
+necessity, and imposed a hard sacrifice on their pride because their
+pampered vanity was capable of nothing better. Too thrifty and too
+discreet to wish to extort from the justice or the fear of their
+sovereign the certain good which they already possessed from his
+voluntary generosity, or to resign a real happiness in order to preserve
+the shadow of another, they rather employed the propitious moment to
+drive a traffic with their constancy, which, from the general defection
+of the nobility, had now risen in value. Caring little for true glory,
+they allowed their ambition to decide which party they should take; for
+the ambition of base minds prefers to bow beneath the hard yoke of
+compulsion rather than submit to the gentle sway of a superior
+intellect. Small would have been the value of the favor conferred had
+they bestowed themselves on the Prince of Orange; but their connection
+with royalty made them so much the more formidable as opponents. There
+their names would have been lost among his numerous adherents and in the
+splendor of their rival. On the almost deserted side of the court their
+insignificant merit acquired lustre.
+
+The families of Nassau and Croi (to the latter belonged the Duke of
+Arschot) had for several reigns been competitors for influence and
+honor, and their rivalry had kept up an old feud between their families,
+which religious differences finally made irreconcilable. The house of
+Croi from time immemorial had been renowned for its devout and strict
+observance of papistic rites and ceremonies; the Counts of Nassau had
+gone over to the new sect--sufficient reasons why Philip of Croi, Duke
+of Arschot, should prefer a party which placed him the most decidedly in
+opposition to the Prince of Orange. The court did not fail to take
+advantage of this private feud, and to oppose so important an enemy to
+the increasing influence of the house of Nassau in the republic. The
+Counts Mansfeld and Megen had till lately been the confidential friends
+of Count Egmont. In common with him they had raised their voice against
+the minister, had joined him in resisting the Inquisition and the
+edicts, and had hitherto held with him as far as honor and duty would
+permit. But at these limits the three friends now separated. Egmont’s
+unsuspecting virtue incessantly hurried him forwards on the road to
+ruin; Mansfeld and Megen, admonished of the danger, began in good time
+to think of a safe retreat. There still exist letters which were
+interchanged between the Counts Egmont and Mansfeld, and which, although
+written at a later period, give us a true picture of their former
+friendship. “If,” replied Count Mansfeld to his friend, who in an
+amicable manner had reproved him for his defection to the king, “if
+formerly I was of opinion that the general good made the abolition of
+the Inquisition, the mitigation of the edicts, and the removal of the
+Cardinal Granvella necessary, the king has now acquiesced in this wish
+and removed the cause of complaint. We have already done too much
+against the majesty of the sovereign and the authority of the church; it
+is high time for us to turn, if we would wish to meet the king, when he
+comes, with open brow and without anxiety. As regards my own person, I
+do not dread his vengeance; with confident courage I would at his first
+summons present myself in Spain, and boldly abide my sentence from his
+justice and goodness. I do not say this as if I doubted whether Count
+Egmont can assert the same, but he will act prudently in looking more
+to his own safety, and in removing suspicion from his actions. If I
+hear,” he says, in conclusion, “that he has allowed my admonitions to
+have their due weight, our friendship continues; if not, I feel myself
+in that case strong enough to sacrifice all human ties to my duty and to
+honor.”
+
+The enlarged power of the nobility exposed the republic to almost a
+greater evil than that which it had just escaped by the removal of the
+minister. Impoverished by long habits of luxury, which at the same time
+had relaxed their morals, and to which they were now too much addicted
+to be able to renounce them, they yielded to the perilous opportunity of
+indulging their ruling inclination, and of again repairing the expiring
+lustre of their fortunes. Extravagance brought on the thirst for gain,
+and this introduced bribery. Secular and ecclesiastical offices were
+publicly put up to sale; posts of honor, privileges, and patents were
+sold to the highest bidder; even justice was made a trade. Whom the
+privy council had condemned was acquitted by the council of state, and
+what the former refused to grant was to be purchased from the latter.
+The council of state, indeed, subsequently retorted the charge on the
+two other councils, but it forgot that it was its own example that
+corrupted them. The shrewdness of rapacity opened new sources of gain.
+Life, liberty, and religion were insured for a certain sum, like landed
+estates; for gold, murderers and malefactors were free, and the nation
+was plundered by a lottery. The servants and creatures of the state,
+counsellors and governors of provinces, were, without regard to rank or
+merit, pushed into the most important posts; whoever had a petition to
+present at court had to make his way through the governors of provinces
+and their inferior servants. No artifice of seduction was spared to
+implicate in these excesses the private secretary of the duchess, Thomas
+Armenteros, a man up to this time of irreproachable character. By
+pretended professions of attachment and friendship a successful attempt
+was made to gain his confidence, and by luxurious entertainments to
+undermine his principles; the seductive example infected his morals, and
+new wants overcame his hitherto incorruptible integrity. He was now
+blind to abuses in which he was an accomplice, and drew a veil over the
+crimes of others in order at the same time to cloak his own. With his
+knowledge the royal exchequer was robbed, and the objects of the
+government were defeated through a corrupt administration of its
+revenues. Meanwhile the regent wandered on in a fond dream of power and
+activity, which the flattery of the nobles artfully knew how to foster.
+The ambition of the factious played with the foibles of a woman, and
+with empty signs and an humble show of submission purchased real power
+from her. She soon belonged entirely to the faction, and had
+imperceptibly changed her principles. Diametrically opposing all her
+former proceedings, even in direct violation of her duty, she now
+brought before the council of state, which was swayed by the faction,
+not only questions which belonged to the other councils, but also the
+suggestions which Viglius had made to her in private, in the same way as
+formerly, under Granvella’s administration, she had improperly neglected
+to consult it at all. Nearly all business and all influence were now
+diverted to the governors of provinces. All petitions were directed to
+them, by them all lucrative appointments were bestowed. Their
+usurpations were indeed carried so far that law proceedings were
+withdrawn from the municipal authorities of the towns and brought before
+their own tribunals. The respectability of the provincial courts
+decreased as theirs extended, and with the respectability of the
+municipal functionaries the administration of justice and civil order
+declined. The smaller courts soon followed the example of the
+government of the country. The spirit which ruled the council of state
+at Brussels soon diffused itself through the provinces. Bribery,
+indulgences, robbery, venality of justice, were universal in the courts
+of judicature of the country; morals degenerated, and the new sects
+availed themselves of this all-pervading licentiousness to propagate
+their opinions. The religious indifference or toleration of the nobles,
+who, either themselves inclined to the side of the innovators, or, at
+least, detested the Inquisition as an instrument of despotism, had
+mitigated the rigor of the religious edicts, and through the letters of
+indemnity, which were bestowed on many Protestants, the holy office was
+deprived of its best victims. In no way could the nobility more
+agreeably announce to the nation its present share in the government of
+the country than by sacrificing to it the hated tribunal of the
+Inquisition--and to this inclination impelled them still more than the
+dictates of policy. The nation passed in a moment from the most
+oppressive constraint of intolerance into a state of freedom, to which,
+however, it had already become too unaccustomed to support it with
+moderation. The inquisitors, deprived of the support of the municipal
+authorities, found themselves an object of derision rather than of fear.
+In Bruges the town council caused even some of their own servants to be
+placed in confinement, and kept on bread and water, for attempting to
+lay hands upon a supposed heretic. About this very time the mob in
+Antwerp, having made a futile, attempt to rescue a person charged with
+heresy from the holy office, there was placarded in the public
+market-place an inscription, written in blood, to the effect that a
+number of persons had bound themselves by oath to avenge the death of
+that innocent person.
+
+From the corruption which pervaded the whole council of state, the privy
+council, and the chamber of finance, in which Viglius and Barlaimont
+were presidents, had as yet, for the most part, kept themselves pure.
+
+As the faction could not succeed in insinuating their adherents into
+those two councils the only course open to them was, if possible, to
+render both inefficient, and to transfer their business to the council
+of state. To carry out this design the Prince of Orange sought to
+secure the co-operation of the other state counsellors. “They were
+called, indeed, senators,” he frequently declared to his adherents, “but
+others possessed the power. If gold was wanted to pay the troops, or
+when the question was how the spreading heresy was to be repressed, or
+the people kept in order, then they were consulted; although in fact
+they were the guardians neither of the treasury nor of the laws, but
+only the organs through which the other two councils operated on the
+state. And yet alone they were equal to the whole administration of the
+country, which had been uselessly portioned out amongst three separate
+chambers. If they would among themselves only agree to reunite to the
+council of state these two important branches of government, which had
+been dissevered from it, one soul might animate the whole body.” A plan
+was preliminarily and secretly agreed on, in accordance with which
+twelve new Knights of the Fleece were to be added to the council of
+state, the administration of justice restored to the tribunal at
+Malines, to which it originally belonged, the granting of letters of
+grace, patents, and so forth, assigned to the president, Viglius, while
+the management of the finances should be committed to it. All the
+difficulties, indeed, which the distrust of the court and its jealousy
+of the increasing power of the nobility would oppose to this innovation
+were foreseen and provided against. In order to constrain the regent’s
+assent, some of the principal officers of the army were put forward as a
+cloak, who were to annoy the court at Brussels with boisterous demands
+for their arrears of pay, and in case of refusal to threaten a
+rebellion. It was also contrived to have the regent assailed with
+numerous petitions and memorials complaining of the delays of justice,
+and exaggerating the danger which was to be apprehended from the daily
+growth of heresy. Nothing was omitted to darken the picture of the
+disorganized state of society, of the abuse of justice, and of the
+deficiency in the finances, which was made so alarming that she awoke
+with terror from the delusion of prosperity in which she had hitherto
+cradled herself. She called the three councils together to consult them
+on the means by which these disorders were to be remedied. The majority
+was in favor of sending an extraordinary ambassador to Spain, who by a
+circumstantial and vivid delineation should make the king acquainted
+with the true position of affairs, and if possible prevail on him to
+adopt efficient measures of reform. This proposition was opposed by
+Viglius, who, however, had not the slighest suspicion of the secret
+designs of the faction. “The evil complained of,” he said, “is
+undoubtedly great, and one which can no longer be neglected with
+impunity, but it is not irremediable by ourselves. The administration
+of justice is certainly crippled, but the blame of this lies with the
+nobles themselves; by their contemptuous treatment they have thrown
+discredit on the municipal authorities, who, moreover, are very
+inadequately supported by the governors of provinces. If heresy is on
+the increase it is because the secular arm has deserted the spiritual
+judges, and because the lower orders, following the example of the
+nobles, have thrown off all respect for those in authority. The
+provinces are undoubtedly oppressed by a heavy debt, but it has not been
+accumulated, as alleged, by any malversation of the revenues, but by the
+expenses of former wars and the king’s present exigences; still wise and
+prudent measures of finance might in a short time remove the burden. If
+the council of state would not be so profuse of its indulgences, its
+charters of immunity, and its exemptions; if it would commence the
+reformation of morals with itself, show greater respect to the laws, and
+do what lies in its power to restore to the municipal functionaries
+their former consideration; in short, if the councils and the governors
+of provinces would only fulfil their own duties the present grounds of
+complaint would soon be removed. Why, then, send an ambassador to
+Spain, when as yet nothing has occurred to justify so extraordinary an
+expedient? If, however, the council thinks otherwise, he would not
+oppose the general voice; only he must make it a condition of his
+concurrence that the principal instruction of the envoy should be to
+entreat the king to make them a speedy visit.”
+
+There was but one voice as to the choice of an envoy. Of all the
+Flemish nobles Count Egmont was the only one whose appointment would
+give equal satisfaction to both parties. His hatred of the Inquisition,
+his patriotic and liberal sentiments, and the unblemished integrity of
+his character, gave to the republic sufficient surety for his conduct,
+while for the reasons already mentioned he could not fail to be welcome
+to the king. Moreover, Egmont’s personal figure and demeanor were
+calculated on his first appearance to make that favorable impression
+which goes co far towards winning the hearts of princes; and his
+engaging carriage would come to the aid of his eloquence, and enforce
+his petition with those persuasive arts which are indispensable to the
+success of even the most trifling suits to royalty. Egmont himself,
+too, wished for the embassy, as it would afford him the opportunity of
+adjusting, personally, matters with his sovereign.
+
+About this time the Council, or rather synod, of Trent closed its
+sittings, and published its decrees to the whole of Christendom. But
+these canons, far from accomplishing the object for which the synod was
+originally convened, and satisfying the expectation of religious
+parties, had rather widened the breach between them, and made the schism
+irremediable and eternal.
+
+The labors of the synod instead of purifying the Romish Church from its
+corruptions had only reduced the latter to greater definiteness and
+precision, and invested them with the sanction of authority. All the
+subtilties of its teaching, all the arts and usurpations of the Roman
+See, which had hitherto rested more on arbitrary usage, were now passed
+into laws and raised into a system. The uses and abuses which during
+the barbarous times of ignorance and superstition had crept into
+Christianity were now declared essential parts of its worship, and
+anathemas were denounced upon all who should dare to contradict the
+dogmas or neglect the observances of the Romish communion. All were
+anathematized who should either presume to doubt the miraculous power of
+relics, and refuse to honor the bones of martyrs, or should be so bold
+as to doubt the availing efficacy of the intercession of saints. The
+power of granting indulgences, the first source of the defection from
+the See of Rome, was now propounded in an irrefragable article of faith;
+and the principle of monasticism sanctioned by an express decree of the
+synod, which allowed males to take the vows at sixteen and females at
+twelve. And while all the opinions of the Protestants were, without
+exception, condemned, no indulgence was shown to their errors or
+weaknesses, nor a single step taken to win them back by mildness to the
+bosom of the mother church. Amongst the Protestants the wearisome
+records of the subtle deliberations of the synod, and the absurdity of
+its decisions, increased, if possible, the hearty contempt which they
+had long entertained for popery, and laid open to their
+controversialists new and hitherto unnoticed points of attack. It was
+an ill-judged step to bring the mysteries of the church too close to the
+glaring torch of reason, and to fight with syllogisms for the tenets of
+a blind belief.
+
+Moreover, the decrees of the Council of Trent were not satisfactory even
+to all the powers in communion with Rome. France rejected them
+entirely, both because she did not wish to displease the Huguenots, and
+also because she was offended by the supremacy which the pope arrogated
+to himself over the council; some of the Roman Catholic princes of
+Germany likewise declared against it. Little, however, as Philip II.
+was pleased with many of its articles, which trenched too closely upon
+his own rights, for no monarch was ever more jealous of his prerogative;
+highly as the pope’s assumption of control over the council, and its
+arbitrary, precipitate dissolution had offended him; just as was his
+indignation at the slight which the pope had put upon his ambassador; he
+nevertheless acknowledged the decrees of the synod, even in its present
+form, because it favored his darling object--the extirpation of heresy.
+Political considerations were all postponed to this one religious
+object, and he commanded the publication and enforcement of its canons
+throughout his dominions.
+
+The spirit of revolt, which was diffused through the Belgian provinces,
+scarcely required this new stimulus. There the minds of men were in a
+ferment, and the character of the Romish Church had sunk almost to the
+lowest point of contempt in the general opinion. Under such
+circumstances the imperious and frequently injudicious decrees of the
+council could not fail of being highly offensive; but Philip II. could
+not belie his religious character so far as to allow a different
+religion to a portion of his subjects, even though they might live on a
+different soil and under different laws from the rest. The regent was
+strictly enjoined to exact in the Netherlands the same obedience to the
+decrees of Trent which was yielded to them in Spain and Italy.
+
+They met, however, with the warmest opposition in the council of state
+at Brussels. “The nation,” William of Orange declared, “neither would
+nor could acknowledge them, since they were, for the most part, opposed
+to the fundamental principles of their constitution; and, for similar
+reasons, they had even been rejected by several Roman Catholic princes.”
+ The whole council nearly was on the side of Orange; a decided majority
+were for entreating the king either to recall the decrees entirely or at
+least to publish them under certain limitations. This proposition was
+resisted by Viglius, who insisted on a strict and literal obedience to
+the royal commands. “The church,” he said, “had in all ages maintained
+the purity of its doctrines and the strictness of its discipline by
+means of such general councils. No more efficacious remedy could be
+opposed to the errors of opinion which had so long distracted their
+country than these very decrees, the rejection of which is now urged by
+the council of state. Even if they are occasionally at variance with
+the constitutional rights of the citizens this is an evil which can
+easily be met by a judicious and temperate application of them. For the
+rest it redounds to the honor of our sovereign, the King of Spain, that
+he alone, of all the princes of his time, refuses to yield his better
+judgment to necessity, and will not, for any fear of consequences,
+reject measures which the welfare of the church demands, and which the
+happiness of his subjects makes a duty.”
+
+But the decrees also contained several matters which affected the rights
+of the crown itself. Occasion was therefore taken of this fact to
+propose that these sections at least should be omitted from the
+proclamation. By this means the king might, it was argued, be relieved
+from these obnoxious and degrading articles by a happy expedient; the
+national liberties of the Netherlands might be advanced as the pretext
+for the omission, and the name of the republic lent to cover this
+encroachment on the authority of the synod. But the king had caused
+the decrees to be received and enforced in his other dominions
+unconditionally; and it was not to be expected that he would give the
+other Roman Catholic powers such an example of opposition, and himself
+undermine the edifice whose foundation he had been so assiduous in
+laying.
+
+
+
+
+             COUNT EGMONT IN SPAIN.
+
+Count Egmont was despatched to Spain to make a forcible representation
+to the king on the subject of these decrees; to persuade him, if
+possible, to adopt a milder policy towards his Protestant subjects, and
+to propose to him the incorporation of the three councils, was the
+commission he received from the malcontents. By the regent he was
+charged to apprise the monarch of the refractory spirit of the people;
+to convince him of the impossibility of enforcing these edicts of
+religion in their full severity; and lastly to acquaint him with the bad
+state of the military defences and the exhausted condition of the
+exchequer.
+
+The count’s public instructions were drawn up by the President Viglius.
+They contained heavy complaints of the decay of justice, the growth of
+heresy, and the exhaustion of the treasury. He was also to press
+urgently a personal visit from the king to the Netherlands. The rest
+was left to the eloquence of the envoy, who received a hint from the
+regent not to let so fair an opportunity escape of establishing himself
+in the favor of his sovereign.
+
+The terms in which the count’s instructions and the representations
+which he was to make to the king were drawn up appeared to the Prince of
+Orange far too vague and general. “The president’s statement,” he said,
+“of our grievances comes very far short of the truth. How can the king
+apply the suitable remedies if we conceal from him the full extent of
+the evil? Let us not represent the numbers of the heretics inferior to
+what it is in reality. Let us candidly acknowledge that they swarm in
+every province and in every hamlet, however small. Neither let us
+disguise from him the truth that they despise the penal statutes and
+entertain but little reverence for the government. What good can come
+of this concealment? Let us rather openly avow to the king that the
+republic cannot long continue in its present condition. The privy
+council indeed will perhaps pronounce differently, for to them the
+existing disorders are welcome. For what else is the source of the
+abuse of justice and the universal corruption of the courts of law but
+its insatiable rapacity? How otherwise can the pomp and scandalous
+luxury of its members, whom we have seen rise from the dust, be
+supported if not by bribery? Do not the people daily complain that no
+other key but gold can open an access to them; and do not even their
+quarrels prove how little they are swayed by a care for the common weal?
+Are they likely to consult the public good who are the slaves of their
+private passions? Do they think forsooth that we, the governors of the
+provinces are, with our soldiers, to stand ready at the beck and call of
+an infamous lictor? Let them set bounds to their indulgences and free
+pardons which they so lavishly bestow on the very persons to whom we
+think it just and expedient to deny them. No one can remit the
+punishment of a crime without sinning against the society and
+contributing to the increase of the general evil. To my mind, and I
+have no hesitation to avow it, the distribution amongst so many councils
+of the state secrets and the affairs of government has always appeared
+highly objectionable. The council of state is sufficient for all the
+duties of the administration; several patriots have already felt this in
+silence, and I now openly declare it. It is my decided conviction that
+the only sufficient remedy for all the evils complained of is to merge
+the other two chambers in the council of state. This is the point which
+we must endeavor to obtain from the king, or the present embassy, like
+all others, will be entirely useless and ineffectual.” The prince now
+laid before the assembled senate the plan which we have already
+described. Viglius, against whom this new proposition was individually
+and mainly directed, and whose eyes were now suddenly opened, was
+overcome by the violence of his vexation. The agitation of his feelings
+was too much for his feeble body, and he was found, on the following
+morning, paralyzed by apoplexy, and in danger of his life.
+
+His place was supplied by Jaachim Hopper, a member of the privy council
+at Brussels, a man of old-fashioned morals and unblemished integrity,
+the president’s most trusted and worthiest friend.
+
+
+   [Vita Vigl. 89. The person from whose memoirs I have already drawn
+   so many illustrations of the times of this epoch. His subsequent
+   journey to Spain gave rise to the correspondence between him and
+   the president, which is one of the most valuable documents for our
+   history.]
+
+To meet the wishes of the Orange party he made some additions to the
+instructions of the ambassador, relating chiefly to the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the incorporation of the three councils, not so much
+with the consent of the regent as in the absence of her prohibition.
+Upon Count Egmont taking leave of the president, who had recovered from
+his attack, the latter requested him to procure in Spain permission to
+resign his appointment. His day, he declared, was past; like the
+example of his friend and predecessor, Granvella, he wished to retire
+into the quiet of private life, and to anticipate the uncertainty of
+fortune. His genius warned him of impending storm, by which he could
+have no desire to be overtaken.
+
+Count Egmont embarked on his journey to Spain in January, 1565, and was
+received there with a kindness and respect which none of his rank had
+ever before experienced. The nobles of Castile, taught by the king’s
+example to conquer their feelings, or rather, true to his policy, seemed
+to have laid aside their ancient grudge against the Flemish nobility,
+and vied with one another in winning his heart by their affability. All
+his private matters were immediately settled to his wishes by the king,
+nay, even his expectations exceeded; and during the whole period of his
+stay he had ample cause to boast of the hospitality of the monarch. The
+latter assured him in the strongest terms of his love for his Belgian
+subjects, and held out hopes of his acceding eventually to the general
+wish, and remitting somewhat of the severity of the religious edicts.
+At the same time, however, he appointed in Madrid a commission of
+theologians to whom he propounded the question, “Is it necessary to
+grant to the provinces the religious toleration they demand?” As the
+majority of them were of opinion that the peculiar constitution of the
+Netherlands, and the fear of a rebellion might well excuse a degree of
+forbearance in their case, the question was repeated more pointedly.
+“He did not seek to know,” he said, “if he might do so, but if he must.”
+ When the latter question was answered in the negative, he rose from his
+seat, and kneeling down before a crucifix prayed in these words:
+“Almighty Majesty, suffer me not at any time to fall so low as to
+consent to reign over those who reject thee!” In perfect accordance
+with the spirit of this prayer were the measures which he resolved to
+adopt in the Netherlands. On the article of religion this monarch had
+taken his resolution once forever; urgent necessity might, perhaps, have
+constrained him temporarily to suspend the execution of the penal
+statutes, but never, formally, to repeal them entirely, or even to
+modify them. In vain did Egmont represent to him that the public
+execution of the heretics daily augmented the number of their followers,
+while the courage and even joy with which they met their death filled
+the spectators with the deepest admiration, and awakened in them high
+opinions of a doctrine which could make such heroes of its disciples.
+This representation was not indeed lost upon the king, but it had a very
+different effect from what it was intended to produce. In order to
+prevent these seductive scenes, without, however, compromising the
+severity of the edicts, he fell upon an expedient, and ordered that in
+future the executions should take place in private. The answer of the
+king on the subject of the embassy was given to the count in writing,
+and addressed to the regent. The king, when he granted him an audience
+to take leave, did not omit to call him to account for his behavior to
+Granvella, and alluded particularly to the livery invented in derision
+of the cardinal. Egmont protested that the whole affair had originated
+in a convivial joke, and nothing was further from their meaning than to
+derogate in the least from the respect that was due to royalty. “If he
+knew,” he said, “that any individual among them had entertained such
+disloyal thoughts be himself would challenge him to answer for it with
+his life.”
+
+At his departure the monarch made him a present of fifty thousand
+florins, and engaged, moreover, to furnish a portion for his daughter on
+her marriage. He also consigned to his care the young Farnese of Parma,
+whom, to gratify the regent, his mother, he was sending to Brussels.
+The king’s pretended mildness, and his professions of regard for the
+Belgian nation, deceived the open-hearted Fleming. Happy in the idea of
+being the bearer of so much felicity to his native country, when in fact
+it was more remote than ever, he quitted Madrid satisfied beyond measure
+to think of the joy with which the provinces would welcome the message
+of their good king; but the opening of the royal answer in the council
+of state at Brussels disappointed all these pleasing hopes. “Although
+in regard to the religious edicts,” this was its tenor, “his resolve was
+firm and immovable, and he would rather lose a thousand lives than
+consent to alter a single letter of it, still, moved by the
+representations of Count Egmont, he was, on the other hand, equally
+determined not to leave any gentle means untried to guard the people
+against the delusions of heresy, and so to avert from them that
+punishment which must otherwise infallibly overtake them. As he had now
+learned from the count that the principal source of the existing errors
+in the faith was in the moral depravity of the clergy, the bad
+instruction and the neglected education of the young, he hereby
+empowered the regent to appoint a special commission of three bishops,
+and a convenient number of learned theologians, whose business it should
+be to consult about the necessary reforms, in order that the people
+might no longer be led astray through scandal, nor plunge into error
+through ignorance. As, moreover, he had been informed that the public
+executions of the heretics did but afford them an opportunity of
+boastfully displaying a foolhardy courage, and of deluding the common
+herd by an affectation of the glory of martyrdom, the commission was to
+devise means for putting in force the final sentence of the Inquisition
+with greater privacy, and thereby depriving condemned heretics of the
+honor of their obduracy.” In order, however, to provide against the
+commission going beyond its prescribed limits Philip expressly required
+that the Bishop of Ypres, a man whom he could rely on as a determined
+zealot for the Romish faith, should be one of the body. Their
+deliberaations were to be conducted, if possible, in secrecy, while the
+object publicly assigned to them should be the introduction of the
+Tridentine decrees. For this his motive seems to have been twofold; on
+the one hand, not to alarm the court of Rome by the assembling of a
+private council; nor, on the other, to afford any encouragement to the
+spirit of rebellion in the provinces. At its sessions the duchess was
+to preside, assisted by some of the more loyally disposed of her
+counsellors, and regularly transmit to Philip a written account of its
+transactions. To meet her most pressing wants he sent her a small
+supply in money. He also gave her hopes of a visit from himself; first,
+however, it was necessary that the war with the Turks, who were then
+expected in hostile force before Malta, should be terminated. As to the
+proposed augmentation of the council of state, and its union with the
+privy council and chamber of finance, it was passed over in perfect
+silence. The Duke of Arschot, however, who is already known to us as a
+zealous royalist, obtained a voice and seat in the latter. Viglius,
+indeed, was allowed to retire from the presidency of the privy council,
+but he was obliged, nevertheless, to continue to discharge its duties
+for four more years, because his successor, Carl Tyssenaque, of the
+council for Netherlandish affairs in Madrid, could not sooner be spared.
+
+
+
+
+   SEVERER RELIGIOUS EDICTS--UNIVERSAL OPPOSITION OF THE NATION.
+
+Scarcely was Egmont returned when severer edicts against heretics,
+which, as it were, pursued him from Spain, contradicted the joyful
+tidings which he had brought of a happy change in the sentiments of the
+monarch. They were at the same time accompanied with a transcript of
+the decrees of Trent, as they were acknowledged in Spain, and were now
+to be proclaimed in the Netherlands also; with it came likewise the
+death warrants of some Anabaptists and other kinds of heretics.
+“The count has been beguiled,” William the Silent was now heard to say,
+“and deluded by Spanish cunning. Self-love and vanity have blinded his
+penetration; for his own advantage he has forgotten the general
+welfare.” The treachery of the Spanish ministry was now exposed, and
+this dishonest proceeding roused the indignation of the noblest in the
+land. But no one felt it more acutely than Count Egmont, who now
+perceived himself to have been the tool of Spanish duplicity, and to
+have become unwittingly the betrayer of his own country. “These
+specious favors then,” he exclaimed, loudly and bitterly, “were nothing
+but an artifice to expose me to the ridicule of my fellow-citizens, and
+to destroy my good name. If this is the fashion after which the king
+purposes to keep the promises which he made to me in Spain, let who will
+take Flanders; for my part, I will prove by my retirement from public
+business that I have no share in this breach of faith.” In fact, the
+Spanish ministry could not have adopted a surer method of breaking the
+credit of so important a man--than by exhibiting him to his fellow
+citizens, who adored him, as one whom they had succeeded in deluding.
+
+Meanwhile the commission had been appointed, and had unanimously come
+to the following decision: “Whether for the moral reformation of the
+clergy, or for the religious instruction of the people, or for the
+education of youth, such abundant provision had already been made in the
+decrees of Trent that nothing now was requisite but to put these decrees
+in force as speedily as possible. The imperial edicts against the
+heretics already ought on no account to be recalled or modified; the
+courts of justice, however, might be secretly instructed to punish with
+death none but obstinate heretics or preachers, to make a difference
+between the different sects, and to show consideration to the age, rank,
+sex, or disposition of the accused. If it were really the case that
+public executions did but inflame fanaticism, then, perhaps, the
+unheroic, less observed, but still equally severe punishment of the
+galleys, would be well-adapted to bring down all high notions of
+martyrdom. As to the delinquencies which might have arisen out of mere
+levity, curiosity, and thoughtlessness it would perhaps be sufficient to
+punish them by fines, exile, or even corporal chastisement.”
+
+During these deliberations, which, moreover, it was requisite to submit
+to the king at Madrid, and to wait for the notification of his approval
+of them, the time passed away unprofitably, the proceedings against the
+sectaries being either suspended, or at least conducted very supinely.
+Since the recall of Granvella the disunion which prevailed in the higher
+councils, and from thence had extended to the provincial courts of
+justice, combined with the mild feelings generally of the nobles on the
+subject of religion, had raised the courage of the sects, and allowed
+free scope to the proselytizing mania of their apostles. The
+inquisitors, too, had fallen into contempt in consequence of the secular
+arm withdrawing its support, and in many places even openly taking their
+victims under its protection. The Roman Catholic part of the nation.
+had formed great expectations from the decrees of the synod of Trent, as
+well as from Egmont’s embassy to Spain; but in the latter case their
+hopes had scarcely been justified by the joyous tidings which the count
+had brought back, and, in the integrity of his heart, left nothing
+undone to make known as widely as possible. The more disused the nation
+had become to severity in matters pertaining to religion the more
+acutely was it likely to feel the sudden adoption of even still more
+rigorous measures. In this position of affairs the royal rescript
+arrived from Spain in answer to the proposition of the bishops and the
+last despatches of the regent. “Whatever interpretation (such was its
+tenor) Count Egmont may have given to the king’s verbal communications,
+it had never in the remotest manner entered his mind to think of
+altering in the slightest degree the penal statutes which the Emperor,
+his father, had five-and-thirty years ago published in the provinces.
+These edicts he therefore commanded should henceforth be carried rigidly
+into effect, the Inquisition should receive the most active support from
+the secular arm, and the decrees of the council of Trent be irrevocably
+and unconditionally acknowledged in all the provinces of his
+Netherlands. He acquiesced fully in the opinion of the bishops and
+canonists as to the sufficiency of the Tridentine decrees as guides in
+all points of reformation of the clergy or instruction of the people;
+but he could not concur with them as to the mitigation of punishment
+which they proposed in consideration either of the age, sex, or
+character of individuals, since he was of opinion that his edicts were
+in no degree wanting in moderation. To nothing but want of zeal and
+disloyalty on the part of judges could he ascribe the progress which
+heresy had already made in the country. In future, therefore, whoever
+among them should be thus wanting in zeal must be removed from his
+office and make room for a more honest judge. The Inquisition ought to
+pursue its appointed path firmly, fearlessly, and dispassionately,
+without regard to or consideration of human feelings, and was to look
+neither before nor behind. He would always be ready to approve of all
+its measures however extreme if it only avoided public scandal.”
+
+This letter of the king, to which the Orange party have ascribed all
+the subsequent troubles of the Netherlands, caused the most violent
+excitement amongst the state counsellors, and the expressions which in
+society they either accidentally or intentionally let fall from them
+with regard to it spread terror and alarm amongst the people. The dread
+of the Spanish Inquisition returned with new force, and with it came
+fresh apprehensions of the subversion of their liberties. Already the
+people fancied they could hear prisons building, chains and fetters
+forging, and see piles of fagots collecting. Society was occupied with
+this one theme of conversation, and fear kept no longer within bounds.
+Placards were affixed to houses of the nobles in which they were called
+upon, as formerly Rome called on her Brutus, to come forward and save
+expiring freedom. Biting pasquinades were published against the new
+bishops--tormentors as they were called; the clergy were ridiculed in
+comedies, and abuse spared the throne as little as the Romish see.
+
+Terrified by the rumors which were afloat, the regent called together
+all the counsellors of state to consult them on the course she ought to
+adopt in this perilous crisis. Opinion varied and disputes were
+violent. Undecided between fear and duty they hesitated to come to a
+conclusion, until at last the aged senator, Viglius, rose and surprised
+the whole assembly by his opinion. “It would,” he said, “be the height
+of folly in us to think of promulgating the royal edict at the present
+moment; the king must be informed of the reception which, in all
+probability, it will now meet. In the meantime the inquisitors must
+be enjoined to use their power with moderation, and to abstain from
+severity.” But if these words of the aged president surprised the whole
+assembly, still greater was the astonishment when the Prince of Orange
+stood up and opposed his advice. “The royal will,” he said, “is too
+clearly and too precisely stated; it is the result of too long and too
+mature deliberation for us to venture to delay its execution without
+bringing on ourselves the reproach of the most culpable obstinacy.”
+ “That I take on myself,” interrupted Viglius; “I oppose myself to, his
+displeasure. If by this delay we purchase for him the peace of the
+Netherlands our opposition will eventually secure for us the lasting
+gratitude of the king.” The regent already began to incline to the
+advice of Viglius, when the prince vehemently interposing, “What,” he
+demanded, “what have the many representations which we have already made
+effected? of what avail was the embassy we so lately despatched?
+Nothing! And what then do we wait for more? Shall we, his state
+counsellors, bring upon ourselves the whole weight of his displeasure by
+determining, at our own peril, to render him a service for which he will
+never thank us?” Undecided and uncertain the whole assembly remained
+silent; but no one had courage enough to assent to or reply to him. But
+the prince had appealed to the fears of the regent, and these left her
+no choice. The consequences of her unfortunate obedience to the king’s
+command will soon appear. But, on the other hand, if by a wise
+disobedience she had avoided these fatal consequences, is it clear that
+the result would not have been the same? However she had adopted the
+most fatal of the two counsels: happen what would the royal ordinance
+was to be promulgated. This time, therefore, faction prevailed, and the
+advice of the only true friend of the government, who, to serve his
+monarch, was ready to incur his displeasure, was disregarded. With this
+session terminated the peace of the regent: from this day the
+Netherlands dated all the trouble which uninterruptedly visited their
+country. As the counsellors separated the Prince of Orange said to one
+who stood nearest to him, “Now will soon be acted a great tragedy.”
+
+   [The conduct of the Prince of Orange in this meeting of the council
+   has been appealed to by historians of the Spanish party as a proof
+   of his dishonesty, and they have availed themselves over and over
+   again to blacken his character. “He,” say they, “who had,
+   invariably up to this period, both by word and deed, opposed the
+   measures of the court so long as he had any ground to fear that the
+   king’s measures could be successfully carried out, supported them
+   now for the first time when he was convinced that a scrupulous
+   obedience to the royal orders would inevitably prejudice him. In
+   order to convince the king of his folly in disregarding his
+   warnings; in order to be able to boast, ‘this I foresaw,’ and ‘I
+   foretold that,’ he was willing to risk the welfare of his nation,
+   for which alone he had hitherto professed to struggle. The whole
+   tenor of his previous conduct proved that he held the enforcement
+   of the edicts to be an evil; nevertheless, he at once becomes false
+   to his own convictions and follows an opposite course; although, so
+   far as the nation was concerned, the same grounds existed as had
+   dictated his former measures; and he changed his conduct simply
+   that the result might be different to the king.” “It is clear,
+   therefore,” continue his adversaries, “that the welfare of the
+   nation had less weight with him than his animosity to his
+   sovereign. In order to gratify his hatred to the latter he does
+   not hesitate to sacrifice the former.” But is it then true that by
+   calling for the promulgation of these edicts he sacrificed the
+   nation? or, to speak more correctly, did he carry the edicts into
+   effect by insisting on their promulgation? Can it not, on the
+   contrary, be shown with far more probability that this was really
+   the only way effectually to frustrate them? The nation was in a
+   ferment, and the indignant people would (there was reason to
+   expect, and as Viglius himself seems to have apprehended) show so
+   decided a spirit of opposition as must compel the king to yield.
+   “Now,” says Orange, “my country feels all the impulse necessary for
+   it to contend successfully with tyranny! If I neglect the present
+   moment the tyrant will, by secret negotiation and intrigue, find
+   means to obtain by stealth what by open force he could not. The
+   some object will be steadily pursued, only with greater caution and
+   forbearance; but extremity alone can combine the people to unity of
+   purpose, and move them to bold measures.” It is clear, therefore,
+   that with regard to the king the prince did but change his language
+   only; but that as far as the people was concerned his conduct was
+   perfectly consistent. And what duties did he owe the king apart
+   from those he owed the republic? Was he to oppose an arbitrary act
+   in the very moment when it was about to entail a just retribution
+   on its author? Would he have done his duty to his country if he
+   had deterred its oppressor from a precipitate step which alone
+   could save it from its otherwise unavoidable misery?]
+
+An edict, therefore, was issued to all the governors of provinces,
+commanding them rigorously to enforce the mandates of the Emperor
+against heretics, as well as those which had been passed under the
+present government, the decrees of the council of Trent, and those of
+the episcopal commission, which had lately sat to give all the aid of
+the civil force to the Inquisition, and also to enjoin a similar line of
+conduct on the officers of government under them. More effectually to
+secure their object, every governor was to select from his own council
+an efficient officer who should frequently make the circuit of the
+province and institute strict inquiries into the obedience shown by the
+inferior officers to these commands, and then transmit quarterly, to the
+capital an exact report of their visitation. A copy of the Tridentine
+decrees, according to the Spanish original, was also sent to the
+archbishops and bishops, with an intimation that in case of their
+needing the assistance of the secular power, the governors of their
+diocese, with their troops, were placed at their disposal. Against
+these decrees no privilege was to avail; however, the king willed and
+commanded that the particular territorial rights of the provinces and
+towns should in no case be infringed.
+
+These commands, which were publicly read in every town by a herald,
+produced an effect on the people which in the fullest manner verified
+the fears of the President Viglius and the hopes of the Prince of
+Orange.
+
+Nearly all the governors of provinces refused compliance with them, and
+threatened to throw up their appointments if the attempt should be made
+to compel their obedience. “The ordinance,” they wrote back, “was based
+on a statement of the numbers of the sectaries, which was altogether
+false.”
+
+   [The number of the heretics was very unequally computed by the two
+   parties according as the interests and passions of either made its
+   increase or diminution desirable, and the same party often
+   contradicted itself when its interest changed. If the question
+   related to new measures of oppression, to the introduction of the
+   inquisitional tribunals, etc., the numbers of the Protestants were
+   countless and interminable. If, on the other hand, the question
+   was of lenity towards them, of ordinances to their advantage, they
+   were now reduced to such an insignificant number that it would not
+   repay the trouble of making an innovation for this small body of
+   ill-minded people.]
+
+“Justice was appalled at the prodigious crowd of victims which daily
+accumulated under its hands; to destroy by the flames fifty thousand or
+sixty thousand persons from their districts was no commission for them.”
+ The inferior clergy too, in particular, were loud in their outcries
+against the decrees of Trent, which cruelly assailed their ignorance and
+corruption, and which moreover threatened them with a reform they so
+much detested. Sacrificing, therefore, the highest interests of their
+church to their own private advantage, they bitterly reviled the decrees
+and the whole council, and with liberal hand scattered the seeds of
+revolt in the minds of the people. The same outcry was now revived
+which the monks had formerly raised against the new bishops. The
+Archbishop of Cambray succeeded at last, but not without great
+opposition, in causing the decrees to be proclaimed. It cost more labor
+to effect this in Malines and Utrect, where the archbishops were at
+strife with their clergy, who, as they were accused, preferred to
+involve the whole church in ruin rather than submit to a reformation of
+morals.
+
+Of all the provinces Brabant raised its voice the loudest. The states
+of this province appealed to their great privilege, which protected
+their members from being brought before a foreign court of justice.
+They spoke loudly of the oath by which the king had bound himself to
+observe all their statutes, and of the conditions under which they alone
+had sworn allegiance to him. Louvain, Antwerp, Brussels, and
+Herzogenbusch solemnly protested against the decrees, and transmitted
+their protests in distinct memorials to the regent. The latter, always
+hesitating and wavering, too timid to obey the king, and far more afraid
+to disobey him, again summoned her council, again listened to the
+arguments for and against the question, and at last again gave her
+assent to the opinion which of all others was the most perilous for her
+to adopt. A new reference to the king in Spain was proposed; the next
+moment it was asserted that so urgent a crisis did not admit of so
+dilatory a remedy; it was necessary for the regent to act on her own
+responsibility, and either defy the threatening aspect of despair, or to
+yield to it by modifying or retracting the royal ordinance. She finally
+caused the annals of Brabant to be examined in order to discover if
+possible a precedent for the present case in the instructions of the
+first inquisitor whom Charles V. had appointed to the province. These
+instructions indeed did not exactly correspond with those now given; but
+had not the king declared that he introduced no innovation? This was
+precedent enough, and it was declared that the new edicts must also be
+interpreted in accordance with the old and existing statutes of the
+province. This explanation gave indeed no satisfaction to the states
+of Brabant, who had loudly demanded the entire abolition of the
+inquisition, but it was an encouragement to the other provinces to make
+similar protests and an equally bold opposition. Without giving the
+duchess time to decide upon their remonstrances they, on their own
+authority, ceased to obey the inquisition, and withdrew their aid from
+it. The inquisitors, who had so recently been expressly urged to a more
+rigid execution of their duties now saw themselves suddenly deserted by
+the secular arm, and robbed of all authority, while in answer to their
+application for assistance the court could give them only empty
+promises. The regent by thus endeavoring to satisfy all parties had
+displeased all.
+
+During these negotiations between the court, the councils, and the
+states a universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation. Men
+began to investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the
+prerogative of kings. “The Netherlanders were not so stupid,” many were
+heard to say with very little attempt at secrecy, “as not to know right
+well what was due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king
+to the subject; and that perhaps means would yet be found to repel force
+with force, although at present there might be no appearance of it.”
+ In Antwerp a placard was set up in several places calling upon the town
+council to accuse the King of Spain before the supreme court at Spires
+of having broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country,
+for, Brabant being a portion of the Burgundian circle, was included in
+the religious peace of Passau and Augsburg. About this time too the
+Calvinists published their confession of faith, and in a preamble
+addressed to the king, declared that they, although a hundred thousand
+strong, kept themselves nevertheless quiet, and like the rest of his
+subjects, contributed to all the taxes of the country; from which it was
+evident, they added, that of themselves they entertained no ideas of
+insurrection. Bold and incendiary writings were publicly disseminated,
+which depicted the Spanish tyranny in the most odious colors, and
+reminded the nation of its privileges, and occasionally also of its
+powers.
+
+   [The regent mentioned to the king a number (three thousand) of
+   these writings. Strada 117. It is remarkable how important a part
+   printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of the
+   Netherlands. Through this organ one restless spirit spoke to
+   millions. Besides the lampoons, which for the most part were
+   composed with all the low scurrility and brutality which was the
+   distinguishing character of most of the Protestant polemical
+   writings of the time, works were occasionally published which
+   defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word.]
+
+The warlike preparations of Philip against the Porte, as well as those
+which, for no intelligible reason, Eric, Duke of Brunswick, about this
+time made in the vicinity, contributed to strengthen the general
+suspicion that the Inquisition was to be forcibly imposed on the
+Netherlands. Many of the most eminent merchants already spoke of
+quitting their houses and business to seek in some other part of the
+world the liberty of which they were here deprived; others looked about
+for a leader, and let fall hints of forcible resistance and of foreign
+aid.
+
+That in this distressing position of affairs the regent might be left
+entirely without an adviser and without support, she was now deserted by
+the only person who was at the present moment indispensable to her, and
+who had contributed to plunge her into this embarrassment. “Without
+kindling a civil war,” wrote to her William of Orange, “it was
+absolutely impossible to comply now with the orders of the king.
+If, however, obedience was to be insisted upon, he must beg that his
+place might be supplied by another who would better answer the
+expectations of his majesty, and have more power than he had over the
+minds of the nation. The zeal which on every other occasion he had
+shown in the service of the crown, would, he hoped, secure his present
+proceeding from misconstruction; for, as the case now stood, he had no
+alternative between disobeying the king and injuring his country and
+himself.” From this time forth William of Orange retired from the
+council of state to his town of Breda, where in observant but scarcely
+inactive repose he watched the course of affairs. Count Horn followed
+his example. Egmont, ever vacillating between the republic and the
+throne, ever wearying himself in the vain attempt to unite the good
+citizen with the obedient subject--Egmont, who was less able than the
+rest to dispense with the favor of the monarch, and to whom, therefore,
+it was less an object of indifference, could not bring himself to
+abandon the bright prospects which were now opening for him at the court
+of the regent. The Prince of Orange had, by his superior intellect,
+gained an influence over the regent--which great minds cannot fail to
+command from inferior spirits. His retirement had opened a void in her
+confidence which Count Egmont was now to fill by virtue of that sympathy
+which so naturally subsists between timidity, weakness, and good-nature.
+As she was as much afraid of exasperating the people by an exclusive
+confidence in the adherents to the crown, as she was fearful of
+displeasing the king by too close an understanding with the declared
+leaders of the faction, a better object for her confidence could now
+hardly be presented than this very Count Egmont, of whom it could not be
+said that he belonged to either of the two conflicting parties.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                BOOK III.
+
+            CONSPIRACY OF THE NOBLES
+
+1565. Up to this point the general peace had it appears been the
+sincere wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and
+their friends. They had pursued the true interests of their sovereign
+as much as the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions
+had been as little at variance with the former as with the latter.
+Nothing bad as yet occurred to make their motives suspected, or to
+manifest in them a rebellious spirit. What they had done they had done
+in discharge of their bounden duty as members of a free state, as the
+representatives of the nation, as advisers of the king, as men of
+integrity and honor. The only weapons they had used to oppose the
+encroachments of the court had been remonstrances, modest complaints,
+petitions. They had never allowed themselves to be so far carried away
+by a just zeal for their good cause as to transgress the limits of
+prudence and moderation which on many occasions are so easily
+overstepped by party spirit. But all the nobles of the republic did not
+now listen to the voice of that prudence; all did not abide within the
+bounds of moderation.
+
+While in the council of state the great question was discussed whether
+the nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies summoned
+to their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity, and while
+the middle-classes and the people contented themselves with empty
+complaints, menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of all
+seemed least called upon, and on whose support least reliance had been
+placed, began to take more active measures. We have already described a
+class of the nobility whose services and wants Philip at his accession
+had not considered it necessary to remember. Of these by far the
+greater number had asked for promotion from a much more urgent reason
+than a love of the mere honor. Many of them were deeply sunk in debt,
+from which by their own resources they could not hope to emancipate
+themselves. When then, in filling up appointments, Philip passed them
+over he wounded them in a point far more sensitive than their pride.
+In these suitors he had by his neglect raised up so many idle spies and
+merciless judges of his actions, so many collectors and propagators of
+malicious rumor. As their pride did not quit them with their
+prosperity, so now, driven by necessity, they trafficked with the sole
+capital which they could not alienate--their nobility and the political
+influence of their names; and brought into circulation a coin which only
+in such a period could have found currency--their protection. With a
+self-pride to which they gave the more scope as it was all they could
+now call their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong intermediate
+power between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed themselves
+called upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state, which looked
+imploringly to them for succor. This idea was ludicrous only so far as
+their self-conceit was concerned in it; the advantages which they
+contrived to draw from it were substantial enough. The Protestant
+merchants, who held in their hands the chief part of the wealth of the
+Netherlands, and who believed they could not at any price purchase too
+dearly the undisturbed exercise of their religion, did not fail to make
+use of this class of people who stood idle in the market and ready to be
+hired. These very men whom at any other time the merchants, in the
+pride of riches, would most probably have looked down upon, now appeared
+likely to do them good service through their numbers, their courage,
+their credit with the populace, their enmity to the government, nay,
+through their beggarly pride itself and their despair. On these grounds
+they zealously endeavored to form a close union with them, and
+diligently fostered the disposition for rebellion, while they also used
+every means to keep alive their high opinions of themselves, and, what
+was most important, lured their poverty by well-applied pecuniary
+assistance and glittering promises. Few of them were so utterly
+insignificant as not to possess some influence, if not personally, yet
+at least by their relationship with higher and more powerful nobles; and
+if united they would be able to raise a formidable voice against the
+crown. Many of them had either already joined the new sect or were
+secretly inclined to it; and even those who were zealous Roman Catholics
+had political or private grounds enough to set them against the decrees
+of Trent and the Inquisition. All, in fine, felt the call of vanity
+sufficiently powerful not to allow the only moment to escape them in
+which they might possibly make some figure in the republic.
+
+But much as might be expected from the co-operation of these men in
+a body it would have been futile and ridiculous to build any hopes on
+any one of them singly; and the great difficulty was to effect a union
+among them. Even to bring them together some unusual occurrence was
+necessary, and fortunately such an incident presented itself. The
+nuptials of Baron Montigny, one of the Belgian nobles, as also those of
+the Prince Alexander of Parma, which took place about this time in
+Brussels, assembled in that town a great number of the Belgian nobles.
+On this occasion relations met relations; new friendships were formed
+and old renewed; and while the distress of the country was the topic of
+conversation wine and mirth unlocked lips and hearts, hints were dropped
+of union among themselves, and of an alliance with foreign powers.
+These accidental meetings soon led to concealed ones, and public
+discussions gave rise to secret consultations. Two German barons,
+moreover, a Count of Holle and a Count of Schwarzenberg, who at this
+time were on a visit to the Netherlands, omitted nothing to awaken
+expectations of assistance from their neighbors. Count Louis of Nassau,
+too, had also a short time before visited several German courts to
+ascertain their sentiments.
+
+   [It was not without cause that the Prince of Orange suddenly
+   disappeared from Brussels in order to be present at the election of
+   a king of Rome in Frankfort. An assembly of so many German princes
+   must have greatly favored a negotiation.]
+
+It has even been asserted that secret emissaries of the Admiral Coligny
+were seen at this time in Brabant, but this, however, may be reasonably
+doubted.
+
+If ever a political crisis was favorable to an attempt at revolution it
+was the present. A woman at the helm of government; the governors of
+provinces disaffected themselves and disposed to wink at insubordination
+in others; most of the state counsellors quite inefficient; no army to
+fall back upon; the few troops there were long since discontented on
+account of the outstanding arrears of pay, and already too often
+deceived by false promises to be enticed by new; commanded, moreover, by
+officers who despised the Inquisition from their hearts, and would have
+blushed to draw a sword in its behalf; and, lastly, no money in the
+treasury to enlist new troops or to hire foreigners. The court at
+Brussels, as well as the three councils, not only divided by internal
+dissensions, but in the highest degree--venal and corrupt; the regent
+without full powers to act on the spot, and the king at a distance; his
+adherents in the provinces few, uncertain, and dispirited; the faction
+numerous and powerful; two-thirds of the people irritated against popery
+and desirous of a change--such was the unfortunate weakness of the
+government, and the more unfortunate still that this weakness was so
+well known to its enemies!
+
+In order to unite so many minds in the prosecution of a common object a
+leader was still wanting, and a few influential names to give political
+weight to their enterprise. The two were supplied by Count Louis of
+Nassau and Henry Count Brederode, both members of the most illustrious
+houses of the Belgian nobility, who voluntarily placed themselves at the
+head of the undertaking. Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of
+Orange, united many splendid qualities which made him worthy of
+appearing on so noble and important a stage. In Geneva, where he
+studied, he had imbibed at once a hatred to the hierarchy and a love to
+the new religion, and on his return to his native country had not failed
+to enlist proselytes to his opinions. The republican bias which his
+mind had received in that school kindled in him a bitter hatred of the
+Spanish name, which animated his whole conduct and only left him with
+his latest breath. Popery and Spanish rule were in his mind identical--
+as indeed they were in reality--and the abhorrence which he entertained
+for the one helped to strengthen his dislike for the other. Closely as
+the brothers agreed in their inclinations and aversions the ways by
+which each sought to gratify them were widely dissimilar. Youth and an
+ardent temperament did not allow the younger brother to follow the
+tortuous course through which the elder wound himself to his object.
+A cold, calm circumspection carried the latter slowly but surely to his
+aim, and with a pliable subtilty he made all things subserve his
+purpose; with a foolhardy impetuosity which overthrew all obstacles,
+the other at times compelled success, but oftener accelerated disaster.
+For this reason William was a general and Louis never more than an
+adventurer; a sure and powerful arm if only it were directed by a wise
+head. Louis’ pledge once given was good forever; his alliances survived
+every vicissitude, for they were mostly formed in the pressing moment of
+necessity, and misfortune binds more firmly than thoughtless joy. He
+loved his brother as dearly as he did his cause, and for the latter he
+died.
+
+Henry of Brederode, Baron of Viane and Burgrave of Utrecht, was
+descended from the old Dutch counts who formerly ruled that province as
+sovereign princes. So ancient a title endeared him to the people, among
+whom the memory of their former lords still survived, and was the more
+treasured the less they felt they had gained by the change. This
+hereditary splendor increased the self-conceit of a man upon whose
+tongue the glory of his ancestors continually hung, and who dwelt the
+more on former greatness, even amidst its ruins, the more unpromising
+the aspect of his own condition became. Excluded from the honors and
+employments to which, in his opinion, his own merits and his noble
+ancestry fully entitled him (a squadron of light cavalry being all which
+was entrusted to him), he hated the government, and did not scruple
+boldly to canvass and to rail at its measures. By these means he won
+the hearts of the people. He also favored in secret the evangelical
+belief; less, however, as a conviction of his better reason than as an
+opposition to the government. With more loquacity than eloquence, and
+more audacity than courage, he was brave rather from not believing in
+danger than from being superior to it. Louis of Nassau burned for the
+cause which he defended, Brederode for the glory of being its defender;
+the former was satisfied in acting for his party, the latter
+discontented if he did not stand at its head. No one was more fit to
+lead off the dance in a rebellion, but it could hardly have a worse
+ballet-master. Contemptible as his threatened designs really were, the
+illusion of the multitude might have imparted to them weight and terror
+if it had occurred to them to set up a pretender in his person. His
+claim to the possessions of his ancestors was an empty name; but even a
+name was now sufficient for the general disaffection to rally round. A
+pamphlet which was at the time disseminated amongst the people openly
+called him the heir of Holland; and his engraved portrait, which was
+publicly exhibited, bore the boastful inscription:--
+
+        Sum Brederodus ego, Batavae non infima gentis
+        Gloria, virtutem non unica pagina claudit.
+
+
+(1565.) Besides these two, there were others also from among the most
+illustrious of the Flemish nobles the young Count Charles of Mansfeld,
+a son of that nobleman whom we have found among the most zealous
+royalists; the Count Kinlemburg; two Counts of Bergen and of Battenburg;
+John of Marnix, Baron of Toulouse; Philip of Marnix, Baron of St.
+Aldegonde; with several others who joined the league, which, about the
+middle of November, in the year 1565, was formed at the house of Von
+Hanimes, king at arms of the Golden Fleece. Here it was that six men
+decided the destiny of their country as formerly a few confederates
+consummated the liberty of Switzerland, kindled the torch of a forty
+years’ war, and laid the basis of a freedom which they themselves were
+never to enjoy. The objects of the league were set forth in the
+following declaration, to which Philip of Marnix was the first to
+subscribe his name: “Whereas certain ill-disposed persons, under the
+mask of a pious zeal, but in reality under the impulse of avarice and
+ambition, have by their evil counsels persuaded our most gracious
+sovereign the king to introduce into these countries the abominable
+tribunal of the Inquisition, a tribunal diametrically opposed to all
+laws, human and divine, and in cruelty far surpassing the barbarous
+institutions of heathenism; which raises the inquisitors above every
+other power, and debases man to a perpetual bondage, and by its snares
+exposes the honest citizen to a constant fear of death, inasmuch as any
+one (priest, it may be, or a faithless friend, a Spaniard or a
+reprobate), has it in his power at any moment to cause whom he will to
+be dragged before that tribunal, to be placed in confinement, condemned,
+and executed without the accused ever being allowed to face his accuser,
+or to adduce proof of his innocence; we, therefore, the undersigned,
+have bound ourselves to watch over the safety of our families, our
+estates, and our own persons. To this we hereby pledge ourselves, and
+to this end bind ourselves as a sacred fraternity, and vow with a solemn
+oath to oppose to the best of our power the introduction of this
+tribunal into these countries, whether it be attempted openly or
+secretly, and under whatever name it may be disguised. We at the same
+time declare that we are far from intending anything unlawful against
+the king our sovereign; rather is it our unalterable purpose to support
+and defend the royal prerogative, and to maintain peace, and, as far as
+lies in our power, to put down all rebellion. In accordance with this
+purpose we have sworn, and now again swear, to hold sacred the
+government, and to respect it both in word and deed, which witness
+Almighty God!
+
+“Further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all
+times and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles
+which are set forth in this covenant. We hereby bind ourselves that no
+accusation of any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed,
+whether rebellion, sedition, or otherwise, shall avail to annul our oath
+towards the accused, or absolve us from our obligation towards him. No
+act which is directed against the Inquisition can deserve the name of a
+rebellion. Whoever, therefore, shall be placed in arrest on any such
+charge, we here pledge ourselves to assist him to the utmost of our
+ability, and to endeavor by every allowable means to effect his
+liberation. In this, however, as in all matters, but especially in the
+conduct of all measures against the tribunal of the Inquisition, we
+submit ourselves to the general regulations of the league, or to the
+decision of those whom we may unanimously appoint our counsellors and
+leaders.
+
+“In witness hereof, and in confirmation of this our common league and
+covenant, we call upon the holy name of the living God, maker of heaven
+and earth, and of all that are therein, who searches the hearts, the
+consciences, and the thoughts, and knows the purity of ours. We implore
+the aid of the Holy Spirit, that success and honor may crown our
+undertaking, to the glory of His name, and to the peace and blessing of
+our country!”
+
+This covenant was immediately translated into several languages, and
+quickly disseminated through the provinces. To swell the league as
+speedily as possible each of the confederates assembled all his friends,
+relations, adherents, and retainers. Great banquets were held, which
+lasted whole days--irresistible temptations for a sensual, luxurious
+people, in whom the deepest wretchedness could not stifle the propensity
+for voluptuous living. Whoever repaired to these banquets--and every
+one was welcome--was plied with officious assurances of friendship, and,
+when heated with wine, carried away by the example of numbers, and
+overcome by the fire of a wild eloquence. The hands of many were guided
+while they subscribed their signatures; the hesitating were derided, the
+pusillanimous threatened, the scruples of loyalty clamored down; some
+even were quite ignorant what they were signing, and were ashamed
+afterwards to inquire. To many whom mere levity brought to the
+entertainment the general enthusiasm left no choice, while the splendor
+of the confederacy allured the mean, and its numbers encouraged the
+timorous. The abettors of the league had not scrupled at the artifice
+of counterfeiting the signature and seals of the Prince of Orange,
+Counts Egmont, Horn, Mcgen, and others, a trick which won them hundreds
+of adherents. This was done especially with a view of influencing the
+officers of the army, in order to be safe in this quarter, if matters
+should come at last to violence. The device succeeded with many,
+especially with subalterns, and Count Brederode even drew his sword upon
+an ensign who wished time for consideration. Men of all classes and
+conditions signed it. Religion made no difference. Roman Catholic
+priests even were associates of the league. The motives were not the
+same with all, but the pretext was similar. The Roman Catholics desired
+simply the abolition of the Inquisition, and a mitigation of the edicts;
+the Protestants aimed at unlimited freedom of conscience. A few daring
+spirits only entertained so bold a project as the overthrow of the
+present government, while the needy and indigent based the vilest hopes
+on a general anarchy. A farewell entertainment, which about this time
+was given to the Counts Schwarzenberg and Holle in Breda, and another
+shortly afterwards in Hogstraten, drew many of the principal nobility to
+these two places, and of these several had already signed the covenant.
+The Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, and Megen were present at the
+latter banquet, but without any concert or design, and without having
+themselves any share in the league, although one of Egmont’s own
+secretaries and some of the servants of the other three noblemen had
+openly joined it. At this entertainment three hundred persons gave in
+their adhesion to the covenant, and the question was mooted whether the
+whole body should present themselves before the regent armed or unarmed,
+with a declaration or with a petition? Horn and Orange (Egmont would
+not countenance the business in any way) were called in as arbiters upon
+this point, and they decided in favor of the more moderate and
+submissive procedure. By taking this office upon them they exposed
+themselves to the charge of having in no very covert manner lent their
+sanction to the enterprise of the confederates. In compliance,
+therefore, with their advice, it was determined to present their address
+unarmed, and in the form of a petition, and a day was appointed on which
+they should assemble in Brussels.
+
+The first intimation the regent received of this conspiracy of the
+nobles was given by the Count of Megen soon after his return to the
+capital. “There was,” he said, “an enterprise on foot; no less than
+three hundred of the nobles were implicated in it; it referred to
+religion; the members of it had bound themselves together by an oath;
+they reckoned much on foreign aid; she would soon know more about it.”
+ Though urgently pressed, he would give her no further information.
+“A nobleman,” he said, “had confided it to him under the seal of
+secrecy, and he had pledged his word of honor to him.” What really
+withheld him from giving her any further explanation was, in all
+probability, not so much any delicacy about his honor, as his hatred
+of the Inquisition, which he would not willingly do anything to advance.
+Soon after him, Count Egmont delivered to the regent a copy of the
+covenant, and also gave her the names of the conspirators, with some few
+exceptions. Nearly about the same time the Prince of Orange wrote to
+her: “There was, as he had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred
+officers were already named, and twenty thousand men would presently
+appear in arms.” Thus the rumor was intentionally exaggerated, and the
+danger was multiplied in every mouth.
+
+The regent, petrified with alarm at the first announcement of these
+tidings, and guided solely by her fears, hastily called together all the
+members of the council of state who happened to be then in Brussels, and
+at the same time sent a pressing summons to the Prince of Orange and
+Count Horn, inviting them to resume their seats in the senate. Before
+the latter could arrive she consulted with Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont
+what course was to be adopted in the present dangerous posture of
+affairs. The question debated was whether it would be better to have
+recourse to arms or to yield to the emergency and grant the demands of
+the confederates; or whether they should be put off with promises, and
+an appearance of compliance, in order to gain time for procuring
+instructions from Spain, and obtaining money and troops? For the first
+plan the requisite supplies were wanting, and, what was equally
+requisite, confidence in the army, of which there seemed reason to doubt
+whether it had not been already gained by the conspirators. The second
+expedient would it was quite clear never be sanctioned by the king;
+besides it would serve rather to raise than depress the courage of the
+confederates; while, on the other hand, a compliance with their
+reasonable demands and a ready unconditional pardon of the past would in
+all probability stifle the rebellion in the cradle. The last opinion
+was supported by Megen and Egmont but opposed by Barlaimont. “Rumor,”
+ said the latter, “had exaggerated the matter; it is impossible that so
+formidable an armament could have been prepared so secretly and, so
+rapidly. It was but a band of a few outcasts and desperadoes,
+instigated by two or three enthusiasts, nothing more. All will be quiet
+after a few heads have been struck off.” The regent determined to await
+the opinion of the council of state, which was shortly to assemble; in
+the meanwhile, however, she was not inactive. The fortifications in the
+most important places were inspected and the necessary repairs speedily
+executed; her ambassadors at foreign courts received orders to redouble
+their vigilance; expresses were sent off to Spain. At the same time she
+caused the report to be revived of the near advent of the king, and in
+her external deportment put on a show of that imperturbable firmness
+which awaits attack without intending easily to yield to it. At the end
+of March (four whole months consequently from the framing of the
+covenant), the whole state council assembled in Brussels. There were
+present the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Arschot, Counts Egmont,
+Bergen, Megen, Aremberg, Horn, Hosstraten, Barlaimont, and others; the
+Barons Montigny and Hachicourt, all the knights of the Golden Fleece,
+with the President Viglius, State Counsellor Bruxelles, and the other
+assessors of the privy council. Several letters were produced which
+gave a clearer insight into the nature and objects of the conspiracy.
+The extremity to which the regent was reduced gave the disaffected a
+power which on the present occasion they did not neglect to use.
+Venting their long suppressed indignation, they indulged in bitter
+complaints against the court and against the government. “But lately,”
+ said the Prince of Orange, “the king sent forty thousand gold florins
+to the Queen of Scotland to support her in her undertakings against
+England, and he allows his Netherlands to be burdened with debt.
+Not to mention the unseasonableness of this subsidy and its fruitless
+expenditure, why should he bring upon us the resentment of a queen, who
+is both so important to us as a friend and as an enemy so much to be
+dreaded?” The prince did not even refrain on the present occasion from
+glancing at the concealed hatred which the king was suspected of
+cherishing against the family of Nassau and against him in particular.
+“It is well known,” he said, “that he has plotted with the hereditary
+enemies of my house to take away my life, and that he waits with
+impatience only for a suitable opportunity.” His example opened the
+lips of Count Horn also, and of many others besides, who with passionate
+vehemence descanted on their own merits and the ingratitude of the king.
+With difficulty did the regent succeed in silencing the tumult and in
+recalling attention to the proper subject of the debate. The question
+was whether the confederates, of whom it was now known that they
+intended to appear at court with a petition, should be admitted or not?
+The Duke of Arschot, Counts Aremberg, Megen, and Barlaimont gave their
+negative to the proposition. “What need of five hundred persons,” said
+the latter, “to deliver a small memorial? This paradox of humility and
+defiance implies no good. Let them send to us one respectable man from
+among their number without pomp, without assumption, and so submit their
+application to us. Otherwise, shut the gates upon them, or if some
+insist on their admission let them be closely watched, and let the first
+act of insolence which any one of them shall be guilty of be punished
+with death.” In this advice concurred Count Mansfeld, whose own son was
+among the conspirators; he had even threatened to disinherit his son if
+he did not quickly abandon the league.
+
+Counts Megen, also, and Aremberg hesitated to receive the petition; the
+Prince of Orange, however, Counts Egmont, Horn, Hogstraten, and others
+voted emphatically for it. “The confederates,” they declared, “were
+known to them as men of integrity and honor; a great part of them were
+connected with themselves by friendship and relationship, and they dared
+vouch for their behavior. Every subject was allowed to petition; a
+right which was enjoyed by the meanest individual in the state could not
+without injustice be denied to so respectable a body of men.” It was
+therefore resolved by a majority of votes to admit the confederates on
+the condition that they should appear unarmed and conduct themselves
+temperately. The squabbles of the members of council had occupied the
+greater part of the sitting, so that it was necessary to adjourn the
+discussion to the following day. In order that the principal matter in
+debate might not again be lost sight of in useless complaints the regent
+at once hastened to the point: “Brederode, we are informed,” she said,
+“is coming to us, with an address in the name of the league, demanding
+the abolition of the Inquisition and a mitigation of the edicts. The
+advice of my senate is to guide me in my answer to him; but before you
+give your opinions on this point permit me to premise a few words. I am
+told that there are many even amongst yourselves who load the religious
+edicts of the Emperor, my father, with open reproaches, and describe
+them to the people as inhuman and barbarous. Now I ask you, lords and
+gentlemen, knights of the Fleece, counsellors of his majesty and of the
+state, whether you did not yourselves vote for these edicts, whether the
+states of the realm have not recognized them as lawful? Why is that now
+blamed, which was formerly declared right? Is it because they have now
+become even more necessary than they then were? Since when is the
+Inquisition a new thing in the Netherlands? Is it not full sixteen
+years ago since the Emperor established it? And wherein is it more
+cruel than the edicts? If it be allowed that the latter were the work
+of wisdom, if the universal consent of the states has sanctioned them--
+why this opposition to the former, which is nevertheless far more humane
+than the edicts, if they are to be observed to the letter? Speak now
+freely; I am not desirous of fettering your decision; but it is your
+business to see that it is not misled by passion and prejudice.” The
+council of state was again, as it always had been, divided between two
+opinions; but the few who spoke for the Inquisition and the literal
+execution of the edicts were outvoted by the opposite party with the
+Prince of Orange at its head. “Would to heaven,” he began,--“that my
+representations had been then thought worthy of attention, when as yet
+the grounds of apprehension were remote; things would in that case never
+have been carried so far as to make recourse to extreme measures
+indispensable, nor would men have been plunged deeper in error by the
+very means which were intended to beguile them from their delusion. We
+are all unanimous on the one main point. We all wish to see the
+Catholic religion safe; if this end can be secured without the aid of
+the Inquisition, it is well, and we offer our wealth and our blood to
+its service; but on this very point it is that our opinions are divided.
+
+“There are two kinds of inquisition: the see of Rome lays claim to one,
+the other has, from time immemorial, been exercised by the bishops. The
+force of prejudice and of custom has made the latter light and
+supportable to us. It will find little opposition in the Netherlands,
+and the augmented numbers of the bishops will make it effective. To
+what purpose then insist on the former, the mere name of which is
+revolting to all the feelings of our minds? When so many nations exist
+without it why should it be imposed on us? Before Luther appeared it
+was never heard of; but the troubles with Luther happened at a time when
+there was an inadequate number of spiritual overseers, and when the few
+bishops were, moreover, indolent, and the licentiousness of the clergy
+excluded them from the office of judges. Now all is changed; we now
+count as many bishops as there are provinces. Why should not the policy
+of the government adjust itself to the altered circumstances of the
+times? We want leniency, not severity. The repugnance of the people is
+manifest--this we must seek to appease if we would not have it burst out
+into rebellion. With the death of Pius IV. the full powers of the
+inquisitors have expired; the new pope has as yet sent no ratification
+of their authority, without which no one formerly ventured to exercise
+his office. Now, therefore, is the time when it can be suspended
+without infringing the rights of any party.
+
+“What I have stated with regard to the Inquisition holds equally good in
+respect to the edicts also. The exigency of the times called them
+forth, but are not those times passed? So long an experience of them
+ought at last to have taught us that against hersey no means are less
+successful than the fagot and sword. What incredible progress has not
+the new religion made during only the last few years in the provinces;
+and if we investigate the cause of this increase we shall find it
+principally in the glorious constancy of those who have fallen
+sacrifices to the truth of their opinions. Carried away by sympathy and
+admiration, men begin to weigh in silence whether what is maintained
+with such invincible courage may not really be the truth. In France and
+in England the same severities may have been inflicted on the
+Protestants, but have they been attended with any better success there
+than here? The very earliest Christians boasted that the blood of the
+martyrs was the seed of the church. The Emperor Julian, the most
+terrible enemy that Christianity ever experienced, was fully persuaded
+of this. Convinced that persecution did but kindle enthusiasm he betook
+himself to ridicule and derision, and found these weapons far more
+effective than force. In the Greek empire different teachers of heresy
+have arisen at different times. Arius under Constantine, Aetius under
+Constantius, Nestorius under Theodosius. But even against these
+arch-heretics and their disciples such cruel measures were never resorted
+to as are thought necessary against our unfortunate country--and yet
+where are all those sects now which once a whole world, I had almost
+said, could not contain? This is the natural course of heresy. If it is
+treated with contempt it crumbles into insignificance. It is as iron,
+which, if it lies idle, corrodes, and only becomes sharp by use. Let no
+notice be paid to it, and it loses its most powerful attraction, the
+magic of what is new and what is forbidden. Why will we not content
+ourselves with the measures which have been approved of by the wisdom of
+such great rulers? Example is ever the safest guide.
+
+“But what need to go to pagan antiquity for guidance and example when we
+have near at hand the glorious precedent of Charles V., the greatest of
+kings, who taught at last by experience, abandoned the bloody path of
+persecution, and for many years before his abdication adopted milder
+measures. And Philip himself, our most gracious sovereign, seemed at
+first strongly inclined to leniency until the counsels of Granvella and
+of others like him changed these views; but with what right or wisdom
+they may settle between themselves. To me, however, it has always
+appeared indispensable that legislation to be wise and successful must
+adjust itself to the manners and maxims of the times. In conclusion,
+I would beg to remind you of the close understanding which subsists
+between the Huguenots and the Flemish Protestants. Let us beware of
+exasperating them any further. Let us not act the part of French
+Catholics towards them, lest they should play the Huguenots against us,
+and, like the latter, plunge their country into the horrors of a civil
+war.”
+
+   [No one need wonder, says Burgundias (a vehement stickler for the
+   Roman Catholic religion and the Spanish party), that the speech of
+   this prince evinced so much acquaintance with philosophy; he had
+   acquired it in his intercourse with Balduin. 180. Barry, 174-178.
+   Hopper, 72. Strada, 123,124.]
+
+It was, perhaps, not so much the irresistible truth of his arguments,
+which, moreover, were supported by a decisive majority in the senate, as
+rather the ruinous state of the military resources, and the exhaustion
+of the treasury, that prevented the adoption of the opposite opinion
+which recommended an appeal to the force of arms that the Prince of
+Orange had chiefly to thank for the attention which now at last was paid
+to his representations. In order to avert at first the violence of the
+storm, and to gain time, which was so necessary to place the government
+in a better sate of preparation, it was agreed that a portion of the
+demands should be accorded to the confederates. It was also resolved to
+mitigate the penal statutes of the Emperor, as he himself would
+certainly mitigate them, were he again to appear among them at that day
+--and as, indeed, he had once shown under circumstances very similar to
+the present that he did not think it derogatory to his high dignity to
+do. The Inquisition was not to be introduced in any place where it did
+not already exist, and where it had been it should adopt a milder
+system, or even be entirely suspended, especially since the inquisitors
+had not yet been confirmed in their office by the pope. The latter
+reason was put prominently forward, in order to deprive the Protestants
+of the gratification of ascribing the concessions to any fear of their
+own power, or to the justice of their demands. The privy council was
+commissioned to draw out this decree of the senate without delay. Thus
+prepared the confederates were awaited.
+
+
+
+                THE GUEUX.
+
+The members of the senate had not yet dispersed, when all Brussels
+resounded with the report that the confederates were approaching the
+town. They consisted of no more than two hundred horse, but rumor
+greatly exaggerated their numbers. Filled with consternation, the
+regent consulted with her ministers whether it was best to close the
+gates on the approaching party or to seek safety in flight? Both
+suggestions were rejected as dishonorable; and the peaceable entry of
+the nobles soon allayed all fears of violence. The first morning after
+their arrival they assembled at Kuilemberg house, where Brederode
+administered to them a second oath, binding them before all other duties
+to stand by one another, and even with arms if necessary. At this
+meeting a letter from Spain was produced, in which it was stated that a
+certain Protestant, whom, they all knew and valued, had been burned
+alive in that country by a slow fire. After these and similar
+preliminaries he called on them one after another by name to take the
+new oath and renew the old one in their own names and in those of the
+absent. The next day, the 5th of April, 1556, was fixed for the
+presentation of the petition. Their numbers now amounted to between
+three and four hundred. Amongst them were many retainers of the high
+nobility, as also several servants of the king himself and of the
+duchess.
+
+With the Counts of Nassau and Brederode at their head, and formed in
+ranks of four by four, they advanced in procession to the palace; all
+Brussels attended the unwonted spectacle in silent astonishment. Here
+were to be seen a body of men advancing with too much boldness and
+confidence to look like supplicants, and led by two men who were not
+wont to be petitioners; and, on the other hand, with so much order and
+stillness as do not usually accompany rebellion. The regent received
+the procession surrounded by all her counsellors and the Knights of the
+Fleece. “These noble Netherlanders,” thus Brederode respectfully
+addressed her, “who here present themselves before your highness, wish
+in their own name, and of many others besides who are shortly to arrive,
+to present to you a petition of whose importance as well as of their own
+humility this solemn procession must convince you. I, as speaker of
+this body, entreat you to receive our petition, which contains nothing
+but what is in unison with the laws of our country and the honor of the
+king.”
+
+“If this petition,” replied Margaret, “really contains nothing which is
+at variance either with the good of the country, or with the authority
+of the king, there is no doubt that it will be favorably considered.”
+ “They had learnt,” continued the spokesman, “with indignation and regret
+that suspicious objects had been imputed to their association, and that
+interested parties had endeavored to prejudice her highness against him;
+they therefore craved that she would name the authors of so grave an
+accusation, and compel them to bring their charges publicly, and in due
+form, in order that he who should be found guilty might suffer the
+punishment of his demerits.” “Undoubtedly,” replied the regent, “she
+had received unfavorable rumors of their designs and alliance. She
+could not be blamed, if in consequence she had thought it requisite to
+call the attention of the governors of the provinces to the matter; but,
+as to giving up the names of her informants to betray state secrets,”
+ she added, with an appearance of displeasure, “that could not in justice
+be required of her.” She then appointed the next day for answering
+their petition; and in the meantime she proceeded to consult the members
+of her council upon it.
+
+“Never” (so ran the petition which, according to some, was drawn up by
+the celebrated Balduin), “never had they failed in their loyalty to
+their king, and nothing now could be farther from their hearts; but they
+would rather run the risk of incurring the displeasure of their
+sovereign than allow him to remain longer in ignorance of the evils with
+which their native country was menaced, by the forcible introduction of
+the Inquisition and the continued enforcement of the edicts. They had
+long remained consoling themselves with the expectation that a general
+assembly of the states would be summoned to remedy these grievances; but
+now that even this hope was extinguished, they held it to be their duty
+to give timely warning to the regent. They, therefore, entreated her
+highness to send to Madrid an envoy, well disposed, and fully acquainted
+with the state and temper of the times, who should endeavor to persuade
+the king to comply with the demands of the whole nation, and abolish the
+Inquisition, to revoke the edicts, and in their stead cause new and more
+humane ones to be drawn up at a general assembly of the states. But, in
+the meanwhile, until they could learn the king’s decision, they prayed
+that the edicts and the operations of the Inquisition be suspended.”
+ “If,” they concluded, “no attention should be paid to their humble
+request, they took God, the king, the regent, and all her counsellors to
+witness that they had done their part, and were not responsible for any
+unfortunate result that might happen.”
+
+The following day the confederates, marching in the same order of
+procession, but in still greater numbers (Counts Bergen and Kuilemberg
+having, in the interim, joined them with their adherents), appeared
+before the regent in order to receive her answer. It was written on the
+margin of the petition, and was to the effect, “that entirely to suspend
+the Inquisition and the edicts, even temporarily, was beyond her powers;
+but in compliance with the wishes of the confederates she was ready to
+despatch one of the nobles to the king in Spain, and also to support
+their petition with all her influence. In the meantime, she would
+recommend the inquisitors to administer their office with moderation;
+but in return she should expect on the part of the league that they
+should abstain from all acts of violence, and undertake nothing to the
+prejudice of the Catholic faith.” Little as these vague and general
+promises satisfied the confederates, they were, nevertheless, as much as
+they could have reasonably expected to gain at first. The granting or
+refusing of the petition had nothing to do with the primary object of
+the league. Enough for them at present that it was once recognized,
+enough that it was now, as it were, an established body, which by its
+power and threats might, if necessary, overawe the government. The
+confederates, therefore, acted quite consistently with their designs,
+in contenting themselves with this answer, and referring the rest to
+the good pleasure of the king. As, indeed, the whole pantomime of
+petitioning had only been invented to cover the more daring plan of the
+league, until it should have strength enough to show itself in its true
+light, they felt that much more depended on their being able to continue
+this mask, and on the favorable reception of their petition, than on its
+speedily being granted. In a new memorial, which they delivered three
+days after, they pressed for an express testimonial from the regent that
+they had done no more than their duty, and been guided simply by their
+zeal for the service of the king. When the duchess evaded a
+declaration, they even sent a person to repeat this request in a private
+interview. “Time alone and their future behavior,” she replied to this
+person, “would enable her to judge of their designs.”
+
+The league had its origin in banquets, and a banquet gave it form and
+perfection. On the very day that the second petition was presented
+Brederode entertained the confederates in Kuilemberg house. About three
+hundred guests assembled; intoxication gave them courage, and their
+audacity rose with their numbers. During the conversation one of their
+number happened to remark that he had overheard the Count of Barlaimont
+whisper in French to the regent, who was seen to turn pale on the
+delivery of the petitions, that “she need not be afraid of a band of
+beggars (gueux);” (in fact, the majority of them had by their bad
+management of their incomes only too well deserved this appellation.)
+Now, as the very name for their fraternity was the very thing which had
+most perplexed them, an expression was eagerly caught up, which, while
+it cloaked the presumption of their enterprise in humility, was at the
+same time appropriate to them as petitioners. Immediately they drank to
+one another under this name, and the cry “long live the Gueux!” was
+accompanied with a general shout of applause. After the cloth had been
+removed Brederode appeared with a wallet over his shoulder similar to
+that which the vagrant pilgrims and mendicant monks of the time used to
+carry, and after returning thanks to all for their accession to the
+league, and boldly assuring them that he was ready to venture life and
+limb for every individual present, he drank to the health of the whole
+company out of a wooden beaker. The cup went round and every one
+uttered the same vow as be set it to his lips. Then one after the other
+they received the beggar’s purse, and each hung it on a nail which he
+had appropriated to himself. The shouts and uproar attending this
+buffoonery attracted the Prince of Orange and Counts Egmont and Horn,
+who by chance were passing the spot at the very moment, and on entering
+the house were boisterously pressed by Brederode, as host, to remain and
+drink a glass with them.
+
+   [“But,” Egmont asserted in his written defence “we drank only one
+   single small glass, and thereupon they cried ‘long live the king
+   and the Gueux!’ This was the first time that I heard that
+   appellation, and it certainly did not please me. But the times
+   were so bad that one was often compelled to share in much that was
+   against one’s inclination, and I knew not but I was doing an
+   innocent thing.” Proces criminels des Comtes d’Egmont, etc.. 7. 1.
+   Egmont’s defence, Hopper, 94. Strada, 127-130. Burgund., 185,
+   187.]
+
+The entrance of three such influential personages renewed the mirth of
+the guests, and their festivities soon passed the bounds of moderation.
+Many were intoxicated; guests and attendants mingled together without
+distinction; the serious and the ludicrous, drunken fancies and affairs
+of state were blended one with another in a burlesque medley; and the
+discussions on the general distress of the country ended in the wild
+uproar of a bacchanalian revel. But it did not stop here; what they had
+resolved on in the moment of intoxication they attempted when sober to
+carry into execution. It was necessary to manifest to the people in
+some striking shape the existence of their protectors, and likewise to
+fan the zeal of the faction by a visible emblem; for this end nothing
+could be better than to adopt publicly this name of Gueux, and to borrow
+from it the tokens of the association. In a few days the town of
+Brussels swarmed with ash-gray garments such as were usually worn by
+mendicant friars and penitents. Every confederate put his whole family
+and domestics in this dress. Some carried wooden bowls thinly overlaid
+with plates of silver, cups of the same kind, and wooden knives; in
+short the whole paraphernalia of the beggar tribe, which they either
+fixed around their hats or suspended from their girdles: Round the neck
+they wore a golden or silver coin, afterwards called the Geusen penny,
+of which one side bore the effigy of the king, with the inscription,
+“True to the king;” on the other side were seen two hands folded
+together holding a wallet, with the words “as far as the beggar’s
+scrip.” Hence the origin of the name “Gueux,” which was subsequently
+borne in the Netherlands by all who seceded from popery and took up arms
+against the king.
+
+Before the confederates separated and dispersed among the provinces they
+presented themselves once more before the duchess, in order to remind
+her of the necessity of leniency towards the heretics until the arrival
+of the king’s answer from Spain, if she did not wish to drive the people
+to extremities. “If, however,” they added, “a contrary behavior should
+give rise to any evils they at least must be regarded as having done
+their duty.”
+
+To this the regent replied, “she hoped to be able to adopt such
+measures as would render it impossible for disorders to ensue; but if,
+nevertheless, they did occur, she could ascribe them to no one but the
+confederates. She therefore earnestly admonished them on their part to
+fulfil their engagements, but especially to receive no new members into
+the league, to hold no more private assemblies, and generally not to
+attempt any novel and unconstitutional measures.” And in order to
+tranquillize their minds she commanded her private secretary, Berti, to
+show them the letters to the inquisitors and secular judges, wherein
+they were enjoined to observe moderation towards all those who had not
+aggravated their heretical offences by any civil crime. Before their
+departure from Brussels they named four presidents from among their
+number who were to take care of the affairs of the league, and also
+particular administrators for each province. A few were left behind in
+Brussels to keep a watchful eye on all the movements of the court.
+Brederode, Kuilemberg, and Bergen at last quitted the town, attended by
+five hundred and fifty horsemen, saluted it once more beyond the walls
+with a discharge of musketry, and then the three leaders parted,
+Brederode taking the road to Antwerp, and the two others to Guelders.
+The regent had sent off an express to Antwerp to warn the magistrate of
+that town against him. On his arrival more than a thousand persons
+thronged to the hotel where he had taken up his abode. Showing himself
+at a window, with a full wineglass in his hand, he thus addressed them:
+“Citizens of Antwerp! I am here at the hazard of my life and my
+property to relieve you from the oppressive burden of the Inquisition.
+If you are ready to share this enterprise with me, and to acknowledge me
+as your leader, accept the health which I here drink to you, and hold up
+your hands in testimony of your approbation.” Hereupon he drank to
+their health, and all hands were raised amidst clamorous shouts of
+exultation. After this heroic deed he quitted Antwerp.
+
+Immediately after the delivery of the “petition of the nobles,” the
+regent had caused a new form of the edicts to be drawn up in the privy
+council, which should keep the mean between the commands of the king and
+the demands of the confederates. But the next question that arose was
+to determine whether it would be advisable immediately to promulgate
+this mitigated form, or moderation, as it was commonly called, or to
+submit it first to the king for his ratification. The privy council who
+maintained that it would be presumptuous to take a step so important and
+so contrary to the declared sentiments of the monarch without having
+first obtained his sanction, opposed the vote of the Prince of Orange
+who supported the former proposition. Besides, they urged, there was
+cause to fear that it would not even content the nation.
+
+A “moderation” devised with the assent of the states was what they
+particularly insisted on. In order, therefore, to gain the consent of
+the states, or rather to obtain it from them by stealth, the regent
+artfully propounded the question to the provinces singly, and first of
+all to those which possessed the least freedom, such as Artois, Namur,
+and Luxemburg. Thus she not only prevented one province encouraging
+another in opposition, but also gained this advantage by it, that the
+freer provinces, such as Flanders and Brabant, which were prudently
+reserved to the last, allowed themselves to be carried away by the
+example of the others. By a very illegal procedure the representatives
+of the towns were taken by surprise, and their consent exacted before
+they could confer with their constituents, while complete silence was
+imposed upon them with regard to the whole transaction. By these means
+the regent obtained the unconditional consent of some of the provinces
+to the “moderation,” and, with a few slight changes, that of other
+provinces. Luxemburg and Namur subscribed it without scruple. The
+states of Artois simply added the condition that false informers should
+be subjected to a retributive penalty; those of Hainault demanded that
+instead of confiscation of the estates, which directly militated against
+their privileges, another discretionary punishment should be introduced.
+Flanders called for the entire abolition of the Inquisition, and desired
+that the accused might be secured in right of appeal to their own
+province. The states of Brabant were outwitted by the intrigues of the
+court. Zealand, Holland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Friesland as being
+provinces which enjoyed the most important privileges, and which,
+moreover, watched over them with the greatest jealousy, were never asked
+for their opinion. The provincial courts of judicature had also been
+required to make a report on the projected amendment of the law, but we
+may well suppose that it was unfavorable, as it never reached Spain.
+From the principal cause of this “moderation,” which, however, really
+deserved its name, we may form a judgment of the general character of
+the edicts themselves. “Sectarian writers,” it ran, “the heads and
+teachers of sects, as also those who conceal heretical meetings, or
+cause any other public scandal, shall be punished with the gallows, and
+their estates, where the law of the province permit it, confiscated; but
+if they abjure their errors, their punishment shall be commuted into
+decapitation with the sword, and their effects shall be preserved to
+their families.” A cruel snare for parental affection! Less grievous
+heretics, it was further enacted, shall, if penitent, be pardoned; and
+if impenitent shall be compelled to leave the country, without, however,
+forfeiting their estates, unless by continuing to lead others astray
+they deprive themselves of the benefit of this provision. The
+Anabaptists, however, were expressly excluded from benefiting by this
+clause; these, if they did not clear themselves by the most thorough
+repentance, were to forfeit their possessions; and if, on the other
+hand, they relapsed after penitence, that is, were backsliding heretics,
+they were to be put to death without mercy. The greater regard for life
+and property which is observable in this ordinance as compared with the
+edicts, and which we might be tempted to ascribe to a change of
+intention in the Spanish ministry, was nothing more than a compulsory
+step extorted by the determined opposition of the nobles. So little,
+too, were the people in the Netherlands satisfied by this “moderation,”
+ which fundamentally did not remove a single abuse, that instead of
+“moderation” (mitigation), they indignantly called it “moorderation,”
+ that is, murdering.
+
+After the consent of the states had in this manner been extorted from
+them, the “moderation” was submitted to the council of the state, and,
+after receiving their signatures, forwarded to the king in Spain in
+order to receive from his ratification the force of law.
+
+The embassy to Madrid, which had been agreed upon with the confederates,
+was at the outset entrusted to the Marquis of Bergen, who, however, from
+a distrust of the present disposition of the king, which was only too
+well grounded, and from reluctance to engage alone in so delicate a
+business, begged for a coadjutor.
+
+   [This Marquis of Bergen is to be distinguished from Count William
+   of Bergen, who was among the first who subscribed the covenant.
+   Vigi. ad Hopper, Letter VII.]
+
+He obtained one in the Baron of Montigny, who had previously been
+employed in a similar duty, and had discharged it with high credit.
+As, however, circumstances had since altered so much that he had just
+anxiety as to his present reception in Madrid for his greater safety,
+he stipulated with the duchess that she should write to the monarch
+previously; and that he, with his companion, should, in the meanwhile,
+travel slowly enough to give time for the king’s answer reaching him en
+route. His good genius wished, as it appeared, to save him from the
+terrible fate which awaited him in Madrid, for his departure was delayed
+by an unexpected obstacle, the Marquis of Bergen being disabled from
+setting out immediately through a wound which he received from the blow
+of a tennis-ball. At last, however, yielding to the pressing
+importunities of the regent, who was anxious to expedite the business,
+he set out alone, not, as he hoped, to carry the cause of his nation,
+but to die for it.
+
+In the meantime the posture of affairs had changed so greatly in the
+Netherlands, the step which the nobles had recently taken had so nearly
+brought on a complete rupture with the government, that it seemed
+impossible for the Prince of Orange and his friends to maintain any
+longer the intermediate and delicate position which they had hitherto
+held between the country and the court, or to reconcile the
+contradictory duties to which it gave rise. Great must have been
+the restraint which, with their mode of thinking, they had to put on
+themselves not to take part in this contest; much, too, must their
+natural love of liberty, their patriotism, and their principles of
+toleration have suffered from the constraint which their official
+station imposed upon them. On the other hand, Philip’s distrust, the
+little regard which now for a long time had been paid to their advice,
+and the marked slights which the duchess publicly put upon them, had
+greatly contributed to cool their zeal for the service, and to render
+irksome the longer continuance of a part which they played with so much
+repugnance and with so little thanks. This feeling was strengthened by
+several intimations they received from Spain which placed beyond doubt
+the great displeasure of the king at the petition of the nobles, and his
+little satisfaction with their own behavior on that occasion, while they
+were also led to expect that he was about to enter upon measures, to
+which, as favorable to the liberties of their country, and for the most
+part friends or blood relations of the confederates; they could never
+lend their countenance or support. On the name which should be applied
+in Spain to the confederacy of the nobles it principally depended what
+course they should follow for the future. If the petition should be
+called rebellion no alternative would be left them but either to come
+prematurely to a dangerous explanation with the court, or to aid it in
+treating as enemies those with whom they had both a fellow-feeling and a
+common interest. This perilous alternative could only be avoided by
+withdrawing entirely from public affairs; this plan they had once before
+practically adopted, and under present circumstances it was something
+more than a simple expedient. The whole nation had their eyes upon
+them. An unlimited confidence in their integrity, and the universal
+veneration for their persons, which closely bordered on idolatry, would
+ennoble the cause which they might make their own and ruin that which
+they should abandon. Their share in the administration of the state,
+though it were nothing more than nominal, kept the opposite party in
+check; while they attended the senate violent measures were avoided
+because their continued presence still favored some expectations of
+succeeding by gentle means. The withholding of their approbation, even
+if it did not proceed from their hearts, dispirited the faction, which,
+on the contrary, would exert its full strength so soon as it could
+reckon even distantly on obtaining so weighty a sanction. The very
+measures of the government which, if they came through their hands, were
+certain of a favorable reception and issue, would without them prove
+suspected and futile; even the royal concessions, if they were not
+obtained by the mediation of these friends of the people, would fail of
+the chief part of their efficacy. Besides, their retirement from public
+affairs would deprive the regent of the benefit of their advice at a
+time when counsel was most indispensable to her; it would, moreover,
+leave the preponderance with a party which, blindly dependent on the
+court, and ignorant of the peculiarities of republican character, would
+neglect nothing to aggravate the evil, and to drive to extremity the
+already exasperated mind of the public.
+
+All these motives (and it is open to every one, according to his good or
+bad opinion of the prince, to say which was the most influential) tended
+alike to move him to desert the regent, and to divest himself of all
+share in public affairs. An opportunity for putting this resolve into
+execution soon presented itself. The prince had voted for the immediate
+promulgation of the newly-revised edicts; but the regent, following the
+suggestion of her privy council, had determined to transmit them first
+to the king. “I now see clearly,” he broke out with well-acted
+vehemence, “that all the advice which I give is distrusted. The king
+requires no servants whose loyalty he is determined to doubt; and far be
+it from me to thrust my services upon a sovereign who is unwilling to
+receive them. Better, therefore, for him and me that I withdraw from
+public affairs.” Count Horn expressed himself nearly to the same
+effect. Egmont requested permission to visit the baths of
+Aix-la-Chapelle, the use of which had been prescribed to him by his
+physician, although (as it is stated in his accusation) he appeared
+health itself. The regent, terrified at the consequences which must
+inevitably follow this step, spoke sharply to the prince. “If neither my
+representations, nor the general welfare can prevail upon you, so far as
+to induce you to relinquish this intention, let me advise you to be more
+careful, at least, of your own reputation. Louis of Nassau is your
+brother; he and Count Brederode, the heads of the confederacy, have
+publicly been your guests. The petition is in substance identical with
+your own representations in the council of state. If you now suddenly
+desert the cause of your king will it not be universally said that you
+favor the conspiracy?” We do not find it anywhere stated whether the
+prince really withdrew at this time from the council of state; at all
+events, if he did, he must soon have altered his mind, for shortly after
+he appears again in public transactions. Egmont allowed himself to be
+overcome by the remonstrances of the regent; Horn alone actually withdrew
+himself to one of his estates,--[Where he remained three months
+inactive.]--with the resolution of never more serving either emperor or
+king. Meanwhile the Gueux had dispersed themselves through the provinces,
+and spread everywhere the most favorable reports of their success.
+According to their assertions, religious freedom was finally assured; and
+in order to confirm their statements they helped themselves, where the
+truth failed, with falsehood. For example, they produced a forged letter
+of the Knights of the Fleece, in which the latter were made solemnly to
+declare that for the future no one need fear imprisonment, or banishment,
+or death on account of religion, unless he also committed a political
+crime; and even in that case the confederates alone were to be his
+judges; and this regulation was to be in force until the king, with the
+consent and advice of the states of the realm, should otherwise dispose.
+Earnestly as the knights applied themselves upon the first information of
+the fraud to rescue the nation from their delusion, still it had already
+in this short interval done good service to the faction. If there are
+truths whose effect is limited to a single instant, then inventions which
+last so long can easily assume their place. Besides, the report, however
+false, was calculated both to awaken distrust between the regent and the
+knights, and to support the courage of the Protestants by fresh hopes,
+while it also furnished those who were meditating innovation an
+appearance of right, which, however unsubstantial they themselves knew it
+to be, served as a colorable pretext for their proceedings. Quickly as
+this delusion was dispelled, still, in the short space of time that it
+obtained belief, it had occasioned so many extravagances, had introduced
+so much irregularity and license, that a return to the former state of
+things became impossible, and continuance in the course already commenced
+was rendered necessary as well by habit as by despair. On the very first
+news of this happy result the fugitive Protestants had returned to their
+homes, which they had so unwillingly abandoned; those who had been in
+concealment came forth from their hiding-places; those who had hitherto
+paid homage to the new religion in their hearts alone, emboldened by
+these pretended acts of toleration, now gave in their adhesion to it
+publicly and decidedly. The name of the “Gueux” was extolled in all the
+provinces; they were called the pillars of religion and liberty; their
+party increased daily, and many of the merchants began to wear their
+insignia. The latter made an alteration in the “Gueux” penny, by
+introducing two travellers’ staffs, laid crosswise, to intimate that they
+stood prepared and ready at any instant to forsake house and hearth for
+the sake of religion. The Gueux league, in short, had now given to things
+an entirely different form. The murmurs of the people, hitherto impotent
+and despised, as being the cries of individuals, had, now that they were
+concentrated, become formidable; and had gained power, direction, and
+firmness through union. Every one who was rebelliously disposed now
+looked on himself as the member of a venerable and powerful body, and
+believed that by carrying his own complaints to the general stock of
+discontent he secured the free expression of them. To be called an
+important acquisition to the league flattered the vain; to be lost,
+unnoticed, and irresponsible in the crowd was an inducement to the timid.
+The face which the confederacy showed to the nation was very unlike that
+which it had turned to the court. But had its objects been the purest,
+had it really been as well disposed towards the throne as it wished to
+appear, still the multitude would have regarded only what was illegal in
+its proceedings, and upon them its better intentions would have been
+entirely lost.
+
+
+
+              PUBLIC PREACHING.
+
+No moment could be more favorable to the Huguenots and the German
+Protestants than the present to seek a market for their dangerous
+commodity in the Netherlands. Accordingly, every considerable town now
+swarmed with suspicious arrivals, masked spies, and the apostles of
+every description of heresy. Of the religious parties, which had sprung
+up by secession from the ruling church, three chiefly had made
+considerable progress in the provinces. Friesland and the adjoining
+districts were overrun by the Anabaptists, who, however, as the most
+indigent, without organization and government, destitute of military
+resources, and moreover at strife amongst themselves, awakened the least
+apprehension. Of far more importance were the Calvanists, who prevailed
+in the southern provinces, and above all in Flanders, who were
+powerfully supported by their neighbors the Huguenots, the republic of
+Geneva, the Swiss Cantons, and part of Germany, and whose opinions, with
+the exception of a slight difference, were also held by the throne in
+England. They were also the most numerous party, especially among the
+merchants and common citizens. The Huguenots, expelled from France, had
+been the chief disseminators of the tenets of this party. The Lutherans
+were inferior both in numbers and wealth, but derived weight from having
+many adherents among the nobility. They occupied, for the most part,
+the eastern portion of the Netherlands, which borders on Germany, and
+were also to be found in some of the northern territories. Some of the
+most powerful princes of Germany were their allies; and the religious
+freedom of that empire, of which by the Burgundian treaty the
+Netherlands formed an integral part, was claimed by them with some
+appearance of right. These three religious denominations met together
+in Antwerp, where the crowded population concealed them, and the
+mingling of all nations favored liberty. They had nothing in common,
+except an equally inextinguishable hatred of popery, of the Inquisition
+in particular, and of the Spanish government, whose instrument it was;
+while, on the other hand, they watched each other with a jealousy which
+kept their zeal in exercise, and prevented the glowing ardor of
+fanaticism from waxing dull.
+
+The regent, in expectation that the projected “moderation” would be
+sanctioned by the king, had, in the meantime, to gratify the Gueux,
+recommended the governors and municipal officers of the provinces to be
+as moderate as possible in their proceedings against heretics;
+instructions which were eagerly followed, and interpreted in the widest
+sense by the majority, who had hitherto administered the painful duty of
+punishment with extreme repugnance. Most of the chief magistrates were
+in their hearts averse to the Inquisition and the Spanish tyranny, and
+many were even secretly attached to one or other of the religious
+parties; even the others were unwilling to inflict punishment on
+their countrymen to gratify their sworn enemies, the Spaniards.
+All, therefore, purposely misunderstood the regent, and allowed the
+Inquisition and the edicts to fall almost entirely into disuse.
+This forbearance of the government, combined with the brilliant
+representations of the Gueux, lured from their obscurity the
+Protestants, who, however, had now grown too powerful to be any longer
+concealed. Hitherto they had contented themselves with secret
+assemblies by night; now they thought themselves numerous and formidable
+enough to venture to these meetings openly and publicly. This license
+commenced somewhere between Oudenarde and Ghent, and soon spread through
+the rest of Flanders. A certain Herrnann Stricker, born at Overyssel,
+formerly a monk, a daring enthusiast of able mind, imposing figure, and
+ready tongue, was the first who collected the people for a sermon in the
+open air. The novelty of the thing gathered together a crowd of about
+seven thousand persons. A magistrate of the neighborhood, more
+courageous than wise, rushed amongst the crowd with his drawn sword, and
+attempted to seize the preacher, but was so roughly handled by the
+multitude, who for want of other weapons took up stones and felled him
+to the ground, that he was glad to beg for his life.
+
+   [The unheard-of foolhardiness of a single man rushing into the
+   midst of a fanatical crowd of seven thousand people to seize before
+   their eyes one whom they adored, proves, more than all that can be
+   said on the subject the insolent contempt with which the Roman
+   Catholics of the time looked down upon the so-called heretics as an
+   inferior race of beings.]
+
+This success of the first attempt inspired courage for a second. In the
+vicinity of Aalst they assembled again in still greater numbers; but on
+this occasion they provided themselves with rapiers, firearms, and
+halberds, placed sentries at all the approaches, which they also
+barricaded with carts and carriages. All passers-by were obliged,
+whether willing or otherwise, to take part in the religious service, and
+to enforce this object lookout parties were posted at certain distances
+round the place of meeting. At the entrance booksellers stationed
+themselves, offering for sale Protestant catechisms, religious tracts,
+and pasquinades on the bishops. The preacher, Hermann Stricker, held
+forth from a pulpit which was hastily constructed for the occasion out
+of carts and trunks of trees. A canvas awning drawn over it protected
+him from the sun and the rain; the preacher’s position was in the
+quarter of the wind that the people might not lose any part of his
+sermon, which consisted principally of revilings against popery. Here
+the sacraments were administered after the Calvinistic fashion, and
+water was procured from the nearest river to baptize infants without
+further ceremony, after the practice, it was pretended, of the earliest
+times of Christianity. Couples were also united in wedlock, and the
+marriage ties dissolved between others. To be present at this meeting
+half the population of Ghent had left its gates; their example was soon
+followed in other parts, and ere long spread over the whole of East
+Flanders. In like manner Peter Dathen, another renegade monk, from
+Poperingen, stirred up West Flanders; as many as fifteen thousand
+persons at a time attended his preaching from the villages and hamlets;
+their number made them bold, and they broke into the prisons, where some
+Anabaptists were reserved for martyrdom. In Tournay the Protestants
+were excited to a similar pitch of daring by Ambrosius Ville, a French
+Calvinist. They demanded the release of the prisoners of their sect,
+and repeatedly threatened if their demands were not complied with to
+deliver up the town to the French. It was entirely destitute of a
+garrison, for the commandant, from fear of treason, had withdrawn it
+into the castle, and the soldiers, moreover, refused to act against
+their fellow-citizens. The sectarians carried their audacity to such
+great lengths as to require one of the churches within the town to be
+assigned to them; and when this was refused they entered into a league
+with Valenciennes and Antwerp to obtain a legal recognition of their
+worship, after the example of the other towns, by open force. These
+three towns maintained a close connection with each other, and the
+Protestant party was equally powerful in all. While, however, no one
+would venture singly to commence the disturbance, they agreed
+simultaneously to make a beginning with public preaching. Brederode’s
+appearance in Antwerp at last gave them courage. Six thousand persons,
+men and women, poured forth from the town on an appointed day, on which
+the same thing happened in Tournay and Valenciennes. The place of
+meeting was closed in with a line of vehicles, firmly fastened together,
+and behind them armed men were secretly posted, with a view to protect
+the service from any surprise. Of the preachers, most of whom were men
+of the very lowest class--some were Germans, some were Huguenots--and
+spoke in the Walloon dialect; some even of the citizens felt themselves
+called upon to take a part in this sacred work, now that no fears of the
+officers of justice alarmed them. Many were drawn to the spot by mere
+curiosity to hear what kind of new and unheard-of doctrines these
+foreign teachers, whose arrival had caused so much talk, would set
+forth. Others were attracted by the melody of the psalms, which were
+sung in a French version, after the custom in Geneva. A great number
+came to hear these sermons as so many amusing comedies such was the
+buffoonery with which the pope, the fathers of the ecclesiastical
+council of Trent, purgatory, and other dogmas of the ruling church were
+abused in them. And, in fact, the more extravagant was this abuse and
+ridicule the more it tickled the ears of the lower orders; and a
+universal clapping of hands, as in a theatre, rewarded the speaker who
+had surpassed others in the wildness of his jokes and denunciations.
+But the ridicule which was thus cast upon the ruling church was,
+nevertheless, not entirely lost on the minds of the hearers, as neither
+were the few grains of truth or reason which occasionally slipped in
+among it; and many a one, who had sought from these sermons anything but
+conviction, unconsciously carried away a little also of it.
+
+These assemblies were several times repeated, and each day augmented the
+boldness of the sectarians; till at last they even ventured, after
+concluding the service to conduct their preachers home in triumph, with
+an escort of armed horsemen, and ostentatiously to brave the law. The
+town council sent express after express to the duchess, entreating her
+to visit them in person, and if possible to reside for a short time in
+Antwerp, as the only expedient to curb the arrogance of the populace;
+and assuring her that the most eminent merchants, afraid of being
+plundered, were already preparing to quit it. Fear of staking the royal
+dignity on so hazardous a stroke of policy forbade her compliance; but
+she despatched in her stead Count Megen, in order to treat with the
+magistrate for the introduction of a garrison. The rebellious mob, who
+quickly got an inkling of the object of his visit, gathered around him
+with tumultuous cries, shouting, “He was known to them as a sworn enemy
+of the Gueux; that it was notorious he was bringing upon them prisons
+and the Inquisition, and that he should leave the town instantly.” Nor
+was the tumult quieted till Megen was beyond the gates. The Calvinists
+now handed in to the magistrate a memorial, in which they showed that
+their great numbers made it impossible for them henceforward to assemble
+in secrecy, and requested a separate place of worship to be allowed them
+inside the town. The town council renewed its entreaties to the duchess
+to assist, by her personal presence, their perplexities, or at least to
+send to them the Prince of Orange, as the only person for whom the
+people still had any respect, and, moreover, as specially bound to the
+town of Antwerp by his hereditary title of its burgrave. In order to
+escape the greater evil she was compelled to consent to the second
+demand, however much against her inclination to entrust Antwerp to the
+prince. After allowing himself to be long and fruitlessly entreated,
+for he had all at once resolved to take no further share in public
+affairs, he yielded at last to the earnest persuasions of the regent
+and the boisterous wishes of the people. Brederode, with a numerous
+retinue, came half a mile out of the town to meet him, and both parties
+saluted each other with a discharge of pistols. Antwerp appeared to
+have poured out all her inhabitants to welcome her deliverer. The high
+road swarmed with multitudes; the roofs were taken off the houses in
+order that they might accommodate more spectators; behind fences, from
+churchyard walls, even out of graves started up men. The attachment of
+the people to the prince showed itself in childish effusions. “Long
+live the Gueux!” was the shout with which young and old received him.
+“Behold,” cried others, “the man who shall give us liberty.” “He brings
+us,” cried the Lutherans, “the Confession of Augsburg!” “We don’t want
+the Gueux now!” exclaimed others; “we have no more need of the
+troublesome journey to Brussels. He alone is everything to us!” Those
+who knew not what to say vented their extravagant joy in psalms, which
+they vociferously chanted as they moved along. He, however, maintained
+his gravity, beckoned for silence, and at last, when no one would listen
+to him, exclaimed with indignation, half real and half affected, “By
+God, they ought to consider what they did, or they would one day repent
+what they had now done.” The shouting increased even as he rode into
+the town. The first conference of the prince with the heads of the
+different religious sects, whom he sent for and separately interrogated,
+presently convinced him that the chief source of the evil was the mutual
+distrust of the several parties, and the suspicions which the citizens
+entertained of the designs of the government, and that therefore it must
+be his first business to restore confidence among them all. First of
+all he attempted, both by persuasion and artifice, to induce the
+Calvinists, as the most numerous body, to lay down their weapons, and in
+this he at last, with much labor, succeeded. When, however, some wagons
+were soon afterwards seen laden with ammunition in Malines, and the high
+bailiff of Brabant showed himself frequently in the neighborhood of
+Antwerp with an armed force, the Calvinists, fearing hostile
+interruption of their religious worship, besought the prince to allot
+them a place within the walls for their sermons, which should be secure
+from a surprise. He succeeded once more in pacifying them, and his
+presence fortunately prevented an outbreak on the Assumption of the
+Virgin, which, as usual, had drawn a crowd to the town, and from whose
+sentiments there was but too much reason for alarm. The image of the
+Virgin was, with the usual pomp, carried round the town without
+interruption; a few words of abuse, and a suppressed murmur about
+idolatry, was all that the disapproving multitudes indulged in against
+the procession.
+
+
+1566. While the regent received from one province after another the
+most melancholy accounts of the excesses of the Protestants, and while
+she trembled for Antwerp, which she was compelled to leave in the
+dangerous hands of the Prince of Orange, a new terror assailed her from
+another quarter. Upon the first authentic tidings of the public
+preaching she immediately called upon the league to fulfil its promises
+and to assist her in restoring order. Count Brederode used this pretext
+to summon a general meeting of the whole league, for which he could not
+have selected a more dangerous moment than the present. So ostentatious
+a display of the strength of the league, whose existence and protection
+had alone encouraged the Protestant mob to go the length it had already
+gone, would now raise the confidence of the sectarians, while in the
+same degree it depressed the courage of the regent. The convention took
+place in the town of Liege St. Truyen, into which Brederode and Louis of
+Nassau had thrown themselves at the head of two thousand confederates.
+As the long delay of the royal answer from Madrid seemed to presage no
+good from that quarter, they considered it advisable in any case to
+extort from the regent a letter of indemnity for their persons.
+
+Those among them who were conscious of a disloyal sympathy with the
+Protestant mob looked on its licentiousness as a favorable circumstance
+for the league; the apparent success of those to whose degrading
+fellowship they had deigned to stoop led them to alter their tone; their
+former laudable zeal began to degenerate into insolence and defiance.
+Many thought that they ought to avail themselves of the general
+confusion and the perplexity of the duchess to assume a bolder tone and
+heap demand upon demand. The Roman Catholic members of the league,
+among whom many were in their hearts still strongly inclined to the
+royal cause, and who had been drawn into a connection with the league by
+occasion and example, rather than from feeling and conviction, now heard
+to their astonishment propositions for establishing universal freedom of
+religion, and were not a little shocked to discover in how perilous an
+enterprise they had hastily implicated themselves. On this discovery
+the young Count Mansfeld withdrew immediately from it, and internal
+dissensions already began to undermine the work of precipitation and
+haste, and imperceptibly to loosen the joints of the league.
+
+Count Egmont and William of Orange were empowered by the regent to treat
+with the confederates. Twelve of the latter, among whom were Louis of
+Nassau, Brederode, and Kuilemberg, conferred with them in Duffle, a
+village near Malines. “Wherefore this new step?” demanded the regent
+by the mouth of these two noblemen. “I was required to despatch
+ambassadors to Spain; and I sent them. The edicts and the Inquisition
+were complained of as too rigorous; I have rendered both more lenient.
+A general assembly of the states of the realm was proposed; I have
+submitted this request to the king because I could not grant it from my
+own authority. What, then, have I unwittingly either omitted or done
+that should render necessary this assembling in St. Truyen? Is it
+perhaps fear of the king’s anger and of its consequences that disturbs
+the confederates? The provocation certainly is great, but his mercy is
+even greater. Where now is the promise of the league to excite no
+disturbances amongst the people? Where those high-sounding professions
+that they were ready to die at my feet rather, than offend against any
+of the prerogatives of the crown? The innovators already venture on
+things which border closely on rebellion, and threaten the state with
+destruction; and it is to the league that they appeal. If it continues
+silently to tolerate this it will justly bring on itself the charge of
+participating in the guilt of their offences; if it is honestly disposed
+towards the sovereign it cannot remain longer inactive in this
+licentiousness of the mob. But, in truth, does it not itself outstrip
+the insane population by its dangerous example, concluding, as it is
+known to do, alliances with the enemies of the country, and confirming
+the evil report of its designs by the present illegal meeting?”
+
+Against these reproaches the league formally justified itself in a
+memorial which it deputed three of its members to deliver to the council
+of state at Brussels.
+
+“All,” it commenced, “that your highness has done in respect to our
+petition we have felt with the most lively gratitude; and we cannot
+complain of any new measure, subsequently adopted, inconsistent with
+your promise; but we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the
+orders of your highness are by the judicial courts, at least, very
+little regarded; for we are continually hearing--and our own eyes attest
+to the truth of the report--that in all quarters our fellow-citizens are
+in spite of the orders of your highness still mercilessly dragged before
+the courts of justice and condemned to death for religion. What the
+league engaged on its part to do it has honestly fulfilled; it has, too,
+to the utmost of its power endeavored to prevent the public preachings;
+but it certainly is no wonder if the long delay of an answer from Madrid
+fills the mind of the people with distrust, and if the disappointed
+hopes of a general assembly of the states disposes them to put little
+faith in any further assurances. The league has never allied, nor ever
+felt any temptation to ally, itself with the enemies of the country. If
+the arms of France were to appear in the provinces we, the confederates,
+would be the first to mount and drive them back again. The league,
+however, desires to be candid with your highness. We thought we read
+marks of displeasure in your countenance; we see men in exclusive
+possession of your favor who are notorious for their hatred against us.
+We daily hear that persons are warned from associating with us, as with
+those infected with the plague, while we are denounced with the arrival
+of the king as with the opening of a day of judgment--what is more
+natural than that such distrust shown to us should at last rouse our
+own? That the attempt to blacken our league with the reproach of
+treason, that the warlike preparations of the Duke of Savoy and of other
+princes, which, according to common report, are directed against
+ourselves; the negotiations of the king with the French court to obtain
+a passage through that kingdom for a Spanish army, which is destined,
+it is said, for the Netherlands--what wonder if these and similar
+occurrences should have stimulated us to think in time of the means of
+self-defence, and to strengthen ourselves by an alliance with our
+friends beyond the frontier? On a general, uncertain, and vague rumor
+we are accused of a share in this licentiousness of the Protestant mob;
+but who is safe from general rumor? True it is, certainly, that of our
+numbers some are Protestants, to whom religious toleration would be a
+welcome boon; but even they have never forgotten what they owe to their
+sovereign. It is not fear of the king’s anger which instigated us to
+hold this assembly. The king is good, and we still hope that he is also
+just. It cannot, therefore, be pardon that we seek from him, and just
+as little can it be oblivion that we solicit for our actions, which are
+far from being the least considerable of the services we have at
+different times rendered his majesty. Again, it is true, that the
+delegates of the Lutherans and Calvinists are with us in St. Truyen;
+nay, more, they have delivered to us a petition which, annexed to this
+memorial, we here present to your highness. In it they offer to go
+unarmed to their preachings if the league will tender its security to
+them, and be willing to engage for a general meeting of the states. We
+have thought it incumbent upon us to communicate both these matters to
+you, for our guarantee can have no force unless it is at the same time
+confirmed by your highness and some of your principal counsellors.
+Among these no one can be so well acquainted with the circumstances of
+our cause, or be so upright in intention towards us, as the Prince of
+Orange and Counts Horn and Egmont. We gladly accept these three as
+meditators if the necessary powers are given to them, and assurance is
+afforded us that no troops will be enlisted without their knowledge.
+This guarantee, however, we only require for a given period, before the
+expiration of which it will rest with the king whether he will cancel or
+confirm it for the future. If the first should be his will it will then
+be but fair that time should be allowed us to place our persons and our
+property in security; for this three weeks will be sufficient. Finally,
+and in conclusion, we on our part also pledge ourselves to undertake
+nothing new without the concurrence of those three persons, our
+mediators.”
+
+The league would not have ventured to hold such bold language if it had
+not reckoned on powerful support and protection; but the regent was as
+little in a condition to concede their demands as she was incapable of
+vigorously opposing them. Deserted in Brussels by most of her
+counsellors of state, who had either departed to their provinces, or
+under some pretext or other had altogether withdrawn from public
+affairs; destitute as well of advisers as of money (the latter want had
+compelled her, in the first instance, to appeal to the liberality of the
+clergy; when this proved insufficient, to have recourse to a lottery),
+dependent on orders from Spain, which were ever expected and never
+received, she was at last reduced to the degrading expedient of entering
+into a negotiation with the confederates in St. Truyen, that they should
+wait twenty-four days longer for the king’s resolution before they took
+any further steps. It was certainly surprising that the king still
+continued to delay a decisive answer to the petition, although it was
+universally known that he had answered letters of a much later date, and
+that the regent earnestly importuned him on this head. She had also, on
+the commencement of the public preaching, immediately despatched the
+Marquis of Bergen after the Baron of Montigny, who, as an eye-witness of
+these new occurrences, could confirm her written statements, to move the
+king to an earlier decision.
+
+
+1566. In the meanwhile, the Flemish ambassador, Florence of Montigny,
+had arrived in Madrid, where he was received with a great show of
+consideration. His instructions were to press for the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the mitigation of the edicts; the augmentation of the
+council of state, and the incorporation with it of the two other
+councils; the calling of a general assembly of the states, and, lastly,
+to urge the solicitations of the regent for a personal visit from the
+king. As the latter, however, was only desirous of gaining time,
+Montigny was put off with fair words until the arrival of his coadjutor,
+without whom the king was not willing to come to any final
+determination. In the meantime, Montigny had every day and at any hour
+that he desired, an audience with the king, who also commanded that on
+all occasions the despatches of the duchess and the answers to them
+should be communicated to himself. He was, too, frequently admitted to
+the council for Belgian affairs, where he never omitted to call the
+king’s attention to the necessity of a general assembly of the states,
+as being the only means of successfully meeting the troubles which had
+arisen, and as likely to supersede the necessity of any other measure.
+He moreover impressed upon him that a general and unreserved indemnity
+for the past would alone eradicate the distrust, which was the source of
+all existing complaints, and would always counteract the good effects of
+every measure, however well advised. He ventured, from a thorough
+acquaintance with circumstances and accurate knowledge of the character
+of his countrymen, to pledge himself to the king for their inviolable
+loyalty, as soon as they should be convinced of the honesty of his
+intentions by the straightforwardness of his proceedings; while, on the
+contrary, he assured him that there would be no hopes of it as long as
+they were not relieved of the fear of being made the victims of the
+oppression, and sacrificed to the envy of the Spanish nobles. At last
+Montigny’s coadjutor made his appearance, and the objects of their
+embassy were made the subject of repeated deliberations.
+
+
+1566. The king was at that time at his palace at Segovia, where also he
+assembled his state council. The members were: the Duke of Alva; Don
+Gomez de Figueroa; the Count of Feria; Don Antonio of Toledo, Grand
+Commander of St. John; Don John Manriquez of Lara, Lord Steward to the
+Queen; Ruy Gomez, Prince of Eboli and Count of Melito; Louis of Quixada,
+Master of the Horse to the Prince; Charles Tyssenacque, President of the
+Council for the Netherlands; Hopper, State Counsellor and Keeper of the
+Seal; and State Counsellor Corteville. The sitting of the council was
+protracted for several days; both ambassadors were in attendance, but
+the king was not himself present. Here, then, the conduct of the
+Belgian nobles was examined by Spanish eyes; step by step it was traced
+back to the most distant source; circumstances were brought into
+relation with others which, in reality, never had any connection; and
+what had been the offspring of the moment was made out to be a
+well-matured and far-sighted plan. All the different transactions and
+attempts of the nobles which had been governed solely by chance, and to
+which the natural order of events alone assigned their particular shape
+and succession, were said to be the result of a preconcerted scheme for
+introducing universal liberty in religion, and for placing all the power
+of the state in the hands of the nobles. The first step to this end
+was, it was said, the violent expulsion of the minister Granvella,
+against whom nothing could be charged, except that he was in possession
+of an authority which they preferred to exercise themselves. The second
+step was sending Count Egmont to Spain to urge the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the mitigation of the penal statutes, and to prevail on
+the king to consent to an augmentation of the council of state. As,
+however, this could not be surreptitiously obtained in so quiet a
+manner, the attempt was made to extort it from the court by a third and
+more daring step--by a formal conspiracy, the league of the Gueux. The
+fourth step to the same end was the present embassy, which at length
+boldly cast aside the mask, and by the insane proposals which they were
+not ashamed to make to their king, clearly brought to light the object
+to which all the preceding steps had tended. Could the abolition of the
+Inquisition, they exclaimed, lead to anything less than a complete
+freedom of belief? Would not the guiding helm of conscience be lost
+with it? Did not the proposed “moderation” introduce an absolute
+impunity for all heresies? What was the project of augmenting the
+council of state and of suppressing the two other councils but a
+complete remodelling of the government of the country in favor of
+the nobles?--a general constitution for all the provinces of the
+Netherlands? Again, what was this compact of the ecclesiastics in their
+public preachings but a third conspiracy, entered into with the very
+same objects which the league of the nobles in the council of state and
+that of the Gueux had failed to effect?
+
+However, it was confessed that whatever might be the source of the evil
+it was not on that account the less important and imminent. The
+immediate personal presence of the king in Brussels was, indubitably,
+the most efficacious means speedily and thoroughly to remedy it. As,
+however, it was already so late in the year, and the preparations alone
+for the journey would occupy the short tine which was to elapse before
+the winter set in; as the stormy season of the year, as well as the
+danger from French and English ships, which rendered the sea unsafe, did
+not allow of the king’s taking the northern route, which was the shorter
+of the two; as the rebels themselves meanwhile might become possessed of
+the island of Walcheren, and oppose the lauding of the king; for all
+these reasons, the journey was not to be thought of before the spring,
+and in absence of the only complete remedy it was necessary to rest
+satisfied with a partial expedient. The council, therefore, agreed to
+propose to the king, in the first place, that he should recall the papal
+Inquisition from the provinces and rest satisfied with that of the
+bishops; in the second place, that a new plan for the mitigation of the
+edicts should be projected, by which the honor of religion and of the
+king would be better preserved than it had been in the transmitted
+“moderation;” thirdly, that in order to reassure the minds of the
+people, and to leave no means untried, the king should impart to the
+regent full powers to extend free grace and pardon to all those who had
+not already committed any heinous crime, or who had not as yet been
+condemned by any judicial process; but from the benefit of this
+indemnity the preachers and all who harbored them were to be excepted.
+On the other hand, all leagues, associations, public assemblies, and
+preachings were to be henceforth prohibited under heavy penalties; if,
+however, this prohibition should be infringed, the regent was to be at
+liberty to employ the regular troops and garrisons for the forcible
+reduction of the refractory, and also, in case of necessity, to enlist
+new troops, and to name the commanders over them according as should be
+deemed advisable. Finally, it would have a good effect if his majesty
+would write to the most eminent towns, prelates, and leaders of the
+nobility, to some in his own hand, and to all in a gracious tone, in
+order to stimulate their zeal in his service.
+
+When this resolution of his council of state was submitted to the king
+his first measure was to command public processions and prayers in all
+the most considerable places of the kingdom and also of the Netherlands,
+imploring the Divine guidance in his decision. He appeared in his own
+person in the council of state in order to approve this resolution and
+render it effective. He declared the general assembly of the states to
+be useless and entirely abolished it. He, however, bound himself to
+retain some German regiments in his pay, and, that they might serve with
+the more zeal, to pay them their long-standing arrears. He commanded
+the regent in a private letter to prepare secretly for war; three
+thousand horse and ten thousand infantry were to be assembled by her in
+Germany, to which end he furnished her with the necessary letters and
+transmitted to her a sum of three hundred thousand gold florins. He
+also accompanied this resolution with several autograph letters to some
+private individuals and towns, in which he thanked them in the most
+gracious terms for the zeal which they had already displayed in his
+service and called upon them to manifest the same for the future.
+Notwithstanding that he was inexorable on the most important point,
+and the very one on which the nation most particularly insisted--the
+convocation of the states, notwithstanding that his limited and
+ambiguous pardon was as good as none, and depended too much on arbitrary
+will to calm the public mind; notwithstanding, in fine, that he
+rejected, as too lenient, the proposed “moderation,” but which, on the
+part of the people, was complained of as too severe; still he had this
+time made an unwonted step in the favor of the nation; he had sacrificed
+to it the papal Inquisition and left only the episcopal, to which it was
+accustomed. The nation had found more equitable judges in the Spanish
+council than they could reasonably have hoped for. Whether at another
+time and under other circumstances this wise concession would have had
+the desired effect we will not pretend to say. It came too late; when
+(1566) the royal letters reached Brussels the attack on images had
+already commenced.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                 BOOK IV.
+
+
+               THE ICONOCLASTS.
+
+
+
+The springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be
+sought for so far back as many historians affect to trace them. It is
+certainly possible, and very probable, that the French Protestants did
+industriously exert themselves to raise in the Netherlands a nursery for
+their religion, and to prevent by all means in their power an amicable
+adjustment of differences between their brethren in the faith in that
+quarter and the King of Spain, in order to give that implacable foe of
+their party enough to do in his own country. It is natural, therefore,
+to suppose that their agents in the provinces left nothing undone to
+encourage their oppressed brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their
+animosity against the ruling church, and by exaggerating the oppression
+under which they sighed to hurry them imperceptibly into illegal
+courses. It is possible, too, that there were many among the
+confederates who thought to help out their own lost cause by increasing
+the number of their partners in guilt; who thought they could not
+otherwise maintain the legal character of their league unless the
+unfortunate results against which they had warned the king really came
+to pass, and who hoped in the general guilt of all to conceal their own
+individual criminality. It is, however, incredible that the outbreak of
+the Iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan, preconcerted, as it
+is alleged, at the convent of St. Truyen. It does not seem likely that
+in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of whom the greater
+part were the adherents of popery, an individual should be found insane
+enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not so much
+injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under foot all
+respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and which
+could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate.
+Besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in
+its execution altogether, too monstrous to have been anything more than
+the offspring of the moment in which it saw the light; it seemed to flow
+so naturally from the circumstances which preceded it that it does not
+require to be traced far back to remount to its origin.
+
+A rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, made brutal by
+harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town,
+scared from place to place and driven almost to despair, were compelled
+to worship their God, and to hide like a work of darkness the universal,
+sacred privilege of humanity. Before their eyes proudly rose the
+temples of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged
+in ease their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven
+from the walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced,
+here in the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful
+secrecy to worship the same God; cast out from civil society into a
+state of nature, and reminded in one dread moment of the rights of that
+state! The greater their superiority of numbers the more unnatural did
+their lot appear; with wonder they perceive the truth. The free heaven,
+the arms lying ready, the frenzy in their brains and fury in their
+hearts combine to aid the suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the
+occasion calls; no premeditation is necessary where all eyes at once
+declare consent; the resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely
+uttered; ready for any unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what,
+the furious band rushes onwards. The smiling prosperity of the hostile
+religion insults the poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized
+temples casts contempt on their proscribed belief; every cross they set
+up upon the highway, every image of the saints that they meet, is a
+trophy erected over their own humiliation, and they all must be removed
+by their avenging hands. Fanaticism suggests these detestable
+proceedings, but base passions carry them into execution.
+
+
+1566. The commencement of the attack on images took place in West
+Flanders and Artois, in the districts between Lys and the sea. A
+frantic herd of artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes,
+beggars, vagabonds, and thieves, about three hundred in number,
+furnished with clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords (a few only
+were provided with swords or fire arms), cast themselves, with fanatical
+fury, into the villages and hamlets near St. Omer, and breaking open the
+gates of such churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow
+everywhere the altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and
+trample them under foot. With their excitement increased by its
+indulgence, and reinforced by newcomers, they press on by the direct
+road to Ypres, where they can count on the support of a strong body of
+Calvinists. Unopposed, they break into the cathedral, and mounting on
+ladders they hammer to pieces the pictures, hew down with axes the
+pulpits and pews, despoil the altars of their ornaments, and steal the
+holy vessels. This example was quickly followed in Menin, Comines,
+Verrich, Lille, and Oudenard; in a few days the same fury spreads
+through the whole of Flanders. At the very time when the first tidings
+of this occurrence arrived Antwerp was swarming with a crowd of
+houseless people, which the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin had
+brought together in that city. Even the presence of the Prince of
+Orange was hardly sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned
+to imitate the doings of their brethren in St. Omer; but an order from
+the court which summoned him to Brussels, where the regent was just
+assembling her council of state, in order to lay before them the royal
+letters, obliged him to abandon Antwerp to the outrages of this band.
+His departure was the signal for tumult. Apprehensive of the lawless
+violence of which, on the very first day of the festival, the mob had
+given indications in derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying
+about the image of the Virgin for a short time, brought it for safety
+to the choir, without, as formerly, setting it up in the middle of the
+church. This incited some mischievous boys from among the people to pay
+it a visit there, and jokingly inquire why she had so soon absented
+herself from among them? Others mounting the pulpit, mimicked the
+preacher, and challenged the papists to a dispute. A Roman Catholic
+waterman, indignant at this jest, attempted to pull them down, and blows
+were exchanged in the preacher’s seat. Similar scenes occurred on the
+following evening. The numbers increased, and many came already
+provided with suspicious implements and secret weapons. At last it came
+into the head of one of them to cry, “Long live the Gueux!” immediately
+the whole band took up the cry, and the image of the Virgin was called
+upon to do the same. The few Roman Catholics who were present, and who
+had given up the hope of effecting anything against these desperadoes,
+left the church after locking all the doors except one. So soon as they
+found themselves alone it was proposed to sing one of the psalms in the
+new version, which was prohibited by the government. While they were
+yet singing they all, as at a given signal, rushed furiously upon the
+image of the Virgin, piercing it with swords and daggers, and striking
+off its head; thieves and prostitutes tore the great wax-lights from the
+altar, and lighted them to the work. The beautiful organ of the church,
+a masterpiece of the art of that period, was broken to pieces, all the
+paintings were effaced, the statues smashed to atoms. A crucifix, the
+size of life, which was set up between the two thieves, opposite the
+high altar, an ancient and highly valued piece of workmanship, was
+pulled to the ground with cords, and cut to pieces with axes, while the
+two malefactors at its side were respectfully spared. The holy wafers
+were strewed on the ground and trodden under foot; in the wine used for
+the Lord’s Supper, which was accidentally found there, the health of the
+Gueux was drunk, while with the holy oil they rubbed their shoes. The
+very tombs were opened, and the half-decayed corpses torn up and
+trampled on. All this was done with as much wonderful regularity as if
+each had previously had his part assigned to him; every one worked into
+his neighbor’s hands; no one, dangerous as the work was, met with
+injury; in the midst of thick darkness, which the tapers only served to
+render more sensible, with heavy masses falling on all sides, and though
+on the very topmost steps of the ladders, they scuffled with each other
+for the honors of demolition--yet no one suffered the least injury. In
+spite of the many tapers which lighted them below in their villanous
+work not a single individual was recognized. With incredible rapidity
+was the dark deed accomplished; a number of men, at most a hundred,
+despoiled in a few hours a temple of seventy altars--after St. Peter’s
+at Rome, perhaps the largest and most magnificent in Christendom.
+
+The devastation of the cathedral did not content them; with torches and
+tapers purloined from it they set out at midnight to perform a similar
+work of havoc on the remaining churches, cloisters, and chapels. The
+destructive hordes increased with every fresh exploit of infamy, and
+thieves were allured by the opportunity. They carried away whatever
+they found of value--the consecrated vessels, altar-cloths, money, and
+vestments; in the cellars of the cloisters they drank to intoxication;
+to escape greater indignities the monks and nuns abandoned everything to
+them. The confused noises of these riotous acts had startled the
+citizens from their first sleep; but night made the danger appear more
+alarming than it really was, and instead of hastening to defend their
+churches the citizens fortified themselves in their houses, and in
+terror and anxiety awaited the dawn of morning. The rising sun at
+length revealed the devastation which had been going on during the
+night; but the havoc did not terminate with the darkness. Some churches
+and cloisters still remained uninjured; the same fate soon overtook them
+also. The work of destruction lasted three whole days. Alarmed at last
+lest the frantic mob, when it could no longer find anything sacred to
+destroy, should make a similar attack on lay property and plunder their
+ware houses; and encouraged, too, by discovering how small was the
+number of the depredators, the wealthier citizens ventured to show
+themselves in arms at the doors of their houses. All the gates of the
+town were locked but one, through which the Iconoclasts broke forth to
+renew the same atrocities in the rural districts. On one occasion only
+during all this time did the municipal officers venture to exert their
+authority, so strongly were they held in awe by the superior power of
+the Calvinists, by whom, as it was believed, this mob of miscreants
+was hired. The injury inflicted by this work of devastation was
+incalculable. In the church of the Virgin it was estimated at not less
+than four hundred thousand gold florins. Many precious works of art
+were destroyed; many valuable manuscripts; many monuments of importance
+to history and to diplomacy were thereby lost. The city magistrate
+ordered the plundered articles to be restored on pain of death; in
+enforcing this restitution he was effectually assisted by the preachers
+of the Reformers, who blushed for their followers. Much was in this
+manner recovered, and the ringleaders of the mob, less animated,
+perhaps, by the desire of plunder than by fanaticism and revenge, or
+perhaps being ruled by some unseen head, resolved for the future to
+guard against these excesses, and to make their attacks in regular bands
+and in better order.
+
+The town of Ghent, meanwhile, trembled for a like destiny. Immediately
+on the first news of the outbreak of the Iconoclasts in Antwerp the
+magistrate of the former town with the most eminent citizens had bound
+themselves to repel by force the church spoilers; when this oath was
+proposed to the commonalty also the voices were divided, and many
+declared openly that they were by no means disposed to hinder so devout
+a work. In this state of affairs the Roman Catholic clergy found it
+advisable to deposit in the citadel the most precious movables of their
+churches, and private families were permitted in like manner to provide
+for the safety of offerings which had been made by their ancestors.
+Meanwhile all the services were discontinued, the courts of justice were
+closed; and, like a town in momentary danger of being stormed by the
+enemy, men trembled in expectation of what was to come. At last an
+insane band of rioters ventured to send delegates to the governor with
+this impudent message: “They were ordered,” they said, “by their chiefs
+to take the images out of the churches, as had been done in the other
+towns. If they were not opposed it should be done quietly and with as
+little injury as possible, but otherwise they would storm the churches;”
+ nay, they went so far in their audacity as to ask the aid of the
+officers of justice therein. At first the magistrate was astounded at
+this demand; upon reflection, however, and in the hope that the presence
+of the officers of law would perhaps restrain their excesses, he did not
+scruple to grant their request.
+
+In Tournay the churches were despoiled of their ornaments within sight
+of the garrison, who could not be induced to march against the
+Iconoclasts. As the latter had been told that the gold and silver
+vessels and other ornaments of the church were buried underground, they
+turned up the whole floor, and exposed, among others, the body of the
+Duke Adolph of Gueldres, who fell in battle at the head of the
+rebellious burghers of Ghent, and had been buried herein Tournay. This
+Adolph had waged war against his father, and had dragged the vanquished
+old man some miles barefoot to prison--an indignity which Charles the
+Bold afterwards retaliated on him. And now, again, after more than half
+a century fate avenged a crime against nature by another against
+religion; fanaticism was to desecrate that which was holy in order to
+expose once more to execration the bones of a parricide. Other
+Iconoclasts from Valenciennes united themselves with those of Tournay to
+despoil all the cloisters of the surrounding district, during which a
+valuable library, the accumulation of centuries, was destroyed by fire.
+The evil soon penetrated into Brabant, also Malines, Herzogenbusch,
+Breda, and Bergen-op-Zoom experienced the same fate. The provinces,
+Namur and Luxemburg, with a part of Artois and of Hainault, had alone
+the good fortune to escape the contagion of those outrages. In the
+short period of four or five days four hundred cloisters were plundered
+in Brabant and Flanders alone.
+
+The northern Netherlands were soon seized with the same mania which had
+raged so violently through the southern. The Dutch towns, Amsterdam,
+Leyden, and Gravenhaag, had the alternative of either voluntarily
+stripping their churches of their ornaments, or of seeing them violently
+torn from there; the determination of their magistrates saved Delft,
+Haarlem, Gouda, and Rotterdam from the devastation. The same acts of
+violence were practised also in the islands of Zealand; the town of
+Utrecht and many places in Overyssel and Groningen suffered the same
+storms. Friesland was protected by the Count of Aremberg, and Gueldres
+by the Count of Megen from a like fate. An exaggerated report of these
+disturbances which came in from the provinces spread the alarm to
+Brussels, where the regent had just made preparations for an
+extraordinary session of the council of state. Swarms of Iconoclasts
+already penetrated into Brabant; and the metropolis, where they were
+certain of powerful support, was threatened by them with a renewal of
+the same atrocities then under the very eyes of majesty. The regent, in
+fear for her personal safety, which, even in the heart of the country,
+surrounded by provincial governors and Knights of the Fleece, she
+fancied insecure, was already meditating a flight to Mons, in Hainault,
+which town the Duke of Arschot held for her as a place of refuge, that
+she might not be driven to any undignified concession by falling into
+the power of the Iconoclasts. In vain did the knights pledge life and
+blood for her safety, and urgently beseech her not to expose them to
+disgrace by so dishonorable a flight, as though they were wanting in
+courage or zeal to protect their princess; to no purpose did the town of
+Brussels itself supplicate her not to abandon them in this extremity,
+and vainly did the council of state make the most impressive
+representations that so pusillanimous a step would not fail to encourage
+still more the insolence of the rebels; she remained immovable in this
+desperate condition. As messenger after messenger arrived to warn her
+that the Iconoclasts were advancing against the metropolis, she issued
+orders to hold everything in readiness for her flight, which was to take
+place quietly with the first approach of morning. At break of day the
+aged Viglius presented himself before her, whom, with the view of
+gratifying the nobles, she had been long accustomed to neglect. He
+demanded to know the meaning of the preparations he observed, upon which
+she at last confessed that she intended to make her escape, and assured
+him that he would himself do well to secure his own safety by
+accompanying her. “It is now two years,” said the old man to her, “that
+you might have anticipated these results. Because I have spoken more
+freely than your courtiers you have closed your princely ear to me,
+which has been open only to pernicious suggestions.” The regent allowed
+that she had been in fault, and had been blinded by an appearance of
+probity; but that she was now driven by necessity. “Are you resolved,”
+ answered Viglius, “resolutely to insist upon obedience to the royal
+commands?” “I am,” answered the duchess. “Then have recourse to the
+great secret of the art of government, to dissimulation, and pretend to
+join the princes until, with their assistance, you have repelled this
+storm. Show them a confidence which you are far from feeling in your
+heart. Make them take an oath to you that they will make common cause
+in resisting these disorders. Trust those as your friends who show
+themselves willing to do it; but be careful to avoid frightening away
+the others by contemptuous treatment.” Viglius kept the regent engaged
+in conversation until the princes arrived, who he was quite certain
+would in nowise consent to her flight. When they appeared he quietly
+withdrew in order to issue commands to the town council to close the
+gates of the city and prohibit egress to every one connected with the
+court. This last measure effected more than all the representations had
+done. The regent, who saw herself a prisoner in her own capital, now
+yielded to the persuasions of the nobles, who pledged themselves to
+stand by her to the last drop of blood. She made Count Mansfeld
+commandant of the town, who hastily increased the garrison and armed her
+whole court.
+
+The state council was now held, who finally came to a resolution that it
+was expedient to yield to the emergency; to permit the preachings in
+those places where they had already commenced; to make known the
+abolition of the papal Inquisition; to declare the old edicts against
+the heretics repealed, and before all things to grant the required
+indemnity to the confederate nobles, without limitation or condition.
+At the same time the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Horn, with some
+others, were appointed to confer on this head with the deputies of the
+league. Solemnly and in the most unequivocal terms the members of the
+league were declared free from all responsibility by reason of the
+petition which had been presented, and all royal officers and
+authorities were enjoined to act in conformity with this assurance,
+and neither now nor for the future to inflict any injury upon any
+of the confederates on account of the said petition. In return,
+the confederates bound themselves to be true and loyal servants of
+his majesty, to contribute to the utmost of their power to the
+re-establishment of order and the punishment of the Iconiclasts,
+to prevail on the people to lay down their arms, and to afford
+active assistance to the king against internal and foreign enemies.
+Securities, formally drawn up and subscribed by the plenipotentiaries
+of both sides, were exchanged between them; the letter of indemnity, in
+particular, was signed by the duchess with her own hand and attested by
+her seal. It was only after a severe struggle, and with tears in her
+eyes, that the regent, as she tremblingly confessed to the king, was at
+last induced to consent to this painful step. She threw the whole blame
+upon the nobles, who had kept her a prisoner in Brussels and compelled
+her to it by force. Above all she complained bitterly of the Prince of
+Orange.
+
+This business accomplished, all the governors hastened to their
+provinces; Egmont to Flanders, Orange to Antwerp. In the latter city
+the Protestants had seized the despoiled and plundered churches, and,
+as if by the rights of war, had taken possession of them. The prince
+restored them to their lawful owners, gave orders for their repair, and
+re-established in them the Roman Catholic form of worship. Three of the
+Iconoclasts, who had been convicted, paid the penalty of their sacrilege
+on the gallows; some of the rioters were banished, and many others
+underwent punishment. Afterwards he assembled four deputies of each
+dialect, or nations, as they were termed, and agreed with them that, as
+the approaching winter made preaching in the open air impossible, three
+places within the town should be granted then, where they might either
+erect new churches, or convert private houses to that purpose. That
+they should there perform their service every Sunday and holiday, and
+always at the same hour, but on no other days. If, however, no holiday
+happened in the week, Wednesday should be kept by them instead. No
+religious party should maintain more than two clergymen, and these must
+be native Netherlanders, or at least have received naturalization from
+some considerable town of the provinces. All should take an oath to
+submit in civil matters to the municipal authorities and the Prince of
+Orange. They should be liable, like the other citizens, to all imposts.
+No one should attend sermons armed; a sword, however, should be allowed
+to each. No preacher should assail the ruling religion from the pulpit,
+nor enter upon controverted points, beyond what the doctrine itself
+rendered unavoidable, or what might refer to morals. No psalm should be
+sung by them out of their appointed district. At the election of their
+preachers, churchwardens, and deacons, as also at all their other
+consistorial meetings, a person from the government should on each
+occasion be present to report their proceedings to the prince and the
+magistrate. As to all other points they should enjoy the same
+protection as the ruling religion. This arrangement was to hold good
+until the king, with consent of the states, should determine otherwise;
+but then it should be free to every one to quit the country with his
+family and his property. From Antwerp the prince hastened to Holland,
+Zealand, and Utrecht, in order to make there similar arrangements for
+the restoration of peace; Antwerp, however, was, during his absence,
+entrusted to the superintendence of Count Howstraten, who was a mild
+man, and although an adherent of the league, had never failed in loyalty
+to the king. It is evident that in this agreement the prince had far
+overstepped the powers entrusted to him, and though in the service of
+the king had acted exactly like a sovereign lord. But he alleged in
+excuse that it would be far easier to the magistrate to watch these
+numerous and powerful sects if he himself interfered in their worship,
+and if this took place under his eyes, than if he were to leave the
+sectarians to themselves in the open air.
+
+In Gueldres Count Megen showed more severity, and entirely suppressed
+the Protestant sects and banished all their preachers. In Brussels the
+regent availed herself of the advantage derived from her personal
+presence to put a stop to the public preaching, even outside the town.
+When, in reference to this, Count Nassau reminded her in the name of the
+confederates of the compact which had been entered into, and demanded if
+the town of Brussels had inferior rights to the other towns? she
+answered, if there were public preachings in Brussels before the treaty,
+it was not her work if they were now discontinued. At the same time,
+however, she secretly gave the citizens to understand that the first who
+should venture to attend a public sermon should certainly be hung. Thus
+she kept the capital at least faithful to her.
+
+It was more difficult to quiet Tournay, which office was committed to
+Count Horn, in the place of Montigny, to whose government the town
+properly belonged. Horn commanded the Protestants to vacate the
+churches immediately, and to content themselves with a house of worship
+outside the walls. To this their preachers objected that the churches
+were erected for the use of the people, by which terms, they said, not
+the heads but the majority were meant. If they were expelled from the
+Roman Catholic churches it was at least fair that they should be
+furnished with money for erecting churches of their own. To this the
+magistrate replied even if the Catholic party was the weaker it was
+indisputably the better. The erection of churches should not be
+forbidden them; they could not, however, after the injury which the town
+had already suffered from their brethren, the Iconoclasts, very well
+expect that it should be further burdened by the erection of their
+churches. After long quarrelling on both sides, the Protestants
+contrived to retain possession of some churches, which, for greater
+security, they occupied with guards. In Valenciennes, too, the
+Protestants refused submission to the conditions which were offered to
+them through Philip St. Aldegonde, Baron of Noircarmes, to whom, in the
+absence of the Marquis of Bergen, the government of that place was
+entrusted. A reformed preacher, La Grange, a Frenchman by birth, who by
+his eloquence had gained a complete command over them, urged them to
+insist on having churches of their own within the town, and to threaten
+in case of refusal to deliver it up to the Huguenots. A sense of the
+superior numbers of the Calvinists, and of their understanding with the
+Huguenots, prevented the governor adopting forcible measures against
+them.
+
+Count Egmont, also to manifest his zeal for the king’s service, did
+violence to his natural kind-heartedness. Introducing a garrison into
+the town of Ghent, he caused some of the most refractory rebels to be
+put to death. The churches were reopened, the Roman Catholic worship
+renewed, and all foreigners, without exception, ordered to quit the
+province. To the Calvinists, but to them alone, a site was granted
+outside the town for the erection of a church. In return they were
+compelled to pledge themselves to the most rigid obedience to the
+municipal authorities, and to active co-operation in the proceedings
+against the Iconoclasts. He pursued similar measures through all
+Flanders and Artois. One of his noblemen, John Cassembrot, Baron of
+Beckerzeel, and a leaguer, pursuing the Iconoclasts at the head of some
+horsemen of the league, surprised a band of them just as they were about
+to break into a town of Hainault, near Grammont, in Flanders, and took
+thirty of them prisoners, of whom twenty-two were hung upon the spot,
+and the rest whipped out of the province.
+
+Services of such importance one would have thought scarcely deserved to
+be rewarded with the displeasure of the king; what Orange, Egmont, and
+Horn performed on this occasion evinced at least as much zeal and had
+as beneficial a result as anything that was accomplished by Noircarmes,
+Megen, and Aremberg, to whom the king vouchsafed to show his gratitude
+both by words and deeds. But their zeal, their services came too late.
+They had spoken too loudly against his edicts, had been too vehement in
+their opposition to his measures, had insulted him too grossly in the
+person of his minister Granvella, to leave room for forgiveness. No
+time, no repentance, no atonement, however great, could efface this one
+offence from the memory of their sovereign.
+
+Philip lay sick at Segovia when the news of the outbreak of the
+Iconoclasts and the uncatholic agreement entered into with the Reformers
+reached him. At the same time the regent renewed her urgent entreaty
+for his personal visit, of which also all the letters treated, which the
+President Viglius exchanged with his friend Hopper. Many also of the
+Belgian nobles addressed special letters to the king, as, for instance,
+Egmont, Mansfeld, Megen, Aremberg, Noircarmes, and Barlaimont, in which
+they reported the state of their provinces, and at once explained and
+justified the arrangements they had made with the disaffected. Just at
+this period a letter arrived from the German Emperor, in which he
+recommended Philip to act with clemency towards his Belgian subjects,
+and offered his mediation in the matter. He had also written direct to
+the regent herself in Brussels, and added letters to the several leaders
+of the nobility, which, however, were never delivered. Having conquered
+the first anger which this hateful occurrence had excited, the king
+referred the whole matter to his council.
+
+The party of Granvella, which had the preponderance in the council, was
+diligent in tracing a close connection between the behavior of the
+Flemish nobles and the excesses of the church desecrators, which showed
+itself in similarity of the demands of both parties, and especially the
+time which the latter chose for their outbreak. In the same month,
+they observed, in which the nobles had sent in their three articles of
+pacification, the Iconoclasts had commenced their work; on the evening
+of the very day that Orange quitted Antwerp the churches too were
+plundered. During the whole tumult not a finger was lifted to take up
+arms; all the expedients employed were invariably such as turned to the
+advantage of the sects, while, on the contrary, all others were
+neglected which tended to the maintenance of the pure faith. Many of
+the Iconoclasts, it was further said, had confessed that all that they
+had done was with the knowledge and consent of the princes; though
+surely nothing was more natural, than for such worthless wretches to
+seek to screen with great names a crime which they had undertaken solely
+on their own account. A writing also was produced in which the high
+nobility were made to promise their services to the “Gueux,” to procure
+the assembly of the states general, the genuineness of which, however,
+the former strenuously denied. Four different seditious parties were,
+they said, to be noticed in the Netherlands, which were all more or
+less connected with one another, and all worked towards a common end.
+One of these was those bands of reprobates who desecrated the churches;
+a second consisted of the various sects who had hired the former to
+perform their infamous acts; the “Gueux,” who had raised themselves to
+be the defenders of the sects were the third; and the leading nobles who
+were inclined to the “Gueux” by feudal connections, relationship, and
+friendship, composed the fourth. All, consequently, were alike fatally
+infected, and all equally guilty. The government had not merely to
+guard against a few isolated members; it had to contend with the whole
+body. Since, then, it was ascertained that the people were the seduced
+party, and the encouragement to rebellion came from higher quarters, it
+would be wise and expedient to alter the plan hitherto adopted, which
+now appeared defective in several respects. Inasmuch as all classes had
+been oppressed without distinction, and as much of severity shown to the
+lower orders as of contempt to the nobles, both had been compelled to
+lend support to one another; a party had been given to the latter and
+leaders to the former. Unequal treatment seemed an infallible expedient
+to separate them; the mob, always timid and indolent when not goaded by
+the extremity of distress, would very soon desert its adored protectors
+and quickly learn to see in their fate well-merited retribution if only
+it was not driven to share it with them. It was therefore proposed to
+the king to treat the great multitude for the future with more leniency,
+and to direct all measures of severity against the leaders of the
+faction. In order, however, to avoid the appearance of a disgraceful
+concession, it was considered advisable to accept the mediation of the
+Emperor, and to impute to it alone and not to the justice of their
+demands, that the king out of pure generosity had granted to his Belgian
+subjects as much as they asked.
+
+The question of the king’s personal visit to the provinces was now again
+mooted, and all the difficulties which had formerly been raised on this
+head appeared to vanish before the present emergency. “Now,” said
+Tyssenacque and Hopper, “the juncture has really arrived at which the
+king, according to his own declaration formerly made to Count Egmont,
+will be ready to risk a thousand lives. To restore quiet to Ghent
+Charles V. had undertaken a troublesome and dangerous journey through an
+enemy’s country. This was done for the sake of a single town; and now
+the peace, perhaps even the possession, of all the United Provinces was
+at stake.” This was the opinion of the majority; and the journey of the
+king was looked upon as a matter from which he could not possibly any
+longer escape.
+
+The question now was, whether he should enter upon it with a numerous
+body of attendants or with few; and here the Prince of Eboli and Count
+Figueroa were at issue with the Duke of Alva, as their private interests
+clashed. If the king journeyed at the head of an army the presence of
+the Duke of Alva would be indispensable, who, on the other hand, if
+matters were peaceably adjusted, would be less required, and must make
+room for his rivals. “An army,” said Figueroa, who spoke first, “would
+alarm the princes through whose territories it must march, and perhaps
+even be opposed by them; it would, moreover, unnecessarily burden the
+provinces for whose tranquillization it was intended, and add a new
+grievance to the many which had already driven the people to such
+lengths. It would press indiscriminately upon all of the king’s
+subjects, whereas a court of justice, peaceably administering its
+office, would observe a marked distinction between the innocent and
+the guilty. The unwonted violence of the former course would tempt the
+leaders of the faction to take a more alarming view of their behavior,
+in which wantonness and levity had the chief share, and consequently
+induce them to proceed with deliberation and union; the thought of
+having forced the king to such lengths would plunge them into despair,
+in which they would be ready to undertake anything. If the king placed
+himself in arms against the rebels he would forfeit the most important
+advantage which he possessed over them, namely, his authority as
+sovereign of the country, which would prove the more powerful in
+proportion as he showed his reliance upon that alone. He would place
+himself thereby, as it were, on a level with the rebels, who on their
+side would not be at a loss to raise an army, as the universal hatred of
+the Spanish forces would operate in their favor with the nation. By
+this procedure the king would exchange the certain advantage which his
+position as sovereign of the country conferred upon him for the
+uncertain result of military operations, which, result as they might,
+would of necessity destroy a portion of his own subjects. The rumor of
+his hostile approach would outrun him time enough to allow all who were
+conscious of a bad cause to place themselves in a posture of defence,
+and to combine and render availing both their foreign and domestic
+resources. Here again the general alarm would do them important
+service; the uncertainty who would be the first object of this warlike
+approach would drive even the less guilty to the general mass of the
+rebels, and force those to become enemies to the king who otherwise
+would never have been so. If, however, he was coming among them without
+such a formidable accompaniment; if his appearance was less that of a
+sanguinary judge than of an angry parent, the courage of all good men
+would rise, and the bad would perish in their own security. They would
+persuade themselves what had happened was unimportant; that it did not
+appear to the king of sufficient moment to call for strong measures.
+They wished if they could to avoid the chance of ruining, by acts of
+open violence, a cause which might perhaps yet be saved; consequently,
+by this quiet, peaceable method everything would be gained which by the
+other would be irretrievably lost; the loyal subject would in no degree
+be involved in the same punishment with the culpable rebel; on the
+latter alone would the whole weight of the royal indignation descend.
+Lastly, the enormous expenses would be avoided which the transport of a
+Spanish army to those distant regions would occasion.
+
+“But,” began the Duke of Alva, “ought the injury of some few citizens to
+be considered when danger impends over the whole? Because a few of the
+loyally-disposed may suffer wrong are the rebels therefore not to be
+chastised? The offence has been universal, why then should not the
+punishment be the same? What the rebels have incurred by their actions
+the rest have incurred equally by their supineness. Whose fault is it
+but theirs that the former have so far succeeded? Why did they not
+promptly oppose their first attempts? It is said that circumstances
+were not so desperate as to justify this violent remedy; but who will
+insure us that they will not be so by the time the king arrives,
+especially when, according to every fresh despatch of the regent, all is
+hastening with rapid strides to a-ruinous consummation? Is it a hazard
+we ought to run to leave the king to discover on his entrance into the
+provinces the necessity of his having brought with him a military force?
+It is a fact only too well-established that the rebels have secured
+foreign succors, which stand ready at their command on the first signal;
+will it then be time to think of preparing for war when the enemy pass
+the frontiers? Is it a wise risk to rely for aid upon the nearest
+Belgian troops when their loyalty is so little to be depended upon? And
+is not the regent perpetually reverting in her despatches to the fact
+that nothing but the want of a suitable military force has hitherto
+hindered her from enforcing the edicts, and stopping the progress of the
+rebels? A well-disciplined and formidable army alone will disappoint
+all their hopes of maintaining themselves in opposition to their lawful
+sovereign, and nothing but the certain prospect of destruction will make
+them lower their demands. Besides, without an adequate force, the king
+cannot venture his person in hostile countries; he cannot enter into any
+treaties with his rebellious subjects which would not be derogatory to
+his honor.”
+
+The authority of the speaker gave preponderance to his arguments, and
+the next question was, when the king should commence his journey and
+what road he should take. As the voyage by sea was on every account
+extremely hazardous, he had no other alternative but either to proceed
+thither through the passes near Trent across. Germany, or to penetrate
+from Savoy over the Apennine Alps. The first route would expose him to
+the danger of the attack of the German Protestants, who were not likely
+to view with indifference the objects of his journey, and a passage over
+the Apennines was at this late season of the year not to be attempted.
+Moreover, it would be necessary to send for the requisite galleys from
+Italy, and repair them, which would take several months. Finally, as
+the assembly of the Cortes of Castile, from which he could not well be
+absent, was already appointed for December, the journey could not be
+undertaken before the spring. Meanwhile the regent pressed for explicit
+instructions how she was to extricate herself from her present
+embarrassment, without compromising the royal dignity too far; and it
+was necessary to do something in the interval till the king could
+undertake to appease the troubles by his personal presence. Two
+separate letters were therefore despatched to the duchess; one public,
+which she could lay before the states and the council chambers, and one
+private, which was intended for herself alone. In the first, the king
+announced to her his restoration to health, and the fortunate birth of
+the Infanta Clara Isabella Eugenia, afterwards wife of the Archduke
+Albert of Austria and Princess of the Netherlands. He declared to her
+his present firm intention to visit the Netherlands in person, for which
+he was already making the necessary preparations. The assembling of the
+states he refused, as he had previously done. No mention was made in
+this letter of the agreement which she had entered into with the
+Protestants and with the league, because he did not deem it advisable at
+present absolutely to reject it, and he was still less disposed to
+acknowledge its validity. On the other hand, he ordered her to
+reinforce the army, to draw together new regiments from Germany, and to
+meet the refractory with force. For the rest, he concluded, he relied
+upon the loyalty of the leading nobility, among whom he knew many who
+were sincere in their attachment both to their religion and their king.
+In the secret letter she was again enjoined to do all in her power to
+prevent the assembling of the states; but if the general voice should
+become irresistible, and she was compelled to yield, she was at least to
+manage so cautiously that the royal dignity should not suffer, and no
+one learn the king’s consent to their assembly.
+
+While these consultations were held in Spain the Protestants in the
+Netherlands made the most extensive use of the privileges which had been
+compulsorily granted to them. The erection of churches wherever it was
+permitted was completed with incredible rapidity; young and old, gentle
+and simple, assisted in carrying stones; women sacrificed even their
+ornaments in order to accelerate the work. The two religious parties
+established in several towns consistories, and a church council of their
+own, the first move of the kind being made in Antwerp, and placed their
+form of worship on a well-regulated footing. It was also proposed to
+raise a common fund by subscription to meet any sudden emergency of the
+Protestant church in general. In Antwerp a memorial was presented by
+the Calvinists of that town to the Count of Hogstraten, in which they
+offered to pay three millions of dollars to secure the free exercise of
+their religion. Many copies of this writing were circulated in the
+Netherlands; and in order to stimulate others, many had ostentatiously
+subscribed their names to large sums. Various interpretations of this
+extravagant offer were made by the enemies of the Reformers, and all had
+some appearance of reason. For instance, it was urged that under the
+pretext of collecting the requisite sum for fulfilling this engagement
+they hoped, without suspicion, to raise funds for military purposes; for
+whether they should be called upon to contribute for or against they
+would, it was thought, be more ready to burden themselves with a view of
+preserving peace than for an oppressive and devasting war. Others saw
+in this offer nothing more than a temporary stratagem of the Protestants
+by which they hoped to bind the court and keep it irresolute until they
+should have gained sufficient strength to confront it. Others again
+declared it to be a downright bravado in order to alarm the regent, and
+to raise the courage of their own party by the display of such rich
+resources. But whatever was the true motive of this proposition, its
+originators gained little by it; the contributions flowed in scantily
+and slowly, and the court answered the proposal with silent contempt.
+The excesses, too, of the Iconoclasts, far from promoting the cause of
+the league and advancing the Protestants interests, had done irreparable
+injury to both. The sight of their ruined churches, which, in the
+language of Viglius, resembled stables more than houses of God, enraged
+the Roman Catholics, and above all the clergy. All of that religion,
+who had hitherto been members of the league, now forsook it, alleging
+that even if it had not intentionally excited and encouraged the
+excesses of the Iconoclasts it had beyond question remotely led to them.
+The intolerance of the Calvinists who, wherever they were the ruling
+party, cruelly oppressed the Roman Catholics, completely expelled the
+delusion in which the latter had long indulged, and they withdrew their
+support from a party from which, if they obtained the upper hand, their
+own religion had so much cause to fear. Thus the league lost many of
+its best members; the friends and patrons, too, which it had hitherto
+found amongst the well-disposed citizens now deserted it, and its
+character began perceptibly to decline. The severity with which some of
+its members had acted against the Iconoclasts in order to prove their
+good disposition towards the regent, and to remove the suspicion of any
+connection with the malcontents, had also injured them with the people
+who favored the latter, and thus the league was in danger of ruining
+itself with both parties at the same time. The regent had no sooner
+became acquainted with this change in the public mind than she devised a
+plan by which she hoped gradually to dissolve the whole league, or at
+least to enfeeble it through internal dissensions. For this end she
+availed herself of the private letters which the king had addressed to
+some of the nobles, and enclosed to her with full liberty to use them at
+her discretion. These letters, which overflowed with kind expressions
+were presented to those for whom they were intended, with an attempt at
+secrecy, which designedly miscarried, so that on each occasion some one
+or other of those who had received nothing of the sort got a hint of
+them. In order to spread suspicion the more widely numerous copies of
+the letters were circulated. This artifice attained its object. Many
+members of the league began to doubt the honesty of those to whom such
+brilliant promises were made; through fear of being deserted by their
+principal members and supporters, they eagerly accepted the conditions
+which were offered them by the regent, and evinced great anxiety for a
+speedy reconciliation with the court. The general rumor of the
+impending visit of the king, which the regent took care to have widely
+circulated, was also of great service to her in this matter; many who
+could not augur much good to themselves from the royal presence did not
+hesitate to accept a pardon, which, perhaps, for what they could tell,
+was offered them for the last time. Among those who thus received
+private letters were Egmont and Prince of Orange. Both had complained
+to the king of the evil reports with which designing persons in Spain
+had labored to brand their names, and to throw suspicion on their
+motives and intentions; Egmont, in particular, with the honest
+simplicity which was peculiar to his character, had asked the monarch
+only to point out to him what he most desired, to determine the
+particular action by which his favor could be best obtained and zeal in
+his service evinced, and it should, he assured him, be done. The king
+in reply caused the president, Von Tyssenacque, to tell him that he
+could do nothing better to refute his traducers than to show perfect
+submission to the royal orders, which were so clearly and precisely
+drawn up, that no further exposition of them was required, nor any
+particular instruction. It was the sovereign’s part to deliberate, to
+examine, and to decide; unconditionally to obey was the duty of the
+subject; the honor of the latter consisted in his obedence. It did not
+become a member to hold itself wiser than the head. He was assuredly to
+be blamed for not having done his utmost to curb the unruliness of his
+sectarians; but it was even yet in his power to make up for past
+negligence by at least maintaining peace and order until the actual
+arrival of the king. In thus punishing Count Egmont with reproofs like
+a disobedient child, the king treated him in accordance with what he
+knew of his character; with his friend he found it necessary to call in
+the aid of artifice and deceit. Orange, too, in his letter, had alluded
+to the suspicions which the king entertained of his loyalty and
+attachment, but not, like Egmont, in the vain hope of removing them; for
+this, he had long given up; but in order to pass from these complaints
+to a request for permission to resign his offices. He had already
+frequently made this request to the regent, but had always received from
+her a refusal, accompanied with the strongest assurance of her regard.
+The king also, to whom he now at last addressed a direct application,
+returned him the same answer, graced with similar strong assurances of
+his satisfaction and gratitude. In particular he expressed the high
+satisfaction he entertained of his services, which he had lately
+rendered the crown in Antwerp, and lamented deeply that the private
+affairs of the prince (which the latter had made his chief plea for
+demanding his dismissal) should have fallen into such disorder; but
+ended with the declaration that it was impossible for him to dispense
+with his valuable services at a crisis which demanded the increase,
+rather than diminution, of his good and honest servants. He had
+thought, he added, that the prince entertained a better opinion of him
+than to suppose him capable of giving credit to the idle talk of certain
+persons, who were friends neither to the prince nor to himself. But, at
+the same time, to give him a proof of his sincerity, he complained to
+him in confidence of his brother, the Count of Nassau, pretended to ask
+his advice in the matter, and finally expressed a wish to have the count
+removed for a period from the Netherlands.
+
+But Philip had here to do with a head which in cunning was superior to
+his own. The Prince of Orange had for a long time held watch over him
+and his privy council in Madrid and Segovia, through a host of spies,
+who reported to him everything of importance that was transacted there.
+The court of this most secret of all despots had become accessible to
+his intriguing spirit and his money; in this manner he had gained
+possession of several autograph letters of the regent, which she had
+secretly written to Madrid, and had caused copies to be circulated in
+triumph in Brussels, and in a measure under her own eyes, insomuch that
+she saw with astonishment in everybody’s hands what she thought was
+preserved with so much care, and entreated the king for the future to
+destroy her despatches immediately they were read. William’s vigilance
+did not confine itself simply to the court of Spain; he had spies in
+France, and even at more distant courts. He is also charged with not
+being over scrupulous as to the means by which he acquired his
+intelligence. But the most important disclosure was made by an
+intercepted letter of the Spanish ambassador in France, Francis Von
+Alava, to the duchess, in which the former descanted on the fair
+opportunity which was now afforded to the king, through the guilt of
+the Netherlandish people, of establishing an arbitrary power in that
+country. He therefore advised her to deceive the nobles by the very
+arts which they had hitherto employed against herself, and to secure
+them through smooth words and an obliging behavior. The king, he
+concluded, who knew the nobles to be the hidden springs of all the
+previous troubles, would take good care to lay hands upon them at the
+first favorable opportunity, as well as the two whom he had already in
+Spain; and did not mean to let them go again, having sworn to make an
+example in them which should horrify the whole of Christendom, even if
+it should cost him his hereditary dominions. This piece of evil news
+was strongly corroborated by the letters which Bergen and Montigny wrote
+from Spain, and in which they bitterly complained of the contemptuous
+behavior of the grandees and the altered deportment of the monarch
+towards them; and the Prince of Orange was now fully sensible what he
+had to expect from the fair promises of the king.
+
+The letter of the minister, Alava, together with some others from Spain,
+which gave a circumstantial account of the approaching warlike visit of
+the king, and of his evil intentions against the nobles, was laid by the
+prince before his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, Counts Egmont, Horn,
+and Hogstraten, at a meeting at Dendermonde in Flanders, whither these
+five knights had repaired to confer on the measures necessary for their
+security. Count Louis, who listened only to his feelings of
+indignation, foolhardily maintained that they ought, without loss of
+time, to take up arms and seize some strongholds. That they ought at
+all risks to prevent the king’s armed entrance into the provinces. That
+they should endeavor to prevail on the Swiss, the Protestant princes of
+Germany, and the Huguenots to arm and obstruct his passage through their
+territories; and if, notwithstanding, he should force his way through
+these impediments, that the Flemings should meet him with an army on the
+frontiers. He would take upon himself to negotiate a defensive alliance
+in France, in Switzerland, and in Germany, and to raise in the latter
+empire four thousand horse, together with a proportionate body of
+infantry. Pretexts would not be wanting for collecting the requisite
+supplies of money, and the merchants of the reformed sect would, he felt
+assured, not fail them. But William, more cautious and more wise,
+declared himself against this proposal, which, in the execution, would
+be exposed to numberless difficulties, and had as yet nothing to justify
+it. The Inquisition, he represented, was in fact abolished, the edicts
+were nearly sunk into oblivion, and a fair degree of religious liberty
+accorded. Hitherto, therefore, there existed no valid or adequate
+excuse for adopting this hostile method; he did not doubt, however,
+that one would be presented to them before long, and in good time for
+preparation. His own opinion consequently was that they should await
+this opportunity with patience, and in the meanwhile still keep a
+watchful eye upon everything, and contrive to give the people a hint of
+the threatened danger, that they might be ready to act if circumstances
+should call for their co-operation. If all present had assented to the
+opinion of the Prince of Orange, there is no doubt but so powerful a
+league, formidable both by the influence and the high character of its
+members, would have opposed obstacles to the designs of the king which
+would have compelled him to abandon them entirely. But the
+determination of the assembled knights was much shaken by the
+declaration with which Count Egmont surprised them. “Rather,” said he,
+“may all that is evil befall me than that I should tempt fortune so
+rashly. The idle talk of the Spaniard, Alava, does not move me; how
+should such a person be able to read the mind of a sovereign so reserved
+as Philip, and to decipher his secrets? The intelligence which Montigny
+gives us goes to prove nothing more than that the king has a very
+doubtful opinion of our zeal for his service, and believes he has cause
+to distrust our loyalty; and for this I for my part must confess that
+we have given him only too much cause. And it is my serious purpose,
+by redoubling my zeal, to regain his good opinion, and by my future
+behavior to remove, if possible, the distrust which my actions have
+hitherto excited. How could I tear myself from the arms of my numerous
+and dependent family to wander as an exile at foreign courts, a burden
+to every one who received me, the slave of every one who condescended to
+assist me, a servant of foreigners, in order to escape a slight degree
+of constraint at home? Never can the monarch act unkindly towards a
+servant who was once beloved and dear to him, and who has established a
+well-grounded claim to his gratitude. Never shall I be persuaded that
+he who has expressed such favorable, such gracious sentiments towards
+his Belgian subjects, and with his own mouth gave me such emphatic,
+such solemn assurances, can be now devising, as it is pretended, such
+tyrannical schemes against them. If we do but restore to the country
+its former repose, chastise the rebels, and re-establish the Roman
+Catholic form of worship wherever it has been violently suppressed,
+then, believe me, we shall hear no more of Spanish troops. This is the
+course to which I now invite you all by my counsel and my example, and
+to which also most of our brethren already incline. I, for my part,
+fear nothing from the anger of the king. My conscience acquits me.
+I trust my fate and fortunes to his justice and clemency.” In vain did
+Nassau, Horn, and Orange labor to shake his resolution, and to open his
+eyes to the near and inevitable danger. Egmont was really attached to
+the king; the royal favors, and the condescension with which they were
+conferred, were still fresh in his remembrance. The attentions with
+which the monarch had distinguished him above all his friends had not
+failed of their effect. It was more from false shame than from party
+spirit that he had defended the cause of his countrymen against him;
+more from temperament and natural kindness of heart than from tried
+principles that he had opposed the severe measures of the government.
+The love of the nation, which worshipped him as its idol, carried him
+away. Too vain to renounce a title which sounded so agreeable, he had
+been compelled to do something to deserve it; but a single look at his
+family, a harsher designation applied to his conduct, a dangerous
+inference drawn from it, the mere sound of crime, terrified him from his
+self-delusion, and scared him back in haste and alarm to his duty.
+
+Orange’s whole plan was frustrated by Egmont’s withdrawal. The latter
+possessed the hearts of the people and the confidence of the army,
+without which it was utterly impossible to undertake anything effective.
+The rest had reckoned with so much certainty upon him that his
+unexpected defection rendered the whole meeting nugatory. They
+therefore separated without coming to a determination. All who had met
+in Dendermonde were expected in the council of state in Brussels; but
+Egmont alone repaired thither. The regent wished to sift him on the
+subject of this conference, but she could extract nothing further from
+him than the production of the letter of Alava, of which he had
+purposely taken a copy, and which, with the bitterest reproofs, he laid
+before her. At first she changed color at sight of it, but quickly
+recovering herself, she boldly declared that it was a forgery. “How can
+this letter,” she said, “really come from Alava, when I miss none? And
+would he who pretends to have intercepted it have spared the other
+letters? Nay, how can it be true, when not a single packet has
+miscarried, nor a single despatch failed to come to hand? How, too,
+can it be thought likely that the king would have made Alava master
+of a secret which he has not communicated even to me?”
+
+
+
+
+                CIVIL WAR
+
+1566. Meanwhile the regent hastened to take advantage of the schism
+amongst the nobles to complete the ruin of the league, which was already
+tottering under the weight of internal dissensions. Without loss of
+time she drew from Germany the troops which Duke Eric of Brunswick was
+holding in readiness, augmented the cavalry, and raised five regiments
+of Walloons, the command of which she gave to Counts Mansfeld, Megen,
+Aremberg, and others. To the prince, likewise, she felt it necessary to
+confide troops, both because she did not wish, by withholding them
+pointedly, to insult him, and also because the provinces of which he was
+governor were in urgent need of them; but she took the precaution of
+joining with him a Colonel Waldenfinger, who should watch all his steps
+and thwart his measures if they appeared dangerous. To Count Egmont the
+clergy in Flanders paid a contribution of forty thousand gold florins
+for the maintenance of fifteen hundred men, whom he distributed among
+the places where danger was most apprehended. Every governor was
+ordered to increase his military force, and to provide himself with
+ammunition. These energetic preparations, which were making in all
+places, left no doubt as to the measures which the regent would adopt in
+future. Conscious of her superior force, and certain of this important
+support, she now ventured to change her tone, and to employ quite
+another language with the rebels. She began to put the most arbitrary
+interpretation on the concessions which, through fear and necessity, she
+had made to the Protestants, and to restrict all the liberties which she
+had tacitly granted them to the mere permission of their preaching. All
+other religious exercises and rites, which yet appeared to be involved
+in the former privilege, were by new edicts expressly forbidden, and all
+offenders in such matters were to be proceeded against as traitors. The
+Protestants were permitted to think differently from the ruling church
+upon the sacrament, but to receive it differently was a crime; baptism,
+marriage, burial, after their fashion, were probibited under pain of
+death. It was a cruel mockery to allow them their religion, and forbid
+the exercise of it; but this mean artifice of the regent to escape from
+the obligation of her pledged word was worthy of the pusillanimity with
+which she had submitted to its being extorted from her. She took
+advantage of the most trifling innovations and the smallest excesses to
+interrupt the preachings; and some of the preachers, under the charge of
+having performed their office in places not appointed to them, were
+brought to trial, condemned, and executed. On more than one occasion
+the regent publicly declared that the confederates had taken unfair
+advantage of her fears, and that she did not feel herself bound by an
+engagement which had been extorted from her by threats.
+
+Of all the Belgian towns which had participated in the insurrection of
+the Iconoclasts none had caused the regent so much alarm as the town of
+Valenciennes, in Hainault. In no other was the party of the Calvinists
+so powerful, and the spirit of rebellion for which the province of
+Hainault had always made itself conspicuous, seemed to dwell here as in
+its native place. The propinquity of France, to which, as well by
+language as by manners, this town appeared to belong, rather than to the
+Netherlands, had from the first led to its being governed with great
+mildness and forbearance, which, however, only taught it to feel its own
+importance. At the last outbreak of the church-desecrators it had been
+on the point of surrendering to the Huguenots, with whom it maintained
+the closest understanding. The slightest excitement night renew this
+danger. On this account Valenciennes was the first town to which the
+regent proposed, as soon as should be in her power, to send a strong
+garrison. Philip of Noircarmes, Baron of St. Aldegonde, Governor of
+Hainault in the place of the absent Marquis of Bergen, had received this
+charge, and now appeared at the head of an army before its walls.
+Deputies came to meet him on the part of the magistrate from the town,
+to petition against the garrison, because the Protestant citizens, who
+were the superior number, had declared against it. Noircarnes
+acquainted them with the will of the regent, and gave them the choice
+between the garrison or a siege. He assured them that not more than
+four squadrons of horse and six companies of foot should be imposed upon
+the town; and for this he would give them his son as a hostage. These
+terms were laid before the magistrate, who, for his part, was much
+inclined to accept them. But Peregrine Le Grange, the preacher, and the
+idol of the populace, to whom it was of vital importance to prevent a
+submission of which he would inevitably become the victim, appeared at
+the head of his followers, and by his powerful eloquence excited the
+people to reject the conditions. When their answer was brought to
+Noircarmes, contrary to all law of nations, he caused the messengers to
+be placed in irons, and carried them away with him as prisoners; he was,
+however, by express command of the regent, compelled to set them free
+again. The regent, instructed by secret orders from Madrid to exercise
+as much forbearance as possible, caused the town to be repeatedly
+summoned to receive the garrison; when, however, it obstinately
+persisted in its refusal, it was declared by public edict to be in
+rebellion, and Noircarmes was authorized to commence the siege in form.
+The other provinces were forbidden to assist this rebellious town with
+advice, money, or arms. All the property contained in it was
+confiscated. In order to let it see the war before it began in earnest,
+and to give it time for rational reflection, Noircarmes drew together
+troops from all Hainault and Cambray (1566), took possession of St.
+Amant, and placed garrisons in all adjacent places.
+
+The line of conduct adopted towards Valenciennes allowed the other towns
+which were similarly situated to infer the fate which was intended for
+them also, and at once put the whole league in motion. An army of the
+Gueux, between three thousand and four thousand strong, which was
+hastily collected from the rabble of fugitives, and the remaining bands
+of the Iconoclasts, appeared in the territories of Tournay and Lille, in
+order to secure these two towns, and to annoy the enemy at Valenciennes.
+The commandant of Lille was fortunate enough to maintain that place by
+routing a detachment of this army, which, in concert with the Protestant
+inhabitants, had made an attempt to get possession of it. At the same
+time the army of the Gueux, which was uselessly wasting its time at
+Lannoy, was surprised by Noircarmes and almost entirely annihilated.
+The few who with desperate courage forced their way through the enemy,
+threw themselves into the town of Tournay, which was immediately
+summoned by the victor to open its gates and admit a garrison. Its
+prompt obedience obtained for it a milder fate. Noircarmes contented
+himself with abolishing the Protestant consistory, banishing the
+preachers, punishing the leaders of the rebels, and again
+re-establishing the Roman Catholic worship, which he found almost
+entirely suppressed. After giving it a steadfast Roman Catholic as
+governor, and leaving in it a sufficient garrison, he again returned
+with his victorious army to Valenciennes to press the siege.
+
+This town, confident in its strength, actively prepared for defence,
+firmly resolved to allow things to come to extremes before it
+surrendered. The inhabitants had not neglected to furnish themselves
+with ammunition and provisions for a long siege; all who could carry
+arms (the very artisans not excepted), became soldiers; the houses
+before the town, and especially the cloisters, were pulled down, that
+the besiegers might not avail themselves of them to cover their attack.
+The few adherents of the crown, awed by the multitude, were silent; no
+Roman Catholic ventured to stir himself. Anarchy and rebellion had
+taken the place of good order, and the fanaticism of a foolhardy priest
+gave laws instead of the legal dispensers of justice. The male
+population was numerous, their courage confirmed by despair, their
+confidence unbounded that the siege would be raised, while their hatred
+against the Roman Catholic religion was excited to the highest pitch.
+Many had no mercy to expect; all abhorred the general thraldom of an
+imperious garrison. Noircarmes, whose army had become formidable
+through the reinforcements which streamed to it from all quarters, and
+was abundantly furnished with all the requisites for a long blockade,
+once more attempted to prevail on the town by gentle means, but in vain.
+At last he caused the trenches to be opened and prepared to invest the
+place.
+
+In the meanwhile the position of the Protestants had grown as much worse
+as that of the regent had improved. The league of the nobles had
+gradually melted away to a third of its original number. Some of its
+most important defenders, Count Egmont, for instance, had gone over to
+the king; the pecuniary contributions which had been so confidently
+reckoned upon came in but slowly and scantily; the zeal of the party
+began perceptibly to cool, and the close of the fine season made it
+necessary to discontinue the public preachings, which, up to this time,
+had been continued. These and other reasons combined induced the
+declining party to moderate its demands, and to try every legal
+expedient before it proceeded to extremities. In a general synod of the
+Protestants, which was held for this object in Antwerp, and which was
+also attended by some of the confederates, it was resolved to send
+deputies to the regent to remonstrate with her upon this breach of
+faith, and to remind her of her compact. Brederode undertook this
+office, but was obliged to submit to a harsh and disgraceful rebuff, and
+was shut out of Brussels. He had now recourse to a written memorial, in
+which,--in the name of the whole league, he complained that the duchess
+had, by violating her word, falsified in sight of all the Protestants
+the security given by the league, in reliance on which all of them had
+laid down their arms; that by her insincerity she had undone all the
+good which the confederates had labored to effect; that she had sought
+to degrade the league in the eyes of the people, had excited discord
+among its members, and had even caused many of them to be persecuted as
+criminals. He called upon her to recall her late ordinances, which
+deprived the Protestants of the free exercise of their religion, but
+above all to raise the siege of Valenciennes, to disband the troops
+newly enlisted, and ended by assuring her that on these conditions and
+these alone the league would be responsible for the general
+tranquillity.
+
+To this the regent replied in a tone very different from her previous
+moderation. “Who these confederates are who address me in this memorial
+is, indeed, a mystery to me. The confederates with whom I had formerly
+to do, for ought I know to the contrary, have dispersed. All at least
+cannot participate in this statement of grievances, for I myself know of
+many, who, satisfied in all their demands, have returned to their duty.
+But still, whoever he may be, who without authority and right, and
+without name addresses me, he has at least given a very false
+interpretation to my word if he asserts that I guaranteed to the
+Protestants complete religious liberty. No one can be ignorant how
+reluctantly I was induced to permit the preachings in the places where
+they had sprung up unauthorized, and this surely cannot be counted for a
+concession of freedom in religion. Is it likely that I should have
+entertained the idea of protecting these illegal consistories, of
+tolerating this state within a state? Could I forget myself so far as
+to grant the sanction of law to an objectionable sect; to overturn all
+order in the church and in the state, and abominably to blaspheme my
+holy religion? Look to him who has given you such permission, but you
+must not argue with me. You accuse me of having violated the agreement
+which gave you impunity and security. The past I am willing to look
+over, but not what may be done in future. No advantage was to be taken
+of you on account of the petition of last April, and to the best of my
+knowledge nothing of the kind has as yet been done; but whoever again
+offends in the same way against the majesty of the king must be ready to
+bear the consequences of his crime. In fine, how can you presume to
+remind me of an agreement which you have been the first to break? At
+whose instigation were the churches plundered, the images of the saints
+thrown down, and the towns hurried into rebellion? Who formed alliances
+with foreign powers, set on foot illegal enlistments, and collected
+unlawful taxes from the subjects of the king? These are the reasons
+which have impelled me to draw together my troops, and to increase the
+severity of the edicts. Whoever now asks me to lay down my arms cannot
+mean well to his country or his king, and if ye value your own lives,
+look to it that your own actions acquit you, instead of judging mine.”
+
+All the hopes which the confederates might have entertained of an
+amicable adjustment sank with this high-toned declaration. Without
+being confident of possessing powerful support, the regent would not,
+they argued, employ such language. An army was in the field, the enemy
+was before Valenciennes, the members who were the heart of the league
+had abandoned it, and the regent required unconditional submission.
+Their cause was now so bad that open resistance could not make it worse.
+If they gave themselves up defenceless into the hands of their
+exasperated sovereign their fate was certain; an appeal to arms could at
+least make it a matter of doubt; they, therefore, chose the latter, and
+began seriously to take steps for their defence. In order to insure the
+assistance of the German Protestants, Louis of Nassau attempted to
+persuade the towns of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Tournay, and Valenciennes to
+adopt the confession of Augsburg, and in this manner to seal their
+alliance with a religious union. But the proposition was not
+successful, because the hatred of the Calvinists to the Lutherans
+exceeded, if possible, that which they bore to popery. Nassau also
+began in earnest to negotiate for supplies from France, the Palatinate,
+and Saxony. The Count of Bergen fortified his castles; Brederode threw
+himself with a small force into his strong town of Vianne on the Leek,
+over which he claimed the rights of sovereignty, and which he hastily
+placed in a state of defense, and there awaited a reinforcement from the
+league, and the issue of Nassua’s negotiations. The flag of war was now
+unfurled, everywhere the drum was heard to beat; in all parts troops
+were seen on the march, contributions collected, and soldiers enlisted.
+The agents of each party often met in the same place, and hardly had the
+collectors and recruiting officers of the regent quitted a town when it
+had to endure a similar visit from the agents of the league.
+
+From Valenciennes the regent directed her attention to Herzogenbusch,
+where the Iconoclasts had lately committed fresh excesses, and the party
+of the Protestants had gained a great accession of strength. In order
+to prevail on the citizens peaceably to receive a garrison, she sent
+thither, as ambassador, the Chancellor Scheiff, from Brabant, with
+counsellor Merode of Petersheim, whom she appointed governor of the
+town; they were instructed to secure the place by judicious means, and
+to exact from the citizens a new oath of allegiance. At the same time
+the Count of Megen, who was in the neighborhood with a body of troops,
+was ordered to support the two envoys in effecting their commission,
+and to afford the means of throwing in a garrison immediately. But
+Brederode, who obtained information of these movements in Viane, had
+already sent thither one of his creatures, a certain Anton von Bomber,--
+a hot Calvinist, but also a brave soldier, in order to raise the courage
+of his party, and to frustrate the designs of the regent. This Bomberg
+succeeded in getting possession of the letters which the chancellor
+brought with him from the duchess, and contrived to substitute in their
+place counterfeit ones, which, by their harsh and imperious language,
+were calculated to exasperate the minds of the citizens. At the same
+time he attempted to throw suspicion on both the ambassadors of the
+duchess as having evil designs upon the town. In this he succeeded so
+well with the mob that in their mad fury they even laid hands on the
+ambassadors and placed them in confinement. He himself, at the head of
+eight thousand men, who had adopted him as their leader, advanced
+against the Count of Megen, who was moving in order of battle, and gave
+him so warm a reception, with some heavy artillery, that he was
+compelled to retire without accomplishing his object. The regent now
+sent an officer of justice to demand the release of her ambassadors, and
+in case of refusal to threaten the place with siege; but Bomberg with
+his party surrounded the town hall and forced the magistrate to deliver
+to him the key of the town. The messenger of the regent was ridiculed
+and dismissed, and an answer sent through him that the treatment of the
+prisoners would depend upon Brederode’s orders. The herald, who was
+remaining outside before the town, now appeared to declare war against
+her, which, however, the chancellor prevented.
+
+After his futile attempt on Herzogenhusch the Count of Megen threw
+himself into Utrecht in order to prevent the execution of a design which
+Count Brederode had formed against that town. As it had suffered much
+from the army of the confederates, which was encamped in its immediate
+neighborhood, near Viane, it received Megen with open arms as its
+protector, and conformed to all the alterations which he made in the
+religious worship. Upon this he immediately caused a redoubt to be
+thrown up on the bank of the Leek, which would command Viane.
+Brederode, not disposed to await his attack, quitted that rendezvous
+with the best part of his army and hastened to Amsterdam.
+
+However unprofitably the Prince of Orange appeared to be losing his
+time in Antwerp during these operations he was, nevertheless, busily
+employed. At his instigation the league had commenced recruiting, and
+Brederode had fortified his castles, for which purpose he himself
+presented him with three cannons which he had had cast at Utrecht.
+His eye watched all the movements of the court, and he kept the league
+warned of the towns which were next menaced with attack. But his chief
+object appeared to be to get possession of the principal places in the
+districts under his own government, to which end he with all his power
+secretly assisted Brederode’s plans against Utrecht and Amsterdam. The
+most important place was the Island of Walcheren, where the king was
+expected to land; and he now planned a scheme for the surprise of this
+place, the conduct of which was entrusted to one of the confederate
+nobles, an intimate friend of the Prince of Orange, John of Marnix,
+Baron of Thoulouse, and brother of Philip of Aldegonde.
+
+
+1567. Thoulouse maintained a secret understanding with the late mayor
+of Middleburg, Peter Haak, by which he expected to gain an opportunity
+of throwing a garrison into Middleburg and Flushing. The recruiting,
+however, for this undertaking, which was set on foot in Antwerp, could
+not be carried on so quietly as not to attract the notice of the
+magistrate. In order, therefore, to lull the suspicions of the latter,
+and at the same time to promote the success of the scheme, the prince
+caused the herald by public proclamation to order all foreign soldiers
+and strangers who were in the service of the state, or employed in other
+business, forthwith to quit the town. He might, say his adversaries, by
+closing the gates have easily made himself master of all these suspected
+recruits; but be expelled them from the town in order to drive them the
+more quickly to the place of their destination. They immediately
+embarked on the Scheldt, and sailed down to Rammekens; as, however, a
+market-vessel of Antwerp, which ran into Flushing a little before them
+had given warning of their design they were forbidden to enter the port.
+They found the same difficulty at Arnemuiden, near Middleburg, although
+the Protestants in that place exerted themselves to raise an
+insurrection in their favor. Thoulouse, therefore, without having
+accomplished anything, put about his ships and sailed back down the
+Scheldt as far as Osterweel, a quarter of a mile from Antwerp, where he
+disembarked his people and encamped on the shore, with the hope of
+getting men from Antwerp, and also in order to revive by his presence
+the courage of his party, which had been cast down by the proceedings of
+the magistrate. By the aid of the Calvinistic clergy, who recruited for
+him, his little army increased daily, so that at last he began to be
+formidable to the Antwerpians, whose whole territory he laid waste. The
+magistrate was for attacking him here with the militia, which, however,
+the Prince of Orange successfully opposed by the pretext that it would
+not be prudent to strip the town of soldiers.
+
+Meanwhile the regent had hastily brought together a small army under the
+command of Philip of Launoy, which moved from Brussels to Antwerp by
+forced marches. At the same time Count Megen managed to keep the army
+of the Gueux shut up and employed at Viane, so that it could neither
+hear of these movements nor hasten to the assistance of its
+confederates. Launoy, on his arrival attacked by surprise the dispersed
+crowds, who, little expecting an enemy, had gone out to plunder, and
+destroyed them in one terrible carnage. Thoulouse threw himself with
+the small remnant of his troops into a country house, which had served
+him as his headquarters, and for a long time defended himself with the
+courage of despair, until Launoy, finding it impossible to dislodge him,
+set fire to the house. The few who escaped the flames fell on the
+swords of the enemy or were drowned in the Scheldt. Thoulouse himself
+preferred to perish in the flames rather than to fall into the hands of
+the enemy. This victory, which swept off more than a thousand of the
+enemy, was purchased by the conqueror cheaply enough, for he did not
+lose more than two men. Three hundred of the leaguers who surrendered
+were cut down without mercy on the spot, as a sally from Antwerp was
+momentarily dreaded.
+
+Before the battle actually commenced no anticipation of such an event
+had been entertained at Antwerp. The Prince of Orange, who had got
+early information of it, had taken the precaution the day before of
+causing the bridge which unites the town with Osterweel to be destroyed,
+in order, as he gave out, to prevent the Calvinists within the town
+going out to join the army of Thoulouse. A more probable motive seems
+to have been a fear lest the Catholics should attack the army of the
+Gueux general in the rear, or lest Launoy should prove victorious, and
+try to force his way into the town. On the same pretext the gates of
+the city were also shut by his orders, arnd the inhabitants, who did not
+comprehend the meaning of all these movements, fluctuated between
+curiosity and alarm, until the sound of artillery from Osterweel
+announced to them what there was going on. In clamorous crowds they all
+ran to the walls and ramparts, from which, as the wind drove the smoke
+from the contending armies, they commanded a full view of the whole
+battle. Both armies were so near to the town that they could discern
+their banners, and clearly distinguish the voices of the victors and the
+vanquished. More terrible even than the battle itself was the spectacle
+which this town now presented. Each of the conflicting armies had its
+friends and its enemies on the wall. All that went on in the plain
+roused on the ramparts exultation or dismay; on the issue of the
+conflict the fate of each spectator seemed to depend. Every movement on
+the field could be read in the faces of the townsmen; defeat and
+triumph, the terror of the conquered, and the fury of the conqueror.
+Here a painful but idle wish to support those who are giving way, to
+rally those who fly; there an equally futile desire to overtake them,
+to slay them, to extirpate them. Now the Gueux fly, and ten thousand
+men rejoice; Thoulouse’s last place and refuge is in flames, and the
+hopes of twenty thousand citizens are consumed with him.
+
+But the first bewilderment of alarm soon gave place to a frantic desire
+of revenge. Shrieking aloud, wringing her hands and with dishevelled
+hair, the widow of the slain general rushed amidst the crowds to implore
+their pity and help. Excited by their favorite preacher, Hermann, the
+Calvinists fly to arms, determined to avenge their brethren, or to
+perish with them; without reflection, without plan or leader, guided by
+nothing but their anguish, their delirium, they rush to the Red Gate of
+the city which leads to the field of battle; but there is no egress, the
+gate is shut and the foremost of the crowd recoil on those that follow.
+Thousands and thousands collect together, a dreadful rush is made to the
+Meer Bridge. We are betrayed! we are prisoners! is the general cry.
+Destruction to the papists, death to him who has betrayed us!--a sullen
+murmur, portentous of a revolt, runs through the multitude. They begin
+to suspect that all that has taken place has been set on foot by the
+Roman Catholics to destroy the Calvinists. They had slain their
+defenders, and they would now fall upon the defenceless. With fatal
+speed this suspicion spreads through the whole of Antwerp. Now they
+can, they think, understand the past, and they fear something still
+worse in the background; a frightful distrust gains possession of every
+mind. Each party dreads the other; every one sees an enemy in his
+neighbor; the mystery deepens the alarm and horror; a fearful condition
+for a populous town, in which every accidental concourse instantly
+becomes tumult, every rumor started amongst them becomes a fact, every
+small spark a blazing flame, and by the force of numbers and collision
+all passions are furiously inflamed. All who bore the name of
+Calvinists were roused by this report. Fifteen thousand of them take
+possession of the Meer Bridge, and plant heavy artillery upon it, which
+they had taken by force from the arsenal; the same thing also happens at
+another bridge; their number makes them formidable, the town is in their
+hands; to escape an imaginary danger they bring all Antwerp to the brink
+of ruin.
+
+Immediately on the commencement of the tumult the Prince of Orange
+hastened to the Meer Bridge, where, boldly forcing his way through the
+raging crowd, he commanded peace and entreated to be heard. At the
+other bridge Count Hogstraten, accompanied by the Burgomaster Strahlen,
+made the same attempt; but not possessing a sufficient share either of
+eloquence or of popularity to command attention, he referred the
+tumultuous crowd to the prince, around whom all Antwerp now furiously
+thronged. The gate, he endeavored to explain to them, was shut simply
+to keep off the victor, whoever he might be, from the city, which would
+otherwise become the prey of an infuriated soldiery. In vain! the
+frantic people would not listen, and one more daring than the rest
+presented his musket at him, calling him a traitor. With tumultuous
+shouts they demanded the key of the Red Gate, which he was ultimately
+forced to deliver into the hands of the preacher Hermann. But, he added
+with happy presence of mind, they must take heed what they were doing;
+in the suburbs six hundred of the enemy’s horse were waiting to receive
+them. This invention, suggested by the emergency, was not so far
+removed from the truth as its author perhaps imagined; for no sooner had
+the victorious general perceived the commotion in Antwerp than he caused
+his whole cavalry to mount in the hope of being able, under favor of the
+disturbance, to break into the town. I, at least, continued the Prince
+of Orange, shall secure my own safety in time, and he who follows my
+example will save himself much future regret. These words opportunely
+spoken and immediately acted upon had their effect. Those who stood
+nearest followed him, and were again followed by the next, so that at
+last the few who had already hastened out of the city when they saw no
+one coming after them lost the desire of coping alone with the six
+hundred horse. All accordingly returned to the Meer Bridge, where they
+posted watches and videttes, and the night was passed tumultuously under
+arms.
+
+The town of Antwerp was now threatened with fearful bloodshed and
+pillage. In this pressing emergency Orange assembled an extraordinary
+senate, to which were summoned all the best-disposed citizens of the
+four nations. If they wished, said he, to repress the violence of the
+Calvinists they must oppose them with an army strong enough and prepared
+to meet them. It was therefore resolved to arm with speed the Roman
+Catholic inhabitants of the town, whether natives, Italians, or
+Spaniards, and, if possible, to induce the Lutherans also to join them.
+The haughtiness of the Calvinists, who, proud of their wealth and
+confident in their numbers, treated every other religious party with
+contempt, had long made the Lutherans their enemies, and the mutual
+exasperation of these two Protestant churches was even more implacable
+than their common hatred of the dominant church. This jealousy the
+magistrate had turned to advantage, by making use of one party to curb
+the other, and had thus contrived to keep the Calvinists in check, who,
+from their numbers and insolence, were most to be feared. With this
+view, he had tacitly taken into his protection the Lutherans, as the
+weaker and more peaceable party, having moreover invited for them, from
+Germany, spiritual teachers, who, by controversial sermons, might keep
+up the mutual hatred of the two bodies. He encouraged the Lutherans in
+the vain idea that the king thought more favorably of their religious
+creed than that of the Calvinists, and exhorted them to be careful how
+they damaged their good cause by any understanding with the latter. It
+was not, therefore, difficult to bring about, for the moment, a union
+with the Roman Catholics and the Lutherans, as its object was to keep
+down their detested rivals. At dawn of day an army was opposed to the
+Calvinists which was far superior in force to their own. At the head of
+this army, the eloquence of Orange had far greater effect, and found far
+more attention than on the preceding evening, unbacked by such strong
+persuasion. The Calvinists, though in possession of arms and artillery,
+yet, alarmed at the superior numbers arrayed against them, were the
+first to send envoys, and to treat for an amicable adjustment of
+differences, which by the tact and good temper of the Prince of Orange,
+he concluded to the satisfaction of all parties. On the proclamation of
+this treaty the Spaniards and Italians immediately laid down their arms.
+They were followed by the Calvinists, and these again by the Roman
+Catholics; last of all the Lutherans disarmed.
+
+Two days and two nights Antwerp had continued in this alarming state.
+During the tumult the Roman Catholics had succeeded in placing barrels
+of gunpowder under the Meer Bridge, and threatened to blow into the air
+the whole army of the Calvinists, who had done the same in other places
+to destroy their adversaries. The destruction of the town hung on the
+issue of a moment, and nothing but the prince’s presence of mind saved
+it.
+
+Noircarmes, with his army of Walloons, still lay before Valenciennes,
+which, in firm reliance on being relieved by the Gueux, obstinately
+refused to listen to all the representations of the regent, and rejected
+every idea of surrender. An order of the court had expressly forbidden
+the royalist general to press the siege until he should receive
+reinforcements from Germany. Whether from forbearance or fear, the king
+regarded with abhorrence the violent measure of storming the place, as
+necessarily involving the innocent in the fate of the guilty, and
+exposing the loyal subject to the same ill-treatment as the rebel. As,
+however, the confidence of the besieged augmented daily, and emboldened
+by the inactivity of the besiegers, they annoyed him by frequent
+sallies, and after burning the cloisters before the town, retired with
+the plunder--as the time uselessly lost before this town was put to good
+use by the rebels and their allies, Noircarmes besought the duchess to
+obtain immediate permission from the king to take it by storm. The
+answer arrived more quickly than Philip was ever before wont to reply.
+As yet they must be content, simply to make the necessary preparations,
+and then to wait awhile to allow terror to have its effect; but if upon
+this they did not appear ready to capitulate, the storming might take
+place, but, at the same time, with the greatest possible regard for the
+lives of the inhabitants. Before the regent allowed Noircarmes to
+proceed to this extremity she empowered Count Egmont, with the Duke
+Arschot, to treat once more with the rebels amicably. Both conferred
+with the deputies of the town, and omitted no argument calculated to
+dispel their delusion. They acquainted them with the defeat of
+Thoulouse, their sole support, and with the fact that the Count of Megen
+had cut off the army of the Gueux from the town, and assured them that
+if they had held out so long they owed it entirely to the king’s
+forbearance. They offered them full pardon for the past; every one was
+to be free to prove his innocence before whatever tribunal he should
+chose; such as did not wish to avail themselves of this privilege were
+to be allowed fourteen days to quit the town with all their effects.
+Nothing was required of the townspeople but the admission of the
+garrison. To give time to deliberate on these terms an armistice of
+three days was granted. When the deputies returned they found their
+fellow-citizens less disposed than ever to an accommodation, reports of
+new levies by the Gueux having, in the meantime, gained currency.
+Thoulouse, it was pretended, had conquered, and was advancing with a
+powerful army to relieve the place. Their confidence went so far that
+they even ventured to break the armistice, and to fire upon the
+besiegers. At last the burgomaster, with difficulty, succeeded in
+bringing matters so far towards a peaceful settlement that twelve of the
+town counsellors were sent into the camp with the following conditions:
+The edict by which Valenciennes had been charged with treason and
+declared an enemy to the country was required to be recalled, the
+confiscation of their goods revoked, and the prisoners on both sides
+restored to liberty; the garrison was not to enter the town before every
+one who thought good to do so had placed himself and his property in
+security; and a pledge to be given that the inhabitants should not be
+molested in any manner, and that their expenses should be paid by the
+king.
+
+Noircarmes was so indignant with these conditions that he was almost on
+the point of ill-treating the deputies. If they had not come, he told
+them, to give up the place, they might return forthwith, lest he should
+send them home with their hands tied behind their backs. Upon this the
+deputies threw the blame on the obstinacy of the Calvinists, and
+entreated him, with tears in their eyes, to keep them in the camp, as
+they did not, they said, wish to have anything more to do with their
+rebellious townsmen, or to be joined in their fate. They even knelt to
+beseech the intercession of Egmont, but Noircarmes remained deaf to all
+their entreaties, and the sight of the chains which he ordered to be
+brought out drove them reluctantly enough back to Valenciennes.
+Necessity, not severity, imposed this harsh procedure upon the general.
+The detention of ambassadors had on a former occasion drawn upon him the
+reprimand of the duchess; the people in the town would not have failed
+to have ascribed the non-appearance of their present deputies to the
+same cause as in the former case had detained them. Besides, he was
+loath to deprive the town of any out of the small residue of
+well-disposed citizens, or to leave it a prey to a blind, foolhardy mob.
+Egmont was so mortified at the bad report of his embassy that he the
+night following rode round to reconnoitre its fortifications, and
+returned well satisfied to have convinced himself that it was no longer
+tenable.
+
+Valenciennes stretches down a gentle acclivity into the level plain,
+being built on a site as strong as it is delightful. On one side
+enclosed by the Scheldt and another smaller river, and on the other
+protected by deep ditches, thick walls, and towers, it appears capable
+of defying every attack. But Noircarmes had discovered a few points
+where neglect had allowed the fosse to be filled almost up to the level
+of the natural surface, and of these he determined to avail himself in
+storming. He drew together all the scattered corps by which he had
+invested the town, and during a tempestuous night carried the suburb of
+Berg without the loss of a single man. He then assigned separate points
+of attack to the Count of Bossu, the young Charles of Mansfeld, and the
+younger Barlaimont, and under a terrible fire, which drove the enemy
+from his walls, his troops were moved up with all possible speed. Close
+before the town, and opposite the gate under the eyes of the besiegers,
+and with very little loss, a battery was thrown up to an equal height
+with the fortifications. From this point the town was bombarded with an
+unceasing fire for four hours. The Nicolaus tower, on which the
+besieged had planted some artillery, was among the first that fell, and
+many perished under its ruins. The guns were directed against all the
+most conspicuous buildings, and a terrible slaughter was made amongst
+the inhabitants. In a few hours their principal works were destroyed,
+and in the gate itself so extensive a breach was made that the besieged,
+despairing of any longer defending themselves, sent in haste two
+trumpeters to entreat a parley. This was granted, but the storm was
+continued without intermission. The ambassador entreated Noircarmes to
+grant them the same terms which only two days before they had rejected.
+But circumstances had now changed, and the victor would hear no more of
+conditions. The unceasing fire left the inhabitants no time to repair
+the ramparts, which filled the fosse with their debris, and opened many
+a breach for the enemy to enter by. Certain of utter destruction, they
+surrendered next morning at discretion after a bombardment of
+six-and-thirty hours without intermission, and three thousand bombs had
+been thrown into the city. Noircarmes marched into the town with his
+victorious army under the strictest discipline, and was received by a
+crowd of women and children, who went to meet him, carrying green boughs,
+and beseeching his pity. All the citizens were immediately disarmed, the
+commandant and his son beheaded; thirty-six of the most guilty of the
+rebels, among whom were La Grange and another Calvinistic preacher, Guido
+de Bresse, atoned for their obstinacy at the gallows; all the municipal
+functionaries were deprived of their offices, and the town of all its
+privileges. The Roman Catholic worship was immediately restored in full
+dignity, and the Protestant abolished. The Bishop of Arras was obliged to
+quit his residence in the town, and a strong garrison placed in it to
+insure its future obedience.
+
+The fate of Valenciennes, towards which all eyes had been turned, was a
+warning to the other towns which had similarly offended. Noircarmes
+followed up his victory, and marched immediately against Maestricht,
+which surrendered without a blow, and received a garrison. From thence
+he marched to Tornhut to awe by his presence the people of Herzogenbusch
+and Antwerp. The Gueux in this place, who under the command of Bomberg
+had carried all things before them, were now so terrified at his
+approach that they quitted the town in haste. Noircarmes was received
+without opposition. The ambassadors of the duchess were immediately set
+at liberty. A strong garrison was thrown into Tornhut. Cambray also
+opened its gates, and joyfully recalled its archbishop, whom the
+Calvinists had driven from his see, and who deserved this triumph as
+he did not stain his entrance with blood. Ghent, Ypres, and Oudenarde
+submitted and received garrisons. Gueldres was now almost entirely
+cleared of the rebels and reduced to obedience by the Count of Megen.
+In Friesland and Groningen the Count of Aremberg had eventually the same
+success; but it was not obtained here so rapidly or so easily, since the
+count wanted consistency and firmness, and these warlike republicans
+maintained more pertinaciously their privileges, and were greatly
+supported by the strength of their position. With the exception of
+Holland all the provinces had yielded before the victorious arms of the
+duchess. The courage of the disaffected sunk entirely, and nothing was
+left to them but flight or submission.
+
+
+
+
+          RESIGNATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE.
+
+Ever since the establishment of the Guesen league, but more perceptibly
+since the outbreak of the Iconoclasts, the spirit of rebellion and
+disaffection had spread so rapidly among all classes, parties had become
+so blended and confused, that the regent had difficulty in
+distinguishing her own adherents, and at last hardly knew on whom to
+rely. The lines of demarcation between the loyal and the disaffected
+had grown gradually fainter, until at last they almost entirely
+vanished. The frequent alterations, too, which she had been obliged to
+make in the laws, and which were at most the expedients and suggestions
+of the moment, had taken from them their precision and binding force,
+and had given full scope to the arbitrary will of every individual whose
+office it was to interpret them. And at last, amidst the number and
+variety of the interpretations, the spirit was lost and the intention of
+the lawgiver baffled. The close connection which in many cases
+subsisted between Protestants and Roman Catholics, between Gueux and
+Royalists, and which not unfrequently gave them a common interest, led
+the latter to avail themselves of the loophole which the vagueness of
+the laws left open, and in favor of their Protestant friends and
+associates evaded by subtle distinctions all severity in the discharge
+of their duties. In their minds it was enough not to be a declared
+rebel, not one of the Gueux, or at least not a heretic, to be authorized
+to mould their duties to their inclinations, and to set the most
+arbitrary limits to their obedience to the king. Feeling themselves
+irresponsible, the governors of the provinces, the civil functionaries,
+both high and low, the municipal officers, and the military commanders
+had all become extremely remiss in their duty, and presuming upon this
+impunity showed a pernicious indulgence to the rebels and their
+adherents which rendered abortive all the regent’s measures of coercion.
+This general indifference and corruption of so many servants of the
+state had further this injurious result, that it led the turbulent to
+reckon on far stronger support than in reality they had cause for, and
+to count on their own side all who were but lukewarm adherents of the
+court. This way of thinking, erroneous as it was, gave them greater
+courage and confidence; it had the same effect as if it had been well
+founded; and the uncertain vassals of the king became in consequence
+almost as injurious to him as his declared enemies, without at the same
+time being liable to the same measures of severity. This was especially
+the case with the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Bergen, Hogstraten,
+Horn, and several others of the higher nobility. The regent felt the
+necessity of bringing these doubtful subjects to an explanation, in
+order either to deprive the rebels of a fancied support or to unmask the
+enemies of the king. And the latter reason was of the more urgent
+moment when being obliged to send an army into the field it was of the
+utmost importance to entrust the command of the troops to none but those
+of whose fidelity she was fully assured. She caused, therefore, an oath
+to be drawn up which bound all who took it to advance the Roman Catholic
+faith, to pursue and punish the Iconoclasts, and to help by every means
+in their power in extirpating all kinds of heresy. It also pledged them
+to treat the king’s enemies as their own, and to serve without
+distinction against all whom the regent in the king’s name should point
+out. By this oath she did not hope so much to test their sincerity, and
+still less to secure them, as rather to gain a pretext for removing the
+suspected parties if they declined to take it, and for wresting from
+their hands a power which they abused, or a legitimate ground for
+punishing them if they took it and broke it. This oath was exacted from
+all Knights of the Fleece, all civil functionaries and magistrates, all
+officers of the army--from every one in short who held any appointment
+in the state. Count Mansfeld was the first who publicly took it in the
+council of state at Brussels; his example was followed by the Duke of
+Arschot, Counts Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont. Hogstraten and Horn
+endeavored to evade the necessity. The former was offended at a proof
+of distrust which shortly before the regent had given him. Under the
+pretext that Malines could not safely be left any longer without its
+governor, but that the presence of the count was no less necessary in
+Antwerp, she had taken from him that province and given it to another
+whose fidelity she could better reckon upon. Hostraten expressed his
+thanks that she had been pleased to release him from one of his burdens,
+adding that she would complete the obligation if she would relieve him
+from the other also. True to his determination Count Horn was living
+on one of his estates in the strong town of Weerdt, having retired
+altogether from public affairs. Having quitted the service of the
+state, he owed, he thought, nothing more either to the republic or to
+the king, and declined the oath, which in his case appears at last to
+have been waived.
+
+The Count of Brederode was left the choice of either taking the
+prescribed oath or resigning the command of his squadron of cavalry.
+After many fruitless attempts to evade the alternative, on the plea that
+he did not hold office in the state, he at last resolved upon the latter
+course, and thereby escaped all risk of perjuring himself.
+
+Vain were all the attempts to prevail on the Prince of Orange to take
+the oath, who, from the suspicion which had long attached to him,
+required more than any other this purification; and from whom the great
+power which it had been necessary to place in his hands fully justified
+the regent in exacting it. It was not, however, advisable to proceed
+against him with the laconic brevity adopted towards Brederode and the
+like; on the other hand, the voluntary resignation of all his offices,
+which he tendered, did not meet the object of the regent, who foresaw
+clearly enough how really dangerous he would become, as soon as he
+should feel himself independent, and be no longer checked by any
+external considerations of character or duty in the prosecution of his
+secret designs. But ever since the consultation in Dendermonde the
+Prince of Orange had made up his mind to quit the service of the King of
+Spain on the first favorable opportunity, and till better days to leave
+the country itself. A very disheartening experience had taught him how
+uncertain are hopes built on the multitude, and how quickly their zeal
+is cooled by the necessity of fulfilling its lofty promises. An army
+was already in the field, and a far stronger one was, he knew, on its
+road, under the command of the Duke of Alva. The time for remonstrances
+was past; it was only at the head of an army that an advantageous treaty
+could now be concluded with the regent, and by preventing the entrance
+of the Spanish general. But now where was he to raise this army, in
+want as he was of money, the sinews of warfare, since the Protestants
+had retracted their boastful promises and deserted him in this pressing
+emergency?
+
+   [How valiant the wish, and how sorry the deed was, is proved by the
+   following instance amongst others. Some friends of the national
+   liberty, Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, had solemnly
+   engaged in Amsterdam to subscribe to a common fund the hundredth
+   penny of their estates, until a sum of eleven thousand florins
+   should be collected, which was to be devoted to the common cause
+   and interests. An alms-box, protected by three locks, was prepared
+   for the reception of these contributions. After the expiration of
+   the prescribed period it was opened, and a sum was found amounting
+   to seven hundred florins, which was given to the hostess of the
+   Count of Brederode, in part payment of his unliquidated score.
+   Univ. Hist. of the N., vol. 3.]
+
+Religious jealousy and hatred, moreover, separated the two Protestant
+churches, and stood in the way of every salutary combination against
+the common enemy of their faith. The rejection of the Confession of
+Augsburg by the Calvinists had exasperated all the Protestant princes of
+Germany, so that no support was to be looked for from the empire. With
+Count Egmont the excellent army of Walloons was also lost to the cause,
+for they followed with blind devotion the fortunes of their general, who
+had taught them at St. Quentin and Gravelines to be invincible. And
+again, the outrages which the Iconoclasts had perpetrated on the
+churches and convents had estranged from the league the numerous,
+wealthy, and powerful class of the established clergy, who, before this
+unlucky episode, were already more than half gained over to it; while,
+by her intrigues, the regent daily contrived to deprive the league
+itself of some one or other of its most influential members.
+
+All these considerations combined induced the prince to postpone to
+a more favorable season a project for which the present juncture was
+little suited, and to leave a country where his longer stay could not
+effect any advantage for it, but must bring certain destruction on
+himself. After intelligence gleaned from so many quarters, after so
+many proofs of distrust, so many warnings from Madrid, he could be no
+longer doubtful of the sentiments of Philip towards him. If even he
+had any doubt, his uncertainty would soon have been dispelled by the
+formidable armament which was preparing in Spain, and which was to have
+for its leader, not the king, as was falsely given out, but, as he was
+better informed, the Duke of Alva, his personal enemy, and the very man
+he had most cause to fear. The prince had seen too deeply into Philip’s
+heart to believe in the sincerity of his reconciliation after having
+once awakened his fears. He judged his own conduct too justly to
+reckon, like his friend Egmont, on reaping a gratitude from the king to
+which he had not sown. He could therefore expect nothing but hostility
+from him, and prudence counselled him to screen himself by a timely
+flight from its actual outbreak. He had hitherto obstinately refused
+to take the new oath, and all the written exhortations of the regent
+had been fruitless. At last she sent to him at Antwerp her private
+secretary, Berti, who was to put the matter emphatically to his
+conscience, and forcibly remind him of all the evil consequences which
+so sudden a retirement from the royal service would draw upon the
+country, as well as the irreparable injury it would do to his own fair
+fame. Already, she informed him by her ambassador, his declining the
+required oath had cast a shade upon his honor, and imparted to the
+general voice, which accused him of an understanding with the rebels, an
+appearance of truth which this unconditional resignation would convert
+to absolute certainty. It was for the sovereign to discharge his
+servants, but it did not become the servant to abandon his sovereign.
+The envoy of the regent found the prince in his palace at Antwerp,
+already, as it appeared, withdrawn from the public service, and entirely
+devoted to his private concerns. The prince told him, in the presence
+of Hogstraten, that he had refused to take the required oath because he
+could not find that such a proposition had ever before been made to a
+governor of a province; because he had already bound himself, once for
+all, to the king, and therefore, by taking this new oath, he would
+tacitly acknowledge that he had broken the first. He had also refused
+because the old oath enjoined him to protect the rights and privileges
+of the country, but he could not tell whether this new one might not
+impose upon him duties which would contravene the first; because, too,
+the clause which bound him to serve, if required, against all without
+distinction, did not except even the emperor, his feudal lord, against
+whom, however, he, as his vassal, could not conscientiously make war.
+He had refused to take this oath because it might impose upon him the
+necessity of surrendering his friends and relations, his children, nay,
+even his wife, who was a Lutheran, to butchery. According to it,
+moreover, he must lend himself to every thing which it should occur to
+the king’s fancy or passion to demand. But the king might thus exact
+from him things which he shuddered even to think of, and even the
+severities which were now, and had been all along, exercised upon the
+Protestants, were the most revolting to his heart. This oath, in short,
+was repugnant to his feelings as a man, and he could not take it. In
+conclusion, the name of the Duke of Alva dropped from his lips in a tone
+of bitterness, and he became immediately silent.
+
+All these objections were answered, point by point, by Berti. Certainly
+such an oath had never been required from a governor before him, because
+the provinces had never been similarly circumstanced. It was not
+exacted because the governors had broken the first, but in order to
+remind them vividly of their former vows, and to freshen their activity
+in the present emergency. This oath would not impose upon him anything
+which offended against the rights and privileges of the country, for the
+king had sworn to observe these as well as the Prince of Orange. The
+oath did not, it was true, contain any reference to a war with the
+emperor, or any other sovereign to whom the prince might be related; and
+if he really had scruples on this point, a distinct clause could easily
+be inserted, expressly providing against such a contingency. Care would
+be taken to spare him any duties which were repugnant to his feelings as
+a man, and no power on earth would compel him to act against his wife or
+against his children. Berti was then passing to the last point, which
+related to the Duke of Alva, but the prince, who did not wish to have
+this part of his discourse canvassed, interrupted him. “The king was
+coming to the Netherlands,” he said, “and he knew the king. The king
+would not endure that one of his servants should have wedded a Lutheran,
+and he had therefore resolved to go with his whole family into voluntary
+banishment before he was obliged to submit to the same by compulsion.
+But,” he concluded, “wherever he might be, he would always conduct
+himself as a subject of the king.” Thus far-fetched were the motives
+which the prince adduced to avoid touching upon the single one which
+really decided him.
+
+Berti had still a hope of obtaining, through Egmont’s eloquence, what by
+his own he despaired of effecting. He therefore proposed a meeting with
+the latter (1567), which the prince assented to the more willingly as he
+himself felt a desire to embrace his friend once more before his
+departure, and if possible to snatch the deluded man from certain
+destruction. This remarkable meeting, at which the private secretary,
+Berti, and the young Count Mansfeld, were also present, was the last
+that the two friends ever held, and took place in Villebroeck, a village
+on the Rupel, between Brussels and Antwerp. The Calvinists, whose last
+hope rested on the issue of this conference, found means to acquaint
+themselves of its import by a spy, who concealed himself in the chimney
+of the apartment where it was held. All three attempted to shake the
+determination of the prince, but their united eloquence was unable to
+move him from his purpose. “It will cost you your estates, Orange, if
+you persist in this intention,” said the Prince of Gaure, as he took him
+aside to a window. “And you your life, Egmont, if you change not
+yours,” replied the former. “To me it will at least be a consolation in
+my misfortunes that I desired, in deed as well as in word, to help my
+country and my friends in the hour of need; but you, my friend, you are
+dragging friends and country with you to destruction.” And saying these
+words, he once again exhorted him, still more urgently than ever, to
+return to the cause of his country, which his arm alone was yet able to
+preserve; if not, at least for his own sake to avoid the tempest which
+was gathering against him from Spain.
+
+But all the arguments, however lucid, with which a far-discerning
+prudence supplied him, and however urgently enforced, with all the ardor
+and animation which the tender anxiety of friendship could alone
+inspire, did not avail to destroy the fatal confidence which still
+fettered Egmont’s better reason. The warning of Orange seemed to come
+from a sad and dispirited heart; but for Egmont the world still smiled.
+To abandon the pomp and affluence in which he had grown up to youth and
+manhood; to part with all the thousand conveniences of life which alone
+made it valuable to him, and all this to escape an evil which his
+buoyant spirit regarded as remote, if not imaginary; no, that was not a
+sacrifice which could be asked from Egmont. But had he even been less
+given to indulgence than he was, with what heart could he have consigned
+a princess, accustomed by uninterrupted prosperity to ease and comfort,
+a wife who loved him as dearly as she was beloved, the children on whom
+his soul hung in hope and fondness, to privations at the prospect of
+which his own courage sank, and which a sublime philosophy alone can
+enable sensuality to undergo. “You will never persuade me, Orange,”
+ said Egmont, “to see things in the gloomy light in which they appear to
+thy mournful prudence. When I have succeeded in abolishing the public
+preachings, and chastising the Iconoclasts, in crushing the rebels, and
+restoring peace and order in the provinces, what can the king lay to my
+charge? The king is good and just; I have claims upon his gratitude,
+and I must not forget what I owe to myself.” “Well, then,” cried
+Orange, indignantly and with bitter anguish, “trust, if you will, to
+this royal gratitude; but a mournful presentiment tells me--and may
+Heaven grant that I am deceived!--that you, Egmont, will be the bridge
+by which the Spaniards will pass into our country to destroy it.” After
+these words, he drew him to his bosom, ardently clasping him in his
+arms. Long, as though the sight was to serve for the remainder of his
+life, did he keep his eyes fixed upon him; the tears fell; they saw each
+other no more.
+
+The very next day the Prince of Orange wrote his letter of resignation
+to the regent, in which he assured her of his perpetual esteem, and once
+again entreated her to put the best interpretation on his present step.
+He then set off with his three brothers and his whole family for his own
+town of Breda, where he remained only as long as was requisite to
+arrange some private affairs. His eldest son, Prince Philip William,
+was left behind at the University of Louvain, where he thought him
+sufficiently secure under the protection of the privileges of Brabant
+and the immunities of the academy; an imprudence which, if it was really
+not designed, can hardly be reconciled with the just estimate which, in
+so many other cases, he had taken of the character of his adversary. In
+Breda the heads of the Calvinists once more consulted him whether there
+was still hope for them, or whether all was irretrievably lost. “He had
+before advised them,” replied the prince, “and must now do so again, to
+accede to the Confession of Augsburg; then they might rely upon aid from
+Germany. If they would still not consent to this, they must raise six
+hundred thousand florins, or more, if they could.” “The first,” they
+answered, “was at variance with their conviction and their conscience;
+but means might perhaps be found to raise the money if he would only let
+them know for what purpose he would use it.” “No!” cried he, with the
+utmost displeasure, “if I must tell you that, it is all over with the
+use of it.” With these words he immediately broke off the conference
+and dismissed the deputies.
+
+The Prince of Orange was reproached with having squandered his fortune,
+and with favoring the innovations on account of his debts; but he
+asserted that he still enjoyed sixty thousand florins yearly rental.
+Before his departure he borrowed twenty thousand florins from the states
+of Holland on the mortgage of some manors. Men could hardly persuade
+themselves that he would have succumbed to necessity so entirely, and
+without an effort at resistance given up all his hopes and schemes. But
+what he secretly meditated no one knew, no one had read in his heart.
+Being asked how he intended to conduct himself towards the King of
+Spain, “Quietly,” was his answer, “unless he touches my honor or my
+estates.” He left the Netherlands soon afterwards, and betook himself
+in retirement to the town of Dillenburg, in Nassau, at which place he
+was born. He was accompanied to Germany by many hundreds, either as his
+servants or as volunteers, and was soon followed by Counts Hogstraten,
+Kuilemberg, and Bergen, who preferred to share a voluntary exile with
+him rather than recklessly involve themselves in an uncertain destiny.
+In his departure the nation saw the flight of its guardian angel; many
+had adored, all had honored him. With him the last stay of the
+Protestants gave way; they, however, had greater hopes from this man
+in exile than from all the others together who remained behind. Even
+the Roman Catholics could not witness his departure without regret.
+Them also had he shielded from tyranny; he had not unfrequently
+protected them against the oppression of their own church, and he had
+rescued many of them from the sanguinary jealousy of their religious
+opponents. A few fanatics among the Calvinists, who were offended with
+his proposal of an alliance with their brethren, who avowed the
+Confession of Augsburg, solemnized with secret thanksgivings the day on
+which the enemy left them. (1567).
+
+
+
+
+        DECAY AND DISPERSION OF THE GEUSEN LEAGUE.
+
+Immediately after taking leave of his friend, the Prince of Gaure
+hastened back to Brussels, to receive from the regent the reward of his
+firmness, and there, in the excitement of the court and in the sunshine
+of his good fortune, to dispel the light cloud which the earnest
+warnings of the Prince of Orange had cast over his natural gayety.
+The flight of the latter now left him in possession of the stage.
+He had now no longer any rival in the republic to dim his glory. With
+redoubled zeal he wooed the transient favor of the court, above which he
+ought to have felt himself far exalted. All Brussels must participate
+in his joy. He gave splendid banquets and public entertainments, at
+which, the better to eradicate all suspicion from his mind, the regent
+herself frequently attended. Not content with having taken the required
+oath, he outstripped the most devout in devotion; outran the most
+zealous in zeal to extirpate the Protestant faith, and to reduce by
+force of arms the refractory towns of Flanders. He declared to his old
+friend, Count Hogstraten, as also to the rest of the Gueux, that he
+would withdraw from them his friendship forever if they hesitated any
+longer to return into the bosom of the church, and reconcile themselves
+with their king. All the confidential letters which had been exchanged
+between him and them were returned, and by this last step the breach
+between them was made public and irreparable. Egmont’s secession, and
+the flight of the Prince of Orange, destroyed the last hope of the
+Protestants and dissolved the whole league of the Gueux. Its members
+vied with each other in readiness--nay, they could not soon enough
+abjure the covenant and take the new oath proposed to them by the
+government. In vain did the Protestant merchants exclaim at this breach
+of faith on the part of the nobles; their weak voice was no longer
+listened to, and all the sums were lost with which they had supplied the
+league.
+
+The most important places were quickly reduced and garrisoned; the
+rebels had fled, or perished by the hand of the executioner; in the
+provinces no protector was left. All yielded to the fortune of the
+regent, and her victorious army was advancing against Antwerp. After a
+long and obstinate contest this town had been cleared of the worst
+rebels; Hermann and his adherents took to flight; the internal storms
+had spent their rage. The minds of the people became gradually
+composed, and no longer excited at will by every furious fanatic, began
+to listen to better counsels. The wealthier citizens earnestly longed
+for peace to revive commerce and trade, which had suffered severely from
+the long reign of anarchy. The dread of Alva’s approach worked wonders;
+in order to prevent the miseries which a Spanish army would inflict upon
+the country, the people hastened to throw themselves on the gentler
+mercies of the regent. Of their own accord they despatched
+plenipotentiaries to Brussels to negotiate for a treaty and to hear her
+terms. Agreeably as the regent was surprised by this voluntary step,
+she did not allow herself to be hurried away by her joy. She declared
+that she neither could nor would listen to any overtures or
+representations until the town had received a garrison. Even this was
+no longer opposed, and Count Mansfeld marched in the day after with
+sixteen squadrons in battle array. A solemn treaty was now made between
+the town and duchess, by which the former bound itself to prohibit the
+Calvinistic form of worship, to banish all preachers of that persuasion,
+to restore the Roman Catholic religion to its former dignity, to
+decorate the despoiled churches with their former ornaments, to
+administer the old edicts as before, to take the new oath which the
+other towns had sworn to, and, lastly, to deliver into the hands of
+justice all who been guilty of treason, in bearing arms, or taking part
+in the desecration of the churches. On the other hand, the regent
+pledged herself to forget all that had passed, and even to intercede for
+the offenders with the king. All those who, being dubious of obtaining
+pardon, preferred banishment, were to be allowed a month to convert
+their property into money, and place themselves in safety. From this
+grace none were to be excluded but such as had been guilty of a capital
+offence, and who were excepted by the previous article. Immediately
+upon the conclusion of this treaty all Calvinist and Lutheran preachers
+in Antwerp, and the adjoining territory, were warned by the herald to
+quit the country within twenty-four hours. All the streets and gates
+were now thronged with fugitives, who for the honor of their God
+abandoned what was dearest to them, and sought a more peaceful home for
+their persecuted faith. Here husbands were taking an eternal farewell
+of their wives, fathers of their children; there whole families were
+preparing to depart. All Antwerp resembled a house of mourning;
+wherever the eye turned some affecting spectacle of painful separation
+presented itself. A seal was set on the doors of the Protestant
+churches; the whole worship seemed to be extinct. The 10th of April
+(1567) was the day appointed for the departure of the preachers. In the
+town hall, where they appeared for the last time to take leave of the
+magistrate, they could not command their grief; but broke forth into
+bitter reproaches. They had been sacrificed, they exclaimed, they had
+been shamefully betrayed; but a time would come when Antwerp would pay
+dearly enough for this baseness. Still more bitter were the complaints
+of the Lutheran clergy, whom the magistrate himself had invited into the
+country to preach against the Calvinists. Under the delusive
+representation that the king was not unfavorable to their religion they
+had been seduced into a combination against the Calvinists, but as soon
+as the latter had been by their co-operation brought under subjection,
+and their own services were no longer required, they were left to bewail
+their folly, which had involved themselves and their enemies in common
+ruin.
+
+A few days afterwards the regent entered Antwerp in triumph, accompanied
+by a thousand Walloon horse, the Knights of the Golden Fleece, all the
+governors and counsellors, a number of municipal officers, and her whole
+court. Her first visit was to the cathedral, which still bore
+lamentable traces of the violence of the Iconoclasts, and drew from her
+many and bitter tears. Immediately afterwards four of the rebels, who
+had been overtaken in their flight, were brought in and executed in the
+public market-place. All the children who had been baptized after the
+Protestant rites were rebaptized by Roman Catholic priests; all the
+schools of heretics were closed, and their churches levelled to the
+ground. Nearly all the towns in the Netherlands followed the example of
+Antwerp and banished the Protestant preachers. By the end of April the
+Roman Catholic churches were repaired and embellished more splendidly
+than ever, while all the Protestant places of worship were pulled down,
+and every vestige of the proscribed belief obliterated in the seventeen
+provinces. The populace, whose sympathies are generally with the
+successful party, was now as active in accelerating the ruin of the
+unfortunate as a short time before it had been furiously zealous in its
+cause; in Ghent a large and beautiful church which the Calvinists had
+erected was attacked, and in less than an hour had wholly disappeared.
+From the beams of the roofless churches gibbets were erected for those
+who had profaned the sanctuaries of the Roman Catholics. The places of
+execution were filled with corpses, the prisons with condemned victims,
+the high roads with fugitives. Innumerable were the victims of this
+year of murder; in the smallest towns fifty at least, in several of the
+larger as many as three hundred, were put to death, while no account was
+kept of the numbers in the open country who fell into the hands of the
+provost-marshal and were immediately strung up as miscreants, without
+trial and without mercy.
+
+The regent was still in Antwerp when ambassadors presented themselves
+from the Electors of Brandenburg, Saxony, Hesse, Wurtemberg, and Baden
+to intercede for their fugitive brethren in the faith. The expelled
+preachers of the Augsburg Confession had claimed the rights assured to
+them by the religious peace of the Germans, in which Brabant, as part of
+the empire, participated, and had thrown themselves on the protection of
+those princes. The arrival of the foreign ministers alarmed the regent,
+and she vainly endeavored to prevent their entrance into Antwerp; under
+the guise, however, of showing them marks of honor, she continued to
+keep them closely watched lest they should encourage the malcontents in
+any attempts against the peace of the town. From the high tone which
+they most unreasonably adopted towards the regent it might almost be
+inferred that they were little in earnest in their demand. “It was but
+reasonable,” they said, “that the Confession of Augsburg, as the only
+one which met the spirit of the gospel, should be the ruling faith in
+the Netherlands; but to persecute it by such cruel edicts as were in
+force was positively unnatural and could not be allowed. They therefore
+required of the regent, in the name of religion, not to treat the people
+entrusted to her rule with such severity.” She replied through the Count
+of Staremberg, her minister for German affairs, that such an exordium
+deserved no answer at all. From the sympathy which the German princes
+had shown for the Belgian fugitives it was clear that they gave less
+credit to the letters of the king, in explanation of his measures, than
+to the reports of a few worthless wretches who, in the desecrated
+churches, had left behind them a worthier memorial of their acts and
+characters. It would far more become them to leave to the King of Spain
+the care of his own subjects, and abandon the attempt to foster a spirit
+of rebellion in foreign countries, from which they would reap neither
+honor nor profit. The ambassadors left Antwerp in a few days without
+having effected anything. The Saxon minister, indeed, in a private
+interview with the regent even assured her that his master had most
+reluctantly taken this step.
+
+The German ambassadors had not quitted Antwerp when intelligence from
+Holland completed the triumph of the regent. From fear of Count Megen
+Count Brederode had deserted his town of Viane, and with the aid of the
+Protestants inhabitants had succeeded in throwing himself into
+Amsterdam, where his arrival caused great alarm to the city magistrate,
+who had previously found difficulty in preventing a revolt, while it
+revived the courage of the Protestants. Here Brederode’s adherents
+increased daily, and many noblemen flocked to him from Utrecht,
+Friesland, and Groningen, whence the victorious arms of Megen and
+Aremberg had driven them. Under various disguises they found means to
+steal into the city, where they gathered round Brederode, and served him
+as a strong body-guard. The regent, apprehensive of a new outbreak,
+sent one of her private secretaries, Jacob de la Torre, to the council
+of Amsterdam, and ordered them to get rid of Count Brederode on any
+terms and at any risk. Neither the magistrate nor de la Torre himself,
+who visited Brederode in person to acquaint him with the will of the
+duchess, could prevail upon him to depart. The secretary was even
+surprised in his own chamber by a party of Brederode’s followers, and
+deprived of all his papers, and would, perhaps, have lost his life also
+if he had not contrived to make his escape. Brederode remained in
+Amsterdam a full month after this occurrence, a powerless idol of the
+Protestants, and an oppressive burden to the Roman Catholics; while his
+fine army, which he had left in Viane, reinforced by many fugitives from
+the southern provinces, gave Count Megen enough to do without attempting
+to harass the Protestants in their flight. At last Brederode resolved
+to follow the example of Orange, and, yielding to necessity, abandon a
+desperate cause. He informed the town council that he was willing to
+leave Amsterdam if they would enable him to do so by furnishing him with
+the pecuniary means. Glad to get quit of him, they hastened to borrow
+the money on the security of the town council. Brederode quitted
+Amsterdam the same night, and was conveyed in a gunboat as far as Vlie,
+from whence he fortunately escaped to Embden. Fate treated him more
+mildly than the majority of those he had implicated in his foolhardy
+enterprise; he died the year after, 1568, at one of his castles in
+Germany, from the effects of drinking, by which he sought ultimately to
+drown his grief and disappointments. His widow, Countess of Moers in
+her own right, was remarried to the Prince Palatine, Frederick III. The
+Protestant cause lost but little by his demise; the work which he had
+commenced, as it had not been kept alive by him, so it did not die with
+him.
+
+The little army, which in his disgraceful flight he had deserted, was
+bold and valiant, and had a few resolute leaders. It disbanded, indeed,
+as soon as he, to whom it looked for pay, had fled; but hunger and
+courage kept its parts together some time longer. One body, under
+command of Dietrich of Battenburgh, marched to Amsterdam in the hope of
+carrying that town; but Count Megen hastened with thirteen companies of
+excellent troops to its relief, and compelled the rebels to give up the
+attempt. Contenting themselves with plundering the neighboring
+cloisters, among which the abbey of Egmont in particular was hardly
+dealt with, they turned off towards Waaterland, where they hoped the
+numerous swamps would protect them from pursuit. But thither Count
+Megen followed them, and compelled them in all haste to seek safety in
+the Zuyderzee. The brothers Van Battenburg, and two Friesan nobles,
+Beima and Galama, with a hundred and twenty men and the booty they had
+taken from the monasteries, embarked near the town of Hoorne, intending
+to cross to Friesland, but through the treachery of the steersman, who
+ran the vessel on a sand-bank near Harlingen, they fell into the hands
+of one of Aremberg’s captains, who took them all prisoners. The Count
+of Aremberg immediately pronounced sentence upon all the captives of
+plebeian rank, but sent his noble prisoners to the regent, who caused
+seven of them to be beheaded. Seven others of the most noble, including
+the brothers Van Battenburg and some Frieslanders, all in the bloom of
+youth, were reserved for the Duke of Alva, to enable him to signalize
+the commencement of his administration by a deed which was in every way
+worthy of him. The troops in four other vessels which set sail from
+Medenhlick, and were pursued by Count Megen in small boats, were more
+successful. A contrary wind had forced them out of their course and
+driven them ashore on the coast of Gueldres, where they all got safe to
+land; crossing the Rhine, near Heusen, they fortunately escaped into
+Cleves, where they tore their flags in pieces and dispersed. In North
+Holland Count Megen overtook some squadrons who had lingered too long in
+plundering the cloisters, and completely overpowered them. He
+afterwards formed a junction with Noircarmes and garrisoned Amsterdam.
+The Duke Erich of Brunswick also surprised three companies, the last
+remains of the army of the Gueux, near Viane, where they were
+endeavoring to take a battery, routed them and captured their leader,
+Rennesse, who was shortly afterwards beheaded at the castle of
+Freudenburg, in Utrecht. Subsequently, when Duke Erich entered Viane,
+he found nothing but deserted streets, the inhabitants having left it
+with the garrison on the first alarm. He immediately razed the
+fortifications, and reduced this arsenal of the Gueux to an open town
+without defences. All the originators of the league were now dispersed;
+Brederode and Louis of Nassau had fled to Germany, and Counts
+Hogstraten, Bergen, and Kuilemberg had followed their example.
+Mansfeld had seceded, the brothers Van Battenburg awaited in prison an
+ignomonious fate, while Thoulouse alone had found an honorable death on
+the field of battle. Those of the confederates who had escaped the
+sword of the enemy and the axe of the executioner had saved nothing but
+their lives, and thus the title which they had assumed for show became
+at last a terrible reality.
+
+Such was the inglorious end of the noble league, which in its beginning
+awakened such fair hopes and promised to become a powerful protection
+against oppression. Unanimity was its strength, distrust and internal
+dissension its ruin. It brought to light and developed many rare and
+beautiful virtues, but it wanted the most indispensable of all, prudence
+and moderation, without which any undertaking must miscarry, and all the
+fruits of the most laborious industry perish. If its objects had been
+as pure as it pretended, or even had they remained as pure as they
+really were at its first establishment, it might have defied the
+unfortunate combination of circumstances which prematurely overwhelmed
+it, and even if unsuccessful it would still have deserved an honorable
+mention in history. But it is too evident that the confederate nobles,
+whether directly or indirectly, took a greater share in the frantic
+excesses of the Iconoclasts than comported with the dignity and
+blamelessness of their confederation, and many among them openly
+exchanged their own good cause for the mad enterprise of these worthless
+vagabonds. The restriction of the Inquisition and a mitigation of the
+cruel inhumanity of the edicts must be laid to the credit of the league;
+but this transient relief was dearly purchased, at the cost of so many
+of the best and bravest citizens, who either lost their lives in the
+field, or in exile carried their wealth and industry to another quarter
+of the world; and of the presence of Alva and the Spanish arms. Many,
+too, of its peaceable citizens, who without its dangerous temptations
+would never have been seduced from the ranks of peace and order, were
+beguiled by the hope of success into the most culpable enterprises, and
+by their failure plunged into ruin and misery. But it cannot be denied
+that the league atoned in some measure for these wrongs by positive
+benefits. It brought together and emboldened many whom a selfish
+pusillanimity kept asunder and inactive; it diffused a salutary public
+spirit amongst the Belgian people, which the oppression of the
+government had almost entirely extinguished, and gave unanimity and a
+common voice to the scattered members of the nation, the absence of
+which alone makes despots bold. The attempt, indeed, failed, and the
+knots, too carelessly tied, were quickly unloosed; but it was through
+such failures that the nation was eventually to attain to a firm and
+lasting union, which should bid defiance to change.
+
+The total destruction of the Geusen army quickly brought the Dutch towns
+also back to their obedience, and in the provinces there remained not a
+single place which had not submitted to the regent; but the increasing
+emigration, both of the natives and the foreign residents, threatened
+the country with depopulation. In Amsterdam the crowd of fugitives was
+so great that vessels were wanting to convey them across the North Sea
+and the Zuyderzee, and that flourishing emporium beheld with dismay the
+approaching downfall of its prosperity. Alarmed at this general flight,
+the regent hastened to write letters to all the towns, to encourage the
+citizens to remain, and by fair promises to revive a hope of better and
+milder measures. In the king’s name she promised to all who would
+freely swear to obey the state and the church complete indemnity, and by
+public proclamation invited the fugitives to trust to the royal clemency
+and return to their homes. She engaged also to relieve the nation from
+the dreaded presence of a Spanish army, even if it were already on the
+frontiers; nay, she went so far as to drop hints that, if necessary,
+means might be found to prevent it by force from entering the provinces,
+as she was fully determined not to relinquish to another the glory of a
+peace which it had cost her so much labor to effect. Few, however,
+returned in reliance upon her word, and these few had cause to repent it
+in the sequel; many thousands had already quitted the country, and
+several thousands more quickly followed them. Germany and England were
+filled with Flemish emigrants, who, wherever they settled, retained
+their usages and manners, and even their costume, unwilling to come to
+the painful conclusion that they should never again see their native
+land, and to give up all hopes of return. Few carried with them any
+remains of their former affluence; the greater portion had to beg their
+way, and bestowed on their adopted country nothing but industrious skill
+and honest citizens.
+
+And now the regent hastened to report to the king tidings such as,
+during her whole administration, she had never before been able to
+gratify him with. She announced to him that she had succeeded in
+restoring quiet throughout the provinces, and that she thought herself
+strong enough to maintain it. The sects were extirpated, and the Roman
+Catholic worship re-established in all its former splendor; the rebels
+had either already met with, or were awaiting in prison, the punishment
+they deserved; the towns were secured by adequate garrisons. There was
+therefore no necessity for sending Spanish troops into the Netherlands,
+and nothing to justify their entrance. Their arrival would tend to
+destroy the existing repose, which it had cost so much to establish,
+would check the much-desired revival of commerce and trade, and, while
+it would involve the country in new expenses, would at the same time
+deprive them of the only means of supporting them. The mere rumor of
+the approach of a Spanish army had stripped the country of many
+thousands of its most valuable citizens; its actual appearance would
+reduce it to a desert. As there was no longer any enemy to subdue, or
+rebellion to suppress, the people would see no motive for the march of
+this army but punishment and revenge, and under this supposition its
+arrival would neither be welcomed nor honored. No longer excused by
+necessity, this violent expedient would assume the odious aspect of
+oppression, would exasperate the national mind afresh, drive the
+Protestants to desperation, and arm their brethren in other countries in
+their defence. The regent, she said, had in the king’s name promised
+the nation it should be relieved from this foreign army, and to this
+stipulation she was principally indebted for the present peace; she
+could not therefore guarantee its long continuance if her pledge was not
+faithfully fulfilled. The Netherlands would receive him as their
+sovereign, the king, with every mark of attachment and veneration, but
+he must come as a father to bless, not as a despot to chastise them.
+Let him come to enjoy the peace which she had bestowed on the country,
+but not to destroy it afresh.
+
+
+
+
+      ALVA’S ARMAMENT AND EXPEDITION TO THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+But it was otherwise determined in the council at Madrid. The minister,
+Granvella, who, even while absent himself, ruled the Spanish cabinet by
+his adherents; the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor, Spinosa, and the Duke of
+Alva, swayed respectively by hatred, a spirit of persecution, or private
+interest, had outvoted the milder councils of the Prince Ruy Gomes of
+Eboli, the Count of Feria, and the king’s confessor, Fresneda. The
+insurrection, it was urged by the former, was indeed quelled for the
+present, but only because the rebels were awed by the rumor of the
+king’s armed approach; it was to fear of punishment alone, and not to
+sorrow for their crime, that the present calm was to be ascribed, and
+it would soon again be broken if that feeling were allowed to subside.
+In fact, the offences of the people fairly afforded the king the
+opportunity he had so long desired of carrying out his despotic views
+with an appearance of justice. The peaceable settlement for which the
+regent took credit to herself was very far from according with his
+wishes, which sought rather for a legitimate pretext to deprive the
+provinces of their privileges, which were so obnoxious to his despotic
+temper.
+
+With an impenetrable dissimulation Philip had hitherto fostered the
+general delusion that he was about to visit the provinces in person,
+while all along nothing could have been more remote from his real
+intentions. Travelling at any time ill suited the methodical regularity
+of his life, which moved with the precision of clockwork; and his narrow
+and sluggish intellect was oppressed by the variety and multitude of
+objects with which new scenes crowded it. The difficulties and dangers
+which would attend a journey to the Netherlands must, therefore, have
+been peculiarly alarming to his natural timidity and love of ease. Why
+should he, who, in all that he did, was accustomed to consider himself
+alone, and to make men accommodate themselves to his principles, not his
+principles to men, undertake so perilous an expedition, when he could
+see neither the advantage nor necessity of it. Moreover, as it had ever
+been to him an utter impossibility to separate, even for a moment, his
+person from his royal dignity, which no prince ever guarded so
+tenaciously and pedantically as himself, so the magnificence and
+ceremony which in his mind were inseparably connected with such a
+journey, and the expenses which, on this account, it would necessarily
+occasion, were of themselves sufficient motives to account for his
+indisposition to it, without its being at all requisite to call in the
+aid of the influence of his favorite, Ruy Gomes, who is said to have
+desired to separate his rival, the Duke of Alva, from the king. Little,
+however, as be seriously intended this journey, he still deemed it
+advisable to keep up the expectation of it, as well with a view of
+sustaining the courage of the loyal as of preventing a dangerous
+combination of the disaffected, and stopping the further progress
+of the rebels.
+
+In order to carry on the deception as long as possible, Philip made
+extensive preparations for his departure, and neglected nothing which
+could be required for such an event. He ordered ships to be fitted out,
+appointed the officers and others to attend him. To allay the suspicion
+such warlike preparations might excite in all foreign courts, they were
+informed through his ambassadors of his real design. He applied to the
+King of France for a passage for himself and attendants through that
+kingdom, and consulted the Duke of Savoy as to the preferable route. He
+caused a list to be drawn up of all the towns and fortified places that
+lay in his march, and directed all the intermediate distances to be
+accurately laid down. Orders were issued for taking a map and survey of
+the whole extent of country between Savoy and Burgundy, the duke being
+requested to furnish the requisite surveyors and scientific officers.
+To such lengths was the deception carried that the regent was commanded
+to hold eight vessels at least in readiness off Zealand, and to despatch
+them to meet the king the instant she heard of his having sailed from
+Spain; and these ships she actually got ready, and caused prayers to be
+offered up in all the churches for the king’s safety during the voyage,
+though in secret many persons did not scruple to remark that in his
+chamber at Madrid his majesty would not have much cause to dread the
+storms at sea. Philip played his part with such masterly skill that the
+Belgian ambassadors at Madrid, Lords Bergen and Montigny, who at first
+had disbelieved in the sincerity of his pretended journey, began at last
+to be alarmed, and infected their friends in Brussels with similar
+apprehensions. An attack of tertian ague, which about this time the
+king suffered, or perhaps feigned, in Segovia, afforded a plausible
+pretence for postponing his journey, while meantime the preparations for
+it were carried on with the utmost activity. At last, when the urgent
+and repeated solicitations of his sister compelled him to make a
+definite explanation of his plans, he gave orders that the Duke of Alva
+should set out forthwith with an army, both to clear the way before him
+of rebels, and to enhance the splendor of his own royal arrival. He did
+not yet venture to throw off the mask and announce the duke as his
+substitute. He had but too much reason to fear that the submission
+which his Flemish nobles would cheerfully yield to their sovereign would
+be refused to one of his servants, whose cruel character was well known,
+and who, moreover, was detested as a foreigner and the enemy of their
+constitution. And, in fact, the universal belief that the king was soon
+to follow, which long survived Alva’s entrance into the country,
+restrained the outbreak of disturbances which otherwise would assuredly
+have been caused by the cruelties which marked the very opening of the
+duke’s government.
+
+The clergy of Spain, and especially the Inquisition, contributed richly
+towards the expenses of this expedition as to a holy war. Throughout
+Spain the enlisting was carried on with the utmost zeal. The viceroys
+and governors of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Milan received orders to
+select the best of their Italian and Spanish troops in the garrisons and
+despatch them to the general rendezvous in the Genoese territory, where
+the Duke of Alva would exchange them for the Spanish recruits which he
+should bring with him. At the same time the regent was commanded to
+hold in readiness a few more regiments of German infantry in Luxembourg,
+under the command of the Counts Eberstein, Schaumburg, and Lodrona, and
+also some squadrons of light cavalry in the Duchy of Burgundy to
+reinforce the Spanish general immediately on his entrance into the
+provinces. The Count of Barlaimont was commissioned to furnish the
+necessary provision for the armament, and a sum of two hundred thousand
+gold florins was remitted to the regent to enable her to meet these
+expenses and to maintain her own troops.
+
+The French court, however, under pretence of the danger to be
+apprehended from the Huguenots, had refused to allow the Spanish army to
+pass through France. Philip applied to the Dukes of Savoy and Lorraine,
+who were too dependent upon him to refuse his request. The former
+merely stipulated that he should be allowed to maintain two thousand
+infantry and a squadron of horse at the king’s expense in order to
+protect his country from the injuries to which it might otherwise be
+exposed from the passage of the Spanish army. At the same time he
+undertook to provide the necessary supplies for its maintenance during
+the transit.
+
+The rumor of this arrangement roused the Huguenots, the Genevese, the
+Swiss, and the Grisons. The Prince of Conde and the Admiral Coligny
+entreated Charles IX. not to neglect so favorable a moment of inflicting
+a deadly blow on the hereditary foe of France. With the aid of the
+Swiss, the Genevese, and his own Protestant subjects, it would, they
+alleged, be an easy matter to destroy the flower of the Spanish troops
+in the narrow passes of the Alpine mountains; and they promised to
+support him in this undertaking with an army of fifty thousand
+Huguenots. This advice, however, whose dangerous object was not easily
+to be mistaken, was plausibly declined by Charles IX., who assured them
+that he was both able and anxious to provide for the security of his
+kingdom. He hastily despatched troops to cover the French frontiers;
+and the republics of Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and the Grisons followed his
+example, all ready to offer a determined opposition to the dreaded enemy
+of their religion and their liberty.
+
+On the 5th of May, 1567, the Duke of Alva set sail from Carthagena with
+thirty galleys, which had been furnished by Andrew Doria and the Duke
+Cosmo of Florence, and within eight days landed at Genoa, where the four
+regiments were waiting to join him. But a tertian ague, with which he
+was seized shortly after his arrival, compelled him to remain for some
+days inactive in Lombardy--a delay of which the neighboring powers
+availed themselves to prepare for defence. As soon as the duke
+recovered he held at Asti, in Montferrat, a review of all his troops,
+who were more formidable by their valor than by their numbers, since
+cavalry and infantry together did not amount to much above ten thousand
+men. In his long and perilous march he did not wish to encumber himself
+with useless supernumeraries, which would only impede his progress and
+increase the difficulty of supporting his army. These ten thousand
+veterans were to form the nucleus of a greater army, which, according as
+circumstances and occasion might require, he could easily assemble in
+the Netherlands themselves.
+
+This array, however, was as select as it was small. It consisted of the
+remains of those victorious legions at whose head Charles V. had made
+Europe tremble; sanguinary, indomitable bands, in whose battalions the
+firmness of the old Macedonian phalanx lived again; rapid in their
+evolutions from long practice, hardy and enduring, proud of their
+leader’s success, and confident from past victories, formidable by their
+licentiousness, but still more so by their discipline; let loose with
+all the passions of a warmer climate upon a rich and peaceful country,
+and inexorable towards an enemy whom the church had cursed. Their
+fanatical and sanguinary spirit, their thirst for glory and innate
+courage was aided by a rude sensuality, the instrument by which the
+Spanish general firmly and surely ruled his otherwise intractable
+troops. With a prudent indulgence he allowed riot and voluptuousness
+to reign throughout the camp. Under his tacit connivance Italian
+courtezans followed the standards; even in the march across the
+Apennines, where the high price of the necessaries of life compelled him
+to reduce his force to the smallest possible number, he preferred to
+have a few regiments less rather than to leave behind these instruments
+of voluptuousness.
+
+   [The bacchanalian procession of this army contrasted strangely
+   enough with the gloomy seriousness and pretended sanctity of his
+   aim. The number of these women was so great that to restrain the
+   disorders and quarrelling among themselves they hit upon the
+   expedient of establishing a discipline of their own. They ranged
+   themselves under particular flags, marched in ranks and sections,
+   and in admirable military order, after each battalion, and classed
+   themselves with strict etiquette according to their rank and pay.]
+
+But industriously as Alva strove to relax the morals of his soldiers,
+he enforced the more rigidly a strict military discipline, which was
+interrupted only by a victory or rendered less severe by a battle.
+For all this he had, he said, the authority of the Athenian General
+Iphicrates, who awarded the prize of valor to the pleasure-loving and
+rapacious soldier. The more irksome the restraint by which the passions
+of the soldiers were kept in check, the greater must have been the
+vehemence with which they broke forth at the sole outlet which was left
+open to them.
+
+The duke divided his infantry, which was about nine thousand strong, and
+chiefly Spaniards, into four brigades, and gave the command of them to
+four Spanish officers. Alphonso of Ulloa led the Neapolitan brigade of
+nine companies, amounting to three thousand two hundred and thirty men;
+Sancho of Lodogno commanded the Milan brigade, three thousand two
+hundred men in ten companies; the Sicilian brigade, with the same number
+of companies, and consisting of sixteen hundred men, was under Julian
+Romero, an experienced warrior, who had already fought on Belgian
+ground.
+
+   [The same officer who commanded one of the Spanish regiments about
+   which so much complaint had formerly been made in the States-
+   General.]
+
+Gonsalo of Braccamonte headed that of Sardinia, which was raised by
+three companies of recruits to the full complement of the former. To
+every company, moreover, were added fifteen Spanish musqueteers. The
+horse, in all twelve hundred strong, consisted of three Italian, two
+Albanian, and seven Spanish squadrons, light and heavy cavalry, and the
+chief command was held by Ferdinand and Frederick of Toledo, the two
+sons of Alva. Chiappin Vitelli, Marquis of Cetona, was field-marshal;
+a celebrated general whose services had been made over to the King of
+Spain by Cosmo of Florence; and Gabriel Serbellon was general of
+artillery. The Duke of Savoy lent Alva an experienced engineer, Francis
+Pacotto, of Urbino, who was to be employed in the erection of new
+fortifications. His standard was likewise followed by a number of
+volunteers, and the flower of the Spanish nobility, of whom the greater
+part had fought under Charles V. in Germany, Italy, and before Tunis.
+Among these were Christopher Mondragone, one of the ten Spanish heroes
+who, near Mithlberg, swam across the Elbe with their swords between
+their teeth, and, under a shower of bullets from the enemy, brought over
+from the opposite shore the boats which the emperor required for the
+construction of a bridge. Sancho of Avila, who had been trained to war
+under Alva himself, Camillo of Monte, Francis Ferdugo, Karl Davila,
+Nicolaus Basta, and Count Martinego, all fired with a noble ardor,
+either to commence their military career under so eminent a leader, or
+by another glorious campaign under his command to crown the fame they
+had already won. After the review the army marched in three divisions
+across Mount Cenis, by the very route which sixteen centuries before
+Hannibal is said to have taken. The duke himself led the van; Ferdinand
+of Toledo, with whom was associated Lodogno as colonel, the centre; and
+the Marquis of Cetona the rear. The Commissary General, Francis of
+Ibarra, was sent before with General Serbellon to open the road for the
+main body, and get ready the supplies at the several quarters for the
+night. The places which the van left in the morning were entered in the
+evening by the centre, which in its turn made room on the following day
+for the rear. Thus the army crossed the Alps of Savoy by regular
+stages, and with the fourteenth day completed that dangerous passage.
+A French army of observation accompanied it side by side along the
+frontiers of Dauphins, and the course of the Rhone, and the allied army
+of the Genevese followed it on the right, and was passed by it at a
+distance of seven miles. Both these armies of observation carefully
+abstained from any act of hostility, and were merely intended to cover
+their own frontiers. As the Spanish legions ascended and descended the
+steep mountain crags, or while they crossed the rapid Iser, or file by
+file wound through the narrow passes of the rocks, a handful of men
+would have been sufficient to put an entire stop to their march, and to
+drive them back into the mountains, where they would have been
+irretrievably lost, since at each place of encampment supplies were
+provided for no more than a single day, and for a third part only of the
+whole force. But a supernatural awe and dread of the Spanish name
+appeared to have blinded the eyes of the enemy so that they did not
+perceive their advantage, or at least did not venture to profit by it.
+In order to give them as little opportunity as possible of remembering
+it, the Spanish general hastened through this dangerous pass.
+
+Convinced, too, that if his troops gave the slightest umbrage he was
+lost, the strictest discipline was maintained during the march; not a
+single peasant’s hut, not a single field was injured; and never,
+perhaps, in the memory of man was so numerous an army led so far in such
+excellent order.
+
+   [Once only on entering Lorraine three horsemen ventured to drive
+   away a few sheep from a flock, of which circumstance the duke was
+   no sooner informed than he sent back to the owner what had been
+   taken from him and sentenced the offenders to be hung. This
+   sentence was, at the intercession of the Lorraine general, who had
+   come to the frontiers to pay his respects to the duke, executed on
+   only one of the three, upon whom the lot fell at the drum-head.]
+
+Destined as this army was for vengeance and murder, a malignant and
+baleful star seemed to conduct it safe through all dangers; and it would
+be difficult to decide whether the prudence of its general or the
+blindness of its enemies is most to be wondered at.
+
+In Franche Comte, four squadrons of Burgundian cavalry, newly-raised,
+joined the main army, which, at Luxembourg, was also reinforced by three
+regiments of German infantry under the command of Counts Eberstein,
+Schaumburg, and Lodrona. From Thionville, where he halted a few days,
+Alva sent his salutations to the regent by Francis of Ibarra, who was,
+at the same time, directed to consult her on the quartering of the
+troops. On her part, Noircarmes and Barlairnont were despatched to the
+Spanish camp to congratulate the duke on his arrival, and to show him
+the customary marks of honor. At the same time they were directed to
+ask him to produce the powers entrusted to him by the king, of which,
+however, he only showed a part. The envoys of the regent were followed
+by swarms of the Flemish nobility, who thought they could not hasten
+soon enough to conciliate the favor of the new viceroy, or by a timely
+submission avert the vengeance which was preparing. Among them was
+Count Egmont. As he came forward the duke pointed him out to the
+bystanders. “Here comes an arch-heretic,” he exclaimed, loud enough to
+be heard by Egmont himself, who, surprised at these words, stopped and
+changed color. But when the duke, in order to repair his imprudence,
+went up to him with a serene countenance, and greeted him with a
+friendly embrace, the Fleming was ashamed of his fears, and made light
+of this warning, by putting some frivolous interpretation upon it.
+Egmont sealed this new friendship with a present of two valuable
+chargers, which Alva accepted with a grave condescension.
+
+Upon the assurance of the regent that the provinces were in the
+enjoyment of perfect peace, and that no opposition was to be apprehended
+from any quarter, the duke discharged some German regiments, which had
+hitherto drawn their pay from the Netherlands. Three thousand six
+hundred men, under the command of Lodrona, were quartered in Antwerp,
+from which town the Walloon garrison, in which full reliance could not
+be placed, was withdrawn; garrisons proportionably stronger were thrown
+into Ghent and other important places; Alva himself marched with the
+Milan brigade towards Brussels, whither he was accompanied by a splendid
+cortege of the noblest in the land.
+
+Here, as in all the other towns of the Netherlands, fear and terror had
+preceded him, and all who were conscious of any offences, and even those
+who were sensible of none, alike awaited his approach with a dread
+similar to that with which criminals see the coming of their day of
+trial. All who could tear themselves from the ties of family, property,
+and country had already fled, or now at last took to flight. The
+advance of the Spanish army had already, according to the report of the
+regent, diminished the population of the provinces by the loss of one
+hundred thousand citizens, and this general flight still continued. But
+the arrival of the Spanish general could not be more hateful to the
+people of the Netherlands than it was distressing and dispiriting to the
+regent. At last, after so many years of anxiety, she had begun to taste
+the sweets of repose, and that absolute-authority, which had been the
+long-cherished object of eight years of a troubled and difficult
+administration. This late fruit of so much anxious industry, of so many
+cares and nightly vigils, was now to be wrested from her by a stranger,
+who was to be placed at once in possession of all the advantages which
+she had been forced to extract from adverse circumstances, by a long
+and tedious course of intrigue and patient endurance. Another was
+lightly to bear away the prize of promptitude, and to triumph by more
+rapid success over her superior but less glittering merits. Since the
+departure of the minister, Granvella, she had tasted to the full the
+pleasures of independence. The flattering homage of the nobility, which
+allowed her more fully to enjoy the shadow of power, the more they
+deprived her of its substance, had, by degrees, fostered her vanity to
+such an extent, that she at last estranged by her coldness even the most
+upright of all her servants, the state counsellor Viglius, who always
+addressed her in the language of truth. All at once a censor of her
+actions was placed at her side, a partner of her power was associated
+with her, if indeed it was not rather a master who was forced upon her,
+whose proud, stubborn, and imperious spirit, which no courtesy could
+soften, threatened the deadliest wounds to her self-love and vanity. To
+prevent his arrival she had, in her representations to the king, vainly
+exhausted every political argument. To no purpose had she urged that
+the utter ruin of the commerce of the Netherlands would be the
+inevitable consequence of; this introduction of the Spanish troops; in
+vain had she assured the king that peace was universally restored, and
+reminded him of her own services in procuring it, which deserved, she
+thought, a better guerdon than to see all the fruits of her labors
+snatched from her and given to a foreigner, and more than all, to behold
+all the good which she had effected destroyed by a new and different
+line of conduct. Even when the duke had already crossed Mount Cenis she
+made one more attempt, entreating him at least to diminish his army; but
+that also failed, for the duke insisted upon acting up to the powers
+entrusted to him. In poignant grief she now awaited his approach, and
+with the tears she shed for her country were mingled those of offended
+self-love.
+
+On the 22d of August, 1567, the Duke of Alva appeared before the gates
+of Brussels. His army immediately took up their quarters in the
+suburbs, and he himself made it his first duty to pay his respects to
+the sister of his king. She gave him a private audience on the plea of
+suffering from sickness. Either the mortification she had undergone had
+in reality a serious effect upon her health, or, what is not improbable,
+she had recourse to this expedient to pain his haughty spirit, and in
+some degree to lessen his triumph. He delivered to her letters from the
+king, and laid before her a copy of his own appointment, by which the
+supreme command of the whole military force of the Netherlands was
+committed to him, and from which, therefore, it would appear, that the
+administration of civil affairs remained, as heretofore, in the hands of
+the regent. But as soon as he was alone with her he produced a new
+commission, which was totally different from the former. According to
+this, the power was delegated to him of making war at his discretion,
+of erecting fortifications, of appointing and dismissing at pleasure the
+governors of provinces, the commandants of towns, and other officers of
+the king; of instituting inquiries into the past troubles, of punishing
+those who originated them, and of rewarding the loyal. Powers of this
+extent, which placed him almost on a level with a sovereign prince, and
+far surpassed those of the regent herself, caused her the greatest
+consternation, and it was with difficulty that she could conceal her
+emotion. She asked the duke whether he had not even a third commission,
+or some special orders in reserve which went still further, and were
+drawn up still more precisely, to which he replied distinctly enough in
+the affirmative, but at the same time gave her to understand that this
+commission might be too full to suit the present occasion, and would be
+better brought into play hereafter with due regard to time and
+circumstances. A few days after his arrival he caused a copy of the
+first instructions to be laid before the several councils and the
+states, and had them printed to insure their rapid circulation. As the
+regent resided in the palace, he took up his quarters temporarily in
+Kuilemberg house, the same in which the association of the Gueux had
+received its name, and before which, through a wonderful vicissitude,
+Spanish tyranny now planted its flag.
+
+A dead silence reigned in Brussels, broken only at times by the unwonted
+clang of arms. The duke had entered the town but a few hours when his
+attendants, like bloodhounds that have been slipped, dispersed
+themselves in all directions. Everywhere foreign faces were to be seen;
+the streets were empty, all the houses carefully closed, all amusements
+suspended, all public places deserted. The whole metropolis resembled a
+place visited by the plague. Acquaintances hurried on without stopping
+for their usual greeting; all hastened on the moment a Spaniard showed
+himself in the streets. Every sound startled them, as if it were the
+knock of the officials of justice at their doors; the nobility, in
+trembling anxiety, kept to their houses; they shunned appearing in
+public lest their presence should remind the new viceroy of some past
+offence. The two nations now seemed to have exchanged characters. The
+Spaniard had become the talkative man and the Brabanter taciturn;
+distrust and fear had scared away the spirit of cheerfulness and mirth;
+a constrained gravity fettered even the play of the features. Every
+moment the impending blow was looked for with dread.
+
+This general straining of expectation warned the duke to hasten the
+accomplishment of his plans before they should be anticipated by the
+timely flight of his victims. His first object was to secure the
+suspected nobles, in order, at once and forever, to deprive the faction
+of its leaders, and the nation, whose freedom was to be crushed, of all
+its supporters. By a pretended affability he had succeeded in lulling
+their first alarm, and in restoring Count Egmont in particular to his
+former perfect confidence, for which purpose he artfully employed his
+sons, Ferdinand and Frederick of Toledo, whose companionableness and
+youth assimilated more easily with the Flemish character. By this
+skilful advice he succeeded also in enticing Count Horn to Brussels,
+who had hitherto thought it advisable to watch the first measures of the
+duke from a distance, but now suffered himself to be seduced by the good
+fortune of his friend. Some of the nobility, and Count Egmont at the
+head of them, even resumed their former gay style of living. But they
+themselves did not do so with their whole hearts, and they had not many
+imitators. Kuilemberg house was incessantly besieged by a numerous
+crowd, who thronged around the person of the new viceroy, and exhibited
+an affected gayety on their countenances, while their hearts were wrung
+with distress and fear. Egmont in particular assumed the appearance of
+a light heart, entertaining the duke’s sons, and being feted by them in
+return. Meanwhile, the duke was fearful lest so fair an opportunity for
+the accomplishment of his plans might not last long, and lest some act
+of imprudence might destroy the feeling of security which had tempted
+both his victims voluntarily to put themselves into his power; he only
+waited for a third; Hogstraten also was to be taken in the same net.
+Under a plausible pretext of business he therefore summoned him to the
+metropolis. At the same time that he purposed to secure the three
+counts in Brussels, Colonel Lodrona was to arrest the burgomaster,
+Strahlen, in Antwerp, an intimate friend of the Prince of Orange, and
+suspected of having favored the Calvinists; another officer was to seize
+the private secretary of Count Egmont, whose name was John Cassembrot
+von Beckerzeel, as also some secretaries of Count Horn, and was to
+possess themselves of their papers.
+
+When the day arrived which had been fixed upon for the execution of this
+plan, the duke summoned all the counsellors and knights before him to
+confer with them upon matters of state. On this occasion the Duke of
+Arschot, the Counts Mansfeld, Barlaimont, and Aremberg attended on the
+part of the Netherlands, and on the part of the Spaniards besides the
+duke’s sons, Vitelli, Serbellon, and Ibarra. The young Count Mansfeld,
+who likewise appeared at the meeting, received a sign from his father to
+withdraw with all speed, and by a hasty flight avoid the fate which was
+impending over him as a former member of the Geusen league. The duke
+purposely prolonged the consultation to give time before he acted for
+the arrival of the couriers from Antwerp, who were to bring him the
+tidings of the arrest of the other parties. To avoid exciting any
+suspicion, the engineer, Pacotto, was required to attend the meeting to
+lay before it the plans for some fortifications. At last intelligence
+was brought him that Lodrona had successfully executed his commission.
+Upon this the duke dexterously broke off the debate and dismissed the
+council. And now, as Count Egmont was about to repair to the apartment
+of Don Ferdinand, to finish a game that he had commenced with him, the
+captain of the duke’s body guard, Sancho D’Avila, stopped him, and
+demanded his sword in the king’s name. At the same time he was
+surrounded by a number of Spanish soldiers, who, as had been
+preconcerted, suddenly advanced from their concealment. So unexpected
+a blow deprived Egmont for some moments of all powers of utterance and
+recollection; after a while, however, he collected himself, and taking
+his sword from his side with dignified composure, said, as he delivered
+it into the hands of the Spaniard, “This sword has before this on more
+than one occasion successfully defended the king’s cause.” Another
+Spanish officer arrested Count Horn as he was returning to his house
+without the least suspicion of danger. Horn’s first inquiry was after
+Egmont. On being told that the same fate had just happened to his
+friend he surrendered himself without resistance. “I have suffered
+myself to be guided by him,” he exclaimed, “it is fair that I should
+share his destiny.” The two counts were placed in confinement in
+separate apartments. While this was going on in the interior of
+Kuilemberg house the whole garrison were drawn out under arms in front
+of it. No one knew what had taken place inside, a mysterious terror
+diffused itself throughout Brussels until rumor spread the news of this
+fatal event. Each felt as if he himself were the sufferer; with many
+indignation at Egmont’s blind infatuation preponderated over sympathy
+for his fate; all rejoiced that Orange had escaped. The first question
+of the Cardinal Granvella, too, when these tidings reached him in Rome,
+is said to have been, whether they had taken the Silent One also. On
+being answered in the negative he shook his head “then as they have let
+him escape they have got nothing.” Fate ordained better for the Count
+of Hogstraten. Compelled by ill-health to travel slowly, he was met by
+the report of this event while he was yet on his way. He hastily turned
+back, and fortunately escaped destruction. Immediately after Egmont’s
+seizure a writing was extorted from him, addressed to the commandant of
+the citadel of Ghent, ordering that officer to deliver the fortress to
+the Spanish Colonel Alphonso d’Ulloa. Upon this the two counts were
+then (after they had been for some weeks confined in Brussels) conveyed
+under a guard of three thousand Spaniards to Ghent, where they remained
+imprisoned till late in the following year. In the meantime all their
+papers had been seized. Many of the first nobility who, by the
+pretended kindness of the Duke of Alva, had allowed themselves to be
+cajoled into remaining experienced the same fate. Capital punishment
+was also, without further delay, inflicted on all who before the duke’s
+arrival had been taken with arms in their hands. Upon the news of
+Egmont’s arrest a second body of about twenty thousand inhabitants took
+up the wanderer’s staff, besides the one hundred thousand who, prudently
+declining to await the arrival of the Spanish general, had already
+placed themselves in safety.
+
+   [A great part of these fugitives helped to strengthen the army of
+   the Huguenots, who had taken occasion, from the passage of the
+   Spanish army through Lorraine, to assemble their forces, and now
+   pressed Charles IX. hard. On these grounds the French court
+   thought it had a right to demand aid from the regent of the
+   Netherlands. It asserted that the Huguenots had looked upon the
+   march of the Spanish army as the result of a preconcerted plan
+   which had been formed against them by the two courts at Bayonne and
+   that this had roused them from their slumber. That consequently it
+   behooved the Spanish court to assist in extricating the French king
+   from difficulties into which the latter had been brought simply by
+   the march of the Spanish troops. Alva actually sent the Count of
+   Aremberg with a considerable force to join the army of the Queen
+   Mother in France, and even offered to command these subsidiaries in
+   person, which, however, was declined. Strada, 206. Thuan, 541.]
+
+After so noble a life had been assailed no one counted himself safe any
+longer; but many found cause to repent that they had so long deferred
+this salutary step; for every day flight was rendered more difficult,
+for the duke ordered all the ports to be closed, and punished the
+attempt at emigration with death. The beggars were now esteemed
+fortunate, who had abandoned country and property in order to preserve
+at least their liberty and their lives.
+
+
+
+
+   ALVA’S FIRST MEASURES, AND DEPARTURE OF THE DUCHESS OF PARMA.
+
+Alva’s first step, after securing the most suspected of the nobles, was
+to restore the Inquisition to its former authority, to put the decrees
+of Trent again in force, abolish the “moderation,” and promulgate anew
+the edicts against heretics in all their original severity. The court
+of Inquisition in Spain had pronounced the whole nation of the
+Netherlands guilty of treason in the highest degree, Catholics and
+heterodox, loyalists and rebels, without distinction; the latter as
+having offended by overt acts, the former as having incurred equal guilt
+by their supineness. From this sweeping condemnation a very few were
+excepted, whose names, however, were purposely reserved, while the
+general sentence was publicly confirmed by the king. Philip declared
+himself absolved from all his promises, and released from all
+engagements which the regent in his name had entered into with the
+people of the Netherlands, and all the justice which they had in future
+to expect from him must depend on his own good-will and pleasure. All
+who had aided in the expulsion of the minister, Granvella, who had taken
+part in the petition of the confederate nobles, or had but even spoken
+in favor of it; all who had presented a petition against the decrees of
+Trent, against the edicts relating to religion, or against the
+installation of the bishops; all who had permitted the public
+preachings, or had only feebly resisted them; all who had worn the
+insignia of the Gueux, had sung Geusen songs, or who in any way
+whatsoever had manifested their joy at the establishment of the league;
+all who had sheltered or concealed the reforming preachers, attended
+Calvinistic funerals, or had even merely known of their secret meetings,
+and not given information of them; all who had appealed to the national
+privileges; all, in fine, who had expressed an opinion that they ought
+to obey God rather than man; all these indiscriminately were declared
+liable to the penalties which the law imposed upon any violation of the
+royal prerogative, and upon high treason; and these penalties were,
+according to the instruction which Alva had received, to be executed on
+the guilty persons without forbearance or favor; without regard to rank,
+sex, or age, as an example to posterity, and for a terror to all future
+times. According to this declaration there was no longer an innocent
+person to be found in the whole Netherlands, and the new viceroy had it
+in his power to make a fearful choice of victims. Property and life
+were alike at his command, and whoever should have the good fortune to
+preserve one or both must receive them as the gift of his generosity and
+humanity. By this stroke of policy, as refined as it was detestable,
+the nation was disarmed, and unanimity rendered impossible. As it
+absolutely depended on the duke’s arbitrary will upon whom the sentence
+should be carried in force which had been passed without exception upon
+all, each individual kept himself quiet, in order to escape, if
+possible, the notice of the viceroy, and to avoid drawing the fatal
+choice upon himself. Every one, on the other hand, in whose favor he
+was pleased to make an exception stood in a degree indebted to him, and
+was personally under an obligation which must be measured by the value
+he set upon his life and property. As, however, this penalty could only
+be executed on the smaller portion of the nation, the duke naturally
+secured the greater by the strongest ties of fear and gratitude, and for
+one whom he sought out as a victim he gained ten others whom he passed
+over. As long as he continued true to this policy he remained in quiet
+possession of his rule, even amid the streams of blood which he caused
+to flow, and did not forfeit this advantage till the want of money
+compelled him to impose a burden upon the nation which oppressed all
+indiscriminately.
+
+In order to be equal to this bloody occupation, the details of which
+were fast accumulating, and to be certain of not losing a single victim
+through the want of instruments; and, on the other hand, to render his
+proceedings independent of the states, with whose privileges they were
+so much at variance, and who, indeed, were far too humane for him, he
+instituted an extraordinary court of justice. This court consisted of
+twelve criminal judges, who, according to their instructions, to the
+very letter of which they must adhere, were to try and pronounce
+sentence upon those implicated in the past disturbances. The mere
+institution of such a board was a violation of the liberties of the
+country, which expressly stipulated that no citizen should be tried out
+of his own province; but the duke filled up the measure of his injustice
+when, contrary to the most sacred privileges of the nation, he proceeded
+to give seats and votes in that court to Spaniards, the open and avowed
+enemies of Belgian liberty. He himself was the president of this court,
+and after him a certain licentiate, Vargas, a Spaniard by birth, of
+whose iniquitous character the historians of both parties are unanimous;
+cast out like a plague-spot from his own country, where he had violated
+one of his wards, he was a shameless, hardened villain, in whose mind
+avarice, lust, and the thirst for blood struggled for ascendancy. The
+principal members were Count Aremberg, Philip of Noircarmes, and Charles
+of Barlaimont, who, however, never sat in it; Hadrian Nicolai,
+chancellor of Gueldres; Jacob Mertens and Peter Asset, presidents of
+Artois and Flanders; Jacob Hesselts and John de la Porte, counsellors of
+Ghent; Louis del Roi, doctor of theology, and by birth a Spaniard; John
+du Bois, king’s advocate; and De la’Torre, secretary of the court. In
+compliance with the representations of Viglius the privy council was
+spared any part in this tribunal; nor was any one introduced into it
+from the great council at Malines. The votes of the members were only
+recommendatory, not conclusive, the final sentence being reserved by the
+duke to himself. No particular time was fixed for the sitting of the
+court; the members, however, assembled at noon, as often as the duke
+thought good. But after the expiration of the third month Alva began to
+be less frequent in his attendance, and at last resigned his place
+entirely to his favorite, Vargas, who filled it with such odious fitness
+that in a short time all the members, with the exception merely of the
+Spanish doctor, Del Rio, and the secretary, De la Torre, weary of the
+atrocities of which they were compelled to be both eyewitnesses and
+accomplices, remained away from the assembly.
+
+   [The sentences passed upon the most eminent persons (for example,
+   the sentence of death passed upon Strahlen, the burgomaster of
+   Antwerp), were signed only by Vargas, Del Rio, and De la Torre.]
+
+It is revolting to the feelings to think how the lives of the noblest
+and best were thus placed at the mercy of Spanish vagabonds, and how
+even the sanctuaries of the nation, its deeds and charters, were
+unscrupulously ransacked, the seals broken, and the most secret
+contracts between the sovereign and the state profaned and exposed.
+
+   [For an example of the unfeeling levity with which the most
+   important matters, even decisions in cases of life and death, were
+   treated in this sanguinary council, it may serve to relate what is
+   told of the Counsellor Hesselts. He was generally asleep during
+   the meeting, and when his turn came to vote on a sentence of death
+   he used to cry out, still half asleep: “Ad patibulum! Ad
+   patibulum!” so glibly did his tongue utter this word. It is
+   further to be remarked of this Hesselts, that his wife, a daughter
+   of the President Viglius, had expressly stipulated in the marriage-
+   contract that he should resign the dismal office of attorney for
+   the king, which made him detested by the whole nation. Vigl. ad
+   Hopp. lxvii., L.]
+
+From the council of twelve (which, from the object of its institution,
+was called the council for disturbances, but on account of its
+proceedings is more generally known under the appellation of the council
+of blood, a name which the nation in their exasperation bestowed upon
+it), no appeal was allowed. Its proceedings could not be revised. Its
+verdicts were irrevocable and independent of all other authority. No
+other tribunal in the country could take cognizance of cases which
+related to the late insurrection, so that in all the other courts
+justice was nearly at a standstill. The great council at Malines was
+as good as abolished; the authority of the council of state entirely
+ceased, insomuch that its sittings were discontinued. On some rare
+occasions the duke conferred with a few members of the late assembly,
+but even when this did occur the conference was held in his cabinet, and
+was no more than a private consultation, without any of the proper forms
+being observed. No privilege, no charter of immunity, however carefully
+protected, had any weight with the council for disturbances.
+
+   [Vargas, in a few words of barbarous Latin, demolished at once the
+   boasted liberties of the Netherlands. “Non curamus vestros
+   privilegios,” he replied to one who wished to plead the immunities
+   of the University of Louvain.]
+
+It compelled all deeds and contracts to be laid before it, and often
+forced upon them the most strained interpetations and alterations. If
+the duke caused a sentence to be drawn out which there was reason to
+fear might be opposed by the states of Brabant, it was legalized without
+the Brabant seal. The most sacred rights of individuals were assailed,
+and a tyranny without example forced its arbitrary will even into the
+circle of domestic life. As the Protestants and rebels had hitherto
+contrived to strengthen their party so much by marriages with the first
+families in the country, the duke issued an edict forbidding all
+Netherlanders, whatever might be their rank or office, under pain of
+death and confiscation of property, to conclude a marriage without
+previously obtaining his permission.
+
+All whom the council for disturbances thought proper to summon before it
+were compelled to appear, clergy as well as laity; the most venerable
+heads of the senate, as well as the reprobate rabble of the Iconoclasts.
+Whoever did not present himself, as indeed scarcely anybody did, was
+declared an outlaw, and his property was confiscated; but those who were
+rash or foolish enough to appear, or who were so unfortunate as to be
+seized, were lost without redemption. Twenty, forty, often fifty were
+summoned at the same time and from the same town, and the richest were
+always the first on whom the thunderbolt descended. The meaner
+citizens, who possessed nothing that could render their country and
+their homes dear to them, were taken unawares and arrested without any
+previous citation. Many eminent merchants, who had at their disposal
+fortunes of from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand florins, were
+seen with their hands tied behind their backs, dragged like common
+vagabonds at the horse’s tail to execution, and in Valenciennes
+fifty-five persons were decapitated at one time. All the prisons--and the
+duke immediately on commencing his administration had built a great
+number of them--were crammed full with the accused; hanging, beheading,
+quartering, burning were the prevailing and ordinary occupations of the
+day; the punishment of the galleys and banishment were more rarely heard
+of, for there was scarcely any offence which was reckoned too trival to
+be punished with death. Immense sums were thus brought into the treasury,
+which, however, served rather to stimulate the new viceroy’s and his
+colleagues’ thirst for gold than to quench it. It seemed to be his insane
+purpose to make beggars of the whole people, and to throw all their
+riches into the hands of the king and his servants. The yearly income
+derived from these confiscations was computed to equal the revenues of
+the first kingdoms of Europe; it is said to have been estimated, in a
+report furnished to the king, at the incredible amount of twenty million
+of dollars. But these proceedings were the more inhuman, as they often
+bore hardest precisely upon the very persons who were the most peaceful
+subjects, and most orthodox Roman Catholics, whom they could not want to
+injure. Whenever an estate was confiscated all the creditors who had
+claims upon it were defrauded. The hospitals, too, and public
+institutions, which such properties had contributed to support, were now
+ruined, and the poor, who had formerly drawn a pittance from this source,
+were compelled to see their only spring of comfort dried up. Whoever
+ventured to urge their well-grounded claims on the forfeited property
+before the council of twelve (for no other tribunal dared to interfere
+with these inquiries), consumed their substance in tedious and expensive
+proceedings, and were reduced to beggary before they saw the end of them.
+The histories of civilized states furnish but one instance of a similar
+perversion of justice, of such violation of the rights of property, and
+of such waste of human life; but Cinna, Sylla, and Marius entered
+vanquished Rome as incensed victors, and practised without disguise what
+the viceroy of the Netherlands performed under the venerable veil of the
+laws.
+
+Up to the end of the year 1567 the king’s arrival had been confidently
+expected, and the well-disposed of the people had placed all their last
+hopes on this event. The vessels, which Philip had caused to be
+equipped expressly for the purpose of meeting him, still lay in the
+harbor of Flushing, ready to sail at the first signal; and the town of
+Brussels had consented to receive a Spanish garrison, simply because the
+king, it was pretended, was to reside within its walls. But this hope
+gradually vanished, as he put off the journey from one season to the
+next, and the new viceroy very soon began to exhibit powers which
+announced him less as a precursor of royalty than as an absolute
+minister, whose presence made that of the monarch entirely superfluous.
+To compete the distress of the provinces their last good angel was now
+to leave them in the person of the regent. From the moment when the
+production of the duke’s extensive powers left no doubt remaining as to
+the practical termination of her own rule, Margaret had formed the
+resolution of relinquishing the name also of regent. To see a successor
+in the actual possession of a dignity which a nine years’ enjoyment had
+made indispensable to her; to see the authority, the glory, the
+splendor, the adoration, and all the marks of respect, which are the
+usual concomitants of supreme power, pass over to another; and to feel
+that she had lost that which she could never forget she had once held,
+was more than a woman’s mind could endure; moreover, the Duke of Alva
+was of all men the least calculated to make her feel her privation the
+less painful by a forbearing use of his newly-acquired dignity. The
+tranquillity of the country, too, which was put in jeopardy by this
+divided rule, seemed to impose upon the duchess the necessity of
+abdicating. Many governors of provinces refused, without an express
+order from the court, to receive commands from the duke and to recognize
+him as co-regent.
+
+The rapid change of their point of attraction could not be met by the
+courtiers so composedly and imperturbably but that the duchess observed
+the alteration, and bitterly felt it. Even the few who, like State
+Counsellor Viglius, still firmly adhered to her, did so less from
+attachment to her person than from vexation at being displaced by
+novices and foreigners, and from being too proud to serve a fresh
+apprenticeship under a new viceroy. But far the greater number, with
+all their endeavors to keep an exact mean, could not help making a
+difference between the homage they paid to the rising sun and that which
+they bestowed on the setting luminary. The royal palace in Brussels
+became more and more deserted, while the throng at Kuilemberg house
+daily increased. But what wounded the sensitiveness of the duchess most
+acutely was the arrest of Horn and Egmont, which was planned and
+executed by the duke without her knowledge or consent, just as if there
+had been no such person as herself in existence. Alva did, indeed,
+after the act was done, endeavor to appease her by declaring that the
+design had been purposely kept secret from her in order to spare her
+name from being mixed up in so odious a transaction; but no such
+considerations of delicacy could close the wound which had been
+inflicted on her pride. In order at once to escape all risk of similar
+insults, of which the present was probably only a forerunner, she
+despatched her private secretary, Macchiavell, to the court of her
+brother, there to solicit earnestly for permission to resign the
+regency. The request was granted without difficulty by the king, who
+accompanied his consent with every mark of his highest esteem. He would
+put aside (so the king expressed himself) his own advantage and that of
+the provinces in order to oblige his sister. He sent a present of
+thirty thousand dollars, and allotted to her a yearly pension of twenty
+thousand.
+
+   [Which, however, does not appear to have been very punctually paid,
+   if a pamphlet maybe trusted which was printed during her lifetime.
+   (It bears the title: Discours sur la Blessure de Monseigneur Prince
+   d’Orange, 1582, without notice of the place where it was printed,
+   and is to be found in the Elector’s library at Dresden.) She
+   languished, it is there stated, at Namur in poverty, and so ill-
+   supported by her son (the then governor of the Netherlands), that
+   her own secretary, Aldrobandin, called her sojourn there an exile.
+   But the writer goes on to ask what better treatment could she
+   expect from a son who, when still very young, being on a visit to
+   her at Brussels, snapped his fingers at her behind her back.]
+
+At the same time a diploma was forwarded to the Duke of Alva,
+constituting him, in her stead, viceroy of all the Netherlands, with
+unlimited powers.
+
+Gladly would Margaret have learned that she was permitted to resign the
+regency before a solemn assembly of the states, a wish which she had not
+very obscurely hinted to the king. But she was not gratified. She was
+particularly fond of solemnity, and the example of the Emperor, her
+father, who had exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of his abdication
+of the crown in this very city, seemed to have great attractions for
+her. As she was compelled to part with supreme power, she could
+scarcely be blamed for wishing to do so with as much splendor as
+possible. Moreover, she had not failed to observe how much the general
+hatred of the duke had effected in her own favor, and she looked,
+therefore, the more wistfully forward to a scene, which promised to be
+at once so flattering to her and so affecting. She would have been glad
+to mingle her own tears with those which she hoped to see shed by the
+Netherlanders for their good regent. Thus the bitterness of her descent
+from the throne would have been alleviated by the expression of general
+sympathy. Little as she had done to merit the general esteem during the
+nine years of her administration, while fortune smiled upon her, and the
+approbation of her sovereign was the limit to all her wishes, yet now
+the sympathy of the nation had acquired a value in her eyes as the only
+thing which could in some degree compensate to her for the
+disappointment of all her other hopes. Fain would she have persuaded
+herself that she had become a voluntary sacrifice to her goodness of
+heart and her too humane feelings towards the Netherlanders. As,
+however, the king was very far from being disposed to incur any danger
+by calling a general assembly of the states, in order to gratify a mere
+caprice of his sister, she was obliged to content herself with a
+farewell letter to them. In this document she went over her whole
+administration, recounted, not without ostentation, the difficulties
+with which she had had to struggle, the evils which, by her dexterity,
+she had prevented, and wound up at last by saying that she left a
+finished work, and had to transfer to her successor nothing but the
+punishment of offenders. The king, too, was repeatedly compelled to hear
+the same statement, and she left nothing undone to arrogate to herself
+the glory of any future advantages which it might be the good fortune of
+the duke to realize. Her own merits, as something which did not admit
+of a doubt, but was at the same time a burden oppressive to her modesty,
+she laid at the feet of the king.
+
+Dispassionate posterity may, nevertheless; hesitate to subscribe
+unreservedly to this favorable opinion. Even though the united voice of
+her contemporaries, and the testimony of the Netherlands themselves
+vouch for it, a third party will not be denied the right to examine her
+claims with stricter scrutiny. The popular mind, easily affected, is
+but too ready to count the absence of a vice as an additional virtue,
+and, under the pressure of existing evil, to give excess of praise for
+past benefits.
+
+The Netherlander seems to have concentrated all his hatred upon the
+Spanish name. To lay the blame of the national evils on the regent
+would tend to remove from the king and his minister the curses which he
+would rather shower upon them alone and undividedly; and the Duke of
+Alva’s government of the Netherlands was, perhaps, not the proper point
+of view from which to test the merits of his predecessor. It was
+undoubtedly no light task to meet the king’s expectations without
+infringing the rights of the people and the duties of humanity; but
+in struggling to effect these two contradictory objects Margaret had
+accomplished neither. She had deeply injured the nation, while
+comparatively she had done little service to the king. It is true that
+she at last crushed the Protestant faction, but the accidental outbreak
+of the Iconoclasts assisted her in this more than all her dexterity.
+She certainly succeeded by her intrigues in dissolving the league of the
+nobles, but not until the first blow had been struck at its roots by
+internal dissensions. The object, to secure which she had for many
+years vainly exhausted her whole policy, was effected at last by a single
+enlistment of troops, for which, however, the orders were issued from
+Madrid. She delivered to the duke, no doubt, a tranquillized country;
+but it cannot be denied that the dread of his approach had the chief
+share in tranquillizing it. By her reports she led the council in Spain
+astray; because she never informed it of the disease, but only of the
+occasional symptoms; never of the universal feeling and voice of the
+nation, but only of the misconduct of factions. Her faulty
+administration, moreover, drew the people into the crime, because
+she exasperated without sufficiently awing them. She it was that
+brought the murderous Alva into the country by leading the king to
+believe that the disturbances in the provinces were to be ascribed, not
+so much to the severity of the royal ordinances, as to the unworthiness
+of those who were charged with their execution. Margaret possessed
+natural capacity and intellect; and an acquired political tact enabled
+her to meet any ordinary case; but she wanted that creative genius
+which, for new and extraordinary emergencies, invents new maxims, or
+wisely oversteps old ones. In a country where honesty was the best
+policy, she adopted the unfortunate plan of practising her insidious
+Italian policy, and thereby sowed the seeds of a fatal distrust in the
+minds of the people. The indulgence which has been so liberally imputed
+to her as a merit was, in truth, extorted from her weakness and timidity
+by the courageous opposition of the nation; she had never departed from
+the strict letter of the royal commands by her own spontaneous
+resolution; never did the gentle feelings of innate humanity lead her
+to misinterpret the cruel purport of her instructions. Even the few
+concessions to which necessity compelled her were granted with an
+uncertain and shrinking hand, as if fearing to give too much; and she
+lost the fruit of her benefactions because she mutilated them by a
+sordid closeness. What in all the other relations of her life she was
+too little, she was on the throne too much--a woman! She had it in her
+power, after Granvella’s expulsion, to become the benefactress of the
+Belgian nation, but she did not. Her supreme good was the approbation
+of her king, her greatest misfortune his displeasure; with all the
+eminent qualities of her mind she remained an ordinary character because
+her heart was destitute of native nobility. She used a melancholy power
+with much moderation, and stained her government with no deed of
+arbitrary cruelty; nay, if it had depended on her, she would have always
+acted humanely. Years afterwards, when her idol, Philip II., had long
+forgotten her, the Netherlanders still honored her memory; but she was
+far from deserving the glory which her successor’s inhumanity reflected
+upon her.
+
+She left Brussels about the end of December, 1567. The duke escorted
+her as far as the frontiers of Brabant, and there left her under the
+protection of Count Mansfeld in order to hasten back to the metropolis
+and show himself to the Netherlanders as sole regent.
+
+
+
+
+       TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF COUNTS EGMONT AND HORN.
+
+The two counts were a few weeks after their arrest conveyed to Ghent
+under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, where they were confined in
+the citadel for more than eight months. Their trial commenced in due
+form before the council of twelve, and the solicitor-general, John Du
+Bois, conducted the proceedings. The indictment against Egmont
+consisted of ninety counts, and that against Horn of sixty. It would
+occupy too much space to introduce them here. Every action, however
+innocent, every omission of duty, was interpreted on the principle which
+had been laid down in the opening of the indictment, “that the two
+counts, in conjunction with the Prince of Orange, had planned the
+overthrow of the royal authority in the Netherlands, and the usurpation
+of the government of the country;” the expulsion of Granvella; the
+embassy of Egmont to Madrid; the confederacy of the Gueux; the
+concessions which they made to the Protestants in the provinces under
+their government--all were made to have a connection with, and reference
+to, this deliberate design. Thus importance was attached to the most
+insignificant occurrences, and one action made to darken and discolor
+another. By taking care to treat each of the charges as in itself a
+treasonable offence it was the more easy to justify a sentence of high
+treason by the whole.
+
+The accusations were sent to each of the prisoners, who were required to
+reply to them within five days. After doing so they were allowed to
+employ solicitors and advocates, who were permitted free access to them;
+but as they were accused of treason their friends were prohibited from
+visiting them. Count Egmont employed for his solicitor Von Landas, and
+made choice of a few eminent advocates from Brussels.
+
+The first step was to demur against the tribunal which was to try them,
+since by the privilege of their order they, as Knights of the Golden
+Fleece, were amenable only to the king himself, the grand master. But
+this demurrer was overruled, and they were required to produce their
+witnesses, in default of which they were to be proceeded against _in
+contumaciam._ Egmont had satisfactorily answered to eighty-two counts,
+while Count Horn had refuted the charges against him, article by
+article. The accusation and the defence are still extant; on that
+defence every impartial tribunal would have acquitted them both. The
+Procurator Fiscal pressed for the production of their evidence, and the
+Duke of Alva issued his repeated commands to use despatch. They
+delayed, however, from week to week, while they renewed their protests
+against the illegality of the court. At last the duke assigned them
+nine days to produce their proofs; on the lapse of that period they were
+to be declared guilty, and as having forfeited all right of defence.
+
+During the progress of the trial the relations and friends of the two
+counts were not idle. Egmont’s wife, by birth a duchess of Bavaria,
+addressed petitions to the princes of the German empire, to the Emperor,
+and to the King of Spain. The Countess Horn, mother of the imprisoned
+count, who was connected by the ties of friendship or of blood with the
+principal royal families of Germany, did the same. All alike protested
+loudly against this illegal proceeding, and appealed to the liberty of
+the German empire, on which Horn, as a count of the empire, had special
+claims; the liberty of the Netherlands and the privileges of the Order
+of the Golden Fleece were likewise insisted upon. The Countess Egmont
+succeeded in obtaining the intercession of almost every German court in
+behalf of her husband. The King of Spain and his viceroy were besieged
+by applications in behalf of the accused, which were referred from one
+to the other, and made light of by both. Countess Horn collected
+certificates from all the Knights of the Golden Fleece in Spain,
+Germany, and Italy to prove the privileges of the order. Alva rejected
+them with a declaration that they had no force in such a case as the
+present. “The crimes of which the counts are accused relate to the
+affairs of the Belgian provinces, and he, the duke, was appointed by the
+king sole judge of all matters connected with those countries.”
+
+Four months had been allowed to the solicitor-general to draw up the
+indictment, and five were granted to the two counts to prepare for their
+defence. But instead of losing their time and trouble in adducing their
+evidence, which, perhaps, would have profited then but little, they
+preferred wasting it in protests against the judges, which availed them
+still less. By the former course they would probably have delayed the
+final sentence, and in the time thus gained the powerful intercession of
+their friends might perhaps have not been ineffectual. By obstinately
+persisting in denying the competency of the tribunal which was to try
+them, they furnished the duke with an excuse for cutting short the
+proceedings. After the last assigned period had expired, on the 1st of
+June, 1658, the council of twelve declared them guilty, and on the 4th
+of that month sentence of death was pronounced against them.
+
+The execution of twenty-five noble Netherlanders, who were beheaded in
+three successive days in the marketplace at Brussels, was the terrible
+prelude to the fate of the two counts. John Casembrot von Beckerzeel,
+secretary to Count Egmont, was one of the unfortunates, who was thus
+rewarded for his fidelity to his master, which he steadfastly maintained
+even upon the rack, and for his zeal in the service of the king, which
+he had manifested against the Iconoclasts. The others had either been
+taken prisoners, with arms in their hands, in the insurrection of the
+“Gueux,” or apprehended and condemned as traitors on account of having
+taken a part in the petition of the nobles.
+
+The duke had reason to hasten the execution of the sentence. Count
+Louis of Nassau had given battle to the Count of Aremberg, near the
+monastery of Heiligerlee, in Groningen, and had the good fortune to
+defeat him. Immediately after his victory he had advanced against
+Groningen, and laid siege to it. The success of his arms had raised the
+courage of his faction; and the Prince of Orange, his brother, was close
+at hand with an army to support him. These circumstances made the
+duke’s presence necessary in those distant provinces; but he could not
+venture to leave Brussels before the fate of two such important
+prisoners was decided. The whole nation loved them, which was not a
+little increased by their unhappy fate. Even the strict papists
+disapproved of the execution of these eminent nobles. The slightest
+advantage which the arms of the rebels might gain over the duke, or even
+the report of a defeat, would cause a revolution in Brussels, which
+would immediately set the two counts at liberty. Moreover, the
+petitions and intercessions which came to the viceroy, as well as to
+the King of Spain, from the German princes, increased daily; nay, the
+Emperor, Maximilian II., himself caused the countess to be assured “that
+she had nothing to fear for the life of her spouse.” These powerful
+applications might at last turn the king’s heart in favor of the
+prisoners. The king might, perhaps, in reliance on his viceroy’s usual
+dispatch, put on the appearance of yielding to the representations of so
+many sovereigns, and rescind the sentence of death under the conviction
+that his mercy would come too late. These considerations moved the duke
+not to delay the execution of the sentence as soon as it was pronounced.
+
+On the day after the sentence was passed the two counts were brought,
+under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, from Ghent to Brussels, and
+placed in confinement in the Brodhause, in the great market-place. The
+next morning the council of twelve were assembled; the duke, contrary to
+his custom, attended in person, and both the sentences, in sealed
+envelopes, were opened and publicly read by Secretary Pranz. The two
+counts were declared guilty of treason, as having favored and promoted
+the abominable conspiracy of the Prince of Orange, protected the
+confederated nobles, and been convicted of various misdemeanors against
+their king and the church in their governments and other appointments.
+Both were sentenced to be publicly beheaded, and their heads were to be
+fixed upon pikes and not taken down without the duke’s express command.
+All their possessions, fiefs, and rights escheated to the royal
+treasury. The sentence was signed only by the duke and the secretary,
+Pranz, without asking or caring for the consent of the other members of
+the council.
+
+During the night between the 4th and 5th of June the sentences were
+brought to the prisoners, after they had already gone to rest. The duke
+gave them to the Bishop of Ypres, Martin Rithov, whom he had expressly
+summoned to Brussels to prepare the prisoners for death. When the
+bishop received this commission he threw himself at the feet of the
+duke, and supplicated him with tears in his eyes for mercy, at least for
+respite for the prisoners; but he was answered in a rough and angry
+voice that he had been sent for from Ypres, not to oppose the sentence,
+but by his spiritual consolation to reconcile the unhappy noblemen to
+it.
+
+Egmont was the first to whom the bishop communicated the sentence of
+death. “That is indeed a severe sentence,” exclaimed the count, turning
+pale, and with a faltering voice. “I did not think that I had offended
+his majesty so deeply as to deserve such treatment. If, however, it
+must be so I submit to my fate with resignation. May this death atone
+for my offence, and save my wife and children from suffering. This at
+least I think I may claim for my past services. As for death, I will
+meet it with composure, since it so pleases God and my king.” He then
+pressed the bishop to tell him seriously and candidly if there was no
+hope of pardon. Being answered in the negative, he confessed and
+received the sacrament from the priest, repeating after him the mass
+with great devoutness. He asked what prayer was the best and most
+effective to recommend him to God in his last hour. On being told that
+no prayer could be more effectual than the one which Christ himself had
+taught, he prepared immediately to repeat the Lord’s prayer. The
+thoughts of his family interrupted him; he called for pen and ink, and
+wrote two letters, one to his wife, the other to the king. The latter
+was as follows:
+
+“Sire,--This morning I have heard the sentence which your majesty has
+been pleased to pass upon me. Far as I have ever been from attempting
+anything against the person or service of your majesty, or against the
+true, old, and Catholic religion, I yet submit myself with patience to
+the fate which it has pleased God to ordain should suffer. If, during
+the past disturbances, I have omitted, advised, or done anything that
+seems at variance with my duty, it was most assuredly performed with the
+best intentions, or was forced upon me by the pressure of circumstances.
+I therefore pray your majesty to forgive me, and, in consideration of my
+past services, show mercy to my unhappy wife, my poor children, and
+servants. In a firm hope of this, I commend myself--to the infinite
+mercy of God.
+
+“Your majesty’s most faithful vassal and servant,
+
+“LAMORAL COUNT EGMONT.
+
+“BRUSSELS, June 5, 1568, near my last moments.”
+
+
+This letter he placed in the hands of the bishop, with the strongest
+injunctions for its safe delivery; and for greater security he sent a
+duplicate in his own handwriting to State Counsellor Viglius, the most
+upright man in the senate, by whom, there is no doubt, it was actually
+delivered to the king. The family of the count were subsequently
+reinstated in all his property, fiefs, and rights, which, by virtue of
+the sentence, had escheated to the royal treasury.
+
+Meanwhile a scaffold had been erected in the marketplace, before the
+town hall, on which two poles were fixed with iron spikes, and the whole
+covered with black cloth. Two-and-twenty companies of the Spanish
+garrison surrounded the scaffold, a precaution which was by no means
+superfluous. Between ten and eleven o’clock the Spanish guard appeared
+in the apartment of the count; they were provided with cords to tie his
+hands according to custom. He begged that this might be spared him, and
+declared that he was willing and ready to die. He himself cut off the
+collar from his doublet to facilitate the executioner’s duty. He wore a
+robe of red damask, and over that a black Spanish cloak trimmed with
+gold lace. In this dress he appeared on the scaffold, and was attended
+by Don Julian Romero, maitre-de-camp; Salinas, a Spanish captain; and
+the Bishop of Ypres. The grand provost of the court, with a red wand in
+his hand, sat on horseback at the foot of the scaffold; the executioner
+was concealed beneath.
+
+Egmont had at first shown a desire to address the people from the
+scaffold. He desisted, however, on the bishop’s representing to him
+that either he would not be heard, or that if he were, he might--such at
+present was the dangerous disposition of the people--excite them to acts
+of violence, which would only plunge his friends into destruction. For
+a few moments he paced the scaffold with noble dignity, and lamented
+that it had not been permitted him to die a more honorable death for his
+king and his country. Up to the last he seemed unable to persuade
+himself that the king was in earnest, and that his severity would be
+carried any further than the mere terror of execution. When the
+decisive period approached, and he was to receive the extreme unction,
+he looked wistfully round, and when there still appeared no prospect of
+a reprieve, he turned to Julian Romero, and asked him once more if there
+was no hope of pardon for him. Julian Romero shrugged his shoulders,
+looked on the ground, and was silent.
+
+He then closely clenched his teeth, threw off his mantle and robe, knelt
+upon the cushion, and prepared himself for the last prayer. The bishop
+presented him the crucifix to kiss, and administered to him extreme
+unction, upon which the count made him a sign to leave him. He drew a
+silk cap over his eyes, and awaited the stroke. Over the corpse and the
+streaming blood a black cloth was immediately thrown.
+
+All Brussels thronged around the scaffold, and the fatal blow seemed to
+fall on every heart. Loud sobs alone broke the appalling silence. The
+duke himself, who watched the execution from a window of the townhouse,
+wiped his eyes as his victim died.
+
+Shortly afterwards Count Horn advanced on the scaffold. Of a more
+violent temperament than his friend, and stimulated by stronger reasons
+for hatred against the king, he had received the sentence with less
+composure, although in his case, perhaps, it was less unjust. He burst
+forth in bitter reproaches against the king, and the bishop with
+difficulty prevailed upon him to make a better use of his last moments
+than to abuse them in imprecations on his enemies. At last, however, he
+became more collected, and made his confession to the bishop, which at
+first he was disposed to refuse.
+
+He mounted the scaffold with the same attendants as his friend. In
+passing he saluted many of his acquaintances; his hands were, like
+Egmont’s, free, and he was dressed in a black doublet and cloak, with a
+Milan cap of the same color upon his head. When he had ascended, he
+cast his eyes upon the corpse, which lay under the cloth, and asked one
+of the bystanders if it was the body of his friend. On being answered
+in the affirmative, he said some words in Spanish, threw his cloak from
+him, and knelt upon the cushion. All shrieked aloud as he received the
+fatal blow.
+
+The heads of both were fixed upon the poles which were set up on the
+scaffold, where they remained until past three in the afternoon, when
+they were taken down, and, with the two bodies, placed in leaden coffins
+and deposited in a vault.
+
+In spite of the number of spies and executioners who surrounded the
+scaffold, the citizens of Brussels would not be prevented from dipping
+their handkerchiefs in the streaming blood, and carrying home with them
+these precious memorials.
+
+
+
+
+  SIEGE OF ANTWERP BY THE PRINCE OF PARMA, IN THE YEARS 1584 AND 1585.
+
+It is an interesting spectacle to observe the struggle of man’s
+inventive genius in conflict with powerful opposing elements, and to
+see the difficulties which are insurmountable to ordinary capacities
+overcome by prudence, resolution, and a determined will. Less
+attractive, but only the more instructive, perhaps, is the contrary
+spectacle, where the absence of those qualities renders all efforts of
+genius vain, throws away all the favors of fortune, and where inability
+to improve such advantages renders hopeless a success which otherwise
+seemed sure and inevitable. Examples of both kinds are afforded by the
+celebrated siege of Antwerp by the Spaniards towards the close of the
+sixteenth century, by which that flourishing city was forever deprived
+of its commercial prosperity, but which, on the other hand, conferred
+immortal fame on the general who undertook and accomplished it.
+
+Twelve years had the war continued which the northern provinces of
+Belgium had commenced at first in vindication simply of their religious
+freedom, and the privileges of their states, from the encroachments of
+the Spanish viceroy, but maintained latterly in the hope of establishing
+their independence of the Spanish crown. Never completely victors, but
+never entirely vanquished, they wearied out the Spanish valor by tedious
+operations on an unfavorable soil, and exhausted the wealth of the
+sovereign of both the Indies while they themselves were called beggars,
+and in a degree actually were so. The league of Ghent, which had united
+the whole Netherlands, Roman Catholic and Protestant, in a common and
+(could such a confederation have lasted) invincible body, was indeed
+dissolved; but in place of this uncertain and unnatural combination the
+northern provinces had, in the year 1579, formed among themselves the
+closer union of Utrecht, which promised to be more lasting, inasmuch as
+it was linked and held together by common political and religious
+interests. What the new republic had lost in extent through this
+separation from the Roman Catholic provinces it was fully compensated
+for by the closeness of alliance, the unity of enterprise, and energy of
+execution; and perhaps it was fortunate in thus timely losing what no
+exertion probably would ever have enabled it to retain.
+
+The greater part of the Walloon provinces had, in the year 1584, partly
+by voluntary submission and partly by force of arms, been again reduced
+under the Spanish yoke. The northern districts alone had been able at
+all successfully to oppose it. A considerable portion of Brabant and
+Flanders still obstinately held out against the arms of the Duke
+Alexander of Parma, who at that time administered the civil government
+of the provinces, and the supreme command of the army, with equal energy
+and prudence, and by a series of splendid victories had revived the
+military reputation of Spain. The peculiar formation of the country,
+which by its numerous rivers and canals facilitated the connection of
+the towns with one another and with the sea, baffled all attempts
+effectually to subdue it, and the possession of one place could only be
+maintained by the occupation of another. So long as this communication
+was kept up Holland and Zealand could with little difficulty assist
+their allies, and supply them abundantly by water as well as by land
+with all necessaries, so that valor was of no use, and the strength of
+the king’s troops was fruitlessly wasted on tedious sieges.
+
+Of all the towns in Brabant Antwerp was the most important, as well
+from, its wealth, its population, and its military force, as by its
+position on the mouth of the Scheldt. This great and populous town,
+which at this date contained more than eighty thousand inhabitants, was
+one of the most active members of the national league, and had in the
+course of the war distinguished itself above all the towns of Belgium by
+an untamable spirit of liberty. As it fostered within its bosom all the
+three Christian churches, and owed much of its prosperity to this
+unrestricted religious liberty, it had the more cause to dread the
+Spanish rule, which threatened to abolish this toleration, and by the
+terror of the Inquisition to drive all the Protestant merchants from its
+markets. Moreover it had had but too terrible experience of the
+brutality of the Spanish garrisons, and it was quite evident that if it
+once more suffered this insupportable yoke to be imposed upon it it
+would never again during the whole course of the war be able to throw it
+off.
+
+But powerful as were the motives which stimulated Antwerp to resistance,
+equally strong were the reasons which determined the Spanish general to
+make himself master of the place at any cost. On the possession of this
+town depended in a great measure that of the whole province of Brabant,
+which by this channel chiefly derived its supplies of corn from Zealand,
+while the capture of this place would secure to the victor the command
+of the Scheldt. It would also deprive the league of Brabant, which held
+its meetings in the town, of its principal support; the whole faction of
+its dangerous influence, of its example, its counsels, and its money,
+while the treasures of its inhabitants would open plentiful supplies for
+the military exigencies of the king. Its fall would sooner or later
+necessarily draw after it that of all Brabant, and the preponderance of
+power in that quarter would decide the whole dispute in favor of the
+king. Determined by these grave considerations, the Duke of Parma drew
+his forces together in July, 1584, and advanced from his position at
+Dornick to the neighborhood of Antwerp, with the intention of investing
+it.
+
+But both the natural position and fortifications of the town appeared to
+defy attacks. Surrounded on the side of Brabant with insurmountable
+works and moats, and towards Flanders covered by the broad and rapid
+stream of the Scheldt, it could not be carried by storm; and to blockade
+a town of such extent seemed to require a land force three times larger
+than that which the duke had, and moreover a fleet, of which he was
+utterly destitute. Not only did the river yield the town all necessary
+supplies from Ghent, it also opened an easy communication with the
+bordering province of Zealand. For, as the tide of the North Sea
+extends far up the Scheldt, and ebbs and flows regularly, Antwerp enjoys
+the peculiar advantage that the same tide flows past it at different
+times in two opposite directions. Besides, the adjacent towns of
+Brussels, Malines, Ghent, Dendermonde, and others, were all at this time
+in the hands of the league, and could aid the place from the land side
+also. To blockade, therefore, the town by land, and to cut off its
+communication with Flanders and Brabant, required two different armies,
+one on each bank of the river. A sufficient fleet was likewise needed
+to guard the passage of the Scheldt, and to prevent all attempts at
+relief, which would most certainly be made from Zealand. But by the war
+which he had still to carry on in other quarters, and by the numerous
+garrisons which he was obliged to leave in the towns and fortified
+places, the army of the duke was reduced to ten thousand infantry and
+seventeen hundred horse, a force very inadequate for an undertaking of
+such magnitude. Moreover, these troops were deficient in the most
+necessary supplies, and the long arrears of pay had excited them to
+subdued murmurs, which hourly threatened to break out into open mutiny.
+If, notwithstanding these difficulties, he should still attempt the
+siege, there would be much occasion to fear from the strongholds of the
+enemy, which were left in the rear, and from which it would be easy, by
+vigorous sallies, to annoy an army distributed over so many places, and
+to expose it to want by cutting off its supplies.
+
+All these considerations were brought forward by the council of war,
+before which the Duke of Parrna now laid his scheme. However great the
+confidence which they placed in themselves, and in the proved abilities
+of such a leader, nevertheless the most experienced generals did not
+disguise their despair of a fortunate result. Two only were exceptions,
+Capizucchi and Mondragone, whose ardent courage placed them above all
+apprehensions; the rest concurred in dissuading the duke from attempting
+so hazardous an enterprise, by which they ran the risk of forfeiting the
+fruit of all their former victories and tarnishing the glory they had
+already earned.
+
+But objections, which he had already made to himself and refuted, could
+not shake the Duke of Parma in his purpose. Not in ignorance of its
+inseparable dangers, not from thoughtless overvaluing his forces had he
+taken this bold resolve. But that instinctive genius which leads great
+men by paths which inferior minds either never enter upon or never
+finish, raised him above the influence of the doubts which a cold and
+narrow prudence would oppose to his views; and, without being able to
+convince his generals, he felt the correctness of his calculations in a
+conviction indistinct, indeed, but not on that account less indubitable.
+A succession of fortunate results had raised his confidence, and the
+sight of his army, unequalled in Europe for discipline, experience, and
+valor, and commanded by a chosen body of the most distinguished
+officers, did not permit him to entertain fear for a moment. To those
+who objected to the small number of his troops, he answered, that
+however long the pike, it is only the point that kills; and that in
+military enterprise, the moving power was of more importance than the
+mass to be moved. He was aware, indeed, of the discontent of his
+troops, but he knew also their obedience; and he thought, moreover, that
+the best means to stifle their murmurs was by keeping them employed in
+some important undertaking, by stimulating their desire of glory by the
+splendor of the enterprise, and their rapacity by hopes of the rich
+booty which the capture of so wealthy a town would hold out.
+
+In the plan which he now formed for the conduct of the siege he
+endeavored to meet all these difficulties. Famine was the only
+instrument by which he could hope to subdue the town; but effectually to
+use this formidable weapon, it would be expedient to cut off all its
+land and water communications. With this view, the first object was to
+stop, or at least to impede, the arrival of supplies from Zealand. It
+was, therefore, requisite not only to carry all the outworks, which the
+people of Antwerp had built on both shores of the Scheldt for the
+protection of their shipping; but also, wherever feasible, to throw up
+new batteries which should command the whole course of the river; and to
+prevent the place from drawing supplies from the land side, while
+efforts were being made to intercept their transmission by sea, all the
+adjacent towns of Brabant and Flanders were comprehended in the plan of
+the siege, and the fall of Antwerp was based on the destruction of all
+those places. A bold and, considering the duke’s scanty force, an
+almost extravagant project, which was, however, justified by the genius
+of its author, and crowned by fortune with a brilliant result.
+
+As, however, time was required to accomplish a plan of this magnitude,
+the Prince of Parma was content, for the present, with the erection of
+numerous forts on the canals and rivers which connected Antwerp with
+Dendermonde, Ghent, Malines, Brussels, and other places. Spanish
+garrisons were quartered in the vicinity, and almost at the very gates
+of those towns, which laid waste the open country, and by their
+incursions kept the surrounding territory in alarm. Thus, round Ghent
+alone were encamped about three thousand men, and proportionate numbers
+round the other towns. In this way, and by means of the secret
+understanding which he maintained with the Roman Catholic inhabitants of
+those towns, the duke hoped, without weakening his own forces, gradually
+to exhaust their strength, and by the harassing operations of a petty
+but incessant warfare, even without any formal siege, to reduce them at
+last to capitulate.
+
+In the meantime the main force was directed against Antwerp, which he
+now closely invested. He fixed his headquarters at Bevern in Flanders,
+a few miles from Antwerp, where he found a fortified camp. The
+protection of the Flemish bank of the Scheldt was entrusted to the
+Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry; the Brabant bank to the Count
+Peter Ernest Von Mansfeld, who was joined by another Spanish leader,
+Mondragone. Both the latter succeeded in crossing the Scheldt upon
+pontoons, notwithstanding the Flemish admiral’s ship was sent to oppose
+them, and, passing Antwerp, took up their position at Stabroek in
+Bergen. Detached corps dispersed themselves along the whole Brabant
+side, partly to secure the dykes and the roads.
+
+Some miles below Antwerp the Scheldt was guarded by two strong forts, of
+which one was situated at Liefkenshoek on the island Doel, in Flanders,
+the other at Lillo, exactly opposite the coast of Brabant. The last had
+been erected by Mondragone himself, by order of the Duke of Alvaa, when
+the latter was still master of Antwerp, and for this very reason the
+Duke of Parma now entrusted to him the attack upon it. On the
+possession of these two forts the success of the siege seemed wholly to
+depend, since all the vessels sailing from Zealand to Antwerp must pass
+under their guns. Both forts had a short time before been strengthened
+by the besieged, and the former was scarcely finished when the Margrave
+of Rysburg attacked it. The celerity with which he went to work
+surprised the enemy before they were sufficiently prepared for defence,
+and a brisk assault quickly placed Liefkenshoek in the hands of the
+Spaniards. The confederates sustained this loss on the same fatal day
+that the Prince of Orange fell at Delft by the hands of an assassin.
+The other batteries, erected on the island of Doel, were partly
+abandoned by their defenders, partly taken by surprise, so that in a
+short time the whole Flemish side was cleared of the enemy. But the
+fort at Lillo, on the Brabant shore, offered a more vigorous resistance,
+since the people of Antwerp had had time to strengthen its
+fortifications and to provide it with a strong garrison. Furious
+sallies of the besieged, led by Odets von Teligny, supported by the
+cannon of the fort, destroyed all the works of the Spaniards, and an
+inundation, which was effected by opening the sluices, finally drove
+them away from the place after a three weeks’ siege, and with the loss
+of nearly two thousand killed. They now retired into their fortified
+camp at Stabroek, and contented themselves with taking possession of the
+dams which run across the lowlands of Bergen, and oppose a breastwork to
+the encroachments of the East Scheldt.
+
+The failure of his attempt upon the fort of Lillo compelled the Prince
+of Parma to change his measures. As he could not succeed in stopping
+the passage of the Scheldt by his original plan, on which the success of
+the siege entirely depended, he determined to effect his purpose by
+throwing a bridge across the whole breadth of the river. The thought
+was bold, and there were many who held it to be rash. Both the breadth
+of the stream, which at this part exceeds twelve hundred paces, as well
+as its violence, which is still further augmented by the tides of the
+neighboring sea, appeared to render every attempt of this kind
+impracticable. Moreover, he had to contend with a deficiency of timber,
+vessels, and workmen, as well as with the dangerous position between the
+fleets of Antwerp and of Zealand, to which it would necessarily be an
+easy task, in combination with a boisterous element, to interrupt so
+tedious a work. But the Prince of Parma knew his power, and his settled
+resolution would yield to nothing short of absolute impossibility.
+After he had caused the breadth as well as the depth of the river to be
+measured, and had consulted with two of his most skilful engineers,
+Barocci and Plato, it was settled that the bridge should be constructed
+between Calloo in Flanders and Ordain in Brabant. This spot was
+selected because the river is here narrowest, and bends a little to the
+right, and so detains vessels a while by compelling them to tack. To
+cover the bridge strong bastions were erected at both ends, of which the
+one on the Flanders side was named Fort St. Maria, the other, on the
+Brabant side, Fort St. Philip, in honor of the king.
+
+While active preparations were making in the Spanish camp for the
+execution of this scheme, and the whole attention of the enemy was
+directed to it, the duke made an unexpected attack upon Dendermonde, a
+strong town between Ghent and Antwerp, at the confluence of the Dender
+and the Scheldt. As long as this important place was in the hands of
+the enemy the towns of Ghent and Antwerp could mutually support each
+other, and by the facility of their communication frustrate all the
+efforts of the besiegers. Its capture would leave the prince free to
+act against both towns, and might decide the fate of his undertaking.
+The rapidity of his attack left the besieged no time to open their
+sluices and lay the country under water. A hot cannonade was opened
+upon the chief bastion of the town before the Brussels gate, but was
+answered by the fire of the besieged, which made great havoc amongst the
+Spaniards. It increased, however, rather than discouraged their ardor,
+and the insults of the garrison, who mutilated the statue of a saint
+before their eyes, and after treating it with the most contumelious
+indignity, hurled it down from the rampart, raised their fury to the
+highest pitch. Clamorously they demanded to be led against the bastion
+before their fire had made a sufficient breach in it, and the prince, to
+avail himself of the first ardor of their impetuosity, gave the signal
+for the assault. After a sanguinary contest of two hours the rampart
+was mounted, and those who were not sacrificed to the first fury of the
+Spaniards threw themselves into the town. The latter was indeed now
+more exposed, a fire being directed upon it from the works which had
+been carried; but its strong walls and the broad moat which surrounded
+it gave reason to expect a protracted resistance. The inventive
+resources of the Prince of Parma soon overcame this obstacle also.
+While the bombardment was carried on night and day, the troops were
+incessantly employed in diverting the course of the Dender, which
+supplied the fosse with water, and the besieged were seized with despair
+as they saw the water of the trenches, the last defence of the town,
+gradually disappear. They hastened to capitulate, and in August, 1584,
+received a Spanish garrison. Thus, in the space of eleven days, the
+Prince of Parrna accomplished an undertaking which, in the opinion of
+competent judges, would require as many weeks.
+
+The town of Ghent, now cut off from Antwerp and the sea, and hard
+pressed by the troops of the king, which were encamped in its vicinity,
+and without hope of immediate succor, began to despair, as famine, with
+all its dreadful train, advanced upon them with rapid steps. The
+inhabitants therefore despatched deputies to the Spanish camp at Bevern,
+to tender its submission to the king upon the same terms as the prince
+had a short time previously offered. The deputies were informed that
+the time for treaties was past, and that an unconditional submission
+alone could appease the just anger of the monarch whom they had offended
+by their rebellion. Nay, they were even given to understand that it
+would be only through his great mercy if the same humiliation were not
+exacted from them as their rebellious ancestors were forced to undergo
+under Charles V., namely, to implore pardon half-naked, and with a cord
+round their necks. The deputies returned to Ghent in despair, but three
+days afterwards a new deputation was sent to the Spanish camp, which at
+last, by the intercession of one of the prince’s friends, who was a
+prisoner in Ghent, obtained peace upon moderate terms. The town was to
+pay a fine of two hundred thousand florins, recall the banished papists,
+and expel the Protestant inhabitants, who, however, were to be allowed
+two years for the settlement of their affairs. All the inhabitants
+except six, who were reserved for capital punishment (but afterwards
+pardoned), were included in a general amnesty, and the garrison, which
+amounted to two thousand men, was allowed to evacuate the place with the
+honors of war. This treaty was concluded in September of the same year,
+at the headquarters at Bevern, and immediately three thousand Spaniards
+marched into the town as a garrison.
+
+It was more by the terror of his name and the dread of famine than by
+the force of arms that the Prince of Parma had succeeded in reducing
+this city to submission, the largest and strongest in the Netherlands,
+which was little inferior to Paris within the barriers of its inner
+town, consisted of thirty-seven thousand houses, and was built on twenty
+islands, connected by ninety-eight stone bridges. The important
+privileges which in the course of several centuries this city had
+contrived to extort from its rulers fostered in its inhabitants a spirit
+of independence, which not unfrequently degenerated into riot and
+license, and naturally brought it in collision with the Austrian-Spanish
+government. And it was exactly this bold spirit of liberty which
+procured for the Reformation the rapid and extensive success it met with
+in this town, and the combined incentives of civil and religious freedom
+produced all those scenes of violence by which, during the rebellion, it
+had unfortunately distinguished itself. Besides the fine levied, the
+prince found within the walls a large store of artillery, carriages,
+ships, and building materials of all kinds, with numerous workmen and
+sailors, who materially aided him in his plans against Antwerp.
+
+Before Ghent surrendered to the king Vilvorden and Herentals had fallen
+into the hands of the Spaniards, and the capture of the block-houses
+near the village of Willebrock had cut off Antwerp from Brussels and
+Malines. The loss of these places within so short a period deprived
+Antwerp of all hope of succor from Brabant and Flanders, and limited all
+their expectations to the assistance which might be looked for from
+Zealand. But to deprive them also of this the Prince of Parma was now
+making the most energetic preparations.
+
+The citizens of Antwerp had beheld the first operations of the enemy
+against their town with the proud security with which the sight of their
+invincible river inspired them. This confidence was also in a degree
+justified by the opinion of the Prince of Orange, who, upon the first
+intelligence of the design, had said that the Spanish army would
+inevitably perish before the walls of Antwerp. That nothing, however,
+might be neglected, he sent, a short time before his assassination, for
+the burgomaster of Antwerp, Philip Marnix of St. Aldegonde, his intimate
+friend, to Delft, where he consulted with him as to the means of
+maintaining defensive operations. It was agreed between then that it
+would be advisable to demolish forthwith the great dam between Sanvliet
+and Lillo called the Blaaugarendyk, so as to allow the waters of the
+East Scheldt to inundate, if necessary, the lowlands of Bergen, and
+thus, in the event of the Scheldt being closed, to open a passage for
+the Zealand vessels to the town across the inundated country. Aldegonde
+had, after his return, actually persuaded the magistrate and the
+majority of the citizens to agree to this proposal, when it was resisted
+by the guild of butchers, who claimed that they would be ruined by such
+a measure; for the plain which it was wished to lay under water was a
+vast tract of pasture land, upon which about twelve thousand oxen--were
+annually put to graze. The objection of the butchers was successful,
+and they managed to prevent the execution of this salutary scheme until
+the enemy had got possession of the dams as well as the pasture land.
+
+At the suggestion of the burgomaster St. Aldegonde, who, himself a
+member of the states of Brabant, was possessed of great authority in
+that council, the fortifications on both sides the Scheldt had, a short
+time before the arrival of the Spaniards, been placed in repair, and
+many new redoubts erected round the town. The dams had been cut through
+at Saftingen, and the water of the West Scheldt let out over nearly the
+whole country of Waes. In the adjacent Marquisate of Bergen troops had
+been enlisted by the Count of Hohenlohe, and a Scotch regiment, under
+the command of Colonel Morgan, was already in the pay of the republic,
+while fresh reinforcements were daily expected from England and France.
+Above all, the states of Holland and Zealand were called upon to hasten
+their supplies. But after the enemy had taken strong positions on both
+sides of the river, and the fire of their batteries made the navigation
+dangerous, when place after place in Brabant fell into their hands, and
+their cavalry had cut off all communication on the land side, the
+inhabitants of Antwerp began at last to entertain serious apprehensions
+for the future. The town then contained eighty-five thousand souls, and
+according to calculation three hundred thousand quarters of corn were
+annually required for their support. At the beginning of the siege
+neither the supply nor the money was wanting for the laying in of such a
+store; for in spite of the enemy’s fire the Zealand victualling ships,
+taking advantage of the rising tide, contrived to make their way to the
+town. All that was requisite was to prevent any of the richer citizens
+from buying up these supplies, and, in case of scarcity, raising the
+price. To secure his object, one Gianibelli from Mantua, who had
+rendered important services in the course of the siege, proposed a
+property tax of one penny in every hundred, and the appointment of a
+board of respectable persons to purchase corn with this money, and
+distribute it weekly. And until the returns of this tax should be
+available the richer classes should advance the required sum, holding
+the corn purchased, as a deposit, in their own magazines; and were also
+to share in the profit. But this plan was unwelcome to the wealthier
+citizens, who had resolved to profit by the general distress. They
+recommended that every individual should be required to provide himself
+with a sufficient supply for two years; a proposition which, however it
+might suit their own circumstances, was very unreasonable in regard to
+the poorer inhabitants, who, even before the siege, could scarcely find
+means to supply themselves for so many months. They obtained indeed
+their object, which was to reduce the poor to the necessity of either
+quitting the place or becoming entirely their dependents. But when they
+afterwards reflected that in the time of need the rights of property
+would not be respected, they found it advisable not to be over-hasty in
+making their own purchases.
+
+The magistrate, in order to avert an evil that would have pressed upon
+individuals only, had recourse to an expedient which endangered the
+safety of all. Some enterprising persons in Zealand had freighted a
+large fleet with provisions, which succeeded in passing the guns of the
+enemy, and discharged its cargo at Antwerp. The hope of a large profit
+had tempted the merchants to enter upon this hazardous speculation; in
+this, however, they were disappointed, as the magistrate of Antwerp had,
+just before their arrival, issued an edict regulating the price of all
+the necessaries of life. At the same time to prevent individuals from
+buying up the whole cargo and storing it in their magazines with a view
+of disposing of it afterwards at a dearer rate, he ordered that the
+whole should be publicly sold in any quantities from the vessels. The
+speculators, cheated of their hopes of profit by these precautions, set
+sail again, and left Antwerp with the greater part of their cargo, which
+would have sufficed for the support of the town for several months.
+
+This neglect of the most essential and natural means of preservation can
+only be explained by the supposition that the inhabitants considered it
+absolutely impossible ever to close the Scheldt completely, and
+consequently had not the least apprehension that things would come to
+extremity. When the intelligence arrived in Antwerp that the prince
+intended to throw a bridge over the Scheldt the idea was universally
+ridiculed as chimerical. An arrogant comparison was drawn between the
+republic and the stream, and it was said that the one would bear the
+Spanish yoke as little as the other. “A river which is twenty-four
+hundred feet broad, and, with its own waters alone, above sixty feet
+deep, but which with the tide rose twelve feet more--would such a
+stream,” it was asked, “submit to be spanned by a miserable piece of
+paling? Where were beams to be found high enough to reach to the bottom
+and project above the surface? and how was a work of this kind to stand
+in winter, when whole islands and mountains of ice, which stone walls
+could hardly resist, would be driven by the flood against its weak
+timbers, and splinter them to pieces like glass? Or, perhaps, the
+prince purposed to construct a bridge of boats; if so, where would he
+procure the latter, and how bring them into his intrenchments? They
+must necessarily be brought past Antwerp, where a fleet was ready to
+capture or sink them.”
+
+But while they were trying to prove the absurdity of the Prince of
+Parma’s undertaking he had already completed it. As soon as the forts
+St. Maria and St. Philip were erected, and protected the workmen and the
+work by their fire, a pier was built out into the stream from both
+banks, for which purpose the masts of the largest vessels were employed;
+by a skilful arrangement of the timbers they contrived to give the whole
+such solidity that, as the result proved, it was able to resist the
+violent pressure of the ice. These timbers, which rested firmly and
+securely on the bottom of the river, and projected a considerable height
+above it, being covered with planks, afforded a commodious roadway. It
+was wide enough to allow eight men to cross abreast, and a balustrade
+that ran along it on both sides, protected them from the fire of
+small-arms from the enemy’s vessels. This “stacade,” as it was called,
+ran from the two opposite shores as far as the increasing depth and force
+of the stream allowed. It reduced the breadth of the river to about
+eleven hundred feet; as, however, the middle and proper current would not
+admit of such a barrier, there remained, therefore, between the two
+stacades a space of more than six hundred paces through which a whole
+fleet of transports could sail with ease. This intervening space the
+prince designed to close by a bridge of boats, for which purpose the
+craft must be procured from Dunkirk. But, besides that they could not be
+obtained in any number at that place, it would be difficult to bring them
+past Antwerp without great loss. He was, therefore, obliged to content
+himself for the time with having narrowed the stream one-half, and
+rendered the passage of the enemy’s vessels so much the more difficult.
+Where the stacades terminated in the middle of the stream they spread out
+into parallelograms, which were mounted with heavy guns, and served as a
+kind of battery on the water. From these a heavy fire was opened on every
+vessel that attempted to pass through this narrow channel. Whole fleets,
+however, and single vessels still attempted and succeeded in passing this
+dangerous strait.
+
+Meanwhile Ghent surrendered, and this unexpected success at once rescued
+the prince from his dilemma. He found in this town everything necessary
+to complete his bridge of boats; and the only difficulty now was its
+safe transport, which was furnished by the enemy themselves. By cutting
+the dams at Saftingen a great part of the country of Waes, as far as the
+village of Borcht, had been laid under water, so that it was not
+difficult to cross it with flat-bottomed boats. The prince, therefore,
+ordered his vessels to run out from Ghent, and after passing Dendermonde
+and Rupelmonde to pass through the left dyke of the Scheldt, leaving
+Antwerp to the right, and sail over the inundated fields in the
+direction of Borcht. To protect this passage a fort was erected at the
+latter village, which would keep the enemy in check. All succeeded to
+his wishes, though not without a sharp action with the enemy’s flotilla,
+which was sent out to intercept this convoy. After breaking through a
+few more dams on their route, they reached the Spanish quarters at
+Calloo, and successfully entered the Scheldt again. The exultation of
+the army was greater when they discovered the extent of the danger the
+vessels had so narrowly escaped. Scarcely had they got quit of the
+enemy’s vessels when a strong reinforcement from Antwerp got under
+weigh, commanded by the valiant defender of Lillo, Odets von Teligny.
+When this officer saw that the affair was over, and that the enemy had
+escaped, he took possession of the dam through which their fleet had
+passed, and threw up a fort on the spot in order to stop the passage of
+any vessels from Ghent which might attempt to follow them.
+
+By this step the prince was again thrown into embarrassment. He was far
+from having as yet a sufficient number of vessels, either for the
+construction of the bridge or for its defence, and the passage by which
+the former convoy had arrived was now closed by the fort erected by
+Teligny. While he was reconnoitring the country to discover a new way
+for his, fleets an idea occurred to him which not only put an end to his
+present dilemma, but greatly accelerated the success of his whole plan.
+Not far from the village of Stecken, in Waes, which is within some five
+thousand paces of the commencement of the inundation, flows a small
+stream called the Moer, which falls into the Scheldt near Ghent. From
+this river he caused a canal to be dug to the spot where the inundations
+began, and as the water of these was not everywhere deep enough for the
+transit of his boats, the canal between Bevern and Verrebroek was
+continued to Calloo, where it was met by the Scheldt. At this work five
+hundred pioneers labored without intermission, and in order to cheer the
+toil of the soldiers the prince himself took part in it. In this way
+did he imitate the example of the two celebrated Romans, Drusus and
+Corbulo, who by similar works had united the Rhine with the Zuyder Zee,
+and the Maes with the Rhine?
+
+This canal, which the army in honor of its projector called the canal of
+Parma, was fourteen thousand paces in length, and was of proportion able
+depth and breadth, so as to be navigable for ships of a considerable
+burden. It afforded to the vessels from Ghent not only a more secure,
+but also a much shorter course to the Spanish quarters, because it was
+no longer necessary to follow the many windings of the Scheldt, but
+entering the Moer at once near Ghent, and from thence passing close to
+Stecken, they could proceed through the canal and across the inundated
+country as far as Calloo. As the produce of all Flanders was brought to
+the town of Ghent, this canal placed the Spanish camp in communication
+with the whole province. Abundance poured into the camp from all
+quarters, so that during the whole course of the siege the Spaniards
+suffered no scarcity of any kind. But the greatest benefit which the
+prince derived from this work was an adequate supply of flat-bottomed
+vessels to complete his bridge.
+
+These preparations were overtaken by the arrival of winter, which, as
+the Scheldt was filled with drift-ice, occasioned a considerable delay
+in the building of the bridge. The prince had contemplated with anxiety
+the approach of this season, lest it should prove highly destructive to
+the work he had undertaken, and afford the enemy a favorable opportunity
+for making a serious attack upon it. But the skill of his engineers
+saved him from the one danger, and the strange inaction of the enemy
+freed him from the other. It frequently happened, indeed, that at
+flood-time large pieces of ice were entangled in the timbers, and shook
+them violently, but they stood the assault of the furious element, which
+only served to prove their stability.
+
+In Antwerp, meanwhile, important moments had been wasted in futile
+deliberations; and in a struggle of factions the general welfare was
+neglected. The government of the town was divided among too many heads,
+and much too great a share in it was held by the riotous mob to allow
+room for calmness of deliberation or firmness of action. Besides the
+municipal magistracy itself, in which the burgomaster had only a single
+voice, there were in the city a number of guilds, to whom were consigned
+the charge of the internal and external defence, the provisioning of the
+town, its fortifications, the marine, commerce, etc.; some of whom must
+be consulted in every business of importance. By means of this crowd of
+speakers, who intruded at pleasure into the council, and managed to
+carry by clamor and the number of their adherents what they could not
+effect by their arguments, the people obtained a dangerous influence
+in the public debates, and the natural struggle of such discordant
+interests retarded the execution of every salutary measure.
+A government so vacillating and impotent could not command the respect
+of unruly sailors and a lawless soldiery. The orders of the state
+consequently were but imperfectly obeyed, and the decisive moment was
+more than once lost by the negligence, not to say the open mutiny, both
+of the land and sea forces. The little harmony in the selection of the
+means by which the enemy was to be opposed would not, however, have
+proved so injurious had there but existed unanimity as to the end. But
+on this very point the wealthy citizens and poorer classes were divided;
+so the former, having everything to apprehend from allowing matters to
+be carried to extremity, were strongly inclined to treat with the Prince
+of Parma. This disposition they did not even attempt to conceal after
+the fort of Liefkenshoek had fallen into the enemy’s hands, and serious
+fears were entertained for the navigation of the Scheldt. Some of them,
+indeed, withdrew entirely from the danger, and left to its fate the
+town, whose prosperity they had been ready enough to share, but in whose
+adversity they were unwilling to bear a part. From sixty to seventy of
+those who remained memorialized the council, advising that terms should
+be made with the king. No sooner, however, had the populace got
+intelligence of it than their indignation broke out in a violent uproar,
+which was with difficulty appeased by the imprisonment and fining of the
+petitioners. Tranquillity could only be fully restored by publication
+of an edict, which imposed the penalty of death on all who either
+publicly or privately should countenance proposals for peace.
+
+The Prince of Parma did not fail to take advantage of these
+disturbances; for nothing that transpired within the city escaped his
+notice, being well served by the agents with whom he maintained a secret
+understanding with Antwerp, as well as the other towns of Brabant and
+Flanders. Although he had already made considerable progress in his
+measures for distressing the town, still he had many steps to take
+before he could actually make himself master of it; and one unlucky
+moment might destroy the work of many months. Without, therefore,
+neglecting any of his warlike preparations, he determined to make one
+more serious attempt to get possession by fair means. With this object
+he despatched a letter in November to the great council of Antwerp, in
+which he skilfully made use of every topic likely to induce the citizens
+to come to terms, or at least to increase their existing dissensions.
+He treated them in this letter in the light of persons who had been led
+astray, and threw the whole blame of their revolt and refractory conduct
+hitherto upon the intriguing spirit of the Prince of Orange, from whose
+artifices the retributive justice of heaven had so lately liberated
+them. “It was,” he said, “now in their power to awake from their long
+infatuation and return to their allegiance to a monarch who was ready
+and anxious to be reconciled to his subjects. For this end he gladly
+offered himself as mediator, as he had never ceased to love a country in
+which he had been born, and where he had spent the happiest days of his
+youth. He therefore exhorted them to send plenipotentiaries with whom
+he could arrange the conditions of peace, and gave them hopes of
+obtaining reasonable terms if they made a timely submission, but also
+threatened them with the severest treatment if they pushed matters to
+extremity.”
+
+This letter, in which we are glad to recognize a language very different
+from that which the Duke of Alva held ten years before on a similar
+occasion, was answered by the townspeople in a respectful and dignified
+tone. While they did full justice to the personal character of the
+prince, and acknowledged his favorable intentions towards them with
+gratitude, they lamented the hardness of the times, which placed it out
+of his power to treat them in accordance with his character and
+disposition. They declared that they would gladly place their fate in
+his hands if he were absolute master of his actions, instead of being
+obliged to obey the will of another, whose proceedings his own candor
+would not allow him to approve of. The unalterable resolution of the
+King of Spain, as well as the vow which he had made to the pope, were
+only too well known for them to have any hopes in that quarter. They at
+the same time defended with a noble warmth the memory of the Prince of
+Orange, their benefactor and preserver, while they enumerated the true
+cases which had produced this unhappy war, and had caused the provinces
+to revolt from the Spanish crown. At the same time they did not
+disguise from him that they had hopes of finding a new and a milder
+master in the King of France, and that, if only for this reason, they
+could not enter into any treaty with the Spanish king without incurring
+the charge of the most culpable fickleness and ingratitude.
+
+The united provinces, in fact, dispirited by a succession of reverses,
+had at last come to the determination of placing themselves under the
+protection and sovereignty of France, and of preserving their existence
+and their ancient privileges by the sacrifice of their independence.
+With this view an embassy had some time before been despatched to Paris,
+and it was the prospect of this powerful assistance which principally
+supported the courage of the people of Antwerp. Henry III., King of
+France, was personally disposed to accept this offer; but the troubles
+which the intrigues of the Spaniards contrived to excite within his own
+kingdom compelled him against his will to abandon it. The provinces now
+turned for assistance to Queen Elizabeth of England, who sent them some
+supplies, which, however, came too late to save Antwerp. While the
+people of this city were awaiting the issue of these negotiations, and
+expecting aid from foreign powers, they neglected, unfortunately, the
+most natural and immediate means of defence; the whole winter was lost,
+and while the enemy turned it to greater advantage the more complete was
+their indecision and inactivity.
+
+The burgomaster of Antwerp, St. Aldegonde, had, indeed, repeatedly urged
+the fleet of Zealand to attack the enemy’s works, which should be
+supported on the other side from Antwerp. The long and frequently
+stormy nights would favor this attempt, and if at the same time a sally
+were made by the garrison at Lillo, it seemed scarcely possible for
+the enemy to resist this triple assault. But unfortunately
+misunderstandings had arisen between the commander of the fleet, William
+von Blois von Treslong, and the admiralty of Zealand, which caused the
+equipment of the fleet to be most unaccountably delayed. In order to
+quicken their movements Teligny at last resolved to go himself to
+Middleburg, were the states of Zealand were assembled; but as the enemy
+were in possession of all the roads the attempt cost him his freedom and
+the republic its most valiant defender. However, there was no want of
+enterprising vessels, which, under the favor of the night and the
+floodtide, passing through the still open bridge in spite of the enemy’s
+fire, threw provisions into the town and returned with the ebb. But as
+many of these vessels fell into the hands of the enemy the council gave
+orders that they should never risk the passage unless they amounted to a
+certain number; and the result, unfortunately, was that none attempted
+it because the required number could not be collected at one time.
+Several attacks were also made from Antwerp on the ships of the
+Spaniards, which were not entirely unsuccessful; some of the latter were
+captured, others sunk, and all that was required was to execute similar
+attempts on a grand scale. But however zealously St. Aldegonde urged
+this, still not a captain was to be found who would command a vessel for
+that purpose.
+
+Amid these delays the winter expired, and scarcely had the ice begun to
+disappear when the construction of the bridge of boats was actively
+resumed by the besiegers. Between the two piers a space of more than
+six hundred paces still remained to be filled up, which was effected in
+the following manner: Thirty-two flat-bottomed vessels, each sixty-six
+feet long and twenty broad, were fastened together with strong cables
+and iron chains, but at a distance from each other of about twenty feet
+to allow a free passage to the stream. Each boat, moreover, was moored
+with two cables, both up and down the stream, but which, as the water
+rose with the tide, or sunk with the ebb, could be slackened or
+tightened. Upon the boats great masts were laid which reached from one
+to another, and, being covered with planks, formed a regular road,
+which, like that along the piers, was protected with a balustrade. This
+bridge of boats, of which the two piers formed a continuation, had,
+including the latter, a length of twenty-four thousand paces. This
+formidable work was so ingeniously constructed, and so richly furnished
+with the instruments of destruction, that it seemed almost capable, like
+a living creature, of defending itself at the word of command,
+scattering death among all who approached. Besides the two forts of St.
+Maria and St. Philip, which terminated the bridge on either shore, and
+the two wooden bastions on the bridge itself, which were filled with
+soldiers and mounted with guns on all sides, each of the two-and-thirty
+vessels was manned with thirty soldiers and four sailors, and showed the
+cannon’s mouth to the enemy, whether he came up from Zealand or down
+from Antwerp. There were in all ninety-seven cannon, which were
+distributed beneath and above the bridge, and more than fifteen hundred
+men who were posted, partly in the forts, partly in the vessels, and, in
+case of necessity, could maintain a terrible fire of small-arms upon the
+enemy.
+
+But with all this the prince did not consider his work sufficiently
+secure. It was to be expected that the enemy would leave nothing
+unattempted to burst by the force of his machines the middle and weakest
+part. To guard against this, he erected in a line with the bridge of
+boats, but at some distance from it, another distinct defence, intended
+to break the force of any attack that might be directed against the
+bridge itself. This work consisted of thirty-three vessels of
+considerable magnitude, which were moored in a row athwart the stream
+and fastened in threes by masts, so that they formed eleven different
+groups. Each of these, like a file of pikemen, presented fourteen long
+wooden poles with iron heads to the approaching enemy. These vessels
+were loaded merely with ballast, and were anchored each by a double but
+slack cable, so as to be able to give to the rise and fall of the tide.
+As they were in constant motion they got from the soldiers the name of
+“swimmers.” The whole bridge of boats and also a part of the piers were
+covered by these swimmers, which were stationed above as well as below
+the bridge. To all these defensive preparations was added a fleet of
+forty men-of-war, which were stationed on both coasts and served as a
+protection to the whole.
+
+This astonishing work was finished in March, 1585, the seventh month of
+the siege, and the day on which it was completed was kept as a jubilee
+by the troops. The great event was announced to the besieged by a grand
+_fete de joie_, and the army, as if to enjoy ocular demonstration of its
+triumph, extended itself along the whole platform to gaze upon the proud
+stream, peacefully and obediently flowing under the yoke which had been
+imposed upon it. All the toil they had undergone was forgotten in the
+delightful spectacle, and every man who had had a hand in it, however
+insignificant he might be, assumed to himself a portion of the honor
+which the successful execution of so gigantic an enterprise conferred on
+its illustrious projector. On the other hand, nothing could equal the
+consternation which seized the citizens of Antwerp when intelligence was
+brought them that the Scheldt was now actually closed, and all access
+from Zealand cut off. To increase their dismay they learned the fall of
+Brussels also, which had at last been compelled by famine to capitulate.
+An attempt made by the Count of Hohenlohe about the same time on
+Herzogenbusch, with a view to recapture the town, or at least form a
+diversion, was equally unsuccessful; and thus the unfortunate city lost
+all hope of assistance, both by sea and land.
+
+These evil tidings were brought them by some fugitives who had succeeded
+in passing the Spanish videttes, and had made their way into the town;
+and a spy, whom the burgomaster had sent out to reconnoitre the enemy’s
+works, increased the general alarm by his report. He had been seized
+and carried before the Prince of Parma, who commanded him to be
+conducted over all the works, and all the defences of the bridge to be
+pointed out to him. After this had been done he was again brought
+before the general, who dismissed him with these words: “Go,” said he,
+“and report what you have seen to those who sent you. And tell them,
+too, that it is my firm resolve to bury myself under the ruins of this
+bridge or by means of it to pass into your town.”
+
+But the certainty of danger now at last awakened the zeal of the
+confederates, and it was no fault of theirs if the former half of the
+prince’s vow was not fulfilled. The latter had long viewed with
+apprehension the preparations which were making in Zealand for the
+relief of the town. He saw clearly that it was from this quarter that
+he had to fear the most dangerous blow, and that with all his works he
+could not make head against the combined fleets of Zealand and Antwerp
+if they were to fall upon him at the same time and at the proper moment.
+For a while the delays of the admiral of Zealand, which he had labored
+by all the means in his power to prolong, had been his security, but now
+the urgent necessity accelerated the expedition, and without waiting for
+the admiral the states at Middleburg despatched the Count Justin of
+Nassau, with as many ships as they could muster, to the assistance of
+the besieged. This fleet took up a position before Liefkenshoek, which
+was in possession of the Spaniards, and, supported by a few vessels from
+the opposite fort of Lillo, cannonaded it with such success that the
+walls were in a short time demolished, and the place carried by storm.
+The Walloons who formed the garrison did not display the firmness which
+might have been expected from soldiers of the Duke of Parma; they
+shamefully surrendered the fort to the enemy, who in a short time were
+in possession of the whole island of Doel, with all the redoubts
+situated upon it. The loss of these places, which were, however, soon
+retaken, incensed the Duke of Parma so much that he tried the officers
+by court-martial, and caused the most culpable among them to be
+beheaded. Meanwhile this important conquest opened to the Zealanders a
+free passage as far as the bridge, and after concerting with the people
+of Antwerp the time was fixed for a combined attack on this work. It
+was arranged that, while the bridge of boats was blown up by machines
+already prepared in Antwerp, the Zealand fleet, with a sufficient supply
+of provisions, should be in the vicinity, ready to sail to the town
+through the opening.
+
+While the Duke of Parma was engaged in constructing his bridge an
+engineer within the walls was already preparing the materials for its
+destruction. Frederick Gianibelli was the name of the man whom fate had
+destined to be the Archimedes of Antwerp, and to exhaust in its defence
+the same ingenuity with the same want of success. He was born in
+Mantua, and had formerly visited Madrid for the purpose, it was said,
+of offering his services to King Philip in the Belgian war. But wearied
+with waiting the offended engineer left the court with the intention of
+making the King of Spain sensibly feel the value of talents which he had
+so little known how to appreciate. He next sought the service of Queen
+Elizabeth of England, the declared enemy of Spain, who, after witnessing
+a few specimens of his skill, sent him to Antwerp. He took up his
+residence in that town, and in the present extremity devoted to its
+defence his knowledge, his energy, and his zeal.
+
+As soon as this artist perceived that the project of erecting the bridge
+was seriously intended, and that the work was fast approaching to
+completion, he applied to the magistracy for three large vessels, from a
+hundred and fifty to five hundred tons, in which he proposed to place
+mines. He also demanded sixty boats, which, fastened together with
+cables and chains, furnished with projecting grappling-irons, and put in
+motion with the ebbing of the tide, were intended to second the
+operation of the mine-ships by being directed in a wedgelike form
+against the bridge. But he had to deal with men who were quite
+incapable of comprehending an idea out of the common way, and even where
+the salvation of their country was at stake could not forget the
+calculating habits of trade.
+
+His scheme was rejected as too expensive, and with difficulty he at last
+obtained the grant of two smaller vessels, from seventy to eighty tons,
+with a number of flat-bottomed boats. With these two vessels, one of
+which he called the “Fortune” and the other the “Hope,” he proceeded in
+the following manner: In the hold of each he built a hollow chamber of
+freestone, five feet broad, three and a half high, and forty long. This
+magazine he filled with sixty hundredweight of the finest priming powder
+of his own compounding, and covered it with as heavy a weight of large
+slabs and millstones as the vessels could carry. Over these he further
+added a roof of similar stones, which ran up to a point and projected
+six feet above the ship’s side. The deck itself was crammed with iron
+chains and hooks, knives, nails, and other destructive missiles; the
+remaining space, which was not occupied by the magazine, was likewise
+filled up with planks. Several small apertures were left in the chamber
+for the matches which were to set fire to the mine. For greater
+certainty he had also contrived a piece of mechanism which, after the
+lapse of a given time, would strike out sparks, and even if the matches
+failed would set the ship on fire. To delude the enemy into a belief
+that these machines were only intended to set the bridge on fire, a
+composition of brimstone and pitch was placed in the top, which could
+burn a whole hour. And still further to divert the enemy’s attention
+from the proper seat of danger, he also prepared thirty-two flatbottomed
+boats, upon which there were only fireworks burning, and whose sole
+object was to deceive the enemy. These fire-ships were to be sent down
+upon the bridge in four separate squadrons, at intervals of half an
+hour, and keep the enemy incessantly engaged for two whole hours, so
+that, tired of firing and wearied by vain expectation, they might at
+last relax their vigilance before the real fire-ships came. In addition
+to all this he also despatched a few vessels in which powder was
+concealed in order to blow up the floating work before the bridge, and
+to clear a passage for the two principal ships. At the same time he
+hoped by this preliminary attack to engage the enemy’s attention, to
+draw them out, and expose them to the full deadly effect of the volcano.
+
+The night between the 4th and 5th of April was fixed for the execution
+of this great undertaking. An obscure rumor of it had already diffused
+itself through the Spanish camp, and particularly from the circumstance
+of many divers from Antwerp having been detected endeavoring to cut the
+cables of the vessels. They were prepared, therefore, for a serious
+attack; they only mistook the real nature of it, and counted on having
+to fight rather with man than the elements. In this expectation the
+duke caused the guards along the whole bank to be doubled, and drew up
+the chief part of his troops in the vicinity of the bridge, where he was
+present in person; thus meeting the danger while endeavoring to avoid
+it.
+
+No sooner was it dark than three burning vessels were seen to float down
+from the city towards the bridge, then three more, and directly after
+the same number. They beat to arms throughout the Spanish camp, and the
+whole length of the bridge was crowded with soldiers. Meantime the
+number of the fire-ships increased, and they came in regular order down
+the stream, sometimes two and sometimes three abreast, being at first
+steered by sailors on board them. The admiral of the Antwerp fleet,
+Jacob Jacobson (whether designedly or through carelessness is not
+known), had committed the error of sending off the four squadrons of
+fire-ships too quickly one after another, and caused the two large
+mine-ships also to follow them too soon, and thus disturbed the intended
+order of attack.
+
+The array of vessels kept approaching, and the darkness of night still
+further heightened the extraordinary spectacle. As far as the eye could
+follow the course of the stream all was fire; the fire-ships burning as
+brilliantly as if they were themselves in the flames; the surface of the
+water glittered with light; the dykes and the batteries along the shore,
+the flags, arms, and accoutrements of the soldiers who lined the rivers
+as well as the bridges were clearly distinguishable in the glare. With
+a mingled sensation of awe and pleasure the soldiers watched the unusual
+sight, which rather resembled a fete than a hostile preparation, but
+from the very strangeness of the contrast filled the mind with a
+mysterious awe. When the burning fleet had come within two thousand
+paces of the bridge those who had the charge of it lighted the matches,
+impelled the two mine-vessels into the middle of the stream, and leaving
+the others to the guidance of the current of the waves, they hastily
+made their escape in boats which had been kept in readiness.
+
+Their course, however, was irregular, and destitute of steersmen they
+arrived singly and separately at the floating works, where they
+continued hanging or were dashed off sidewise on the shore. The
+foremost powder-ships, which were intended to set fire to the floating
+works, were cast, by the force of a squall which arose at that instant,
+on the Flemish coast. One of the two, the “Fortune,” grounded in its
+passage before it reached the bridge, and killed by its explosion some
+Spanish soldiers who were at work in a neighboring battery. The other
+and larger fire-ship, called the “Hope,” narrowly escaped a similar
+fate. The current drove her against the floating defences towards the
+Flemish bank, where it remained hanging, and had it taken fire at that
+moment the greatest part of its effect would have been lost. Deceived
+by the flames which this machine, like the other vessels, emitted, the
+Spaniards took it for a common fire-ship, intended to burn the bridge of
+boats. And as they had seen them extinguished one after the other
+without further effect all fears were dispelled, and the Spaniards began
+to ridicule the preparations of the enemy, which had been ushered in
+with so much display and now had so absurd an end. Some of the boldest
+threw themselves into the stream in order to get a close view of the
+fire-ship and extinguish it, when by its weight it suddenly broke
+through, burst the floating work which had detained it, and drove with
+terrible force on the bridge of boats. All was now in commotion on the
+bridge, and the prince called to the sailors to keep the vessel off with
+poles, and to extinguish the flames before they caught the timbers.
+
+At this critical moment he was standing at the farthest end of the left
+pier, where it formed a bastion in the water and joined the bridge of
+boats. By his side stood the Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry
+and governor of the province of Artois, who had formerly-served the
+states, but from a protector of the republic had become its worst enemy;
+the Baron of Billy, governor of Friesland and commander of the German
+regiments; the Generals Cajetan and Guasto, with several of the
+principal officers; all forgetful of their own danger and entirely
+occupied with averting the general calamity. At this moment a Spanish
+ensign approached the Prince of Parma and conjured him to remove from a
+place where his life was in manifest and imminent peril. No attention
+being paid to his entreaty he repeated it still more urgently, and at
+last fell at his feet and implored him in this one instance to take
+advice from his servant. While he said this he had laid hold of the
+duke’s coat as though he wished forcibly to draw him away from the spot,
+and the latter, surprised rather at the man’s boldness than persuaded by
+his arguments, retired at last to the shore, attended by Cajetan and
+Guasto. He had scarcely time to reach the fort St. Maria at the end of
+the bridge when an explosion took place behind him, just as if the earth
+had burst or the vault of heaven given way. The duke and his whole army
+fell to the ground as dead, and several minutes elapsed before they
+recovered their consciousness.
+
+But then what a sight presented itself! The waters of the Scheldt had
+been divided to its lowest depth, and driven with a surge which rose
+like a wall above the dam that confined it, so that all the
+fortifications on the banks were several feet under water. The earth
+shook for three miles round. Nearly the whole left pier, on which the
+fire-ship had been driven, with a part of the bridge of boats, had been
+burst and shattered to atoms, with all that was upon it; spars, cannon,
+and men blown into the air. Even the enormous blocks of stone which had
+covered the mine had, by the force of the explosion, been hurled into
+the neighboring fields, so that many of them were afterwards dug out of
+the ground at a distance of a thousand paces from the bridge. Six
+vessels were buried, several had gone to pieces. But still more
+terrible was the carnage which the murderous machine had dealt amongst
+the soldiers. Five hundred, according to other reports even eight
+hundred, were sacrificed to its fury, without reckoning those who
+escaped with mutilated or injured bodies. The most opposite kinds of
+death were combined in this frightful moment. Some were consumed by the
+flames of the explosion, others scalded to death by the boiling water of
+the river, others stifled by the poisonous vapor of the brimstone; some
+were drowned in the stream, some buried under the hail of falling masses
+of rock, many cut to pieces by the knives and hooks, or shattered by the
+balls which were poured from the bowels of the machine. Some were found
+lifeless without any visible injury, having in all probability been
+killed by the mere concussion of the air. The spectacle which presented
+itself directly after the firing of the mine was fearful. Men were seen
+wedged between the palisades of the bridge, or struggling to release
+themselves from beneath ponderous masses of rock, or hanging in the
+rigging of the ships; and from all places and quarters the most
+heartrending cries for help arose, but as each was absorbed in his own
+safety these could only be answered by helpless wailings.
+
+Many had escaped in the most wonderful manner. An officer named Tucci
+was carried by the whirlwind like a feather high into the air, where he
+was for a moment suspended, and then dropped into the river, where he
+saved himself by swimming. Another was taken up by the force of the
+blast from the Flanders shore and deposited on that of Brabant,
+incurring merely a slight contusion on the shoulder; he felt, as he
+afterwards said, during this rapid aerial transit, just as if he had
+been fired out of a cannon. The Prince of Parma himself had never been
+so near death as at that moment, when half a minute saved his life. He
+had scarcely set foot in the fort of St. Maria when he was lifted off
+his feet as if by a hurricane, and a beam which struck him on the head
+and shoulders stretched him senseless on the earth. For a long time he
+was believed to be actually killed, many remembering to have seen him on
+the bridge only a few minutes before the fatal explosion. He was found
+at last between his attendants, Cajetan and Guasto, raising himself up
+with his hand on his sword; and the intelligence stirred the spirits of
+the whole army. But vain would be the attempt to depict his feelings
+when he surveyed the devastation which a single moment had caused in the
+work of so many months. The bridge of boats, upon which all his hopes
+rested, was rent asunder; a great part of his army was destroyed;
+another portion maimed and rendered ineffective for many days; many of
+his best officers were killed; and, as if the present calamity were not
+sufficient, he had now to learn the painful intelligence that the
+Margrave of Rysburg, whom of all his officers he prized the highest, was
+missing. And yet the worst was still to come, for every moment the
+fleets of the enemy were to be expected from Antwerp and Lillo, to which
+this fearful position of the army would disable him from offering any
+effectual resistance. The bridge was entirely destroyed, and nothing
+could prevent the fleet from Zealand passing through in full sail; while
+the confusion of the troops in this first moment was so great and
+general that it would have been impossible to give or obey orders, as
+many corps had lost their commanding officers, and many commanders their
+corps; and even the places where they had been stationed were no longer
+to be recognized amid the general ruin. Add to this that all the
+batteries on shore were under water, that several cannon were sunk, that
+the matches were wet, and the ammunition damaged. What a moment for the
+enemy if they had known how to avail themselves of it!
+
+It will scarcely be believed, however, that this success, which
+surpassed all expectation, was lost to Antwerp, simply because nothing
+was known of it. St. Aldegonde, indeed, as soon as the explosion of the
+mine was heard in the town, had sent out several galleys in the
+direction of the bridge, with orders to send up fire-balls and rockets
+the moment they had passed it, and then to sail with the intelligence
+straight on to Lillo, in order to bring up, without delay, the Zealand
+fleet, which had orders to co-operate. At the same time the admiral of
+Antwerp was ordered, as soon as the signal was given, to sail out with
+his vessels and attack the enemy in their first consternation. But
+although a considerable reward was promised to the boatmen sent to
+reconnoitre they did not venture near the enemy, but returned without
+effecting their purpose, and reported that the bridge of boats was
+uninjured, and the fire-ship had had no effect. Even on the following
+day also no better measures were taken to learn the true state of the
+bridge; and as the fleet at Lillo, in spite of the favorable wind, was
+seen to remain inactive, the belief that the fire-ships had accomplished
+nothing was confirmed. It did not seem to occur to any one that this
+very inactivity of the confederates, which misled the people of Antwerp,
+might also keep back the Zealanders at Lille, as in fact it did. So
+signal an instance of neglect could only have occurred in a government,
+which, without dignity of independence, was guided by the tumultuous
+multitude it ought to have governed. The more supine, however, they
+were themselves in opposing the enemy, the more violently did their rage
+boil against Gianibelli, whom the frantic mob would have torn in pieces
+if they could have caught him. For two days the engineer was in the
+most imminent danger, until at last, on the third morning, a courier
+from Lillo, who had swam under the bridge, brought authentic
+intelligence of its having been destroyed, but at the same time
+announced that it had been repaired.
+
+This rapid restoration of the bridge was really a miraculous effort of
+the Prince of Parma. Scarcely had he recovered from the shock, which
+seemed to have overthrown all his plans, when he contrived, with
+wonderful presence of mind, to prevent all its evil consequences. The
+absence of the enemy’s fleet at this decisive moment revived his hopes.
+The ruinous state of the bridge appeared to be a secret to them, and
+though it was impossible to repair in a few hours the work of so many
+months, yet a great point would be gained if it could be done even in
+appearance. All his men were immediately set to work to remove the
+ruins, to raise the timbers which had been thrown down, to replace those
+which were demolished, and to fill up the chasms with ships. The duke
+himself did not refuse to share in the toil, and his example was
+followed by all his officers. Stimulated by this popular behavior, the
+common soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost; the work was carried
+on during the whole night under the constant sounding of drums and
+trumpets, which were distributed along the bridge to drown the noise of
+the work-people. With dawn of day few traces remained of the night’s
+havoc; and although the bridge was restored only in appearance, it
+nevertheless deceived the spy, and consequently no attack was made upon
+it. In the meantime the prince contrived to make the repairs solid,
+nay, even to introduce some essential alterations in the structure. In
+order to guard against similar accidents for the future, a part of the
+bridge of boats was made movable, so that in case of necessity it could
+be taken away and a passage opened to the fire-ships. His loss of men
+was supplied from the garrisons of the adjoining places, and by a German
+regiment which arrived very opportunely from Gueldres. He filled up the
+vacancies of the officers who were killed, and in doing this he did not
+forget the Spanish ensign who had saved his life.
+
+The people of Antwerp, after learning the success of their mine-ship,
+now did homage to the inventor with as much extravagance as they had a
+short time before mistrusted him, and they encouraged his genius to new
+attempts. Gianibelli now actually obtained the number of flat-bottomed
+vessels which he had at first demanded in vain, and these he equipped in
+such a manner that they struck with irresistible force on the bridge,
+and a second time also burst and separated it. But this time, the wind
+was contrary to the Zealand fleet, so that they could not put out, and
+thus the prince obtained once more the necessary respite to repair the
+damage. The Archimedes of Antwerp was not deterred by any of these
+disappointments. Anew he fitted out two large vessels which were armed
+with iron hooks and similar instruments in order to tear asunder the
+bridge. But when the moment came for these vessels to get under weigh
+no one was found ready to embark in them. The engineer was therefore
+obliged to think of a plan for giving to these machines such a
+self-impulse that, without being guided by a steersman, they would keep the
+middle of the stream, and not, like the former ones, be driven on the
+bank by the wind. One of his workmen, a German, here hit upon a strange
+invention, if Strada’s description of it is to be credited. He affixed a
+sail under the vessel, which was to be acted upon by the water, just as
+an ordinary sail is by the wind, and could thus impel the ship with the
+whole force of the current. The result proved the correctness of his
+calculation; for this vessel, with the position of its sails reversed,
+not only kept the centre of the stream, but also ran against the bridge
+with such impetuosity that the enemy had not time to open it and was
+actually burst asunder. But all these results were of no service to the
+town, because the attempts were made at random and were supported by no
+adequate force. A new fire-ship, equipped like the former, which had
+succeeded so well, and which Gianibelli had filled with four thousand
+pounds of the finest powder was not even used; for a new mode of
+attempting their deliverance had now occurred to the people of Antwerp.
+
+Terrified by so many futile attempts from endeavoring to clear a
+passage for vessels on the river by force, they at last came to the
+determination of doing without the stream entirely. They remembered the
+example of the town of Leyden, which, when besieged by the Spaniards ten
+years before, had saved itself by opportunely inundating the surrounding
+country, and it was resolved to imitate this example. Between Lillo and
+Stabroek, in the district of Bergen, a wide and somewhat sloping plain
+extends as far as Antwerp, being protected by numerous embankments and
+counter-embankments against the irruptions of the East Scheldt. Nothing
+more was requisite than to break these dams, when the whole plain would
+become a sea, navigable by flat-bottomed vessels almost to the very
+walls of Antwerp. If this attempt should succeed, the Duke of Parma
+might keep the Scheldt guarded with his bridge of boats as long as he
+pleased; a new river would be formed, which, in case of necessity, would
+be equally serviceable for the time. This was the very plan which the
+Prince of Orange had at the commencement of the siege recommended, and
+in which he had been strenuously, but unsuccessfully, seconded by St.
+Aldegonde, because some of the citizens could not be persuaded to
+sacrifice their own fields. In the present emergency they reverted to
+this last resource, but circumstances in the meantime had greatly
+changed.
+
+The plain in question is intersected by a broad and high dam, which
+takes its name from the adjacent Castle of Cowenstein, and extends for
+three miles from the village of Stabroek, in Bergen, as far as the
+Scheldt, with the great dam of which it unites near Ordam. Beyond this
+dam no vessels can proceed, however high the tide, and the sea would be
+vainly turned into the fields as long as such an embankment remained in
+the way, which would prevent the Zealand vessels from descending into
+the plain before Antwerp. The fate of the town would therefore depend
+upon the demolition of this Cowenstein dam; but, foreseeing this, the
+Prince of Parma had, immediately on commencing the blockade, taken
+possession of it, and spared no pains to render it tenable to the last.
+At the village of Stabroek, Count Mansfeld was encamped with the
+greatest part of his army, and by means of this very Cowenstein dam kept
+open the communication with the bridge, the headquarters, and the
+Spanish magazines at Calloo. Thus the army formed an uninterrupted line
+from Stabroek in Brabant, as far as Bevern in Flanders, intersected
+indeed, but not broken by the Scheldt, and which could not be cut off
+without a sanguinary conflict. On the dam itself within proper
+distances five different batteries had been erected, the command of
+which was given to the most valiant officers in the army. Nay, as the
+Prince of Parma could not doubt that now the whole fury of the war would
+be turned to this point, he entrusted the defence of the bridge to Count
+Mansfeld, and resolved to defend this important post himself. The war,
+therefore, now assumed a different aspect, and the theatre of it was
+entirely changed.
+
+Both above and below Lillo, the Netherlanders had in several places cut
+through the dam, which follows the Brabant shore of the Scheldt; and
+where a short time before had been green fields, a new element now
+presented itself, studded with masts and boats. A Zealand fleet,
+commanded by Count Hohenlohe, navigated the inundated fields, and made
+repeated movements against the Cowenstein dam, without, however,
+attempting a serious attack on it, while another fleet showed itself in
+the Scheldt, threatening the two coasts alternately with a landing, and
+occasionally the bridge of boats with an attack. For several days this
+manoeuvre was practised on the enemy, who, uncertain of the quarter
+whence an attack was to be expected, would, it was hoped, be exhausted
+by continual watching, and by degrees lulled into security by so many
+false alarms. Antwerp had promised Count Hohenlohe to support the
+attack on the dam by a flotilla from the town; three beacons on the
+principal tower were to be the signal that this was on the way. When,
+therefore, on a dark night the expected columns of fire really ascended
+above Antwerp, Count Hohenlohe immediately caused five hundred of his
+troops to scale the dam between two of the enemy’s redoubts, who
+surprised part of the Spanish garrison asleep, and cut down the others
+who attempted to defend themselves. In a short time they had gained a
+firm footing upon the dam, and were just on the point of disembarking
+the remainder of their force, two thousand in number, when the Spaniards
+in the adjoining redoubts marched out and, favored by the narrowness of
+the ground, made a desperate attack on the crowded Zealanders. The guns
+from the neighboring batteries opened upon the approaching fleet, and
+thus rendered the landing of the remaining troops impossible; and as
+there were no signs of co-operation on the part of the city, the
+Zealanders were overpowered after a short conflict and again driven down
+from the dam. The victorious Spaniards pursued them through the water
+as far as their boats, sunk many of the latter, and compelled the rest
+to retreat with heavy loss. Count Hohenlohe threw the blame of this
+defeat upon the inhabitants of Antwerp, who had deceived him by a false
+signal, and it certainly must be attributed to the bad arrangement of
+both parties that the attempt failed of better success.
+
+But at last the allies determined to make a systematic assault on the
+enemy with their combined force, and to put an end to the siege by a
+grand attack as well on the dam as on the bridge. The 16th of May,
+1585, was fixed upon for the execution of this design, and both armies
+used their utmost endeavors to make this day decisive. The force of the
+Hollanders and Zealanders, united to that of Antwerp, exceeded two
+hundred ships, to man which they had stripped their towns and citadels,
+and with this force they purposed to attack the Cowenstein dam on both
+sides. The bridge over the Scheldt was to be assailed with new machines
+of Gianibelli’s invention, and the Duke of Parma thereby hindered from
+assisting the defence of the dam.
+
+Alexander, apprised of the danger which threatened him, spared nothing
+on his side to meet it with energy. Immediately after getting
+possession of the dam he had caused redoubts to be erected at five
+different, places, and had given the command of them to the most
+experienced officers of the army. The first of these, which was called
+the Cross battery, was erected on the spot where the Cowenstein darn
+enters the great embankment of the Scheldt, and makes with the latter
+the form of a cross; the Spaniard, Mondragone, was appointed to the
+command of this battery. A thousand paces farther on, near the castle
+of Cowenstein, was posted the battery of St. James, which was entrusted
+to the command of Camillo di Monte. At an equal distance from this lay
+the battery of St. George, and at a thousand paces from the latter, the
+Pile battery, under the command of Gamboa, so called from the pile-work
+on which it rested; at the farthest end of the darn, near Stabroek, was
+the fifth redoubt, where Count Mansfeld, with Capizuechi, an Italian,
+commanded. All these forts the prince now strengthened with artillery
+and men; on both sides of the dam, and along its whole extent, he caused
+piles to be driven, as well to render the main embankment firmer, as to
+impede the labor of the pioneers, who were to dig through it.
+
+Early on the morning of the 16th of May the enemy’s forces were in
+motion. With the dusk of dawn there came floating down from Lillo, over
+the inundated country, four burning vessels, which so alarmed the guards
+upon the dams, who recollected the former terrible explosion, that they
+hastily retreated to the next battery. This was exactly what the enemy
+desired. In these vessels, which had merely the appearance of
+fire-ships, soldiers were concealed, who now suddenly jumped ashore, and
+succeeded in mounting the dam at the undefended spot, between the St.
+George and Pile batteries. Immediately afterward the whole Zealand
+fleet showed itself, consisting of numerous ships-of-war, transports,
+and a crowd of smaller craft, which were laden with great sacks of
+earth, wool, fascines, gabions, and the like, for throwing up
+breastworks wherever necessary, The ships-of-war were furnished with
+powerful artillery, and numerously and bravely manned, and a whole army
+of pioneers accompanied it in order to dig through the dam as soon as it
+should be in their possession.
+
+The Zealanders had scarcely begun on their side to ascend the dam when
+the fleet of Antwerp advanced from Osterweel and attacked it on the
+other. A high breastwork was hastily thrown up between the two nearest
+hostile batteries, so as at once to divide the two garrisons and to
+cover the pioneers. The latter, several hundreds in number, now fell to
+work with their spades on both sides of the dam, and dug with such
+energy that hopes were entertained of soon seeing the two seas united.
+But meanwhile the Spaniards also had gained time to hasten to the spot
+from the two nearest redoubts, and make a spirited assault, while the
+guns from the battery of St. George played incessantly on the enemy’s
+fleet. A furious battle now raged in the quarter where they were
+cutting through the dike and throwing up the breastworks. The
+Zealanders had drawn a strong line of troops round the pioneers to keep
+the enemy from interrupting their work, and in this confusion of battle,
+in the midst of a storm of bullets from the enemy, often up to the
+breast in water, among the dead and dying, the pioneers pursued their
+work, under the incessant exhortations of the merchants, who impatiently
+waited to see the dam opened and their vessels in safety. The
+importance of the result, which it might be said depended entirely upon
+their spades, appeared to animate even the common laborers with heroic
+courage. Solely intent upon their task, they neither saw nor heard the
+work of death which was going on around them, and as fast as the
+foremost ranks fell those behind them pressed into their places. Their
+operations were greatly impeded by the piles which had been driven in,
+but still more by the attacks of the Spaniards, who burst with desperate
+courage through the thickest of the enemy, stabbed the pioneers in the
+pits where they were digging, and filled up again with dead bodies the
+cavities which the living had made. At last, however, when most of
+their officers were killed or wounded, and the number of the enemy
+constantly increasing, while fresh laborers were supplying the place of
+those who had been slain, the courage of these valiant troops began to
+give way, and they thought it advisable to retreat to their batteries.
+Now, therefore, the confederates saw themselves masters of the whole
+extent of the dam, from Fort St. George as far as the Pile battery. As,
+however, it seemed too long to wait for the thorough demolition of the
+dam, they hastily unloaded a Zealand transport, and brought the cargo
+over the dam to a vessel of Antwerp, with which Count Hohenlohe sailed
+in triumph to that city. The sight of the provisions at once filled the
+inhabitants with joy, and as if the victory was already won, they gave
+themselves up to the wildest exultation. The bells were rung, the
+cannon discharged, and the inhabitants, transported by their unexpected
+success, hurried to the Osterweel gate, to await the store-ships which
+were supposed to be at hand.
+
+In fact, fortune had never smiled so favorably on the besieged as at
+that moment. The enemy, exhausted and dispirited, had thrown themselves
+into their batteries, and, far from being able to struggle with the
+victors for the post they had conquered, they found themselves rather
+besieged in the places where they had taken refuge. Some companies of
+Scots, led by their brave colonel, Balfour, attacked the battery of St.
+George, which, however, was relieved, but not without severe loss, by
+Camillo di Monte, who hastened thither from St. James’ battery. The
+Pile battery was in a much worse condition, it being hotly cannonaded by
+the ships, and threatened every moment to crumble to pieces. Gainboa,
+who commanded it, lay wounded, and it was unfortunately deficient in
+artillery to keep the enemy at a distance. The breastwork, too, which
+the Zealanders had thrown up between this battery and that of St.
+George cut off all hope of assistance from the Scheldt. If, therefore,
+the Belgians had only taken advantage of this weakness and inactivity of
+the enemy to proceed with zeal and perseverance in cutting through the
+dam, there is no doubt that a passage might have been made, and thus put
+an end to the whole siege. But here also the same want of consistent
+energy showed itself which had marked the conduct of the people of
+Antwerp during the whole course of the siege. The zeal with which the
+work had been commenced cooled in proportion to the success which
+attended it. It was soon found too tedious to dig through the dyke; it
+seemed far easier to transfer the cargoes from the large store-ships
+into smaller ones, and carry these to the town with the flood tide. St.
+Aldegonde and Hohenlohe, instead of remaining to animate the industry of
+the workmen by their personal presence, left the scene of action at the
+decisive moment, in order, by sailing to the town with a corn vessel, to
+win encomiums on their wisdom and valor.
+
+While both parties were fighting on the dam with the most obstinate fury
+the bridge over the Scheldt had been attacked from Antwerp with new
+machines, in order to give employment to the prince in that quarter.
+But the sound of the firing soon apprised him of what was going on at
+the dyke, and as soon as he saw the bridge clear he hastened to support
+the defence of the dyke. Followed by two hundred Spanish pikemen, he
+flew to the place of attack, and arrived just in time to prevent the
+complete defeat of his troops. He hastily posted some guns which he had
+brought with him in the two nearest redoubts, and maintained from thence
+a heavy fire upon the enemy’s ships. He placed himself at the head of
+his men, and, with his sword in one hand and shield in the other, led
+them against the enemy. The news of his arrival, which quickly spread
+from one end of the dyke to the other, revived the drooping spirits of
+his troops, and the conflict recommenced with renewed violence, made
+still more murderous by the nature of the ground where it was fought.
+Upon the narrow ridge of the dam, which in many places was not more than
+nine paces broad, about five thousand combatants were fighting; so
+confined was the spot upon which the strength of both armies was
+assembled, and which was to decide the whole issue of the siege. With
+the Antwerpers the last bulwark of their city was at stake; with the
+Spaniards it was to determine the whole success of their undertaking.
+Both parties fought with a courage which despair alone could inspire.
+From both the extremities of the dam the tide of war rolled itself
+towards the centre, where the Zealanders and Antwerpers had the
+advantage, and where they had collected their whole strength. The
+Italians and Spaniards, inflamed by a noble emulation, pressed on from
+Stabroek; and from the Scheldt the Walloons and Spaniards advanced, with
+their general at their head. While the former endeavored to relieve the
+Pile battery, which was hotly pressed by the enemy, both by sea and
+land, the latter threw themselves on the breastwork, between the St.
+George and the Pile batteries, with a fury which carried everything
+before it. Here the flower of the Belgian troops fought behind a
+well-fortified rampart, and the guns of the two fleets covered this
+important post. The prince was already pressing forward to attack this
+formidable defence with his small army when he received intelligence that
+the Italians and Spaniards, under Capizucchi and Aquila, had forced their
+way, sword in hand, into the Pile battery, had got possession of it, and
+were now likewise advancing from the other side against the enemy’s
+breastwork. Before this intrenchment, therefore, the whole force of both
+armies was now collected, and both sides used their utmost efforts to
+carry and to defend this position. The Netherlanders on board the fleet,
+loath to remain idle spectators of the conflict, sprang ashore from their
+vessels. Alexander attacked the breastwork on one side, Count Mansfeld on
+the other; five assaults were made, and five times they were repulsed.
+The Netherlanders in this decisive moment surpassed themselves; never in
+the whole course of the war had they fought with such determination. But
+it was the Scotch and English in particular who baffled the attempts of
+the enemy by their valiant resistance. As no one would advance to the
+attack in the quarter where the Scotch fought, the duke himself led on
+the troops, with a javelin in his hand, and up to his breast in water. At
+last, after a protracted struggle, the forces of Count Mansfeld succeeded
+with their halberds and pikes in making a breach in the breastwork, and
+by raising themselves on one another’s shoulders scaled the parapet.
+Barthelemy Toralva, a Spanish captain, was the first who showed himself
+on the top; and almost at the same instant the Italian, Capizucchi,
+appeared upon the edge of it; and thus the contest of valor was decided
+with equal glory for both nations. It is worth while to notice here the
+manner in which the Prince of Parma, who was made arbiter of this emulous
+strife, encouraged this delicate sense of honor among his warriors. He
+embraced the Italian, Capizucchi, in presence of the troops, and
+acknowledged aloud that it was principally to the courage of this officer
+that he owed the capture of the breastwork. He caused the Spanish
+captain, Toralva, who was dangerously wounded, to be conveyed to his own
+quarters at Stabroek, laid on his own bed, and covered with the cloak
+which he himself had worn the day before the battle.
+
+After the capture of the breastwork the victory no longer remained
+doubtful. The Dutch and Zealand troops, who had disembarked to come to
+close action with the enemy, at once lost their courage when they looked
+about them and saw the vessels, which were their last refuge, putting
+off from the shore.
+
+For the tide had begun to ebb, and the commanders of the fleet, from
+fear of being stranded with their heavy transports, and, in case of an
+unfortunate issue to the engagement, becoming the prey of the enemy,
+retired from the dam, and made for deep water. No sooner did Alexander
+perceive this than he pointed out to his troops the flying vessels, and
+encouraged them to finish the action with an enemy who already despaired
+of their safety. The Dutch auxiliaries were the first that gave way,
+and their example was soon followed by the Zealanders. Hastily leaping
+from the dam they endeavored to reach the vessels by wading or swimming;
+but from their disorderly flight they impeded one another, and fell in
+heaps under the swords of the pursuers. Many perished even in the
+boats, as each strove to get on board before the other, and several
+vessels sank under the weight of the numbers who rushed into them. The
+Antwerpers, who fought for their liberty, their hearths, their faith,
+were the last who retreated, but this very circumstance augmented their
+disaster. Many of their vessels were outstripped by the ebb-tide, and
+grounded within reach of the enemy’s cannon, and were consequently
+destroyed with all on board. Crowds of fugitives endeavored by swimming
+to gain the other transports, which had got into deep water; but such
+was the rage and boldness of the Spaniards that they swam after them
+with their swords between their teeth, and dragged many even from the
+ships. The victory of the king’s troops was complete but bloody; for of
+the Spaniards about eight hundred, of the Netherlanders some thousands
+(without reckoning those who were drowned), were left on the field, and
+on both sides many of the principal nobility perished. More than thirty
+vessels, with a large supply of provisions for Antwerp, fell into the
+hands of the victors, with one hundred and fifty cannon and other
+military stores. The dam, the possession of which had been so dearly
+maintained, was pierced in thirteen different places, and the bodies of
+those who had cut through it were now used to stop up the openings.
+
+The following day a transport of immense size and singular construction
+fell into the hands of the royalists. It formed a floating castle, and
+had been destined for the attack on the Cowenstein dam. The people of
+Antwerp had built it at an immense expense at the very time when the
+engineer Gianibelli’s useful proposals had been rejected on account of
+the cost they entailed, and this ridiculous monster was called by the
+proud title of “End of the War,” which appellation was afterwards
+changed for the more appropriate sobriquet of “Money lost!” When this
+vessel was launched it turned out, as every sensible person had
+foretold, that on account of its unwieldly size it was utterly
+impossible to steer it, and it could hardly be floated by the highest
+tide. With great difficulty it was worked as far as Ordain, where,
+deserted by the tide, it went aground, and fell a prey to the enemy.
+
+The attack upon the Cowenstein dam was the last attempt which was made
+to relieve Antwerp. From this time the courage of the besieged sank,
+and the magistracy of the town vainly labored to inspirit with distant
+hopes the lower orders, on whom the present distress weighed heaviest.
+Hitherto the price of bread had been kept down to a tolerable rate,
+although the quality of it continued to deteriorate; by degrees,
+however, provisions became so scarce that a famine was evidently near at
+hand. Still hopes were entertained of being able to hold out, at least
+until the corn between the town and the farthest batteries, which was
+already in full ear, could be reaped; but before that could be done the
+enemy had carried the last outwork, and had appropriated the whole
+harvest to their use. At last the neighboring and confederate town of
+Malines fell into the enemy’s hands, and with its fall vanished the only
+remaining hope of getting supplies from Brabant. As there was,
+therefore, no longer any means of increasing the stock of provisions
+nothing was left but to diminish the consumers. All useless persons,
+all strangers, nay even the women and children were to be sent away out
+of the town, but this proposal was too revolting to humanity to be
+carried into execution. Another plan, that of expelling the Catholic
+inhabitants, exasperated them so much that it had almost ended in open
+mutiny. And thus St. Aldegonde at last saw himself compelled to yield
+to the riotous clamors of the populace, and on the 17th of August, 1585,
+to make overtures to the Duke of Parma for the surrender of the town.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+by Frederich Schiller
+
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+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The History of the Revolt of the Netherlands
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+    <!--
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
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+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    .indent5   { margin-left: 5%;}
+    .indent10  { margin-left: 10%;}
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+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
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+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+by Friedrich Schiller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+
+Author: Friedrich Schiller
+
+Release Date: October 25, 2006 [EBook #6780]
+Last Updated: August 31, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REVOLT OF NETHERLANDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+ <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+
+<p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+<hr />
+<p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE WORKS
+    </h1>
+    <h3>
+      OF
+    </h3>
+    <h2>
+      FRIEDRICH SCHILLER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h4>
+      Translated from the German by E. B. Eastwick and A. J. W. Morrison
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h4>
+      Illustrated
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img alt="1pb005 (136K)" src="images/1pb005.jpg" style="width:100%;"   /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE TO THE EDITION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The present is the best collected edition of the important works of
+      Schiller which is accessible to readers in the English language. Detached
+      poems or dramas have been translated at various times since the first
+      publication of the original works; and in several instances these versions
+      have been incorporated into this collection. Schiller was not less
+      efficiently qualified by nature for an historian than for a dramatist. He
+      was formed to excel in all departments of literature, and the admirable
+      lucidity of style and soundness and impartiality of judgment displayed in
+      his historical writings will not easily be surpassed, and will always
+      recommend them as popular expositions of the periods of which they treat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Since the publication of the first English edition many corrections and
+      improvements have been made, with a view to rendering it as acceptable as
+      possible to English readers; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages of a
+      translation, the publishers feel sure that Schiller will be heartily
+      acceptable to English readers, and that the influence of his writings will
+      continue to increase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS was translated by Lieut. E.
+      B. Eastwick, and originally published abroad for students&rsquo; use. But this
+      translation was too strictly literal for general readers. It has been
+      carefully revised, and some portions have been entirely rewritten by the
+      Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, who also has so ably translated the HISTORY OF THE
+      THIRTY YEARS WAR.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE CAMP OF WALLENSTEIN was translated by Mr. James Churchill, and first
+      appeared in &ldquo;Frazer&rsquo;s Magazine.&rdquo; It is an exceedingly happy version of
+      what has always been deemed the most untranslatable of Schiller&rsquo;s works.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE PICCOLOMINI and DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN are the admirable version of S.
+      T. Coleridge, completed by the addition of all those passages which he has
+      omitted, and by a restoration of Schiller&rsquo;s own arrangement of the acts
+      and scenes. It is said, in defence of the variations which exist between
+      the German original and the version given by Coleridge, that he translated
+      from a prompter&rsquo;s copy in manuscript, before the drama had been printed,
+      and that Schiller himself subsequently altered it, by omitting some
+      passages, adding others, and even engrafting several of Coleridge&rsquo;s
+      adaptations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      WILHELM TELL is translated by Theodore Martin, Esq., whose well-known
+      position as a writer, and whose special acquaintance with German
+      literature make any recommendation superfluous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      DON CARLOS is translated by R. D. Boylan, Esq., and, in the opinion of
+      competent judges, the version is eminently successful. Mr. Theodore Martin
+      kindly gave some assistance, and, it is but justice to state, has enhanced
+      the value of the work by his judicious suggestions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The translation of MARY STUART is that by the late Joseph Mellish, who
+      appears to have been on terms of intimate friendship with Schiller. His
+      version was made from the prompter&rsquo;s copy, before the play was published,
+      and, like Coleridge&rsquo;s Wallenstein, contains many passages not found in the
+      printed edition. These are distinguished by brackets. On the other hand,
+      Mr. Mellish omitted many passages which now form part of the printed
+      drama, all of which are now added. The translation, as a whole, stands out
+      from similar works of the time (1800) in almost as marked a degree as
+      Coleridge&rsquo;s Wallenstein, and some passages exhibit powers of a high order;
+      a few, however, especially in the earlier scenes, seemed capable of
+      improvement, and these have been revised, but, in deference to the
+      translator, with a sparing hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE MAID OF ORLEANS is contributed by Miss Anna Swanwick, whose
+      translation of Faust has since become well known. It has been. carefully
+      revised, and is now, for the first time, published complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE BRIDE OF MESSINA, which has been regarded as the poetical masterpiece
+      of Schiller, and, perhaps of all his works, presents the greatest
+      difficulties to the translator, is rendered by A. Lodge, Esq., M. A. This
+      version, on its first publication in England, a few years ago, was
+      received with deserved eulogy by distinguished critics. To the present
+      edition has been prefixed Schiller&rsquo;s Essay on the Use of the Chorus in
+      Tragedy, in which the author&rsquo;s favorite theory of the &ldquo;Ideal of Art&rdquo; is
+      enforced with great ingenuity and eloquence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE HISTORY
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      OF THE
+    </h3>
+    <h2>
+      REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      CONTENTS
+    </h3>
+    <table summary="">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE TO THE EDITION. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE AUTHOR&rsquo;S PREFACE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> BOOK I.--Earlier History </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> BOOK II.--Cardinal Granvella </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> BOOK III.--Conspiracy of the Nobles </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> BOOK IV.--The Iconoclasts<br /> Trial and
+            Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn <br /> Siege of Antwerp by the
+            Prince of Parma </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE AUTHOR&rsquo;S PREFACE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Many years ago, when I read the History of the Belgian Revolution in
+      Watson&rsquo;s excellent work, I was seized with an enthusiasm which political
+      events but rarely excite. On further reflection I felt that this
+      enthusiastic feeling had arisen less from the book itself than from the
+      ardent workings of my own imagination, which had imparted to the recorded
+      materials the particular form that so fascinated me. These imaginations,
+      therefore, I felt a wish to fix, to multiply, and to strengthen; these
+      exalted sentiments I was anxious to extend by communicating them to
+      others. This was my principal motive for commencing the present history,
+      my only vocation to write it. The execution of this design carried me
+      farther than in the beginning I had expected. A closer acquaintance with
+      my materials enabled me to discover defects previously unnoticed, long
+      waste tracts to be filled up, apparent contradictions to be reconciled,
+      and isolated facts to be brought into connection with the rest of the
+      subject. Not so much with the view of enriching my history with new facts
+      as of seeking a key to old ones, I betook myself to the original sources,
+      and thus what was originally intended to be only a general outline
+      expanded under my hands into an elaborate history. The first part, which
+      concludes with the Duchess of Parma&rsquo;s departure from the Netherlands, must
+      be looked upon only as the introduction to the history of the Revolution
+      itself, which did not come to an open outbreak till the government of her
+      successor. I have bestowed the more care and attention upon this
+      introductory period the more the generality of writers who had previously
+      treated of it seemed to me deficient in these very qualities. Moreover, it
+      is in my opinion the more important as being the root and source of all
+      the subsequent events. If, then, the first volume should appear to any as
+      barren in important incident, dwelling prolixly on trifles, or, rather,
+      should seem at first sight profuse of reflections, and in general
+      tediously minute, it must be remembered that it was precisely out of small
+      beginnings that the Revolution was gradually developed; and that all the
+      great results which follow sprang out of a countless number of trifling
+      and little circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A nation like the one before us invariably takes its first steps with
+      doubts and uncertainty, to move afterwards only the more rapidly for its
+      previous hesitation. I proposed, therefore, to follow the same method in
+      describing this rebellion. The longer the reader delays on the
+      introduction the more familiar he becomes with the actors in this history,
+      and the scene in which they took a part, so much the more rapidly and
+      unerringly shall I be able to lead him through the subsequent periods,
+      where the accumulation of materials will forbid a slowness of step or
+      minuteness of attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As for the authorities of our history there is not so much cause to
+      complain of their paucity as of their extreme abundance, since it is
+      indispensable to read them all to obtain that clear view of the whole
+      subject to which the perusal of a part, however large, is always
+      prejudicial. From the unequal, partial, and often contradictory narratives
+      of the same occurrences it is often extremely difficult to seize the
+      truth, which in all is alike partly concealed and to be found complete in
+      none. In this first volume, besides de Thou, Strada, Reyd, Grotius,
+      Meteren, Burgundius, Meursius, Bentivoglio, and some moderns, the Memoirs
+      of Counsellor Hopper, the life and correspondence of his friend Viglius,
+      the records of the trials of the Counts of Hoorne and Egmont, the defence
+      of the Prince of Orange, and some few others have been my guides. I must
+      here acknowledge my obligations to a work compiled with much industry and
+      critical acumen, and written with singular truthfulness and impartiality.
+      I allude to the general history of the United Netherlands which was
+      published in Holland during the present century. Besides many original
+      documents which I could not otherwise have had access to, it has
+      abstracted all that is valuable in the excellent works of Bos, Hooft,
+      Brandt, Le Clerc, which either were impossible for me to procure or were
+      not available to my use, as being written in Dutch, which I do not
+      understand. An otherwise ordinary writer, Richard Dinoth, has also been of
+      service to me by the many extracts he gives from the pamphlets of the day,
+      which have been long lost. I have in vain endeavored to procure the
+      correspondence of Cardinal Granvella, which also would no doubt have
+      thrown much light upon the history of these times. The lately published
+      work on the Spanish Inquisition by my excellent countryman, Professor
+      Spittler of Gottingen, reached me too late for its sagacious and important
+      contents to be available for my purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The more I am convinced of the importance of the French history, the more
+      I lament that it was not in my power to study, as I could have wished, its
+      copious annals in the original sources and contemporary documents, and to
+      reproduce it abstracted of the form in which it was transmitted to me by
+      the more intelligent of my predecessors, and thereby emancipate myself
+      from the influence which every talented author exercises more or less upon
+      his readers. But to effect this the work of a few years must have become
+      the labor of a life. My aim in making this attempt will be more than
+      attained if it should convince a portion of the reading public of the
+      possibility of writing a history with historic truth without making a
+      trial of patience to the reader; and if it should extort from another
+      portion the confession that history can borrow from a cognate art without
+      thereby, of necessity, becoming a romance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      WEIMAR, Michaelmas Fair, 1788.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      INTRODUCTION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Of those important political events which make the sixteenth century to
+      take rank among the brightest of the world&rsquo;s epochs, the foundation of the
+      freedom of the Netherlands appears to me one of the most remarkable. If
+      the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious lust of power claim
+      our admiration, how much more so should an event in which oppressed
+      humanity struggled for its noblest rights, where with the good cause
+      unwonted powers were united, and the resources of resolute despair
+      triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts of tyranny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great and encouraging is the reflection that there is a resource left us
+      against the arrogant usurpations of despotic power; that its
+      best-contrived plans against the liberty of mankind may be frustrated;
+      that resolute opposition can weaken even the outstretched arm of tyranny;
+      and that heroic perseverance can eventually exhaust its fearful resources.
+      Never did this truth affect me so sensibly as in tracing the history of
+      that memorable rebellion which forever severed the United Netherlands from
+      the Spanish Crown. Therefore I thought it not unworth the while to attempt
+      to exhibit to the world this grand memorial of social union, in the hope
+      that it may awaken in the breast of my reader a spirit-stirring
+      consciousness of his own powers, and give a new and irrefragible example
+      of what in a good cause men may both dare and venture, and what by union
+      they may accomplish. It is not the extraordinary or heroic features of
+      this event that induce me to describe it. The annals of the world record
+      perhaps many similar enterprises, which may have been even bolder in the
+      conception and more brilliant in the execution. Some states have fallen
+      after a nobler struggle; others have risen with more exalted strides. Nor
+      are we here to look for eminent heroes, colossal talents, or those
+      marvellous exploits which the history of past times presents in such rich
+      abundance. Those times are gone; such men are no more. In the soft lap of
+      refinement we have suffered the energetic powers to become enervate which
+      those ages called into action and rendered indispensable. With admiring
+      awe we wonder at these gigantic images of the past as a feeble old man
+      gazes on the athletic sports of youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not so, however, in the history before us. The people here presented to
+      our notice were the most peaceful in our quarter of the globe, and less
+      capable than their neighbors of that heroic spirit which stamps a lofty
+      character even on the most insignificant actions. The pressure of
+      circumstances with its peculiar influence surprised them and forced a
+      transitory greatness upon them, which they never could have possessed and
+      perhaps will never possess again. It is, indeed, exactly this want of
+      heroic grandeur which renders this event peculiarly instructive; and while
+      others aim at showing the superiority of genius over chance, I shall here
+      paint a scene where necessity creates genius and accident makes heroes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If in any case it be allowable to recognize the intervention of Providence
+      in human affairs it is certainly so in the present history, its course
+      appears so contradictory to reason and experience. Philip II., the most
+      powerful sovereign of his line&mdash;whose dreaded supremacy menaced the
+      independence of Europe&mdash;whose treasures surpassed the collective
+      wealth of all the monarchs of Christendom besides&mdash;whose ambitious
+      projects were backed by numerous and well-disciplined armies &mdash;whose
+      troops, hardened by long and bloody wars, and confident in past victories
+      and in the irresistible prowess of this nation, were eager for any
+      enterprise that promised glory and spoil, and ready to second with prompt
+      obedience the daring genius of their leaders&mdash;this dreaded potentate
+      here appears before us obstinately pursuing one favorite project, devoting
+      to it the untiring efforts of a long reign, and bringing all these
+      terrible resources to bear upon it; but forced, in the evening of his
+      reign, to abandon it&mdash;here we see the mighty Philip II. engaging in
+      combat with a few weak and powerless adversaries, and retiring from it at
+      last with disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And with what adversaries? Here, a peaceful tribe of fishermen and
+      shepherds, in an almost-forgotten corner of Europe, which with difficulty
+      they had rescued from the ocean; the sea their profession, and at once
+      their wealth and their plague; poverty with freedom their highest
+      blessing, their glory, their virtue. There, a harmless, moral, commercial
+      people, revelling in the abundant fruits of thriving industry, and jealous
+      of the maintenance of laws which had proved their benefactors. In the
+      happy leisure of affluence they forsake the narrow circle of immediate
+      wants and learn to thirst after higher and nobler gratifications. The new
+      views of truth, whose benignant dawn now broke over Europe, cast a
+      fertilizing beam on this favored clime, and the free burgher admitted with
+      joy the light which oppressed and miserable slaves shut out. A spirit of
+      independence, which is the ordinary companion of prosperity and freedom,
+      lured this people on to examine the authority of antiquated opinions and
+      to break an ignominious chain. But the stern rod of despotism was held
+      suspended over them; arbitrary power threatened to tear away the
+      foundation of their happiness; the guardian of their laws became their
+      tyrant. Simple in their statecraft no less than in their manners, they
+      dared to appeal to ancient treaties and to remind the lord of both Indies
+      of the rights of nature. A name decides the whole issue of things. In
+      Madrid that was called rebellion which in Brussels was simply styled a
+      lawful remonstrance. The complaints of Brabant required a prudent
+      mediator; Philip II. sent an executioner. The signal for war was given. An
+      unparalleled tyranny assailed both property and life. The despairing
+      citizens, to whom the choice of deaths was all that was left, chose the
+      nobler one on the battle-field. A wealthy and luxurious nation loves
+      peace, but becomes warlike as soon as it becomes poor. Then it ceases to
+      tremble for a life which is deprived of everything that had made it
+      desirable. In an instant the contagion of rebellion seizes at once the
+      most distant provinces; trade and commerce are at a standstill, the ships
+      disappear from the harbors, the artisan abandons his workshop, the rustic
+      his uncultivated fields. Thousands fled to distant lands, a thousand
+      victims fell on the bloody field, and fresh thousands pressed on. Divine,
+      indeed, must that doctrine be for which men could die so joyfully. All
+      that was wanting was the last finishing hand, the enlightened,
+      enterprising spirit, to seize on this great political crisis and to mould
+      the offspring of chance into the ripe creation of wisdom. William the
+      Silent, like a second Brutus, devoted himself to the great cause of
+      liberty. Superior to all selfishness, he resigned honorable offices which
+      entailed on him obectionable duties, and, magnanimously divesting himself
+      of all his princely dignities, he descended to a state of voluntary
+      poverty, and became but a citizen of the world. The cause of justice was
+      staked upon the hazardous game of battle; but the newly-raised levies of
+      mercenaries and peaceful husbandmen were unable to withstand the terrible
+      onset of an experienced force. Twice did the brave William lead his
+      dispirited troops against the tyrant. Twice was he abandoned by them, but
+      not by his courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. sent as many reinforcements as the dreadful importunity of his
+      viceroy demanded. Fugitives, whom their country rejected, sought a new
+      home on the ocean, and turned to the ships of their enemy to satisfy the
+      cravings both of vengeance and of want. Naval heroes were now formed out
+      of corsairs, and a marine collected out of piratical vessels; out of
+      morasses arose a republic. Seven provinces threw off the yoke at the same
+      time, to form a new, youthful state, powerful by its waters and its union
+      and despair. A solemn decree of the whole nation deposed the tyrant, and
+      the Spanish name was erased from all its laws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For such acts no forgiveness remained; the republic became formidable only
+      because it was impossible for her to retrace her steps. But factions
+      distracted her within; without, her terrible element, the sea itself,
+      leaguing with her oppressors, threatened her very infancy with a premature
+      grave. She felt herself succumb to the superior force of the enemy, and
+      cast herself a suppliant before the most powerful thrones of Europe,
+      begging them to accept a dominion which she herself could no longer
+      protect. At last, but with difficulty&mdash;so despised at first was this
+      state that even the rapacity of foreign monarchs spurned her opening bloom&mdash;a
+      stranger deigned to accept their importunate offer of a dangerous crown.
+      New hopes began to revive her sinking courage; but in this new father of
+      his country destiny gave her a traitor, and in the critical emergency,
+      when the foe was in full force before her very gates, Charles of Anjou
+      invaded the liberties which he had been called to protect. In the midst of
+      the tempest, too, the assassin&rsquo;s hand tore the steersman from the helm,
+      and with William of Orange the career of the infant republic was seemingly
+      at an end, and all her guardian angels fled. But the ship continued to
+      scud along before the storm, and the swelling canvas carried her safe
+      without the pilot&rsquo;s help.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. missed the fruits of a deed which cost him his royal honor, and
+      perhaps, also, his self-respect. Liberty struggled on still with despotism
+      in obstinate and dubious contest; sanguinary battles were fought; a
+      brilliant array of heroes succeeded each other on the field of glory, and
+      Flanders and Brabant were the schools which educated generals for the
+      coming century. A long, devastating war laid waste the open country;
+      victor and vanquished alike waded through blood; while the rising republic
+      of the waters gave a welcome to fugitive industry, and out of the ruins of
+      despotism erected the noble edifice of its own greatness. For forty years
+      lasted the war whose happy termination was not to bless the dying eye of
+      Philip; which destroyed one paradise in Europe to form a new one out of
+      its shattered fragments; which destroyed the choicest flower of military
+      youth, and while it enriched more than a quarter of the globe impoverished
+      the possessor of the golden Peru. This monarch, who could expend nine
+      hundred tons of gold without oppressing his subjects, and by tyrannical
+      measures extorted far more, heaped, moreover, on his exhausted people a
+      debt of one hundred and forty millions of ducats. An implacable hatred of
+      liberty swallowed up all these treasures, and consumed on the fruitless
+      task the labor of a royal life. But the Reformation throve amidst the
+      devastations of the sword, and over the blood of her citizens the banner
+      of the new republic floated victorious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This improbable turn of affairs seems to border on a miracle; many
+      circumstances, however, combined to break the power of Philip, and to
+      favor the progress of the infant state. Had the whole weight of his power
+      fallen on the United Provinces there had been no hope for their religion
+      or their liberty. His own ambition, by tempting him to divide his
+      strength, came to the aid of their weakness. The expensive policy of
+      maintaining traitors in every cabinet of Europe; the support of the League
+      in France; the revolt of the Moors in Granada; the conquest of Portugal,
+      and the magnificent fabric of the Escurial, drained at last his apparently
+      inexhaustible treasury, and prevented his acting in the field with spirit
+      and energy. The German and Italian troops, whom the hope of gain alone
+      allured to his banner, mutinied when he could no longer pay them, and
+      faithlessly abandoned their leaders in the decisive moment of action.
+      These terrible instruments of oppression now turned their dangerous power
+      against their employer, and wreaked their vindictive rage on the provinces
+      which remained faithful to him. The unfortunate armament against England,
+      on which, like a desperate gamester, he had staked the whole strength of
+      his kingdom, completed his ruin; with the armada sank the wealth of the
+      two Indies, and the flower of Spanish chivalry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the very same proportion that the Spanish power declined the
+      republic rose in fresh vigor. The ravages which the fanaticism of the new
+      religion, the tyranny of the Inquisition, the furious rapacity of the
+      soldiery, and the miseries of a long war unbroken by any interval of
+      peace, made in the provinces of Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, at once
+      the arsenals and the magazines of this expensive contest, naturally
+      rendered it every year more difficult to support and recruit the royal
+      armies. The Catholic Netherlands had already lost a million of citizens,
+      and the trodden fields maintained their husbandmen no longer. Spain itself
+      had but few more men to spare. That country, surprised by a sudden
+      affluence which brought idleness with it, had lost much of its population,
+      and could not long support the continual drafts of men which were required
+      both for the New World and the Netherlands. Of these conscripts few ever
+      saw their country again; and these few having left it as youths returned
+      to it infirm and old. Gold, which had become more common, made soldiers
+      proportionately dearer; the growing charm of effeminacy enhanced the price
+      of the opposite virtues. Wholly different was the posture of affairs with
+      the rebels. The thousands whom the cruelty of the viceroy expelled from
+      the southern Netherlands, the Huguenots whom the wars of persecution drove
+      from France, as well as every one whom constraint of conscience exiled
+      from the other parts of Europe, all alike flocked to unite themselves with
+      the Belgian insurgents. The whole Christian world was their recruiting
+      ground. The fanaticism both of the persecutor and the persecuted worked in
+      their behalf. The enthusiasm of a doctrine newly embraced, revenge, want,
+      and hopeless misery drew to their standard adventurers from every part of
+      Europe. All whom the new doctrine had won, all who had suffered, or had
+      still cause of fear from despotism, linked their own fortunes with those
+      of the new republic. Every injury inflicted by a tyrant gave a right of
+      citizenship in Holland. Men pressed towards a country where liberty raised
+      her spirit-stirring banner, where respect and security were insured to a
+      fugitive religion, and even revenge on the oppressor. If we consider the
+      conflux in the present day of people to Holland, seeking by their entrance
+      upon her territory to be reinvested in their rights as men, what must it
+      have been at a time when the rest of Europe groaned under a heavy bondage,
+      when Amsterdam was nearly the only free port for all opinions? Many
+      hundred families sought a refuge for their wealth in a land which the
+      ocean and domestic concord powerfully combined to protect. The republican
+      army maintained its full complement without the plough being stripped of
+      hands to work it. Amid the clash of arms trade and industry flourished,
+      and the peaceful citizen enjoyed in anticipation the fruits of liberty
+      which foreign blood was to purchase for them. At the very time when the
+      republic of Holland was struggling for existence she extended her
+      dominions beyond the ocean, and was quietly occupied in erecting her East
+      Indian Empire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover, Spain maintained this expensive war with dead, unfructifying
+      gold, that never returned into the hand which gave it away, while it
+      raised to her the price of every necessary. The treasuries of the republic
+      were industry and commerce. Time lessened the one whilst it multiplied the
+      other, and exactly in the same proportion that the resources of the
+      Spanish government became exhausted by the long continuance of the war the
+      republic began to reap a richer harvest. Its field was sown sparingly with
+      the choice seed which bore fruit, though late, yet a hundredfold; but the
+      tree from which Philip gathered fruit was a fallen trunk which never again
+      became verdant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip&rsquo;s adverse destiny decreed that all the treasures which he lavished
+      for the oppression of the Provinces should contribute to enrich them. The
+      continual outlay of Spanish gold had diffused riches and luxury throughout
+      Europe; but the increasing wants of Europe were supplied chiefly by the
+      Netherlanders, who were masters of the commerce of the known world, and
+      who by their dealings fixed the price of all merchandise. Even during the
+      war Philip could not prohibit his own subjects from trading with the
+      republic; nay, he could not even desire it. He himself furnished the
+      rebels with the means of defraying the expenses of their own defence; for
+      the very war which was to ruin them increased the sale of their goods. The
+      enormous suns expended on his fleets and armies flowed for the most part
+      into the exchequer of the republic, which was more or less connected with
+      the commercial places of Flanders and Brabant. Whatever Philip attempted
+      against the rebels operated indirectly to their advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sluggish progress of this war did the king as much injury as it
+      benefited the rebels. His army was composed for the most part of the
+      remains of those victorious troops which had gathered their laurels under
+      Charles V. Old and long services entitled them to repose; many of them,
+      whom the war had enriched, impatiently longed for their homes, where they
+      might end in ease a life of hardship. Their former zeal, their heroic
+      spirit, and their discipline relaxed in the same proportion as they
+      thought they had fully satisfied their honor and their duty, and as they
+      began to reap at last the reward of so many battles. Besides, the troops
+      which had been accustomed by their irresistible impetuosity to vanquish
+      all opponents were necessarily wearied out by a war which was carried on
+      not so much against men as against the elements; which exercised their
+      patience more than it gratified their love of glory; and where there was
+      less of danger than of difficulty and want to contend with. Neither
+      personal courage nor long military experience was of avail in a country
+      whose peculiar features gave the most dastardly the advantage. Lastly, a
+      single discomfiture on foreign ground did them more injury than any
+      victories gained over an enemy at home could profit them. With the rebels
+      the case was exactly the reverse. In so protracted a war, in which no
+      decisive battle took place, the weaker party must naturally learn at last
+      the art of defence from the stronger; slight defeats accustomed him to
+      danger; slight victories animated his confidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the beginning of the war the republican army scarcely dared to show
+      itself in the field; the long continuance of the struggle practised and
+      hardened it. As the royal armies grew wearied of victory, the confidence
+      of the rebels rose with their improved discipline and experience. At last,
+      at the end of half a century, master and pupil separated, unsubdued, and
+      equal in the fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, throughout the war the rebels acted with more concord and unanimity
+      than the royalists. Before the former had lost their first leader the
+      government of the Netherlands had passed through as many as five hands.
+      The Duchess of Parma&rsquo;s indecision soon imparted itself to the cabinet of
+      Madrid, which in a short time tried in succession almost every system of
+      policy. Duke Alva&rsquo;s inflexible sternness, the mildness of his successor
+      Requescens, Don John of Austria&rsquo;s insidious cunning, and the active and
+      imperious mind of the Prince of Parma gave as many opposite directions to
+      the war, while the plan of rebellion remained the same in a single head,
+      who, as he saw it clearly, pursued it with vigor. The king&rsquo;s greatest
+      misfortune was that right principles of action generally missed the right
+      moment of application. In the commencement of the troubles, when the
+      advantage was as yet clearly on the king&rsquo;s side, when prompt resolution
+      and manly firmness might have crushed the rebellion in the cradle, the
+      reigns of government were allowed to hang loose in the hands of a woman.
+      After the outbreak had come to an open revolt, and when the strength of
+      the factious and the power of the king stood more equally balanced, and
+      when a skilful flexible prudence could alone have averted the impending
+      civil war, the government devolved on a man who was eminently deficient in
+      this necessary qualification. So watchful an observer as William the
+      Silent failed not to improve every advantage which the faulty policy of
+      his adversary presented, and with quiet silent industry he slowly but
+      surely pushed on the great enterprise to its accomplishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But why did not Philip II. himself appear in the Netherlands? Why did he
+      prefer to employ every other means, however improbable, rather than make
+      trial of the only remedy which could insure success? To curb the overgrown
+      power and insolence of the nobility there was no expedient more natural
+      than the presence of their master. Before royalty itself all secondary
+      dignities must necessarily have sunk in the shade, all other splendor be
+      dimmed. Instead of the truth being left to flow slowly and obscurely
+      through impure channels to the distant throne, so that procrastinated
+      measures of redress gave time to ripen ebullitions of the moment into acts
+      of deliberation, his own penetrating glance would at once have been able
+      to separate truth from error; and cold policy alone, not to speak of his
+      humanity, would have saved the land a million citizens. The nearer to
+      their source the more weighty would his edicts have been; the thicker they
+      fell on their objects the weaker and the more dispirited would have become
+      the efforts of the rebels. It costs infinitely more to do an evil to an
+      enemy in his presence than in his absence. At first the rebellion appeared
+      to tremble at its own name, and long sheltered itself under the ingenious
+      pretext of defending the cause of its sovereign against the arbitrary
+      assumptions of his own viceroy. Philip&rsquo;s appearance in Brussels would have
+      put an end at once to this juggling. In that case, the rebels would have
+      been compelled to act up to their pretence, or to cast aside the mask, and
+      so, by appearing in their true shape, condemn themselves. And what a
+      relief for the Netherlands if the king&rsquo;s presence had only spared them
+      those evils which were inflicted upon them without his knowledge, and
+      contrary to his will. <a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1"
+       id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> What gain, too, even if it had
+      only enabled him to watch over the expenditure of the vast sums which,
+      illegally raised on the plea of meeting the exigencies of the war,
+      disappeared in the plundering hands of his deputies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What the latter were compelled to extort by the unnatural expedient of
+      terror, the nation would have been disposed to grant to the sovereign
+      majesty. That which made his ministers detested would have rendered the
+      monarch feared; for the abuse of hereditary power is less painfully
+      oppressive than the abuse of delegated authority. His presence would have
+      saved his exchequer thousands had he been nothing more than an economical
+      despot; and even had he been less, the awe of his person would have
+      preserved a territory which was lost through hatred and contempt for his
+      instruments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the same manner, as the oppression of the people of the Netherlands
+      excited the sympathy of all who valued their own rights, it might have
+      been expected that their disobedience and defection would have been a call
+      to all princes to maintain their own prerogatives in the case of their
+      neighbors. But jealousy of Spain got the better of political sympathies,
+      and the first powers of Europe arranged themselves more or less openly on
+      the side of freedom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although bound to the house of Spain by the ties of relationship, the
+      Emperor Maximilian II. gave it just cause for its charge against him of
+      secretly favoring the rebels. By the offer of his mediation he implicitly
+      acknowledged the partial justice of their complaints, and thereby
+      encouraged them to a resolute perseverance in their demands. Under an
+      emperor sincerely devoted to the interests of the Spanish house, William
+      of Orange could scarcely have drawn so many troops and so much money from
+      Germany. France, without openly and formally breaking the peace, placed a
+      prince of the blood at the head of the Netherlandish rebels; and it was
+      with French gold and French troops that the operations of the latter were
+      chiefly conducted. <a href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2"
+       id="linknoteref-2"><small>2</small></a> Elizabeth of England, too, did but
+      exercise a just retaliation and revenge in protecting the rebels against
+      their legitimate sovereign; and although her meagre and sparing aid
+      availed no farther than to ward off utter ruin from the republic, still
+      even this was infinitely valuable at a moment when nothing but hope could
+      have supported their exhausted courage. With both these powers Philip at
+      the time was at peace, but both betrayed him. Between the weak and the
+      strong honesty often ceases to appear a virtue; the delicate ties which
+      bind equals are seldom observed towards him whom all men fear. Philip had
+      banished truth from political intercourse; he himself had dissolved all
+      morality between kings, and had made artifice the divinity of cabinets.
+      Without once enjoying the advantages of his preponderating greatness, he
+      had, throughout life, to contend with the jealousy which it awakened in
+      others. Europe made him atone for the possible abuses of a power of which
+      in fact he never had the full possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If against the disparity between the two combatants, which, at first
+      sight, is so astounding, we weigh all the incidental circumstances which
+      were adverse to Spain, but favorable to the Netherlands, that which is
+      supernatural in this event will disappear, while that which is
+      extraordinary will still remain&mdash;and a just standard will be
+      furnished by which to estimate the real merit of these republicans in
+      working out their freedom. It must not, however, be thought that so
+      accurate a calculation of the opposing forces could have preceded the
+      undertaking itself, or that, on entering this unknown sea, they already
+      knew the shore on which they would ultimately be landed. The work did not
+      present itself to the mind of its originator in the exact form which it
+      assumed when completed, any more than the mind of Luther foresaw the
+      eternal separation of creeds when he began to oppose the sale of
+      indulgences. What a difference between the modest procession of those
+      suitors in Brussels, who prayed for a more humane treatment as a favor,
+      and the dreaded majesty of a free state, which treated with kings as
+      equals, and in less than a century disposed of the throne of its former
+      tyrant. The unseen hand of fate gave to the discharged arrow a higher
+      flight, and quite a different direction from that which it first received
+      from the bowstring. In the womb of happy Brabant that liberty had its
+      birth which, torn from its mother in its earliest infancy, was to gladden
+      the so despised Holland. But the enterprise must not be less thought of
+      because its issue differed from the first design. Man works up, smooths,
+      and fashions the rough stone which the times bring to him; the moment and
+      the instant may belong to him, but accident develops the history of the
+      world. If the passions which co-operated actively in bringing about this
+      event were only not unworthy of the great work to which they were
+      unconsciously subservient&mdash;if only the powers which aided in its
+      accomplishment were intrinsically noble, if only the single actions out of
+      whose great concatenation it wonderfully arose were beautiful then is the
+      event grand, interesting, and fruitful for us, and we are at liberty to
+      wonder at the bold offspring of chance, or rather offer up our admiration
+      to a higher intelligence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The history of the world, like the laws of nature, is consistent with
+      itself, and simple as the soul of man. Like conditions produce like
+      phenomena. On the same soil where now the Netherlanders were to resist
+      their Spanish tyrants, their forefathers, the Batavi and Belgee, fifteen
+      centuries before, combated against their Roman oppressors. Like the
+      former, submitting reluctantly to a haughty master, and misgoverned by
+      rapacious satraps, they broke off their chain with like resolution, and
+      tried their fortune in a similar unequal combat. The same pride of
+      conquest, the same national grandeur, marked the Spaniard of the sixteenth
+      century and the Roman of the first; the same valor and discipline
+      distinguished the armies of both, their battle array inspired the same
+      terror. There as here we see stratagem in combat with superior force, and
+      firmness, strengthened by unanimity, wearying out a mighty power weakened
+      by division; then as now private hatred armed a whole nation; a single
+      man, born for his times, revealed to his fellow-slaves the dangerous
+      Secret of their power, and brought their mute grief to a bloody
+      announcement. &ldquo;Confess, Batavians,&rdquo; cries Claudius Civilis to his
+      countrymen in the sacred grove, &ldquo;we are no longer treated, as formerly, by
+      these Romans as allies, but rather as slaves. We are handed over to their
+      prefects and centurions, who, when satiated with our plunder and with our
+      blood, make way for others, who, under different names, renew the same
+      outrages. If even at last Rome deigns to send us a legate, he oppresses us
+      with an ostentatious and costly retinue, and with still more intolerable
+      pride. The levies are again at hand which tear forever children from their
+      parents, brothers from brothers. Now, Batavians, is our time. Never did
+      Rome lie so prostrate as now. Let not their names of legions terrify you.
+      There is nothing in their camps but old men and plunder. Our infantry and
+      horsemen are strong; Germany is allied to us by blood, and Gaul is ready
+      to throw off its yoke. Let Syria serve them, and Asia and the East, who
+      are used to bow before kings; many still live who were born among us
+      before tribute was paid to the Romans. The gods are ever with the brave.&rdquo;
+       Solemn religious rites hallowed this conspiracy, like the League of the
+      Gueux; like that, it craftily wrapped itself in the veil of
+      submissiveness, in the majesty of a great name. The cohorts of Civilis
+      swear allegiance on the Rhine to Vespasian in Syria, as the League did to
+      Philip II. The same arena furnished the same plan of defence, the same
+      refuge to despair. Both confided their wavering fortunes to a friendly
+      element; in the same distress Civilis preserves his island, as fifteen
+      centuries after him William of Orange did the town of Leyden&mdash;through
+      an artificial inundation. The valor of the Batavi disclosed the impotency
+      of the world&rsquo;s ruler, as the noble courage of their descendants revealed
+      to the whole of Europe the decay of Spanish greatness. The same fecundity
+      of genius in the generals of both times gave to the war a similarly
+      obstinate continuance, and nearly as doubtful an issue; one difference,
+      nevertheless, distinguishes them: the Romans and Batavians fought
+      humanely, for they did not fight for religion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a href="#linknoteref-1" name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"><small>1</small></a>
+      More modern historians, with access to the records of the Spanish
+      Inquisition and the private communications between Phillip II. and his
+      various appointees to power in the Netherlands, rebut Shiller&rsquo;s kind but
+      naive thought. To the contrary, Phillip II. was most critical of his
+      envoys lack of severity. See in particular the &ldquo;Rise of the Dutch
+      Republic&rdquo; and the other works of John Motley on the history of the
+      Netherlands all of which are available at Project Gutenberg.&mdash;D.W.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a href="#linknoteref-2" name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"><small>2</small></a>
+      A few French generals who were by and large ineffective, and many promises
+      of gold which were undelivered.&mdash;D.W.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK I.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      EARLIER HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS UP TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Before we consider the immediate history of this great revolution, it will
+      be advisable to go a few steps back into the ancient records of the
+      country, and to trace the origin of that constitution which we find it
+      possessed of at the time of this remarkable change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first appearance of this people in the history of the world is the
+      moment of its fall; their conquerors first gave them a political
+      existence. The extensive region which is bounded by Germany on the east,
+      on the south by France, on the north and northwest by the North Sea, and
+      which we comprehend under the general name of the Netherlands, was, at the
+      time when the Romans invaded Gaul, divided amongst three principal
+      nations, all originally of German descent, German institutions, and German
+      spirit. The Rhine formed its boundaries. On the left of the river dwelt
+      the Belgae, on its right the Frisii, and the Batavi on the island which
+      its two arms then formed with the ocean. All these several nations were
+      sooner or later reduced into subjection by the Romans, but the conquerors
+      themselves give us the most glorious testimony to their valor. The Belgae,
+      writes Caesar, were the only people amongst the Gauls who repulsed the
+      invasion of the Teutones and Cimbri. The Batavi, Tacitus tells us,
+      surpassed all the tribes on the Rhine in bravery. This fierce nation paid
+      its tribute in soldiers, and was reserved by its conquerors, like arrow
+      and sword, only for battle. The Romans themselves acknowledged the
+      Batavian horsemen to be their best cavalry. Like the Swiss at this day,
+      they formed for a long time the body-guard of the Roman Emperor; their
+      wild courage terrified the Dacians, as they saw them, in full armor,
+      swimming across the Danube. The Batavi accompanied Agricola in his
+      expedition against Britain, and helped him to conquer that island. The
+      Frieses were, of all, the last subdued, and the first to regain their
+      liberty. The morasses among which they dwelt attracted the conquerors
+      later, and enhanced the price of conquest. The Roman Drusus, who made war
+      in these regions, had a canal cut from the Rhine into the Flevo, the
+      present Zuyder Zee, through which the Roman fleet penetrated into the
+      North Sea, and from thence, entering the mouths of the Ems and the Weser,
+      found an easy passage into the interior of Germany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through four centuries we find Batavian troops in the Roman armies, but
+      after the time of Honorius their name disappears from history. Presently
+      we discover their island overrun by the Franks, who again lost themselves
+      in the adjoining country of Belgium. The Frieses threw off the yoke of
+      their distant and powerless rulers, and again appearad as a free, and even
+      a conquering people, who governed themselves by their own customs and a
+      remnant of Roman laws, and extended their limits beyond the left bank of
+      the Rhine. Of all the provinces of the Netherlands, Friesland especially
+      had suffered the least from the irruptions of strange tribes and foreign
+      customs, and for centuries retained traces of its original institutions,
+      of its national spirit and manners, which have not, even at the present
+      day, entirely disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The epoch of the immigration of nations destroyed the original form of
+      most of these tribes; other mixed races arose in their place, with other
+      constitutions. In the general irruption the towns and encampments of the
+      Romans disappeared, and with them the memorials of their wise government,
+      which they had employed the natives to execute. The neglected dikes once
+      more yielded to the violence of the streams and to the encroachments of
+      the ocean. Those wonders of labor, and creations of human skill, the
+      canals, dried up, the rivers changed their course, the continent and the
+      sea confounded their olden limits, and the nature of the soil changed with
+      its inhabitants. So, too, the connection of the two eras seems effaced,
+      and with a new race a new history commences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The monarchy of the Franks, which arose out of the ruins of Roman Gaul,
+      had, in the sixth and seventh centuries, seized all the provinces of the
+      Netherlands, and planted there the Christian faith. After an obstinate war
+      Charles Martel subdued to the French crown Friesland, the last of all the
+      free provinces, and by his victories paved a way for the gospel.
+      Charlemagne united all these countries, and formed of them one division of
+      the mighty empire which he had constructed out of Germany, France, and
+      Lombardy. As under his descendants this vast dominion was again torn into
+      fragments, so the Netherlands became at times German, at others French, or
+      then again Lotheringian Provinces; and at last we find them under both the
+      names of Friesland and Lower Lotheringia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the Franks the feudal system, the offspring of the North, also came
+      into these lands, and here, too, as in all other countries, it
+      degenerated. The more powerful vassals gradually made themselves
+      independent of the crown, and the royal governors usurped the countries
+      they were appointed to govern. But the rebellions vassals could not
+      maintain their usurpations without the aid of their own dependants, whose
+      assistance they were compelled to purchase by new concessions. At the same
+      time the church became powerful through pious usurpations and donations,
+      and its abbey lands and episcopal sees acquired an independent existence.
+      Thus were the Netherlands in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth
+      centuries split up into several small sovereignties, whose possessors did
+      homage at one time to the German Emperor, at another to the kings of
+      France. By purchase, marriages, legacies, and also by conquest, several of
+      these provinces were often united under one suzerain, and thus in the
+      fifteenth century we see the house of Burgundy in possession of the chief
+      part of the Netherlands. With more or less right Philip the Good, Duke of
+      Burgundy, had united as many as eleven provinces under his authority, and
+      to these his son, Charles the Bold, added two others, acquired by force of
+      arms. Thus imperceptibly a new state arose in Europe, which wanted nothing
+      but the name to be the most flourishing kingdom in this quarter of the
+      globe. These extensive possessions made the Dukes of Burgundy formidable
+      neighbors to France, and tempted the restless spirit of Charles the Bold
+      to devise a scheme of conquest, embracing the whole line of country from
+      the Zuyder Zee and the mouth of the Rhine down to Alsace. The almost
+      inexhaustible resources of this prince justify in some measure this bold
+      project. A formidable army threatened to carry it into execution. Already
+      Switzerland trembled for her liberty; but deceitful fortune abandoned him
+      in three terrible battles, and the infatuated hero was lost in the melee
+      of the living and the dead.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [A page who had seen him fall a few days after the battle conducted
+   the victors to the spot, and saved his remains from an ignominious
+   oblivion. His body was dragged from out of a pool, in which it was
+   fast frozen, naked, and so disfigured with wounds that with great
+   difficulty he was recognized, by the well-known deficiency of some
+   of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger-nails. But that,
+   notwithstanding the marks, there were still incredulous people who
+   doubted his death, and looked for his reappearance, is proved by
+   the missive in which Louis XI. called upon the Burgundian States to
+   return to their allegiance to the Crown of France. &ldquo;If,&rdquo; the
+   passage runs, &ldquo;Duke Charles should still be living, you shall be
+   released from your oath to me.&rdquo; Comines, t. iii., Preuves des
+   Memoires, 495, 497.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The sole heiress of Charles the Bold, Maria, at once the richest princess
+      and the unhappy Helen of that time, whose wooing brought misery on her
+      inheritance, was now the centre of attraction to the whole known world.
+      Among her suitors appeared two great princes, King Louis XI. of France,
+      for his son, the young Dauphin, and Maximilian of Austria, son of the
+      Emperor Frederic III. The successful suitor was to become the most
+      powerful prince in Europe; and now, for the first time, this quarter of
+      the globe began to fear for its balance of power. Louis, the more powerful
+      of the two, was ready to back his suit by force of arms; but the people of
+      the Netherlands, who disposed of the hand of their princess, passed by
+      this dreaded neighbor, and decided in favor of Maximilian, whose more
+      remote territories and more limited power seemed less to threaten the
+      liberty of their country. A deceitful, unfortunate policy, which, through
+      a strange dispensation of heaven, only accelerated the melancholy fate
+      which it was intended to prevent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Philip the Fair, the son of Maria and Maximilian, a Spanish bride
+      brought as her portion that extensive kingmdom which Ferdinand and
+      Isabella had recently founded; and Charles of Austria, his son, was born
+      lord of the kingdoms of Spain, of the two Sicilies, of the New World, and
+      of the Netherlands. In the latter country the commonalty emancipated
+      themselves much earlier than in other; feudal states, and quickly attained
+      to an independent political existence. The favorable situation of the
+      country on the North Sea and on great navigable rivers early awakened the
+      spirit of commerce, which rapidly peopled the towns, encouraged industry
+      and the arts, attracted foreigners, and diffused prosperity and affluence
+      among them. However contemptuously the warlike policy of those times
+      looked down upon every peaceful and useful occupation, the rulers of the
+      country could not fail altogether to perceive the essential advantages
+      they derived from such pursuits. The increasing population of their
+      territories, the different imposts which they extorted from natives and
+      foreigners under the various titles of tolls, customs, highway rates,
+      escort money, bridge tolls, market fees, escheats, and so forth, were too
+      valuable considerations to allow them to remain indifferent to the sources
+      from which they were derived.. Their own rapacity made them promoters of
+      trade, and, as often happens, barbarism itself rudely nursed it, until at
+      last a healthier policy assumed its place. In the course of time they
+      invited the Lombard merchants to settle among them, and accorded to the
+      towns some valuable privileges and an independent jurisdiction, by which
+      the latter acquired uncommon extraordinary credit and influence. The
+      numerous wars which the counts and dukes carried on with one another, or
+      with their neighbors, made them in some measure dependent on the good-will
+      of the towns, who by their wealth obtained weight and consideration, and
+      for the subsidies which they afforded failed not to extort important
+      privileges in return. These privileges of the commonalties increased as
+      the crusades with their expensive equipment augumented the necessities of
+      the nobles; as a new road to Europe was opened for the productions of the
+      East, and as wide-spreading luxury created new wants to their princes.
+      Thus as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find in these lands
+      a mixed form of governmeut, in which the prerogative of the sovereign is
+      greatly limited by the privileges of the estates; that is to say, of the
+      nobility, the clergy, and the municipalities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These, under the name of States, assembled as often as the wants of the
+      province required it. Without their consent no new laws were valid, no war
+      could be carried on, and no taxes levied, no change made in the coinage,
+      and no foreigner admitted to any office of government. All the provinces
+      enjoyed these privileges in common; others were peculiar to the various
+      districts. The supreme government was hereditary, but the son did not
+      enter on the rights of his father before he had solemnly sworn to maintain
+      the existing constitution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Necessity is the first lawgiver; all the wants which had to be met by this
+      constitution were originally of a commercial nature. Thus the whole
+      constitution was founded on commerce, and the laws of the nation were
+      adapted to its pursuits. The last clause, which excluded foreigners from
+      all offices of trust, was a natural consequence of the preceding articles.
+      So complicated and artificial a relation between the sovereign and his
+      people, which in many provinces was further modified according to the
+      peculiar wants of each, and frequently of some single city, required for
+      its maintenance the liveliest zeal for the liberties of the country,
+      combined with an intimate acquaintance with them. From a foreigner neither
+      could well be expected. This law, besides, was enforced reciprocally in
+      each particular province; so that in Brabant no Fleming, in Zealand no
+      Hollander, could hold office; and it continued in force even after all
+      these provinces were united under one government.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Above all others, Brabant enjoyed the highest degree of freedom. Its
+      privileges were esteemed so valuable that many mothers from the adjacent
+      provinces removed thither about the time of their accouchment, in order to
+      entitle their children to participate, by birth, in all the immunities of
+      that favored country; just as, says Strada, one improves the plants of a
+      rude climate by removing them to the soil of a milder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the House of Burgundy had united several provinces under its
+      dominion, the separate provincial assemblies which, up to that time, had
+      been independent tribunals, were made subject to a supreme court at
+      Malines, which incorporated the various judicatures into one body, and
+      decided in the last resort all civil and criminal appeals. The separate
+      independence of the provinces was thus abolished, and the supreme power
+      vested in the senate at Malines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the death of Charles the Bold the states did not neglect to avail
+      themselves of the embarassment of their duchess, who, threatened by
+      France, was consequently in their power. Holland and Zealand compelled her
+      to sign a great charter, which secured to them the most important
+      sovereign rights. The people of Ghent carried their insolence to such a
+      pitch that they arbitrarily dragged the favorites of Maria, who had the
+      misfortune to displease them, before their own tribunals, and beheaded
+      them before the eyes of that princess. During the short government of the
+      Duchess Maria, from her father&rsquo;s death to her marriage, the commons
+      obtained powers which few free states enjoyed. After her death her
+      husband, Maximilian, illegally assumed the government as guardian of his
+      son. Offended by this invasion of their rights, the estates refused to
+      acknowledge his authority, and could only be brought to receive him as a
+      viceroy for a stated period, and under conditions ratified by oath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Maximilian, after he became Roman Emperor, fancied that he might safely
+      venture to violate the constitution. He imposed extraordinary taxes on the
+      provinces, gave official appointments to Burgundians and Germans, and
+      introduced foreign troops into the provinces. But the jealousy of these
+      republicans kept pace with the power of their regent. As he entered Bruges
+      with a large retinue of foreigners, the people flew to arms, made
+      themselves masters of his person, and placed him in confinement in the
+      castle. In spite of the intercession of the Imperial and Roman courts, he
+      did not again obtain his freedom until security had been given to the
+      people on all the disputed points.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The security of life and property arising from mild laws, and, an equal
+      administration of justice, had encouraged activity and industry. In
+      continual contest with the ocean and rapid rivers, which poured their
+      violence on the neighboring lowlands, and whose force it was requisite to
+      break by embankments and canals, this people had early learned to observe
+      the natural objects around them; by industry and perseverance to defy an
+      element of superior power; and like the Egyptian, instructed by his Nile,
+      to exercise their inventive genius and acuteness in self-defence. The
+      natural fertility of their soil, which favored agriculture and the
+      breeding of cattle, tended at the same time to increase the population.
+      Their happy position on the sea and the great navigable rivers of Germany
+      and France, many of which debouched on their coasts; the numerous
+      artificial canals which intersected the land in all directions, imparted
+      life to navigation; and the facility of internal communication between the
+      provinces, soon created and fostered a commercial spirit among these
+      people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The neighboring coasts, Denmark and Britain, were the first visited by
+      their vessels. The English wool which they brought back employed thousands
+      of industrious hands in Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp; and as early as the
+      middle of the twelfth century cloths of Flanders were extensively worn in
+      France and Germany. In the eleventh century we find ships of Friesland in
+      the Belt, and even in the Levant. This enterprising people ventured,
+      without a compass, to steer under the North Pole round to the most
+      northerly point of Russia. From the Wendish towns the Netherlands received
+      a share in the Levant trade, which, at that time, still passed from the
+      Black Sea through the Russian territories to the Baltic. When, in the
+      thirteenth century, this trade began to decline, the Crusades having
+      opened a new road through the Mediterranean for Indian merchandise, and
+      after the Italian towns had usurped this lucrative branch of commerce, and
+      the great Hanseatic League had been formed in Germany, the Netherlands
+      became the most important emporium between the north and south. As yet the
+      use of the compass was not general, and the merchantmen sailed slowly and
+      laboriously along the coasts. The ports on the Baltic were, during the
+      winter months, for the most part frozen and inaccessible. Ships,
+      therefore, which could not well accomplish within the year the long voyage
+      from the Mediterranean to the Belt, gladly availed themselves of harbors
+      which lay half-way between the two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With an immense continent behind them with which navigable streams kept up
+      their communication, and towards the west and north open to the ocean by
+      commodious harbors, this country appeared to be expressly formed for a
+      place of resort for different nations, and for a centre of commerce. The
+      principal towns of the Netherlands were established marts. Portuguese,
+      Spaniards, Italians, French, Britons, Germans, Danes, and Swedes thronged
+      to them with the produce of every country in the world. Competition
+      insured cheapness; industry was stimulated as it found a ready market for
+      its productions. With the necessary exchange of money arose the commerce
+      in bills, which opened a new and fruitful source of wealth. The princes of
+      the country, acquainted at last with their true interest, encouraged the
+      merchant by important immunities, and neglected not to protect their
+      commerce by advantageous treaties with foreign powers. When, in the
+      fifteenth century, several provinces were united under one rule, they
+      discontinued their private wars, which had proved so injurious, and their
+      separate interests were now more intimately connected by a common
+      government. Their commerce and affluence prospered in the lap of a long
+      peace, which the formidable power of their princes extorted from the
+      neighboring monarchs. The Burgundian flag was feared in every sea, the
+      dignity of their sovereign gave support to their undertakings, and the
+      enterprise of a private individual became the affair of a powerful state.
+      Such vigorous protection soon placed them in a position even to renounce
+      the Hanseatic League, and to pursue this daring enemy through every sea.
+      The Hanseatic merchants, against whom the coasts of Spain were closed,
+      were compelled at last, however reluctantly, to visit the Flemish fairs,
+      and purchase their Spanish goods in the markets of the Netherlands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bruges, in Flanders, was, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the
+      central point of the whole commerce of Europe, and the great market of all
+      nations. In the year 1468 a hundred and fifty merchant vessels were
+      counted entering the harbor of Sluys it one time. Besides the rich
+      factories of the Hanseatic League, there were here fifteen trading
+      companies, with their countinghouses, and many factories and merchants&rsquo;
+      families from every European country. Here was established the market of
+      all northern products for the south, and of all southern and Levantine
+      products for the north. These passed through the Sound, and up the Rhine,
+      in Hanseatic vessels to Upper Germany, or were transported by landcarriage
+      to Brunswick and Luneburg.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As in the common course of human affairs, so here also a licentious luxury
+      followed prosperity. The seductive example of Philip the Good could not
+      but accelerate its approach. The court of the Burgundian dukes was the
+      most voluptuous and magnificent in Europe, Italy itself not excepted. The
+      costly dress of the higher classes, which afterwards served as patterns to
+      the Spaniards, and eventually, with other Burgundian customs, passed over
+      to the court of Austria, soon descended to the lower orders, and the
+      meanest citizen nursed his person in velvet and silk.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Philip the Good was too profuse a prince to amass treasures;
+   nevertheless Charles the Bold found accumulated among his effects,
+   a greater store of table services, jewels, carpets, and linen than
+   three rich princedoms of that time together possessed, and over and
+   above all a treasure of three hundred thousand dollars in ready
+   money. The riches of this prince, and of the Burgundian people,
+   lay exposed on the battle-fields of Granson, Murten and Nancy.
+   Here a Swiss soldier drew from the finger of Charles the Bold, that
+   celebrated diamond which was long esteemed the largest in Europe,
+   which even now sparkles in the crown of France as the second in
+   size, but which the unwitting finder sold for a florin. The Swiss
+   exchanged the silver they found for tin, and the gold for copper,
+   and tore into pieces the costly tents of cloth of gold. The value
+   of the spoil of silver, gold, and jewels which was taken has been
+   estimated at three millions. Charles and his army had advanced to
+   the combat, not like foes who purpose battle, but like conquerors
+   who adorn themselves after victory.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Comines, an author who travelled through the Netherlands about the middle
+      of the fifteenth century, tells us that pride had already attended their
+      prosperity. The pomp and vanity of dress was carried by both sexes to
+      extravagance. The luxury of the table had never reached so great a height
+      among any other people. The immoral assemblage of both sexes at
+      bathing-places, and such other places of reunion for pleasure and
+      enjoyment, had banished all shame&mdash;and we are not here speaking of
+      the usual luxuriousness of the higher ranks; the females of the common
+      class abandoned themselves to such extravagances without limit or measure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But how much more cheering to the philanthropist is this extravagance than
+      the miserable frugality of want, and the barbarous virtues of ignorance,
+      which at that time oppressed nearly the whole of Europe! The Burgundian
+      era shines pleasingly forth from those dark ages, like a lovely spring day
+      amid the showers of February. But this flourishing condition tempted the
+      Flemish towns at last to their ruin; Ghent and Bruges, giddy with liberty
+      and success, declared war against Philip the Good, the ruler of eleven
+      provinces, which ended as unfortunately as it was presumptuously
+      commenced. Ghent alone lost many thousand men in an engagement near Havre,
+      and was compelled to appease the wrath of the victor by a contribution of
+      four hundred thousand gold florins. All the municipal functionaries, and
+      two thousand of the principal citizens, went, stripped to their shirts,
+      barefooted, and with heads uncovered, a mile out of the town to meet the
+      duke, and on their knees supplicated for pardon. On this occasion they
+      were deprived of several valuable privileges, all irreparable loss for
+      their future commerce. In the year 1482 they engaged in a war, with no
+      better success, against Maximilian of Austria, with a view to, deprive him
+      of the guardianship of his son, which, in contravention of his charter, he
+      had unjustly assumed. In 1487 the town of Bruges placed the archduke
+      himself in confinement, and put some of his most eminent ministers to
+      death. To avenge his son the Emperor Frederic III. entered their territory
+      with an army, and, blockading for ten years the harbor of Sluys, put a
+      stop to their entire trade. On this occasion Amsterdam and Antwerp, whose
+      jealousy had long been roused by the flourishing condition of the Flemish
+      towns, lent him the most important assistance. The Italians began to bring
+      their own silk-stuffs to Antwerp for sale, and the Flemish cloth-workers
+      likewise, who had settled in England, sent their goods thither; and thus
+      the town of Bruges lost two important branches of trade. The Hanseatic
+      League had long been offended at their overweening pride; and it now left
+      them and removed its factory to Antwerp. In the year 1516 all the foreign
+      merchants left the town except only a few Spaniards; but its prosperity
+      faded as slowly as it had bloomed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antwerp received, in the sixteenth century, the trade which the
+      luxuriousness of the Flemish towns had banished; and under the government
+      of Charles V. Antwerp was the most stirring and splendid city in the
+      Christian world. A stream like the Scheldt, whose broad mouth, in the
+      immediate vicinity, shared with the North Sea the ebb and flow of the
+      tide, and could carry vessels of the largest tonnage under the walls of
+      Antwerp, made it the natural resort for all vessels which visited that
+      coast. Its free fairs attracted men of business from all countries.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Two such fairs lasted forty days, and all the goods sold there
+   were duty free.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The industry of the nation had, in the beginning of this century, reached
+      its greatest height. The culture of grain, flax, the breeding of cattle,
+      the chase, and fisheries, enriched the peasant; arts, manufactures, and
+      trade gave wealth to the burghers. Flemish and Brabantine manufactures
+      were long to be seen in Arabia, Persia, and India. Their ships covered the
+      ocean, and in the Black Sea contended with the Genoese for supremacy. It
+      was the distinctive characteristic of the seaman of the Netherlands that
+      he made sail at all seasons of the year, and never laid up for the winter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the new route by the Cape of Good Hope was discovered, and the East
+      India trade of Portugal undermined that of the Levant, the Netherlands did
+      not feel the blow which was inflicted on the Italian republics. The
+      Portuguese established their mart in Brabant, and the spices of Calicut
+      were displayed for sale in the markets of Antwerp. Hither poured the West
+      Indian merchandise, with which the indolent pride of Spain repaid the
+      industry of the Netherlands. The East Indian market attracted the most
+      celebrated commercial houses from Florence, Lucca, and Genoa; and the
+      Fuggers and Welsers from Augsburg. Here the Hanse towns brought the wares
+      of the north, and here the English company had a factory. Here art and
+      nature seemed to expose to view all their riches; it was a splendid
+      exhibition of the works of the Creator and of the creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their renown soon diffused itself through the world. Even a company of
+      Turkish merchants, towards the end of this century, solicited permission
+      to settle here, and to supply the products of the East by way of Greece.
+      With the trade in goods they held also the exchange of money. Their bills
+      passed current in the farthest parts of the globe. Antwerp, it is
+      asserted, then transacted more extensive and more important business in a
+      single month than Venice, at its most flourishing period, in two whole
+      years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the year 1491 the Hanseatic League held its solemn meetings in this
+      town, which had formerly assembled in Lubeck alone. In 1531 the exchange
+      was erected, at that time the most splendid in all Europe, and which
+      fulfilled its proud inscription. The town now reckoned one hundred
+      thousand inhabitants. The tide of human beings, which incessantly poured
+      into it, exceeds all belief. Between two hundred and two hundred and fifty
+      ships were often seen loading at one time in its harbor; no day passed on
+      which the boats entering inwards and outwards did not amount to more than
+      five hundred; on market days the number amounted to eight or nine hundred.
+      Daily more than two hundred carriages drove through its gates; above two
+      thousand loaded wagons arrived every week from Germany, France, and
+      Lorraine, without reckoning the farmers&rsquo; carts and corn-vans, which were
+      seldom less than ten thousand in number. Thirty thousand hands were
+      employed by the English company alone. The market dues, tolls, and excise
+      brought millions to the government annually. We can form some idea of the
+      resources of the nation from the fact that the extraordinary taxes which
+      they were obliged to pay to Charles V. towards his numerous wars were
+      computed at forty millions of gold ducats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For this affluence the Netherlands were as much indebted to their liberty
+      as to the natural advantages of their country. Uncertain laws and the
+      despotic sway of a rapacious prince would quickly have blighted all the
+      blessings which propitious nature had so abundantly lavished on them. The
+      inviolable sanctity of the laws can alone secure to the citizen the fruits
+      of his industry, and inspire him with that happy confidence which is the
+      soul of all activity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The genius of this people, developed by the spirit of commerce, and by the
+      intercourse with so many nations, shone in useful inventions; in the lap
+      of abundance and liberty all the noble arts were carefully cultivated and
+      carried to perfection. From Italy, to which Cosmo de Medici had lately
+      restored its golden age, painting, architecture, and the arts of carving
+      and of engraving on copper, were transplanted into the Netherlands, where,
+      in a new soil, they flourished with fresh vigor. The Flemish school, a
+      daughter of the Italian, soon vied with its mother for the prize; and, in
+      common with it, gave laws to the whole of Europe in the fine arts. The
+      manufactures and arts, on which the Netherlanders principally founded
+      their prosperity, and still partly base it, require no particular
+      enumeration. The weaving of tapestry, oil painting, the art of painting on
+      glass, even pocketwatches and sun-dials were, as Guicciardini asserts,
+      originally invented in the Netherlands. To them we are indebted for the
+      improvement of the compass, the points of which are still known by Flemish
+      names. About the year 1430 the invention of typography is ascribed to
+      Laurence Koster, of Haarlem; and whether or not he is entitled to this
+      honorable distinction, certain it is that the Dutch were among the first
+      to engraft this useful art among them; and fate ordained that a century
+      later it should reward its country with liberty. The people of the
+      Netherlands united with the most fertile genius for inventions a happy
+      talent for improving the discoveries of others; there are probably few
+      mechanical arts and manufactures which they did not either produce or at
+      least carry to a higher degree of perfection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up to this time these provinces had formed the most enviable state in
+      Europe. Not one of the Burgundian dukes had ventured to indulge a thought
+      of overturning the constitution; it had remained sacred even to the daring
+      spirit of Charles the Bold, while he was preparing fetters for foreign
+      liberty. All these princes grew up with no higher hope than to be the
+      heads of a republic, and none of their territories afforded them
+      experience of a higher authority. Besides, these princes possessed nothing
+      but what the Netherlands gave them; no armies but those which the nation
+      sent into the field; no riches but what the estates granted to them. Now
+      all was changed. The Netherlands had fallen to a master who had at his
+      command other instruments and other resources, who could arm against them
+      a foreign power.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The unnatural union of two such different nations as the Belgians
+   and Spaniards could not possibly be prosperous. I cannot here
+   refrain from quoting the comparison which Grotius, in energetic
+   language, has drawn between the two. &ldquo;With the neighboring
+   nations,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;the people of the Netherlands could easily
+   maintain a good understanding, for they were of a similar origin
+   with themselves, and had grown up in the same manner. But the
+   people of Spain and of the Netherlands differed in almost every
+   respect from one another, and therefore, when they were brought
+   together clashed the more violently. Both had for many centuries
+   been distinguished in war, only the latter had, in luxurious
+   repose, become disused to arms, while the former had been inured to
+   war in the Italian and African campaigns; the desire of gain made
+   the Belgians more inclined to peace, but not less sensitive of
+   offence. No people were more free from the lust of conquest, but
+   none defended its own more zealously. Hence the numerous towns,
+   closely pressed together in a confined tract of country; densely
+   crowded with a foreign and native population; fortified near the
+   sea and the great rivers. Hence for eight centuries after the
+   northern immigration foreign arms could not prevail against them.
+   Spain, on the contrary, often changed its masters; and when at last
+   it fell into the hands of the Goths, its character and its manners
+   had suffered more or less from each new conqueror. The people thus
+   formed at last out of these several admixtures is described as
+   patient in labor, imperturbable in danger, equally eager for riches
+   and honor, proud of itself even to contempt of others, devout and
+   grateful to strangers for any act of kindness, but also revengeful,
+   and of such ungovernable passions in victory as so regard neither
+   conscience nor honor in the case of an enemy. All this is foreign
+   to the character of the Belgian, who is astute but not insidious,
+   who, placed midway between France and Germany, combines in
+   moderation the faults and good qualities of both. He is not easily
+   to be imposed upon, nor is he to be insulted with impunity. In
+   veneration for the Deity, too, he does not yield to the Spaniard;
+   the arms of the Northmen could not make him apostatize from
+   Christianity when he had once professed it. No opinion which the
+   church condemns had, up to this time, empoisoned the purity of his
+   faith. Nay, his pious extravagance went so far that it became
+   requisite to curb by laws the rapacity of his clergy. In both
+   people loyalty to their rulers is equally innate, with this
+   difference, that the Belgian places the law above kings. Of all
+   the Spaniards the Castilians require to be, governed with the most
+   caution; but the liberties which they arrogate for themselves they
+   do not willingly accord to others. Hence the difficult task to
+   their common ruler, so to distribute his attention, and care
+   between the two nations that neither the preference shown to the
+   Castilian should offend the Belgian, nor the equal treatment of the
+   Belgian affront the haughty spirit of the Castilian.&rdquo;&mdash;Grotii
+   Annal. Belg. L. 1. 4. 5. seq.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Charles V. was an absolute monarch in his Spanish dominions; in the
+      Netherlands he was no more than the first citizen. In the southern portion
+      of his empire he might have learned contempt for the rights of
+      individuals; here he was taught to respect them. The more he there tasted
+      the pleasures of unlimited power, and the higher he raised his opinion of
+      his own greatness, the more reluctant he must have felt to descend
+      elsewhere to the ordinary level of humanity, and to tolerate any check
+      upon his arbitrary authority. It requires, indeed, no ordinary degree of
+      virtue to abstain from warring against the power which imposes a curb on
+      our most cherished wishes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The superior power of Charles awakened at the same time in the Netherlands
+      that distrust which always accompanies inferiority. Never were they so
+      alive to their constitutional rights, never so jealous of the royal
+      prerogative, or more observant in their proceedings. Under, his reign we
+      see the most violent outbreaks of republican spirit, and the pretensions
+      of the people carried to an excess which nothing but the increasing
+      encroachments of the royal power could in the least justify. A Sovereign
+      will always regard the freedom of the citizen as an alienated fief, which
+      he is bound to recover. To the citizen the authority of a sovereign is a
+      torrent, which, by its inundation, threatens to sweep away his rights. The
+      Belgians sought to protect themselves against the ocean by embankments,
+      and against their princes by constitutional enactments. The whole history
+      of the world is a perpetually recurring struggle between liberty and the
+      lust of power and possession; as the history of nature is nothing but the
+      contest of the elements and organic bodies for space. The Netherlands soon
+      found to their cost that they had become but a province of a great
+      monarchy. So long as their former masters had no higher aim than to
+      promote their prosperity, their condition resembled the tranquil happiness
+      of a secluded family, whose head is its ruler. Charles V. introduced them
+      upon the arena of the political world. They now formed a member of that
+      gigantic body which the ambition of an individual employed as his
+      instrument. They ceased to have their own good for their aim; the centre
+      of their existence was transported to the soul of their ruler. As his
+      whole government was but one tissue of plans and manoeuvres to advance his
+      power, so it was, above all things, necessary that he should be completely
+      master of the various limbs of his mighty empire in order to move them
+      effectually and suddenly. It was impossible, therefore, for him to
+      embarrass himself with the tiresome mechanism of their interior political
+      organization, or to extend to their peculiar privileges the conscientious
+      respect which their republican jealousy demanded. It was expedient for him
+      to facilitate the exercise of their powers by concentration and unity. The
+      tribunal at Malines had been under his predecessor an independent court of
+      judicature; he subjected its decrees to the revision of a royal council,
+      which he established in Brussels, and which was the mere organ of his
+      will. He introduced foreigners into the most vital functions of their
+      constitution, and confided to them the most important offices. These men,
+      whose only support was the royal favor, would be but bad guardians of
+      privileges which, moreover, were little known to them. The ever-increasing
+      expenses of his warlike government compelled him as steadily to augment
+      his resources. In disregard of their most sacred privileges he imposed new
+      and strange taxes on the provinces. To preserve their olden consideration
+      the estates were forced to grant what he had been so modest as not to
+      extort; the whole history of the government of this monarch in the
+      Netherlands is almost one continued list of imposts demanded, refused, and
+      finally accorded. Contrary to the constitution, he introduced foreign
+      troops into their territories, directed the recruiting of his armies in
+      the provinces, and involved them in wars, which could not advance even if
+      they did not injure their interest, and to which they had not given their
+      consent. He punished the offences of a free state as a monarch; and the
+      terrible chastisement of Ghent announced to the other provinces the great
+      change which their constitution had already undergone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The welfare of the country was so far secured as was necessary to the
+      political schemes of its master; the intelligent policy of Charles would
+      certainly not violate the salutary regiment of the body whose energies he
+      found himself necessitated to exert. Fortunately, the opposite pursuits of
+      selfish ambition, and of disinterested philanthropy, often bring about the
+      same end; and the well-being of a state, which a Marcus Aurelius might
+      propose to himself as a rational object of pursuit, is occasionally
+      promoted by an Augustus or a Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles V. was perfectly aware that commerce was the strength of the
+      nation, and that the foundation of their commerce was liberty. He spared
+      its liberty because he needed its strength. Of greater political wisdom,
+      though not more just than his son, he adapted his principles to the
+      exigencies of time and place, and recalled an ordinance in Antwerp and in
+      Madrid which he would under other circumstances have enforced with all the
+      terrors of his power. That which makes the reign of Charles V.
+      particularly remarkable in regard to the Netherlands is the great
+      religious revolution which occurred under it; and which, as the principal
+      cause of the subsequent rebellion, demands a somewhat circumstantial
+      notice. This it was that first brought arbitrary power into the innermost
+      sanctuary of the constitution; taught it to give a dreadful specimen of
+      its might; and, in a measure, legalized it, while it placed republican
+      spirit on a dangerous eminence. And as the latter sank into anarchy and
+      rebellion monarchical power rose to the height of despotism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing is more natural than the transition from civil liberty to
+      religious freedom. Individuals, as well as communities, who, favored by a
+      happy political constitution, have become acquainted with the rights of
+      man, and accustomed to examine, if not also to create, the law which is to
+      govern them; whose minds have been enlightened by activity, and feelings
+      expanded by the enjoyments of life; whose natural courage has been exalted
+      by internal security and prosperity; such men will not easily surrender
+      themselves to the blind domination of a dull arbitrary creed, and will be
+      the first to emancipate themselves from its yoke. Another circumstance,
+      however, must have greatly tended to diffuse the new religion in these
+      countries. Italy, it might be objected, the seat of the greatest
+      intellectual culture, formerly the scene of the most violent political
+      factions, where a burning climate kindles the blood with the wildest
+      passions&mdash;Italy, among all the European countries, remained the
+      freest from this change. But to a romantic people, whom a warm and lovely
+      sky, a luxurious, ever young and ever smiling nature, and the multifarious
+      witcheries of art, rendered keenly susceptible of sensuous enjoyment, that
+      form of religion must naturally have been better adapted, which by its
+      splendid pomp captivates the senses, by its mysterious enigmas opens an
+      unbounded range to the fancy; and which, through the most picturesque
+      forms, labors to insinuate important doctrines into the soul. On the
+      contrary, to a people whom the ordinary employments of civil life have
+      drawn down to an unpoetical reality, who live more in plain notions than
+      in images, and who cultivate their common sense at the expense of their
+      imagination&mdash;to such a people that creed will best recommend itself
+      which dreads not investigation, which lays less stress on mysticism than
+      on morals, and which is rather to be understood then to be dwelt upon in
+      meditation. In few words, the Roman Catholic religion will, on the whole,
+      be found more adapted to a nation of artists, the Protestant more fitted
+      to a nation of merchants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On this supposition the new doctrines which Luther diffused in Germany,
+      and Calvin in Switzerland, must have found a congenial soil in the
+      Netherlands. The first seeds of it were sown in the Netherlands by the
+      Protestant merchants, who assembled at Amsterdam and Antwerp. The German
+      and Swiss troops, which Charles introduced into these countries, and the
+      crowd of French, German, and English fugitives who, under the protection
+      of the liberties of Flanders, sought to escape the sword of persecution
+      which threatened them at home, promoted their diffusion. A great portion
+      of the Belgian nobility studied at that time at Geneva, as the University
+      of Louvain was not yet in repute, and that of Douai not yet founded. The
+      new tenets publicly taught there were transplanted by the students to
+      their various countries. In an isolated people these first germs might
+      easily have been crushed; but in the market-towns of Holland and Brabant,
+      the resort of so many different nations, their first growth would escape
+      the notice of government, and be accelerated under the veil of obscurity.
+      A difference in opinion might easily spring up and gain ground amongst
+      those who already were divided in national character, in manners, customs,
+      and laws. Moreover, in a country where industry was the most lauded
+      virtue, mendicity the most abhorred vice, a slothful body of men, like
+      that of the monks, must have been an object of long and deep aversion.
+      Hence, the new religion, which opposed these orders, derived an immense
+      advantage from having the popular opinion on its side. Occasional
+      pamphlets, full of bitterness and satire, to which the newly-discovered
+      art of printing secured a rapid circulation, and several bands of
+      strolling orators, called Rederiker, who at that time made the circuit of
+      the provinces, ridiculing in theatrical representations or songs the
+      abuses of their times, contributed not a little to diminish respect for
+      the Romish Church, and to prepare the people for the reception of the new
+      dogmas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first conquests of this doctrine were astonishingly rapid. The number
+      of those who in a short time avowed themselves its adherents, especially
+      in the northern provinces, was prodigious; but among these the foreigners
+      far outnumbered the natives. Charles V., who, in this hostile array of
+      religious tenets, had taken the side which a despot could not fail to
+      take, opposed to the increasing torrent of innovation the most effectual
+      remedies. Unhappily for the reformed religion political justice was on the
+      side of its persecutor. The dam which, for so many centuries, had repelled
+      human understanding from truth was too suddenly torn away for the
+      outbreaking torrent not to overflow its appointed channel. The reviving
+      spirit of liberty and of inquiry, which ought to have remained within the
+      limits of religious questions, began also to examine into the rights of
+      kings. While in the commencement iron fetters were justly broken off, a
+      desire was eventually shown to rend asunder the most legitimate and most
+      indispensable of ties. Even the Holy Scriptures, which were now circulated
+      everywhere, while they imparted light and nurture to the sincere inquirer
+      after truth, were the source also whence an eccentric fanaticism contrived
+      to extort the virulent poison. The good cause had been compelled to choose
+      the evil road of rebellion, and the result was what in such cases it ever
+      will be so long as men remain men. The bad cause, too, which had nothing
+      in common with the good but the employment of illegal means, emboldened by
+      this slight point of connection, appeared in the same company, and was
+      mistaken for it. Luther had written against the invocation of saints;
+      every audacious varlet who broke into the churches and cloisters, and
+      plundered the altars, called himself Lutheran. Faction, rapine,
+      fanaticism, licentiousness robed themselves in his colors; the most
+      enormous offenders, when brought before the judges, avowed themselves his
+      followers. The Reformation had drawn down the Roman prelate to a level
+      with fallible humanity; an insane band, stimulated by hunger and want,
+      sought to annihilate all distinction of ranks. It was natural that a
+      doctrine, which to the state showed itself only in its most unfavorable
+      aspect, should not have been able to reconcile a monarch who had already
+      so many reasons to extirpate it; and it is no wonder, therefore, that be
+      employed against it the arms it had itself forced upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles must already have looked upon himself as absolute in the
+      Netherlands since he did not think it necessary to extend to these
+      countries the religious liberty which he had accorded to Germany. While,
+      compelled by the effectual resistance of the German princes, he assured to
+      the former country a free exercise of the new religion, in the latter he
+      published the most cruel edicts for its repression. By these the reading
+      of the Evangelists and Apostles; all open or secret meetings to which
+      religion gave its name in ever so slight a degree; all conversations on
+      the subject, at home or at the table, were forbidden under severe
+      penalties. In every province special courts of judicature were established
+      to watch over the execution of the edicts. Whoever held these erroneous
+      opinions was to forfeit his office without regard to his rank. Whoever
+      should be convicted of diffusing heretical doctrines, or even of simply
+      attending the secret meetings of the Reformers, was to be condemned to
+      death, and if a male, to be executed by the sword, if a female, buried
+      alive. Backsliding heretics were to be committed to the flames. Not even
+      the recantation of the offender could annul these appalling sentences.
+      Whoever abjured his errors gained nothing by his apostacy but at farthest
+      a milder kind of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fiefs of the condemned were also confiscated, contrary to the
+      privileges of the nation, which permitted the heir to redeem them for a
+      trifling fine; and in defiance of an express and valuable privilege of the
+      citizens of Holland, by which they were not to be tried out of their
+      province, culprits were conveyed beyond the limits of the native
+      judicature, and condemned by foreign tribunals. Thus did religion guide
+      the hand of despotism to attack with its sacred weapon, and without danger
+      or opposition, the liberties which were inviolable to the secular arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles V., emboldened by the fortunate progress of his arms in Germany,
+      thought that he might now venture on everything, and seriously meditated
+      the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. But the
+      terror of its very name alone reduced commerce in Antwerp to a standstill.
+      The principal foreign merchants prepared to quit the city. All buying and
+      selling ceased, the value of houses fell, the employment of artisans
+      stopped. Money disappeared from the hands of the citizen. The ruin of that
+      flourishing commercial city was inevitable had not Charles V. listened to
+      the representations of the Duchess of Parma, and abandoned this perilous
+      resolve. The tribunal, therefore, was ordered not to interfere with the
+      foreign merchants, and the title of Inquisitor was changed unto the milder
+      appellation of Spiritual Judge. But in the other provinces that tribunal
+      proceeded to rage with the inhuman despotism which has ever been peculiar
+      to it. It has been computed that during the reign of Charles V. fifty
+      thousand persons perished by the hand of the executioner for religion
+      alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we glance at the violent proceedings of this monarch we are quite at
+      a loss to comprehend what it was that kept the rebellion within bounds
+      during his reign, which broke out with so much violence under his
+      successor. A closer investigation will clear up this seeming anomaly.
+      Charles&rsquo;s dreaded supremacy in Europe had raised the commerce of the
+      Netherlands to a height which it had never before attained. The majesty of
+      his name opened all harbors, cleared all seas for their vessels, and
+      obtained for them the most favorable commercial treaties with foreign
+      powers. Through him, in particular, they destroyed the dominion of the
+      Hanse towns in the Baltic. Through him, also, the New World, Spain, Italy,
+      Germany, which now shared with them a common ruler, were, in a measure, to
+      be considered as provinces of their own country, and opened new channels
+      for their commerce. He had, moreover, united the remaining six provinces
+      with the hereditary states of Burgundy, and thus given to them an extent
+      and political importance which placed them by the side of the first
+      kingdoms of Europe.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [He had, too, at one time the intention of raising it to a kingdom;
+   but the essential points of difference between the provinces, which
+   extended from constitution and manners to measures and weights,
+   soon made him abandon this design. More important was the service
+   which he designed them in the Burgundian treaty, which settled its
+   relation to the German empire. According to this treaty the
+   seventeen provinces were to contribute to the common wants of the
+   German empire twice as much as an electoral prince; in case of a
+   Turkish war three times as much; in return for which, however, they
+   were to enjoy the powerful protection of this empire, and not to be
+   injured in any of their various privileges. The revolution, which
+   under Charles&rsquo; son altered the political constitution of the
+   provinces, again annulled this compact, which, on account of the
+   trifling advantage that it conferred, deserves no further notice.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      By all this he flattered the national pride of this people. Moreover, by
+      the incorporation of Gueldres, Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen with
+      these provinces, he put an end to the private wars which had so long
+      disturbed their commerce; an unbroken internal peace now allowed them to
+      enjoy the full fruits of their industry. Charles was therefore a
+      benefactor of this people. At the same time, the splendor of his victories
+      dazzled their eyes; the glory of their sovereign, which was reflected upon
+      them also, had bribed their republican vigilance; while the awe-inspiring
+      halo of invincibility which encircled the conqueror of Germany, France,
+      Italy, and Africa terrified the factious. And then, who knows not on how
+      much may venture the man, be he a private individual or a prince, who has
+      succeeded in enchaining the admiration of his fellow-creatures! His
+      repeated personal visits to these lands, which he, according to his own
+      confession, visited as often as ten different times, kept the disaffected
+      within bounds; the constant exercise of severe and prompt justice
+      maintained the awe of the royal power. Finally, Charles was born in the
+      Netherlands, and loved the nation in whose lap he had grown up. Their
+      manners pleased him, the simplicity of their character and social
+      intercourse formed for him a pleasing recreation from the severe Spanish
+      gravity. He spoke their language, and followed their customs in his
+      private life. The burdensome ceremonies which form the unnatural barriers
+      between king and people were banished from Brussels. No jealous foreigner
+      debarred natives from access to their prince; their way to him was through
+      their own countrymen, to whom he entrusted his person. He spoke much and
+      courteously with them; his deportment was engaging, his discourse
+      obliging. These simple artifices won for him their love, and while his
+      armies trod down their cornfields, while his rapacious imposts diminished
+      their property, while his governors oppressed, his executioners
+      slaughtered, he secured their hearts by a friendly demeanor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gladly would Charles have seen this affection of the nation for himself
+      descend upon his son. On this account he sent for him in his youth from
+      Spain, and showed him in Brussels to his future subjects. On the solemn
+      day of his abdication he recommended to him these lands as the richest
+      jewel in his crown, and earnestly exhorted him to respect their laws and
+      privileges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. was in all the direct opposite of his father. As ambitious as
+      Charles, but with less knowledge of men and of the rights of man, he had
+      formed to himself a notion of royal authority which regarded men as simply
+      the servile instruments of despotic will, and was outraged by every
+      symptom of liberty. Born in Spain, and educated under the iron discipline
+      of the monks, he demanded of others the same gloomy formality and reserve
+      as marked his own character. The cheerful merriment of his Flemish
+      subjects was as uncongenial to his disposition and temper as their
+      privileges were offensive to his imperious will. He spoke no other
+      language but the Spanish, endured none but Spaniards about his person, and
+      obstinately adhered to all their customs. In vain did the loyal ingenuity
+      of the Flemish towns through which he passed vie with each other in
+      solemnizing his arrival with costly festivities.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The town of Antwerp alone expended on an occasion of this kind two
+   hundred and sixty thousand gold florins.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philip&rsquo;s eye remained dark; all the profusion of magnificence, all the
+      loud and hearty effusions of the sincerest joy could not win from him one
+      approving smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles entirely missed his aim by presenting his son to the Flemings.
+      They might eventually have endured his yoke with less impatience if he had
+      never set his foot in their land. But his look forewarned them what they
+      had to expect; his entry into Brussels lost him all hearts. The Emperor&rsquo;s
+      gracious affability with his people only served to throw a darker shade on
+      the haughty gravity of his son. They read in his countenance the
+      destructive purpose against their liberties which, even then, he already
+      revolved in his breast. Forewarned to find in him a tyrant they were
+      forearmed to resist him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The throne of the Netherlands was the first which Charles V. abdicated.
+      Before a solemn convention in Brussels he absolved the States-General of
+      their oath, and transferred their allegiance to King Philip, his son. &ldquo;If
+      my death,&rdquo; addressing the latter, as he concluded, &ldquo;had placed you in
+      possession of these countries, even in that case so valuable a bequest
+      would have given me great claims on your gratitude. But now that of my
+      free will I transfer them to you, now that I die in order to hasten your
+      enjoyment of them, I only require of you to pay to the people the
+      increased obligation which the voluntary surrender of my dignity lays upon
+      you. Other princes esteem it a peculiar felicity to bequeath to their
+      children the crown which death is already ravishing from then. This
+      happiness I am anxious to enjoy during my life. I wish to be a spectator
+      of your reign. Few will follow my example, as few have preceded me in it.
+      But this my deed will be praised if your future life should justify my
+      expectations, if you continue to be guided by that wisdom which you have
+      hitherto evinced, if you remain inviolably attached to the pure faith
+      which is the main pillar of your throne. One thing more I have to add: may
+      Heaven grant you also a son, to whom you may transmit your power by
+      choice, and not by necessity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After the Emperor had concluded his address Philip kneeled down before
+      him, kissed his hand, and received his paternal blessing. His eyes for the
+      last time were moistened with a tear. All present wept. It was an hour
+      never to be forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This affecting farce was soon followed by another. Philip received the
+      homage of the assembled states. He took the oath administered in the
+      following words: &ldquo;I, Philip, by the grace of God, Prince of Spain, of the
+      two Sicilies, etc., do vow and swear that I will be a good and just lord
+      in these countries, counties, and duchies, etc.; that I will well and
+      truly hold, and cause to be held, the privileges and liberties of all the
+      nobles, towns, commons, and subjects which have been conferred upon them
+      by my predecessors, and also the customs, usages and rights which they now
+      have and enjoy, jointly and severally, and, moreover, that I will do all
+      that by law and right pertains to a good and just prince and lord, so help
+      me God and all His Saints.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The alarm which the arbitrary government of the Emperor had inspired, and
+      the distrust of his son, are already visible in the formula of this oath,
+      which was drawn up in far more guarded and explicit terms than that which
+      had been administered to Charles V. himself and all the Dukes in Burgundy.
+      Philip, for instance, was compelled to swear to the maintenance of their
+      customs and usages, what before his time had never been required. In the
+      oath which the states took to him no other obedience was promised than
+      such as should be consistent with the privileges of the country. His
+      officers then were only to reckon on submission and support so long as
+      they legally discharged the duties entrusted to them. Lastly, in this oath
+      of allegiance, Philip is simply styled the natural, the hereditary prince,
+      and not, as the Emperor had desired, sovereign or lord; proof enough how
+      little confidence was placed in the justice and liberality of the new
+      sovereign.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+         PHILIP II., RULER OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. received the lordship of the Netherlands in the brightest
+      period of their prosperity. He was the first of their princes who united
+      them all under his authority. They now consisted of seventeen provinces;
+      the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and Gueldres, the seven
+      counties of Artois, Hainault, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen, Holland, and
+      Zealand, the margravate of Antwerp, and the five lordships of Friesland,
+      Mechlin (Malines), Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen, which, collectively,
+      formed a great and powerful state able to contend with monarchies. Higher
+      than it then stood their commerce could not rise. The sources of their
+      wealth were above the earth&rsquo;s surface, but they were more valuable and
+      inexhaustible and richer than all the mines in America. These seventeen
+      provinces which, taken together, scarcely comprised the fifth part of
+      Italy, and do not extend beyond three hundred Flemish miles, yielded an
+      annual revenue to their lord, not much inferior to that which Britain
+      formerly paid to its kings before the latter had annexed so many of the
+      ecclesiastical domains to their crown. Three hundred and fifty cities,
+      alive with industry and pleasure, many of them fortified by their natural
+      position and secure without bulwarks or walls; six thousand three hundred
+      market towns of a larger size; smaller villages, farms, and castles
+      innumerable, imparted to this territory the aspect of one unbroken
+      flourishing landscape. The nation had now reached the meridian of its
+      splendor; industry and abundance had exalted the genius of the citizen,
+      enlightened his ideas, ennobled his affections; every flower of the
+      intellect had opened with the flourishing condition of the country. A
+      happy temperament under a severe climate cooled the ardor of their blood,
+      and moderated the rage of their passions; equanimity, moderation, and
+      enduring patience, the gifts of a northern clime; integrity, justice, and
+      faith, the necessary virtues of their profession; and the delightful
+      fruits of liberty, truth, benevolence, and a patriotic pride were blended
+      in their character, with a slight admixture of human frailties. No people
+      on earth was more easily governed by a prudent prince, and none with more
+      difficulty by a charlatan or a tyrant. Nowhere was the popular voice so
+      infallible a test of good government as here. True statesmanship could be
+      tried in no nobler school, and a sickly artificial policy had none worse
+      to fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A state constituted like this could act and endure with gigantic energy
+      whenever pressing emergencies called forth its powers and a skilful and
+      provident administration elicited its resources. Charles V. bequeathed to
+      his successor an authority in these provinces little inferior to that of a
+      limited monarchy. The prerogative of the crown had gained a visible
+      ascendancy over the republican spirit, and that complicated machine could
+      now be set in motion, almost as certainly and rapidly as the most
+      absolutely governed nation. The numerous nobility, formerly so powerful,
+      cheerfully accompanied their sovereign in his wars, or, on the civil
+      changes of the state, courted the approving smile of royality. The crafty
+      policy of the crown had created a new and imaginary good, of which it was
+      the exclusive dispenser. New passions and new ideas of happiness
+      supplanted at last the rude simplicity of republican virtue. Pride gave
+      place to vanity, true liberty to titles of Honor, a needy independence to
+      a luxurious servitude. To oppress or to plunder their native land as the
+      absolute satraps of an absolute lord was a more powerful allurement for
+      the avarice and ambition of the great, than in the general assembly of the
+      state to share with the monarch a hundredth part of the supreme power. A
+      large portion, moreover, of the nobility were deeply sunk in poverty and
+      debt. Charles V. had crippled all the most dangerous vassals of the crown
+      by expensive embassies to foreign courts, under the specious pretext of
+      honorary distinctions. Thus, William of Orange was despatched to Germany
+      with the imperial crown, and Count Egmont to conclude the marriage
+      contract between Philip and Queen Mary. Both also afterwards accompanied
+      the Duke of Alva to France to negotiate the peace between the two crowns,
+      and the new alliance of their sovereign with Madame Elizabeth. The
+      expenses of these journeys amounted to three hundred thousand florins,
+      towards which the king did not contribute a single penny. When the Prince
+      of Orange was appointed generalissimo in the place of the Duke of Savoy he
+      was obliged to defray all the necessary expenses of his office. When
+      foreign ambassadors or princes came to Brussels it was made incumbent on
+      the nobles to maintain the honor of their king, who himself always dined
+      alone, and never kept open table. Spanish policy had devised a still more
+      ingenious contrivance gradually to impoverish the richest families of the
+      land. Every year one of the Castilian nobles made his appearance in
+      Brussels, where he displayed a lavish magnificence. In Brussels it was
+      accounted an indelible disgrace to be distanced by a stranger in such
+      munificence. All vied to surpass him, and exhausted their fortunes in this
+      costly emulation, while the Spaniard made a timely retreat to his native
+      country, and by the frugality of four years repaired the extravagance of
+      one year. It was the foible of the Netherlandish nobility to contest with
+      every stranger the credit of superior wealth, and of this weakness the
+      government studiously availed itself. Certainly these arts did not in the
+      sequel produce the exact result that had been calculated on; for these
+      pecuniary burdens only made the nobility the more disposed for innovation,
+      since he who has lost all can only be a gainer in the general ruin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Roman Church had ever been a main support of the royal power, and it
+      was only natural that it should be so. Its golden time was the bondage of
+      the human intellect, and, like royalty, it had gained by the ignorance and
+      weakness of men. Civil oppression made religion more necessary and more
+      dear; submission to tyrannical power prepares the mind for a blind,
+      convenient faith, and the hierarchy repaid with usury the services of
+      despotism. In the provinces the bishops and prelates were zealous
+      supporters of royalty, and ever ready to sacrifice the welfare of the
+      citizen to the temporal advancement of the church and the political
+      interests of the sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Numerous and brave garrisons also held the cities in awe, which were at
+      the same time divided by religious squabbles and factions, and
+      consequently deprived of their strongest support&mdash;union among
+      themselves. How little, therefore, did it require to insure this
+      preponderance of Philip&rsquo;s power, and how fatal must have been the folly by
+      which it was lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Philip&rsquo;s authority in these provinces, however great, did not surpass
+      the influence which the Spanish monarchy at that time enjoyed throughout
+      Europe. No state ventured to enter the arena of contest with it. France,
+      its most dangerous neighbor, weakened by a destructive war, and still more
+      by internal factions, which boldly raised their heads during the feeble
+      government of a child, was advancing rapidly to that unhappy condition
+      which, for nearly half a century, made it a theatre of the most enormous
+      crimes and the most fearful calamities. In England Elizabeth could with
+      difficulty protect her still tottering throne against the furious storms
+      of faction, and her new church establishment against the insidious arts of
+      the Romanists. That country still awaited her mighty call before it could
+      emerge from a humble obscurity, and had not yet been awakened by the
+      faulty policy of her rival to that vigor and energy with which it finally
+      overthrew him. The imperial family of Germany was united with that of
+      Spain by the double ties of blood and political interest; and the
+      victorious progress of Soliman drew its attention more to the east than to
+      the west of Europe. Gratitude and fear secured to Philip the Italian
+      princes, and his creatures ruled the Conclave. The monarchies of the North
+      still lay in barbarous darkness and obscurity, or only just began to
+      acquire form and strength, and were as yet unrecognized in the political
+      system of Europe. The most skilful generals, numerous armies accustomed to
+      victory, a formidable marine, and the golden tribute from the West Indies,
+      which now first began to come in regularly and certainly&mdash;what
+      terrible instruments were these in the firm and steady hand of a talented
+      prince Under such auspicious stars did King Philip commence his reign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before we see him act we must first look hastily into the deep recesses of
+      his soul, and we shall there find a key to his political life. Joy and
+      benevolence were wholly wanting in the composition of his character. His
+      temperament, and the gloomy years of his early childhood, denied him the
+      former; the latter could not be imparted to him by men who had renounced
+      the sweetest and most powerful of the social ties. Two ideas, his own self
+      and what was above that self, engrossed his narrow and contracted mind.
+      Egotism and religion were the contents and the title-page of the history
+      of his whole life. He was a king and a Christian, and was bad in both
+      characters; he never was a man among men, because he never condescended
+      but only ascended. His belief was dark and cruel; for his divinity was a
+      being of terror, from whom he had nothing to hope but everything to fear.
+      To the ordinary man the divinity appears as a comforter, as a Saviour;
+      before his mind it was set up as an image of fear, a painful, humiliating
+      check to his human omnipotence. His veneration for this being was so much
+      the more profound and deeply rooted the less it extended to other objects.
+      He trembled servilely before God because God was the only being before
+      whom he had to tremble. Charles V. was zealous for religion because
+      religion promoted his objects. Philip was so because he had real faith in
+      it. The former let loose the fire and the sword upon thousands for the
+      sake of a dogma, while he himself, in the person of the pope, his captive,
+      derided the very doctrine for which he had sacrificed so much human blood.
+      It was only with repugnance and scruples of conscience that Philip
+      resolved on the most just war against the pope, and resigned all the
+      fruits of his victory as a penitent malefactor surrenders his booty. The
+      Emperor was cruel from calculation, his son from impulse. The first
+      possessed a strong and enlightened spirit, and was, perhaps, so much the
+      worse as a man; the second was narrow-minded and weak, but the more
+      upright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both, however, as it appears to me, might have been better men than they
+      actually were, and still, on the whole, have acted on the very same
+      principles. What we lay to the charge of personal character of an
+      individual is very often the infirmity, the necessary imperfection of
+      universal human nature. A monarchy so great and so powerful was too great
+      a trial for human pride, and too mighty a charge for human power. To
+      combine universal happiness with the highest liberty of the individual is
+      the sole prerogative of infinite intelligence, which diffuses itself
+      omnipresently over all. But what resource has man when placed in the
+      position of omnipotence? Man can only aid his circumscribed powers by
+      classification; like the naturalist, he establishes certain marks and
+      rules by which to facilitate his own feeble survey of the whole, to which
+      all individualities must conform. All this is accomplished for him by
+      religion. She finds hope and fear planted in every human breast; by making
+      herself mistress of these emotions, and directing their affections to a
+      single object, she virtually transforms millions of independent beings
+      into one uniform abstract. The endless diversity of the human will no
+      longer embarrasses its ruler&mdash;now there exists one universal good,
+      one universal evil, which he can bring forward or withdraw at pleasure,
+      and which works in unison with himself even when absent. Now a boundary is
+      established before which liberty must halt; a venerable, hallowed line,
+      towards which all the various conflicting inclinations of the will must
+      finally converge. The common aim of despotism and of priestcraft is
+      uniformity, and uniformity is a necessary expedient of human poverty and
+      imperfection. Philip became a greater despot than his father because his
+      mind was more contracted, or, in other words, he was forced to adhere the
+      more scrupulously to general rules the less capable he was of descending
+      to special and individual exceptions. What conclusion could we draw from
+      these principles but that Philip II. could not possibly have any higher
+      object of his solicitude than uniformity, both in religion and in laws,
+      because without these he could not reign?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet he would have shown more mildness and forbearance in his
+      government if he had entered upon it earlier. In the judgment which is
+      usually formed of this prince one circumstance does not appear to be
+      sufficiently considered in the history of his mind and heart, which,
+      however, in all fairness, ought to be duly weighed. Philip counted nearly
+      thirty years when he ascended the Spanish throne, and the early maturity
+      of his understanding had anticipated the period of his majority. A mind
+      like his, conscious of its powers, and only too early acquainted with his
+      high expectations, could not brook the yoke of childish subjection in
+      which he stood; the superior genius of the father, and the absolute
+      authority of the autocrat, must have weighed heavily on the self-satisfied
+      pride of such a son. The share which the former allowed him in the
+      government of the empire was just important enough to disengage his mind
+      from petty passions and to confirm the austere gravity of his character,
+      but also meagre enough to kindle a fiercer longing for unlimited power.
+      When he actually became possessed of uncontrolled authority it had lost
+      the charm of novelty. The sweet intoxication of a young monarch in the
+      sudden and early possession of supreme power; that joyous tumult of
+      emotions which opens the soul to every softer sentiment, and to which
+      humanity has owed so many of the most valuable and the most prized of its
+      institutions; this pleasing moment had for him long passed by, or had
+      never existed. His character was already hardened when fortune put him to
+      this severe test, and his settled principles withstood the collision of
+      occasional emotion. He had had time, during fifteen years, to prepare
+      himself for the change; and instead of youthful dallying with the external
+      symbols of his new station, or of losing the morning of his government in
+      the intoxication of an idle vanity, he remained composed and serious
+      enough to enter at once on the full possession of his power so as to
+      revenge himself through the most extensive employment of it for its having
+      been so long withheld from him.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+           THE TRIBUNAL OF THE INQUISITION
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. no sooner saw himself, through the peace of Chateau-Cambray, in
+      undisturbed enjoyment of his immense territory than he turned his whole
+      attention to the great work of purifying religion, and verified the fears
+      of his Netherlandish subjects. The ordinances which his father had caused
+      to be promulgated against heretics were renewed in all their rigor, and
+      terrible tribunals, to whom nothing but the name of inquisition was
+      wanting, were appointed to watch over their execution. But his plan
+      appeared to him scarcely more than half-fulfilled so long as he could not
+      transplant into these countries the Spanish Inquisition in its perfect
+      form&mdash;a design in which the Emperor had already suffered shipwreck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spanish Inquisition is an institution of a new and peculiar kind,
+      which finds no prototype in the whole course of time, and admits of
+      comparison with no ecclesiastical or civil tribunal. Inquisition had
+      existed from the time when reason meddled with what is holy, and from the
+      very commencement of scepticism and innovation; but it was in the middle
+      of the thirteenth century, after some examples of apostasy had alarmed the
+      hierarchy, that Innocent III. first erected for it a peculiar tribunal,
+      and separated, in an unnatural manner, ecclesiastical superintendence and
+      instruction from its judicial and retributive office. In order to be the
+      more sure that no human sensibilities or natural tenderness should thwart
+      the stern severity of its statutes, he took it out of the hands of the
+      bishops and secular clergy, who, by the ties of civil life, were still too
+      much attached to humanity for his purpose, and consigned it to those of
+      the monks, a half-denaturalized race of beings who had abjured the sacred
+      feelings, of nature, and were the servile tools of the Roman See. The
+      Inquisition was received in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France; a
+      Franciscan monk sat as judge in the terrible court, which passed sentence
+      on the Templars. A few states succeeded either in totally excluding or
+      else in subjecting it to civil authority. The Netherlands had remained
+      free from it until the government of Charles V.; their bishops exercised
+      the spiritual censorship, and in extraordinary cases reference was made to
+      foreign courts of inquisition; by the French provinces to that of Paris,
+      by the Germans to that of Cologne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Inquisition which we are here speaking of came from the west of
+      Europe, and was of a different origin and form. The last Moorish throne in
+      Granada had fallen in the fifteenth century, and the false faith of the
+      Saracens had finally succumbed before the fortunes of Christianity. But
+      the gospel was still new, and but imperfectly established in this youngest
+      of Christian kingdoms, and in the confused mixture of heterogeneous laws
+      and manners the religions had become mixed. It is true the sword of
+      persecution had driven many thousand families to Africa, but a far larger
+      portion, detained by the love of climate and home, purchased remission
+      from this dreadful necessity by a show of conversion, and continued at
+      Christian altars to serve Mohammed and Moses. So long as prayers were
+      offered towards Mecca, Granada was not subdued; so long as the new
+      Christian, in the retirement of his house, became again a Jew or a Moslem,
+      he was as little secured to the throne as to the Romish See. It was no
+      longer deemed sufficient to compel a perverse people to adopt the exterior
+      forms of a new faith, or to wed it to the victorious church by the weak
+      bands of ceremonials; the object now was to extirpate the roots of an old
+      religion, and to subdue an obstinate bias which, by the slow operation of
+      centuries, had been implanted in their manners, their language, and their
+      laws, and by the enduring influence of a paternal soil and sky was still
+      maintained in its full extent and vigor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If the church wished to triumph completely over the opposing worship, and
+      to secure her new conquest beyond all chance of relapse, it was
+      indispensable that she should undermine the foundation itself on which the
+      old religion was built. It was necessary to break to pieces the entire
+      form of moral character to which it was so closely and intimately
+      attached. It was requisite to loosen its secret roots from the hold they
+      had taken in. the innermost depths of the soul; to extinguish all traces
+      of it, both in domestic life and in the civil world; to cause all
+      recollection of it to perish; and, if possible, to destroy the very
+      susceptibility for its impressions. Country and family, conscience and
+      honor, the sacred feelings of society and of nature, are ever the first
+      and immediate ties to which religion attaches itself; from these it
+      derives while it imparts strength. This connection was now to be
+      dissolved; the old religion was violently to be dissevered from the holy
+      feelings of nature, even at the expense of the sanctity itself of these
+      emotions. Thus arose that Inquisition which, to distinguish it from the
+      more humane tribunals of the same name, we usually call the Spanish. Its
+      founder was Cardinal Ximenes, a Dominican monk. Torquemada was the first
+      who ascended its bloody throne, who established its statutes, and forever
+      cursed his order with this bequest. Sworn to the degradation of the
+      understanding and the murder of intellect, the instruments it employed
+      were terror and infamy. Every evil passion was in its pay; its snare was
+      set in every joy of life. Solitude itself was not safe from it; the fear
+      of its omnipresence fettered the freedom of the soul in its inmost and
+      deepest recesses. It prostrated all the instincts of human nature before
+      it yielded all the ties which otherwise man held most sacred. A heretic
+      forfeited all claims upon his race; the most trivial infidelity to his
+      mother church divested him of the rights of his nature. A modest doubt in
+      the infallibility of the pope met with the punishment of parricide and the
+      infamy of sodomy; its sentences resembled the frightful corruption of the
+      plague, which turns the most healthy body into rapid putrefaction. Even
+      the inanimate things belonging to a heretic were accursed. No destiny
+      could snatch the victim of the Inquisition from its sentence. Its decrees
+      were carried in force on corpses and on pictures, and the grave itself was
+      no asylum from its tremendous arm. The presumptuous arrogance of its
+      decrees could only be surpassed by the inhumanity which executed them. By
+      coupling the ludicrous with the terrible, and by amusing the eye with the
+      strangeness of its processions, it weakened compassion by the
+      gratification of another feeling; it drowned sympathy in derision and
+      contempt. The delinquent was conducted with solemn pomp to the place of
+      execution, a blood-red flag was displayed before him, the universal clang
+      of all the bells accompanied the procession. First came the priests, in
+      the robes of the Mass and singing a sacred hymn; next followed the
+      condemned sinner, clothed in a yellow vest, covered with figures of black
+      devils. On his head he wore a paper cap, surmounted by a human figure,
+      around which played lambent flames of fire, and ghastly demons flitted.
+      The image of the crucified Saviour was carried before, but turned away
+      from the eternally condemned sinner, for whom salvation was no longer
+      available. His mortal body belonged to the material fire, his immortal
+      soul to the flames of bell. A gag closed his mouth, and prevented him from
+      alleviating his pain by lamentations, from awakening compassion by his
+      affecting tale, and from divulging the secrets of the holy tribunal. He
+      was followed by the clergy in festive robes, by the magistrates, and the
+      nobility; the fathers who had been his judges closed the awful procession.
+      It seemed like a solemn funeral procession, but on looking for the corpse
+      on its way to the grave, behold! it was a living body whose groans are now
+      to afford such shuddering entertainment to the people. The executions were
+      generally held on the high festivals, for which a number of such
+      unfortunate sufferers were reserved in the prisons of the holy house, in
+      order to enhance the rejoicing by the multitude of the victims, and on
+      these occasions the king himself was usually present. He sat with
+      uncovered head, on a lower chair than that of the Grand Inquisitor, to
+      whom, on such occasions, he yielded precedence; who, then, would not
+      tremble before a tribunal at which majesty must humble itself?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great revolution in the church accomplished by Luther and Calvin
+      renewed the causes to which this tribunal owed its first origin; and that
+      which, at its commencement, was invented to clear the petty kingdom of
+      Granada from the feeble remnant of Saracens and Jews was now required for
+      the whole of Christendom. All the Inquisitions in Portugal, Italy,
+      Germany, and France adopted the form of the Spanish; it followed Europeans
+      to the Indies, and established in Goa a fearful tribunal, whose inhuman
+      proceedings make us shudder even at the bare recital. Wherever it planted
+      its foot devastation followed; but in no part of the world did it rage so
+      violently as in Spain. The victims are forgotten whom it immolated; the
+      human race renews itself, and the lands, too, flourish again which it has
+      devastated and depopulated by its fury; but centuries will elapse before
+      its traces disappear from the Spanish character. A generous and
+      enlightened nation has been stopped by it on its road to perfection; it
+      has banished genius from a region where it was indigenous, and a stillness
+      like that which hangs over the grave has been left in the mind of a people
+      who, beyond most others of our world, were framed for happiness and
+      enjoyment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first Inquisitor in Brabant was appointed by Charles V. in the year
+      1522. Some priests were associated with him as coadjutors; but he himself
+      was a layman. After the death of Adrian VI., his successor, Clement VII.,
+      appointed three Inquisitors for all the Netherlands; and Paul III. again
+      reduced them to two, which number continued until the commencement of the
+      troubles. In the year 1530, with the aid and approbation of the states,
+      the edicts against heretics were promulgated, which formed the foundation
+      of all that followed, and in which, also, express mention is made of the
+      Inquisition. In the year 1550, in consequence of the rapid increase of
+      sects, Charles V. was under the necessity of reviving and enforcing these
+      edicts, and it was on this occasion that the town of Antwerp opposed the
+      establishment of the Inquisition, and obtained an exemption from its
+      jurisdiction. But the spirit of the Inquisition in the Netherlands, in
+      accordance with the genius of the country, was more humane than in Spain,
+      and as yet had never been administered by a foreigner, much less by a
+      Dominican. The edicts which were known to everybody served it as the rule
+      of its decisions. On this very account it was less obnoxious; because,
+      however severe its sentence, it did not appear a tool of arbitrary power,
+      and it did not, like the Spanish Inquisition, veil itself in secrecy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip, however, was desirous of introducing the latter tribunal into the
+      Netherlands, since it appeared to him the instrument best adapted to
+      destroy the spirit of this people, and to prepare them for a despotic
+      government. He began, therefore, by increasing the rigor of the religious
+      ordinances of his father; by gradually extending the power of the
+      inquisitors; by making the proceedings more arbitrary, and more
+      independent of the civil jurisdiction. The tribunal soon wanted little
+      more than the name and the Dominicans to resemble in every point the
+      Spanish Inquisition. Bare suspicion was enough to snatch a citizen from
+      the bosom of public tranquillity, and from his domestic circle; and the
+      weakest evidence was a sufficient justification for the use of the rack.
+      Whoever fell into its abyss returned no more to the world. All the
+      benefits of the laws ceased for him; the maternal care of justice no
+      longer noticed him; beyond the pale of his former world malice and
+      stupidity judged him according to laws which were never intended for man.
+      The delinquent never knew his accuser, and very seldom his crime, &mdash;a
+      flagitious, devilish artifice which constrained the unhappy victim to
+      guess at his error, and in the delirium of the rack, or in the weariness
+      of a long living interment, to acknowledge transgressions which, perhaps,
+      had never been committed, or at least had never come to the knowledge of
+      his judges. The goods of the condemned were confiscated, and the informer
+      encouraged by letters of grace and rewards. No privilege, no civil
+      jurisdiction was valid against the holy power; the secular arm lost
+      forever all whom that power had once touched. Its only share in the
+      judicial duties of the latter was to execute its sentences with humble
+      submissiveness. The consequences of such an institution were, of
+      necessity, unnatural and horrible; the whole temporal happiness, the life
+      itself, of an innocent man was at the mercy of any worthless fellow. Every
+      secret enemy, every envious person, had now the perilous temptation of an
+      unseen and unfailing revenge. The security of property, the sincerity of
+      intercourse were gone; all the ties of interest were dissolved; all of
+      blood and of affection were irreparably broken. An infectious distrust
+      envenomed social life; the dreaded presence of a spy terrified the eye
+      from seeing, and choked the voice in the midst of utterance. No one
+      believed in the existence of an honest man, or passed for one himself.
+      Good name, the ties of country, brotherhood, even oaths, and all that man
+      holds sacred, were fallen in estimation. Such was the destiny to which a
+      great and flourishing commercial town was subjected, where one hundred
+      thousand industrious men had been brought together by the single tie of
+      mutual confidence,&mdash;every one indispensable to his neighbor, yet
+      every one distrusted and distrustful,&mdash;all attracted by the spirit of
+      gain, and repelled from each other by fear,&mdash;all the props of society
+      torn away, where social union was the basis of all life and all existence.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    OTHER ENCROACHMENTS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      No wonder if so unnatural a tribunal, which had proved intolerable even to
+      the more submissive spirit of the Spaniard, drove a free state to
+      rebellion. But the terror which it inspired was increased by the Spanish
+      troops, which, even after the restoration of peace, were kept in the
+      country, and, in violation of the constitution, garrisoned border towns.
+      Charles V. had been forgiven for this introduction of foreign troops so
+      long as the necessity of it was evident, and his good intentions were less
+      distrusted. But now men saw in these troops only the alarming preparations
+      of oppression and the instruments of a detested hierarchy. Moreover, a
+      considerable body of cavalry, composed of natives, and fully adequate for
+      the protection of the country, made these foreigners superfluous. The
+      licentiousness and rapacity, too, of the Spaniards, whose pay was long in
+      arrear, and who indemnified themselves at the expense of the citizens,
+      completed the exasperation of the people, and drove the lower orders to
+      despair. Subsequently, when the general murmur induced the government to
+      move them from the frontiers and transport them into the islands of
+      Zealand, where ships were prepared for their deportation, their excesses
+      were carried to such a pitch that the inhabitants left off working at the
+      embankments, and preferred to abandon their native country to the fury of
+      the sea rather than to submit any longer to the wanton brutality of these
+      lawless bands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip, indeed, would have wished to retain these Spaniards in the
+      country, in order by their presence to give weight to his edicts, and to
+      support the innovations which he had resolved to make in the constitution
+      of the Netherlands. He regarded them as a guarantee for the submission of
+      the nation and as a chain by which he held it captive. Accordingly, he
+      left no expedient untried to evade the persevering importunity of the
+      states, who demanded the withdrawal of these troops; and for this end he
+      exhausted all the resources of chicanery and persuasion. At one time he
+      pretended to dread a sudden invasion by France, although, torn by furious
+      factions, that country could scarce support itself against a domestic
+      enemy; at another time they were, he said, to receive his son, Don Carlos,
+      on the frontiers; whom, however, he never intended should leave Castile.
+      Their maintenance should not be a burden to the nation; he himself would
+      disburse all their expenses from his private purse. In order to detain
+      them with the more appearance of reason he purposely kept back from them
+      their arrears of pay; for otherwise he would assuredly have preferred them
+      to the troops of the country, whose demands he fully satisfied. To lull
+      the fears of the nation, and to appease the general discontent, he offered
+      the chief command of these troops to the two favorites of the people, the
+      Prince of Orange and Count Egmont. Both, however, declined his offer, with
+      the noble-minded declaration that they could never make up their minds to
+      serve contrary to the laws of the country. The more desire the king showed
+      to have his Spaniards in the country the more obstinately the states
+      insisted on their removal. In the following Diet at Ghent he was
+      compelled, in the very midst of his courtiers, to listen to republican
+      truth. &ldquo;Why are foreign hands needed for our defence?&rdquo; demanded the Syndic
+      of Ghent. &ldquo;Is it that the rest of the world should consider us too stupid,
+      or too cowardly, to protect ourselves? Why have we made peace if the
+      burdens of war are still to oppress us? In war necessity enforced
+      endurance; in peace our patience is exhausted by its burdens. Or shall we
+      be able to keep in order these licentious bands which thine own presence
+      could not restrain? Here, Cambray and Antwerp cry for redress; there,
+      Thionville and Marienburg lie waste; and, surely, thou hast not bestowed
+      upon us peace that our cities should become deserts, as they necessarily
+      must if thou freest them not from these destroyers? Perhaps then art
+      anxious to guard against surprise from our neighbors? This precaution is
+      wise; but the report of their preparations will long outrun their
+      hostilities. Why incur a heavy expense to engage foreigners who will not
+      care for a country which they must leave to-morrow? Hast thou not still at
+      thy command the same brave Netherlanders to whom thy father entrusted the
+      republic in far more troubled times? Why shouldest thou now doubt their
+      loyalty, which, to thy ancestors, they have preserved for so many
+      centuries inviolate? Will not they be sufficient to sustain the war long
+      enough to give time to thy confederates to join their banners, or to
+      thyself to send succor from the neighboring country?&rdquo; This language was
+      too new to the king, and its truth too obvious for him to be able at once
+      to reply to it. &ldquo;I, also, am a foreigner,&rdquo; he at length exclaimed, &ldquo;and
+      they would like, I suppose, to expel me from the country!&rdquo; At the same
+      time he descended from the throne, and left the assembly; but the speaker
+      was pardoned for his boldness. Two days afterwards he sent a message to
+      the states that if he had been apprised earlier that these troops were a
+      burden to them he would have immediately made preparation to remove them
+      with himself to Spain. Now it was too late, for they would not depart
+      unpaid; but he pledged them his most sacred promise that they should not
+      be oppressed with this burden more than four months. Nevertheless, the
+      troops remained in this country eighteen months instead of four; and would
+      not, perhaps, even then have left it so soon if the exigencies of the
+      state had not made their presence indispensable in another part of the
+      world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The illegal appointment of foreigners to the most important offices of the
+      country afforded further occasion of complaint against the government. Of
+      all the privileges of the provinces none was so obnoxious to the Spaniards
+      as that which excluded strangers from office, and none they had so
+      zealously sought to abrogate. Italy, the two Indies, and all the provinces
+      of this vast Empire, were indeed open to their rapacity and ambition; but
+      from the richest of them all an inexorable fundamental law excluded them.
+      They artfully persuaded their sovereign that his power in these countries
+      would never be firmly established so long as he could not employ
+      foreigners as his instruments. The Bishop of Arras, a Burgundian by birth,
+      had already been illegally forced upon the Flemings; and now the Count of
+      Feria, a Castilian, was to receive a seat and voice in the council of
+      state. But this attempt met with a bolder resistance than the king&rsquo;s
+      flatterers had led him to expect, and his despotic omnipotence was this
+      time wrecked by the politic measures of William of Orange and the firmness
+      of the states.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          WILLIAM OF ORANGE AND COUNT EGMONT.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      By such measures, did Philip usher in his government of the Netherlands,
+      and such were the grievances of the nation when he was preparing to leave
+      them. He had long been impatient to quit a country where he was a
+      stranger, where there was so much that opposed his secret wishes, and
+      where his despotic mind found such undaunted monitors to remind him of the
+      laws of freedom. The peace with France at last rendered a longer stay
+      unnecessary; the armaments of Soliman required his presence in the south,
+      and the Spaniards also began to miss their long-absent king. The choice of
+      a supreme Stadtholder for the Netherlands was the principal matter which
+      still detained him. Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, had filled this
+      place since the resignation of Mary, Queen of Hungary, which, however, so
+      long as the king himself was present, conferred more honor than real
+      influence. His absence would make it the most important office in the
+      monarchy, and the most splendid aim for the ambition of a subject. It had
+      now become vacant through the departure of the duke, whom the peace of
+      Chateau-Cambray had restored to his dominions. The almost unlimited power
+      with which the supreme Statholder would be entrusted, the capacity and
+      experience which so extensive and delicate an appointment required, but,
+      especially, the daring designs which the government had in contemplation
+      against the freedom of the country, the execution of which would devolve
+      on him, necessarily embarrassed the choice. The law, which excluded all
+      foreigners from office, made an exception in the case of the supreme
+      Stadtholder. As he could not be at the same time a native of all the
+      provinces, it was allowable for him not to belong to any one of them; for
+      the jealousy of the man of Brabant would concede no greater right to a
+      Fleming, whose home was half a mile from his frontier, than to a Sicilian,
+      who lived in another soil and under a different sky. But here the
+      interests of the crown itself seemed to favor the appointment of a native.
+      A Brabanter, for instance, who enjoyed the full confidence of his
+      countrymen if he were a traitor would have half accomplished his treason
+      before a foreign governor could have overcome the mistrust with which his
+      most insignificant measures would be watched. If the government should
+      succeed in carrying through its designs in one province, the opposition of
+      the rest would then be a temerity, which it would be justified in
+      punishing in the severest manner. In the common whole which the provinces
+      now formed their individual constitutions were, in a measure, destroyed;
+      the obedience of one would be a law for all, and the privilege, which one
+      knew not how to preserve, was lost for the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the Flemish nobles who could lay claim to the Chief Stadtholdership,
+      the expectations and wishes of the nation were divided between Count
+      Egmont and the Prince of Orange, who were alike qualified for this high
+      dignity by illustrious birth and personal merits, and by an equal share in
+      the affections of the people. Their high rank placed them both near to the
+      throne, and if the choice of the monarch was to rest on the worthiest it
+      must necessarily fall upon one of these two. As, in the course of our
+      history, we shall often have occasion to mention both names, the reader
+      cannot be too early made acquainted with their characters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      William I., Prince of Orange, was descended from the princely German house
+      of Nassau, which had already flourished eight centuries, had long disputed
+      the preeminence with Austria, and had given one Emperor to Germany.
+      Besides several extensive domains in the Netherlands, which made him a
+      citizen of this republic and a vassal of the Spanish monarchy, he
+      possessed also in France the independent princedom of Orange. William was
+      born in the year 1533, at Dillenburg, in the country of Nassau, of a
+      Countess Stolberg. His father, the Count of Nassau, of the same name, had
+      embraced the Protestant religion, and caused his son also to be educated
+      in it; but Charles V., who early formed an attachment for the boy, took
+      him when quite young to his court, and had him brought up in the Romish
+      church. This monarch, who already in the child discovered the future
+      greatness of the man, kept him nine years about his person, thought him
+      worthy of his personal instruction in the affairs of government, and
+      honored him with a confidence beyond his years. He alone was permitted to
+      remain in the Emperor&rsquo;s presence when he gave audience to foreign
+      ambassadors&mdash;a proof that, even as a boy, he had already begun to
+      merit the surname of the Silent. The Emperor was not ashamed even to
+      confess openly, on one occasion, that this young man had often made
+      suggestions which would have escaped his own sagacity. What expectations
+      might not be formed of the intellect of a man who was disciplined in such
+      a school.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      William was twenty-three years old when Charles abdicated the government,
+      and had already received from the latter two public marks of the highest
+      esteem. The Emperor had entrusted to him, in preference to all the nobles
+      of his court, the honorable office of conveying to his brother Ferdinand
+      the imperial crown. When the Duke of Savoy, who commanded the imperial
+      army in the Netherlands, was called away to Italy by the exigency of his
+      domestic affairs, the Emperor appointed him commander-in-chief against the
+      united representations of his military council, who declared it altogether
+      hazardous to oppose so young a tyro in arms to the experienced generals of
+      France. Absent, and unrecommended by any, he was preferred by the monarch
+      to the laurel-crowned band of his heroes, and the result gave him no cause
+      to repent of his choice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The marked favor which the prince had enjoyed with the father was in
+      itself a sufficient ground for his exclusion from the confidence of the
+      son. Philip, it appears, had laid it down for himself as a rule to avenge
+      the wrongs of the Spanish nobility for the preference which Charles V. had
+      on all important occasions shown to his Flemish nobles. Still stronger,
+      however, were the secret motives which alienated him from the prince.
+      William of Orange was one of those lean and pale men who, according to
+      Caesar&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;sleep not at night, and think too much,&rdquo; and before whom
+      the most fearless spirits quail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The calm tranquillity of a never-varying countenance concealed a busy,
+      ardent soul, which never ruffled even the veil behind which it worked, and
+      was alike inaccessible to artifice and love; a versatile, formidable,
+      indefatigable mind, soft, and ductile enough to be instantaneously moulded
+      into all forms; guarded enough to lose itself in none; and strong enough
+      to endure every vicissitude of fortune. A greater master in reading and in
+      winning men&rsquo;s hearts never existed than William. Not that, after the
+      fashion of courts, his lips avowed a servility to which his proud heart
+      gave the lie; but because he was neither too sparing nor too lavish of the
+      marks of his esteem, and through a skilful economy of the favors which
+      mostly bind men, he increased his real stock in them. The fruits of his
+      meditation were as perfect as they were slowly formed; his resolves were
+      as steadily and indomitably accomplished as they were long in maturing. No
+      obstacles could defeat the plan which he had once adopted as the best; no
+      accidents frustrated it, for they all had been foreseen before they
+      actually occurred. High as his feelings were raised above terror and joy,
+      they were, nevertheless, subject in the same degree to fear; but his fear
+      was earlier than the danger, and he was calm in tumult because he had
+      trembled in repose. William lavished his gold with a profuse hand, but he
+      was a niggard of his movements. The hours of repast were the sole hours of
+      relaxation, but these were exclusively devoted to his heart, his family,
+      and his friends; this the modest deduction he allowed himself from the
+      cares of his country. Here his brow was cleared with wine, seasoned by
+      temperance and a cheerful disposition; and no serious cares were permitted
+      to enter this recess of enjoyment. His household was magnificent; the
+      splendor of a numerous retinue, the number and respectability of those who
+      surrounded his person, made his habitation resemble the court of a
+      sovereign prince. A sumptuous hospitality, that master-spell of
+      demagogues, was the goddess of his palace. Foreign princes and ambassadors
+      found here a fitting reception and entertainment, which surpassed all that
+      luxurious Belgium could elsewhere offer. A humble submissiveness to the
+      government bought off the blame and suspicion which this munificence might
+      have thrown on his intentions. But this liberality secured for him the
+      affections of the people, whom nothing gratified so much as to see the
+      riches of their country displayed before admiring foreigners, and the high
+      pinnacle of fortune on which he stood enhanced the value of the courtesy
+      to which he condescended. No one, probably, was better fitted by nature
+      for the leader of a conspiracy than William the Silent. A comprehensive
+      and intuitive glance into the past, the present, and the future; the
+      talent for improving every favorable opportunity; a commanding influence
+      over the minds of men, vast schemes which only when viewed from a distance
+      show form and symmetry; and bold calculations which were wound up in the
+      long chain of futurity; all these faculties he possessed, and kept,
+      moreover, under the control of that free and enlightened virtue which
+      moves with firm step even on the very edge of the abyss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man like this might at other times have remained unfathomed by his whole
+      generation; but not so by the distrustful spirit of the age in which he
+      lived. Philip II. saw quickly and deeply into a character which, among
+      good ones, most resembled his own. If he had not seen through him so
+      clearly his distrust of a man, in whom were united nearly all the
+      qualities which he prized highest and could best appreciate, would be
+      quite inexplicable. But William had another and still more important point
+      of contact with Philip II. He had learned his policy from the same master,
+      and had become, it was to be feared, a more apt scholar. Not by making
+      Machiavelli&rsquo;s &lsquo;Prince&rsquo; his study, but by having enjoyed the living
+      instruction of a monarch who reduced the book to practice, had he become
+      versed in the perilous arts by which thrones rise and fall. In him Philip
+      had to deal with an antagonist who was armed against his policy, and who
+      in a good cause could also command the resources of a bad one. And it was
+      exactly this last circumstance which accounts for his having hated this
+      man so implacably above all others of his day, and his having had so
+      supernatural a dread of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The suspicion which already attached to the prince was increased by the
+      doubts which were entertained of his religious bias. So long as the
+      Emperor, his benefactor, lived, William believed in the pope; but it was
+      feared, with good ground, that the predilection for the reformed religion,
+      which had been imparted into his young heart, had never entirely left it.
+      Whatever church he may at certain periods of his life have preferred each
+      might console itself with the reflection that none other possessed him
+      more entirely. In later years he went over to Calvinism with almost as
+      little scruple as in his early childhood he deserted the Lutheran
+      profession for the Romish. He defended the rights of the Protestants
+      rather than their opinions against Spanish oppression; not their faith,
+      but their wrongs, had made him their brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These general grounds for suspicion appeared to be justified by a
+      discovery of his real intentions which accident had made. William had
+      remained in France as hostage for the peace of Chateau-Cambray, in
+      concluding which he had borne a part; and here, through the imprudence of
+      Henry II., who imagined he spoke with a confidant of the King of Spain, he
+      became acquainted with a secret plot which the French and Spanish courts
+      had formed against Protestants of both kingdoms. The prince hastened to
+      communicate this important discovery to his friends in Brussels, whom it
+      so nearly concerned, and the letters which he exchanged on the subject
+      fell, unfortunately, into the hands of the King of Spain. Philip was less
+      surprised at this decisive disclosure of William&rsquo;s sentiments than
+      incensed at the disappointment of his scheme; and the Spanish nobles, who
+      had never forgiven the prince that moment, when in the last act of his
+      life the greatest of Emperors leaned upon his shoulders, did not neglect
+      this favorable opportunity of finally ruining, in the good opinion of
+      their king, the betrayer of a state secret.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of a lineage no less noble than that of William was Lamoral, Count Egmont
+      and Prince of Gavre, a descendant of the Dukes of Gueldres, whose martial
+      courage had wearied out the arms of Austria. His family was highly
+      distinguished in the annals of the country; one of his ancestors, had,
+      under Maximilian, already filled the office of Stadtholder over Holland.
+      Egmont&rsquo;s marriage with the Duchess Sabina of Bavaria reflected additional
+      lustre on the splendor of his birth, and made him powerful through the
+      greatness of this alliance. Charles V. had, in the year 1516, conferred on
+      him at Utrecht the order of the Golden Fleece; the wars of this Emperor
+      were the school of his military genius, and the battle of St. Quentin and
+      Gravelines made him the hero of his age. Every blessing of peace, for
+      which a commercial people feel most grateful, brought to mind the
+      remembrance of the victory by which it was accelerated, and Flemish pride,
+      like a fond mother, exulted over the illustrious son of their country, who
+      had filled all Europe with admiration. Nine children who grew up under the
+      eyes of their fellow-citizens, multiplied and drew closer the ties between
+      him and his fatherland, and the people&rsquo;s grateful affection for the father
+      was kept alive by the sight of those who were dearest to him. Every
+      appearance of Egmont in public was a triumphal procession; every eye which
+      was fastened upon him recounted his history; his deeds lived in the
+      plaudits of his companions-in-arms; at the games of chivalry mothers
+      pointed him out to their children. Affability, a noble and courteous
+      demeanor, the amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits.
+      His liberal soul shone forth on his open brow; his frank-heartedness
+      managed his secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a
+      thought was no sooner his than it was the property of all. His religion
+      was gentle and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its
+      light from the heart and not from, his understanding. Egmont possessed
+      more of conscience than of fixed principles; his head had not given him a
+      code of its own, but had merely learnt it by rote; the mere name of any
+      action, therefore, was often with him sufficient for its condemnation. In
+      his judgment men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not something bad
+      or something good; in this system of morals there was no middle term
+      between vice and virtue; and consequently a single good trait often
+      decided his opinion of men. Egmont united all the eminent qualities which
+      form the hero; he was a better soldier than the Prince of Orange, but far
+      inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the world as it really was;
+      Egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an imagination that embellished
+      all that it reflected. Men, whom fortune has surprised with a reward for
+      which they can find no adequate ground in their actions, are, for the most
+      part, very apt to forget the necessary connection between cause and
+      effect, and to insert in the natural consequences of things a higher
+      miraculous power to which, as Caesar to his fortune, they at last insanely
+      trust. Such a character was Egmont. Intoxicated with the idea of his own
+      merits, which the love and gratitude of his fellow-citizens had
+      exaggerated, he staggered on in this sweet reverie as in a delightful
+      world of dreams. He feared not, because he trusted to the deceitful pledge
+      which destiny had given him of her favor, in the general love of the
+      people; and he believed in its justice because he himself was prosperous.
+      Even the most terrible experience of Spanish perfidy could not afterwards
+      eradicate this confidence from his soul, and on the scaffold itself his
+      latest feeling was hope. A tender fear for his family kept his patriotic
+      courage fettered by lower duties. Because he trembled for property and
+      life he could not venture much for the republic. William of Orange broke
+      with the throne because its arbitrary power was offensive to his pride;
+      Egmont was vain, and therefore valued the favors of the monarch. The
+      former was a citizen of the world; Egmont had never been more than a
+      Fleming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. still stood indebted to the hero of St. Quentin, and the
+      supreme stadtholdership of the Netherlands appeared the only appropriate
+      reward for such great services. Birth and high station, the voice of the
+      nation and personal abilities, spoke as loudly for Egmont as for Orange;
+      and if the latter was to be passed by it seemed that the former alone
+      could supplant him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two such competitors, so equal in merit, might have embarrassed Philip in
+      his choice if he had ever seriously thought of selecting either of them
+      for the appointment. But the pre-eminent qualities by which they supported
+      their claim to this office were the very cause of their rejection; and it
+      was precisely the ardent desire of the nation for their election to it
+      that irrevocably annulled their title to the appointment. Philip&rsquo;s purpose
+      would not be answered by a stadtholder in the Netherlands who could
+      command the good-will and the energies of the people. Egmont&rsquo;s descent
+      from the Duke of Gueldres made him an hereditary foe of the house of
+      Spain, and it seemed impolitic to place the supreme power in the hands of
+      a man to whom the idea might occur of revenging on the son of the
+      oppressor the oppression of his ancestor. The slight put on their
+      favorites could give no just offence either to the nation or to
+      themselves, for it might be pretended that the king passed over both
+      because he would not show a preference to either.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The disappointment of his hopes of gaining the regency did not deprive the
+      Prince of Orange of all expectation of establishing more firmly his
+      influence in the Netherlands. Among the other candidates for this office
+      was also Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and aunt of the king, who, as
+      mediatrix of the peace of Chateau-Cambray, had rendered important service
+      to the crown. William aimed at the hand of her daughter, and he hoped to
+      promote his suit by actively interposing his good offices for the mother;
+      but he did not reflect that through this very intercession he ruined her
+      cause. The Duchess Christina was rejected, not so much for the reason
+      alleged, namely, the dependence of her territories on France made her an
+      object of suspicion to the Spanish court, as because she was acceptable to
+      the people of the Netherlands and the Prince of Orange.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        MARGARET OF PARMA REGENT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      While the general expectation was on the stretch as to whom the fature
+      destines of the provinces would be committed, there appeared on the
+      frontiers of the country the Duchess Margaret of Parma, having been
+      summoned by the king from Italy to assume the government.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Margaret was a natural daughter of Charles V. and of a noble Flemish lady
+      named Vangeest, and born in 1522.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Out of regard for the honor of her mother&rsquo;s house she was at first
+      educated in obscurity; but her mother, who possessed more vanity than
+      honor, was not very anxious to preserve the secret of her origin, and a
+      princely education betrayed the daughter of the Emperor. While yet a child
+      she was entrusted to the Regent Margaret, her great-aunt, to be brought up
+      at Brussels under her eye. This guardian she lost in her eighth year, and
+      the care of her education devolved on Queen Mary of Hungary, the successor
+      of Margaret in the regency. Her father had already affianced her, while
+      yet in her fourth year, to a Prince of Ferrara; but this alliance being
+      subsequently dissolved, she was betrothed to Alexander de Medicis, the new
+      Duke of Florence, which marriage was, after the victorious return of the
+      Emperor from Africa, actually consummated in Naples. In the first year of
+      this unfortunate union, a violent death removed from her a husband who
+      could not love her, and for the third time her hand was disposed of to
+      serve the policy of her father. Octavius Farnese, a prince of thirteen
+      years of age and nephew of Paul III., obtained, with her person, the
+      Duchies of Parma and Piacenza as her portion. Thus, by a strange destiny,
+      Margaret at the age of maturity was contracted to a boy, as in the years
+      of infancy she had been sold to a man. Her disposition, which was anything
+      but feminine, made this last alliance still more unnatural, for her taste
+      and inclinations were masculine, and the whole tenor of her life belied
+      her sex. After the example of her instructress, the Queen of Hungary, and
+      her great-aunt, the Duchess Mary of Burgundy, who met her death in this
+      favorite sport, she was passionately fond of hunting, and had acquired in
+      this pursuit such bodily vigor that few men were better able to undergo
+      its hardships and fatigues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her gait itself was so devoid of grace that one was far more tempted to
+      take her for a disguised man than for a masculine woman; and Nature, whom
+      she had derided by thus transgressing the limits of her sex, revenged
+      itself finally upon her by a disease peculiar to men&mdash;the gout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These unusual qualities were crowned by a monkish superstition which was
+      infused into her mind by Ignatius Loyola, her confessor and teacher. Among
+      the charitable works and penances with which she mortified her vanity, one
+      of the most remarkable was that, during Passion-Week she yearly washed,
+      with her own hands, the feet of a number of poor men (who were most
+      strictly forbidden to cleanse themselves beforehand), waited on them at
+      table like a servant, and sent them away with rich presents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing more is requisite than this last feature in her character to
+      account for the preference which the king gave her over all her rivals;
+      but his choice was at the same time justified by excellent reasons of
+      state. Margaret was born and also educated in the Netherlands. She had
+      spent her early youth among the people, and had acquired much of their
+      national manners. Two regents (Duchess Margaret and Queen Mary of
+      Hungary), under whose eyes she had grown up, had gradually initiated her
+      into the maxims by which this peculiar people might be most easily
+      governed; and they would also serve her as models. She did not want either
+      in talents; and possessed, moreover, a particular turn for business, which
+      she had acquired from her instructors, and had afterwards carried to
+      greater perfection in the Italian school. The Netherlands had been for a
+      number of years accustomed to female government; and Philip hoped,
+      perhaps, that the sharp iron of tyranny which he was about to use against
+      them would cut more gently if wielded by the hands of a woman. Some regard
+      for his father, who at the time was still living, and was much attached to
+      Margaret, may have in a measure, as it is asserted, influenced this
+      choice; as it is also probable that the king wished to oblige the Duke of
+      Parma, through this mark of attention to his wife, and thus to compensate
+      for denying a request which he was just then compelled to refuse him. As
+      the territories of the duchess were surrounded by Philip&rsquo;s Italian states,
+      and at all times exposed to his arms, he could, with the less danger,
+      entrust the supreme power into her hands. For his full security her son,
+      Alexander Farnese, was to remain at his court as a pledge for her loyalty.
+      All these reasons were alone sufficiently weighty to turn the king&rsquo;s
+      decision in her favor; but they became irresistible when supported by the
+      Bishop of Arras and the Duke of Alva. The latter, as it appears, because
+      he hated or envied all the other competitors, the former, because even
+      then, in all probability, he anticipated from the wavering disposition of
+      this princess abundant gratification for his ambition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img alt="1pb074 (125K)" src="images/1pb074.jpg" style="width:100%;"   /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip received the new regent on the frontiers with a splendid cortege,
+      and conducted her with magnificent pomp to Ghent, where the States General
+      had been convoked. As he did not intend to return soon to the Netherlands,
+      he desired, before he left them, to gratify the nation for once by holding
+      a solemn Diet, and thus giving a solemn sanction and the force of law to
+      his previous regulations. For the last time he showed himself to his
+      Netherlandish people, whose destinies were from henceforth to be dispensed
+      from a mysterious distance. To enhance the splendor of this solemn day,
+      Philip invested eleven knights with the Order of the Golden Fleece, his
+      sister being seated on a chair near himself, while he showed her to the
+      nation as their future ruler. All the grievances of the people, touching
+      the edicts, the Inquisition, the detention of the Spanish troops, the
+      taxes, and the illegal introduction of foreigners into the offices and
+      administration of the country were brought forward in this Diet, and were
+      hotly discussed by both parties; some of them were skilfully evaded, or
+      apparently removed, others arbitrarily repelled. As the king was
+      unacquainted with the language of the country, he addressed the nation
+      through the mouth of the Bishop of Arras, recounted to them with
+      vain-glorious ostentation all the benefits of his government, assured them
+      of his favor for the future, and once more recommended to the estates in
+      the most earnest manner the preservation of the Catholic faith and the
+      extirpation of heresy. The Spanish troops, he promised, should in a few
+      months evacuate the Netherlands, if only they would allow him time to
+      recover from the numerous burdens of the last war, in order that he might
+      be enabled to collect the means for paying the arrears of these troops;
+      the fundamental laws of the nation should remain inviolate, the imposts
+      should not be grievously burdensome, and the Inquisition should administer
+      its duties with justice and moderation. In the choice of a supreme
+      Stadtholder, he added, he had especially consulted the wishes of the
+      nation, and had decided for a native of the country, who had been brought
+      up in their manners and customs, and was attached to them by a love to her
+      native land. He exhorted them, therefore, to show their gratitude by
+      honoring his choice, and obeying his sister, the duchess, as himself.
+      Should, he concluded, unexpected obstacles oppose his return, he would
+      send in his place his son, Prince Charles, who should reside in Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few members of this assembly, more courageous than the rest, once more
+      ventured on a final effort for liberty of conscience. Every people, they
+      argued, ought to be treated according to their natural character, as every
+      individual must in accordance to his bodily constitution. Thus, for
+      example, the south may be considered happy under a certain degree of
+      constraint which would press intolerably on the north. Never, they added,
+      would the Flemings consent to a yoke under which, perhaps, the Spaniards
+      bowed with patience, and rather than submit to it would they undergo any
+      extremity if it was sought to force such a yoke upon them. This
+      remonstrance was supported by some of the king&rsquo;s counsellors, who strongly
+      urged the policy of mitigating the rigor of religious edicts. But Philip
+      remained inexorable. Better not reign at all, was his answer, than reign
+      over heretics!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      According to an arrangement already made by Charles V., three councils or
+      chambers were added to the regent, to assist her in the administration of
+      state affairs. As long as Philip was himself present in the Netherlands
+      these courts had lost much of their power, and the functions of the first
+      of them, the state council, were almost entirely suspended. Now that he
+      quitted the reins of government, they recovered their former importance.
+      In the state council, which was to deliberate upon war and peace, and
+      security against external foes, sat the Bishop of Arras, the Prince of
+      Orange, Count Egmont, the President of the Privy Council, Viglius Van
+      Zuichem Van Aytta, and the Count of Barlaimont, President of the Chamber
+      of Finance. All knights of the Golden Fleece, all privy counsellors and
+      counsellors of finance, as also the members of the great senate at
+      Malines, which had been subjected by Charles V. to the Privy Council in
+      Brussels, had a seat and vote in the Council of State, if expressly
+      invited by the regent. The management of the royal revenues and crown
+      lands was vested in the Chamber of Finance, and the Privy Council was
+      occupied with the administration of justice, and the civil regulation of
+      the country, and issued all letters of grace and pardon. The governments
+      of the provinces which had fallen vacant were either filled up afresh or
+      the former governors were confirmed. Count Egmont received Flanders and
+      Artois; the Prince of Orange, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, and West
+      Friesland; the Count of Aremberg, East Friesland, Overyssel, and
+      Groningen; the Count of Mansfeld, Luxemburg; Barlaimont, Namur; the
+      Marquis of Bergen, Hainault, Chateau-Cambray, and Valenciennes; the Baron
+      of Montigny, Tournay and its dependencies. Other provinces were given to
+      some who have less claim to our attention. Philip of Montmorency, Count of
+      Hoorn, who had been succeeded by the Count of Megen in the government of
+      Gueldres and Ziitphen, was confirmed as admiral of the Belgian navy. Every
+      governor of a province was at the same time a knight of the Golden Fleece
+      and member of the Council of State. Each had, in the province over which
+      he presided, the command of the military force which protected it, the
+      superintendence of the civil administration and the judicature; the
+      governor of Flanders alone excepted, who was not allowed to interfere with
+      the administration of justice. Brabant alone was placed under the
+      immediate jurisdiction of the regent, who, according to custom, chose
+      Brussels for her constant residence. The induction of the Prince of Orange
+      into his governments was, properly speaking, an infraction of the
+      constitution, since he was a foreigner; but several estates which he
+      either himself possessed in the provinces, or managed as guardian of his
+      son, his long residence in the country, and above all the unlimited
+      confidence the nation reposed in him, gave him substantial claims in
+      default of a real title of citizenship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The military force of the Low Countries consisted, in its full complement,
+      of three thousand horse. At present it did not much exceed two thousand,
+      and was divided into fourteen squadrons, over which, besides the governors
+      of the provinces, the Duke of Arschot, the Counts of Hoogstraten, Bossu,
+      Roeux, and Brederode held the chief command. This cavalry, which was
+      scattered through all the seventeen provinces, was only to be called out
+      on sudden emergencies. Insufficient as it was for any great undertaking,
+      it was, nevertheless, fully adequate for the maintenance of internal
+      order. Its courage had been approved in former wars, and the fame of its
+      valor was diffused through the whole of Europe. In addition to this
+      cavalry it was also proposed to levy a body of infantry, but hitherto the
+      states had refused their consent to it. Of foreign troops there were still
+      some German regiments in the service, which were waiting for their pay.
+      The four thousand Spaniards, respecting whom so many complaints had been
+      made, were under two Spanish generals, Mendoza and Romero, and were in
+      garrison in the frontier towns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the Belgian nobles whom the king especially distinguished in these
+      new appointments, the names of Count Egmont and William of Orange stand
+      conspicuous. However inveterate his hatred was of both, and particularly
+      of the latter, Philip nevertheless gave them these public marks of his
+      favor, because his scheme of vengeance was not yet fully ripe, and the
+      people were enthusiastic in their devotion to them. The estates of both
+      were declared exempt from taxes, the most lucrative governments were
+      entrusted to them, and by offering them the command of the Spaniards whom
+      he left behind in the country the king flattered them with a confidence
+      which he was very far from really reposing in them. But at the very time
+      when he obliged the prince with these public marks of his esteem he
+      privately inflicted the most cruel injury on him. Apprehensive lest an
+      alliance with the powerful house of Lorraine might encourage this
+      suspected vassal to bolder measures, he thwarted the negotiation for a
+      marriage between him and a princess of that family, and crushed his hopes
+      on the very eve of their accomplishment,&mdash;an injury which the prince
+      never forgave. Nay, his hatred to the prince on one occasion even got
+      completely the better of his natural dissimulation, and seduced him into a
+      step in which we entirely lose sight of Philip II. When he was about to
+      embark at Flushing, and the nobles of the country attended him to the
+      shore, he so far forgot himself as roughly to accost the prince, and
+      openly to accuse him of being the author of the Flemish troubles. The
+      prince answered temperately that what had happened had been done by the
+      provinces of their own suggestion and on legitimate grounds. No, said
+      Philip, seizing his hated, and shaking it violently, not the provinces,
+      but You! You! You! The prince stood mute with astonishment, and without
+      waiting for the king&rsquo;s embarkation, wished him a safe journey, and went
+      back to the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus the enmity which William had long harbored in his breast against the
+      oppressor of a free people was now rendered irreconcilable by private
+      hatred; and this double incentive accelerated the great enterprise which
+      tore from the Spanish crown seven of its brightest jewels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip had greatly deviated from his true character in taking so gracious
+      a leave of the Netherlands. The legal form of a diet, his promise to
+      remove the Spaniards from the frontiers, the consideration of the popular
+      wishes, which had led him to fill the most important offices of the
+      country with the favorites of the people, and, finally, the sacrifice
+      which he made to the constitution in withdrawing the Count of Feria from
+      the council of state, were marks of condescension of which his magnanimity
+      was never again guilty. But in fact he never stood in greater need of the
+      good-will of the states, that with their aid he might, if possible, clear
+      off the great burden of debt which was still attached to the Netherlands
+      from the former war. He hoped, therefore, by propitiating them through
+      smaller sacrifices to win approval of more important usurpations. He
+      marked his departure with grace, for he knew in what hands he left them.
+      The frightful scenes of death which he intended for this unhappy people
+      were not to stain the splendor of majesty which, like the Godhead, marks
+      its course only with beneficence; that terrible distinction was reserved
+      for his representatives. The establishment of the council of state was,
+      however, intended rather to flatter the vanity of the Belgian nobility
+      than to impart to them any real influence. The historian Strada (who drew
+      his information with regard to the regent from her own papers) has
+      preserved a few articles of the secret instructions which the Spanish
+      ministry gave her. Amongst other things it is there stated if she observed
+      that the councils were divided by factions, or, what would be far worse,
+      prepared by private conferences before the session, and in league with one
+      another, then she was to prorogue all the chambers and dispose arbitrarily
+      of the disputed articles in a more select council or committee. In this
+      select committee, which was called the Consulta, sat the Archbishop of
+      Arras, the President Viglius, and the Count of Barlaimont. She was to act
+      in the same manner if emergent cases required a prompt decision. Had this
+      arrangement not been the work of an arbitrary despotism it would perhaps
+      have been justified by sound policy, and republican liberty itself might
+      have tolerated it. In great assemblies where many private interests and
+      passions co-operate, where a numerous audience presents so great a
+      temptation to the vanity of the orator, and parties often assail one
+      another with unmannerly warmth, a decree can seldom be passed with that
+      sobriety and mature deliberation which, if the members are properly
+      selected, a smaller body readily admits of. In a numerous body of men,
+      too, there is, we must suppose, a greater number of limited than of
+      enlightened intellects, who through their equal right of vote frequently
+      turn the majority on the side of ignorance. A second maxim which the
+      regent was especially to observe, was to select the very members of
+      council who had voted against any decree to carry it into execution. By
+      this means not only would the people be kept in ignorance of the
+      originators of such a law, but the private quarrels also of the members
+      would be restrained, and a greater freedom insured in voting in compliance
+      with the wishes of the court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of all these precautions Philip would never have been able to
+      leave the Netherlands with a quiet mind so long as he knew that the chief
+      power in the council of state, and the obedience of the provinces, were in
+      the hands of the suspected nobles. In order, therefore, to appease his
+      fears from this quarter, and also at the same time to assure himself of
+      the fidelity of the regent, be subjected her, and through her all the
+      affairs of the judicature, to the higher control of the Bishop of Arras.
+      In this single individual he possessed an adequate counterpoise to the
+      most dreaded cabal. To him, as to an infallible oracle of majesty, the
+      duchess was referred, and in him there watched a stern supervisor of her
+      administration. Among all his contemporaries Granvella was the only one
+      whom Philip II. appears to have excepted from his universal distrust; as
+      long as he knew that this man was in Brussels he could sleep calmly in
+      Segovia. He left the Netherlands in September, 1559, was saved from a
+      storm which sank his fleet, and landed at Laredo in Biscay, and in his
+      gloomy joy thanked the Deity who had preserved him by a detestable vow. In
+      the hands of a priest and of a woman was placed the dangerous helm of the
+      Netherlands; and the dastardly tyrant escaped in his oratory at Madrid the
+      supplications, the complaints, and the curses of the people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK II.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CARDINAL GRANVELLA.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      ANTHONY PERENOT, Bishop of Arras, subsequently Archbishop of Malines, and
+      Metropolitan of all the Netherlands, who, under the name of Cardinal
+      Granvella, has been immortalized by the hatred of his contemporaries, was
+      born in the year 1516, at Besancon in Burgundy. His father, Nicolaus
+      Perenot, the son of a blacksmith, had risen by his own merits to be the
+      private secretary of Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, at that time regent of
+      the Netherlands. In this post he was noticed for his habits of business by
+      Charles V., who took him into his own service and employed him in several
+      important negotiations. For twenty years he was a member of the Emperor&rsquo;s
+      cabinet, and filled the offices of privy counsellor and keeper of the
+      king&rsquo;s seal, and shared in all the state secrets of that monarch. He
+      acquired a large fortune. His honors, his influence, and his political
+      knowledge were inherited by his son, Anthony Perenot, who in his early
+      years gave proofs of the great capacity which subsequently opened to him
+      so distinguished a career. Anthony had cultivated at several colleges the
+      talents with which nature had so lavishly endowed him, and in some
+      respects had an advantage over his father. He soon showed that his own
+      abilities were sufficient to maintain the advantageous position which the
+      merits of another had procured him. He was twenty-four years old when the
+      Emperor sent him as his plenipotentiary to the ecclesiastical council of
+      Trent, where he delivered the first specimen of that eloquence which in
+      the sequel gave him so complete an ascendancy over two kings. Charles
+      employed him in several difficult embassies, the duties of which he
+      fulfilled to the satisfaction of his sovereign, and when finally that
+      Emperor resigned the sceptre to his son he made that costly present
+      complete by giving him a minister who could help him to wield it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Granvella opened his new career at once with the greatest masterpiece of
+      political genius, in passing so easily from the favor of such a father
+      into equal consideration with such a son. And he soon proved himself
+      deserving of it. At the secret negotiations of which the Duchess of
+      Lorraine had, in 1558, been the medium between the French and Spanish
+      ministers at Peronne, he planned, conjointly with the Cardinal of
+      Lorraine, that conspiracy against the Protestants which was afterwards
+      matured, but also betrayed, at Chateau-Cambray, where Perenot likewise
+      assisted in effecting the so-called peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A deeply penetrating, comprehensive intellect, an unusual facility in
+      conducting great and intricate affairs, and the most extensive learning,
+      were wonderfully united in this man with persevering industry and
+      never-wearying patience, while his enterprising genius was associated with
+      thoughtful mechanical regularity. Day and night the state found him
+      vigilant and collected; the most important and the most insignificant
+      things were alike weighed by him with scrupulous attention. Not
+      unfrequently he employed five secretaries at one time, dictating to them
+      in different languages, of which he is said to have spoken seven. What his
+      penetrating mind had slowly matured acquired in his lips both force and
+      grace, and truth, set forth by his persuasive eloquence, irresistibly
+      carried away all hearers. He was tempted by none of the passions which
+      make slaves of most men. His integrity was incorruptible. With shrewd
+      penetration he saw through the disposition of his master, and could read
+      in his features his whole train of thought, and, as it were, the
+      approaching form in the shadow which outran it. With an artifice rich in
+      resources he came to the aid of Philip&rsquo;s more inactive mind, formed into
+      perfect thought his master&rsquo;s crude ideas while they yet hung on his lips,
+      and liberally allowed him the glory of the invention. Granvella understood
+      the difficult and useful art of depreciating his own talents; of making
+      his own genius the seeming slave of another; thus he ruled while he
+      concealed his sway. In this manner only could Philip II. be governed.
+      Content with a silent but real power, Granvella did not grasp insatiably
+      at new and outward marks of it, which with lesser minds are ever the most
+      coveted objects; but every new distinction seemed to sit upon him as
+      easily as the oldest. No wonder if such extraordinary endowments had alone
+      gained him the favor of his master; but a large and valuable treasure of
+      political secrets and experiences, which the active life of Charles V. had
+      accumulated, and had deposited in the mind of this man, made him
+      indispensable to his successor. Self-sufficient as the latter was, and
+      accustomeded to confide in his own understanding, his timid and crouching
+      policy was fain to lean on a superior mind, and to aid its own
+      irresolution not only by precedent but also by the influence and example
+      of another. No political matter which concerned the royal interest, even
+      when Philip himself was in the Netherlands, was decided without the
+      intervention of Granvella; and when the king embarked for Spain he made
+      the new regent the same valuable present of the minister which he himself
+      had received from the Emperor, his father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Common as it is for despotic princes to bestow unlimited confidence on the
+      creatures whom they have raised from the dust, and of whose greatness they
+      themselves are, in a measure, the creators, the present is no ordinary
+      instance; pre-eminent must have been the qualities which could so far
+      conquer the selfish reserve of such a character as Philip&rsquo;s as to gain his
+      confidence, nay, even to win him into familiarity. The slightest
+      ebullition of the most allowable self-respect, which might have tempted
+      him to assert, however slightly, his claim to any idea which the king had
+      once ennobled as his own, would have cost him his whole influence. He
+      might gratify without restraint the lowest passions of voluptuousness, of
+      rapacity, and of revenge, but the only one in which he really took
+      delight, the sweet consciousness of his own superiority and power, he was
+      constrained carefully to conceal from the suspicious glance of the despot.
+      He voluntarily disclaimed all the eminent qualities, which were already
+      his own, in order, as it were, to receive them a second time from the
+      generosity of the king. His happiness seemed to flow from no other source,
+      no other person could have a claim upon his gratitude. The purple, which
+      was sent to him from Rome, was not assumed until the royal permission
+      reached him from Spain; by laying it down on the steps of the throne he
+      appeared, in a measure, to receive it first from the hands of majesty.
+      Less politic, Alva erected a trophy in Antwerp, and inscribed his own name
+      under the victory, which he had won as the servant of the crown&mdash;but
+      Alva carried with him to the grave the displeasure of his master. He had
+      invaded with audacious hand the royal prerogative by drawing immediately
+      at the fountain of immortality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three times Granvella changed his master, and three times he succeeded in
+      rising to the highest favor. With the same facility with which he had
+      guided the settled pride of an autocrat, and the sly egotism of a despot,
+      he knew how to manage the delicate vanity of a woman. His business between
+      himself and the regent, even when they were in the same house, was, for
+      the most part, transacted by the medium of notes, a custom which draws its
+      date from the times of Augustus and Tiberius. When the regent was in any
+      perplexity these notes were interchanged from hour to hour. He probably
+      adopted this expedient in the hope of eluding the watchful jealousy of the
+      nobility, and concealing from them, in part at least, his influence over
+      the regent. Perhaps, too, he also believed that by this means his advice
+      would become more permanent; and, in case of need, this written testimony
+      would be at hand to shield him from blame. But the vigilance of the nobles
+      made this caution vain, and it was soon known in all the provinces that
+      nothing was determined upon without the minister&rsquo;s advice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Granvella possessed all the qualities requisite for a perfect statesman in
+      a monarchy governed by despotic principles, but was absolutely unqualified
+      for republics which are governed by kings. Educated between the throne and
+      the confessional, he knew of no other relation between man and man than
+      that of rule and subjection; and the innate consciousness of his own
+      superiority gave him a contempt for others. His policy wanted pliability,
+      the only virtue which was here indispensable to its success. He was
+      naturally overbearing and insolent, and the royal authority only gave arms
+      to the natural impetuosity of his disposition and the imperiousness of his
+      order. He veiled his own ambition beneath the interests of the crown, and
+      made the breach between the nation and the king incurable, because it
+      would render him indispensable to the latter. He revenged on the nobility
+      the lowliness of his own origin; and, after the fashion of all those who
+      have risen by their own merits, he valued the advantages of birth below
+      those by which he had raised himself to distinction. The Protestants saw
+      in him their most implacable foe; to his charge were laid all the burdens
+      which oppressed the country, and they pressed the more heavily because
+      they came from him. Nay, he was even accused of having brought back to
+      severity the milder sentiments to which the urgent remonstrances of the
+      provinces had at last disposed the monarch. The Netherlands execrated him
+      as the most terrible enemy of their liberties, and the originator of all
+      the misery which subsequently came upon them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1559. Philip had evidently left the provinces too soon. The new measures
+      of the government were still strange to the people, and could receive
+      sanction and authority from his presence alone; the new machines which he
+      had brought into play required to be kept in motion by a dreaded and
+      powerful hand, and to have their first movements watched and regulated. He
+      now exposed his minister to all the angry passions of the people, who no
+      longer felt restrained by the fetters of the royal presence; and he
+      delegated to the weak arm of a subject the execution of projects in which
+      majesty itself, with all its powerful supports, might have failed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The land, indeed, flourished; and a general prosperity appeared to testify
+      to the blessings of the peace which had so lately been bestowed upon it.
+      An external repose deceived the eye, for within raged all the elements of
+      discord. If the foundations of religion totter in a country they totter
+      not alone; the audacity which begins with things sacred ends with things
+      profane. The successful attack upon the hierarchy had awakened a spirit of
+      boldness, and a desire to assail authority in general, and to test laws as
+      well as dogmas&mdash;duties as well as opinions. The fanatical boldness
+      with which men had learned to discuss and decide upon the affairs of
+      eternity might change its subject matter; the contempt for life and
+      property which religious enthusiasm had taught could metamorphose timid
+      citizens into foolhardy rebels. A female government of nearly forty years
+      had given the nation room to assert their liberty; continual wars, of
+      which the Netherlands had been the theatre, had introduced a license with
+      them, and the right of the stronger had usurped the place of law and
+      order. The provinces were filled with foreign adventurers and fugitives;
+      generally men bound by no ties of country, family, or property, who had
+      brought with them from their unhappy homes the seeds of insubordination
+      and rebellion. The repeated spectacles of torture and of death had rudely
+      burst the tenderer threads of moral feeling, and had given an unnatural
+      harshness to the national character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still the rebellion would have crouched timorously and silently on the
+      ground if it had not found a support in the nobility. Charles V. had
+      spoiled the Flemish nobles of the Netherlands by making them the
+      participators of his glory, by fostering their national pride, by the
+      marked preference he showed for them over the Castilian nobles, and by
+      opening an arena to their ambition in every part of his empire. In the
+      late war with France they had really deserved this preference from Philip;
+      the advantages which the king reaped from the peace of Chateau-Cambray
+      were for the most part the fruits of their valor, and they now sensibly
+      missed the gratitude on which they had so confidently reckoned. Moreover,
+      the separation of the German empire from the Spanish monarchy, and the
+      less warlike spirit of the new government, had greatly narrowed their
+      sphere of action, and, except in their own country, little remained for
+      them to gain. And Philip now appointed his Spaniards where Charles V. had
+      employed the Flemings. All the passions which the preceding government had
+      raised and kept employed still survived in peace; and in default of a
+      legitimate object these unruly feelings found, unfortunately, ample scope
+      in the grievances of their country. Accordingly, the claims and wrongs
+      which had been long supplanted by new passions were now drawn from
+      oblivion. By his late appointments the king had satisfied no party; for
+      those even who obtained offices were not much more content than those who
+      were entirely passed over, because they had calculated on something better
+      than they got. William of Orange had received four governments (not to
+      reckon some smaller dependencies which, taken together, were equivalent to
+      a fifth), but William had nourished hopes of Flanders and Brabant. He and
+      Count Egmont forgot what had really fallen to their share, and only
+      remembered that they had lost the regency. The majority of the nobles were
+      either plunged into debt by their own extravagance, or had willingly
+      enough been drawn into it by the government. Now that they were excluded
+      from the prospect of lucrative appointments, they at once saw themselves
+      exposed to poverty, which pained them the more sensibly when they
+      contrasted the splendor of the affluent citizens with their own
+      necessities. In the extremities to which they were reduced many would have
+      readily assisted in the commission even of crimes; how then could they
+      resist the seductive offers of the Calvinists, who liberally repaid them
+      for their intercession and protection? Lastly, many whose estates were
+      past redemption placed their last hope in a general devastation, and stood
+      prepared at the first favorable moment to cast the torch of discord into
+      the republic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This threatening aspect of the public mind was rendered still more
+      alarming by the unfortunate vicinity of France. What Philip dreaded for
+      the provinces was there already accomplished. The fate of that kingdom
+      prefigured to him the destiny of his Netherlands, and the spirit of
+      rebellion found there a seductive example. A similar state of things had
+      under Francis I. and Henry II. scattered the seeds of innovation in that
+      kingdom; a similar fury of persecution and a like spirit of faction had
+      encouraged its growth. Now Huguenots and Catholics were struggling in a
+      dubious contest; furious parties disorganized the whole monarchy, and were
+      violently hurrying this once-powerful state to the brink of destruction.
+      Here, as there, private interest, ambition, and party feeling might veil
+      themselves under the names of religion and patriotism, and the passions of
+      a few citizens drive the entire nation to take up arms. The frontiers of
+      both countries merged in Walloon Flanders; the rebellion might, like an
+      agitated sea, cast its waves as far as this: would a country be closed
+      against it whose language, manners, and character wavered between those of
+      France and Belgium? As yet the government had taken no census of its
+      Protestant subjects in these countries, but the new sect, it was aware,
+      was a vast, compact republic, which extended its roots through all the
+      monarchies of Christendom, and the slighest disturbance in any of its most
+      distant members vibrated to its centre. It was, as it were, a chain of
+      threatening volcanoes, which, united by subterraneous passages, ignite at
+      the same moment with alarming sympathy. The Netherlands were, necessarily,
+      open to all nations, because they derived their support from all. Was it
+      possible for Philip to close a commercial state as easily as he could
+      Spain? If he wished to purify these provinces from heresy it was necessary
+      for him to commence by extirpating it in France.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was in this state that Granvella found the Netherlands at the beginning
+      of his administration (1560).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To restore to these countries the uniformity of papistry, to break the
+      co-ordinate power of the nobility and the states, and to exalt the royal
+      authority on the ruins of republican freedom, was the great object of
+      Spanish policy and the express commission of the new minister. But
+      obstacles stood in the way of its accomplishment; to conquer these
+      demanded the invention of new resources, the application of new machinery.
+      The Inquisition, indeed, and the religious edicts appeared sufficient to
+      check the contagion of heresy; but the latter required superintendence,
+      and the former able instruments for its now extended jurisdiction. The
+      church constitution continued the same as it had been in earlier times,
+      when the provinces were less populous, when the church still enjoyed
+      universal repose, and could be more easily overlooked and controlled. A
+      succession of several centuries, which changed the whole interior form of
+      the provinces, had left the form of the hierarchy unaltered, which,
+      moreover, was protected from the arbitrary will of its ruler by the
+      particular privileges of the provinces. All the seventeen provinces were
+      parcelled out under four bishops, who had their seats at Arras, Tournay,
+      Cambray, and Utrecht, and were subject to the primates of Rheims and
+      Cologne. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had, indeed, meditated an
+      increase in the number of bishops to meet the wants of the increasing
+      population; but, unfortunately, in the excitement of a life of pleasure
+      had abandoned the project. Ambition and lust of conquest withdrew the mind
+      of Charles the Bold from the internal concerns of his kingdom, and
+      Maximilian had already too many subjects of dispute with the states to
+      venture to add to their number by proposing this change. A stormy reign
+      prevented Charles V. from the execution of this extensive plan, which
+      Philip II. now undertook as a bequest from all these princes. The moment
+      had now arrived when the urgent necessities of the church would excuse the
+      innovation, and the leisure of peace favored its accomplishment. With the
+      prodigious crowd of people from all the countries of Europe who were
+      crowded together in the towns of the Netherlands, a multitude of religious
+      opinions had also grown up; and it was impossible that religion could any
+      longer be effectually superintended by so few eyes as were formerly
+      sufficient. While the number of bishops was so small their districts must,
+      of necessity, have been proportionally extensive, and four men could not
+      be adequate to maintain the purity of the faith through so wide a
+      district.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The jurisdiction which the Archbishops of Cologne and Rheims exercised
+      over the Netherlands had long been a stumbling-block to the government,
+      which could not look on this territory as really its own property so long
+      as such an important branch of power was still wielded by foreign hands.
+      To snatch this prerogative from the alien archbishops; by new and active
+      agents to give fresh life and vigor to the superintendence of the faith,
+      and at the same time to strengthen the number of the partisans of
+      government at the diet, no more effectual means could be devised than to
+      increase the number of bishops. Resolved upon doing this Philip II.
+      ascended the throne; but he soon found that a change in the hierarchy
+      would inevitably meet with warm opposition from the provinces, without
+      whose consent, nevertheless, it would be vain to attempt it. Philip
+      foresaw that the nobility would never approve of a measure which would so
+      strongly augment the royal party, and take from the aristocracy the
+      preponderance of power in the diet. The revenues, too, for the maintenance
+      of these new bishops must be diverted from the abbots and monks, and these
+      formed a considerable part of the states of the realm. He had, besides, to
+      fear the opposition of the Protestants, who would not fail to act secretly
+      in the diet against him. On these accounts the whole affair was discussed
+      at Rome with the greatest possible secrecy. Instructed by, and as the
+      agent of, Granvella, Francis Sonnoi, a priest of Louvain, came before Paul
+      IV. to inform him how extensive the provinces were, how thriving and
+      populous, how luxurious in their prosperity. But, he continued, in the
+      immoderate enjoyment of liberty the true faith is neglected, and heretics
+      prosper. To obviate this evil the Romish See must have recourse to
+      extraordinary measures. It was not difficult to prevail on the Romish
+      pontiff to make a change which would enlarge the sphere of his own
+      jurisdiction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul IV. appointed a tribunal of seven cardinals to deliberate upon this
+      important matter; but death called him away, and he left to his successor,
+      Pius IV., the duty of carrying their advice into execution. The welcome
+      tidings of the pope&rsquo;s determination reached the king in Zealand when he
+      was just on the point of setting sail for Spain, and the minister was
+      secretly charged with the dangerous reform. The new constitution of the
+      hierarchy was published in 1560; in addition to the then existing four
+      bishoprics thirteen new ones were established, according to the number of
+      seventeen provinces, and four of them were raised into archbishoprics. Six
+      of these episcopal sees, viz., in Antwerp, Herzogenbusch, Ghent, Bruges,
+      Ypres, and Ruremonde, were placed under the Archbishopric of Malines; five
+      others, Haarlem, Middelburg, Leuwarden, Deventer, and Groningen, under the
+      Archbishopric of Utrecht; and the remaining four, Arras, Tournay, St.
+      Omer, and Namur, which lie nearest to France, and have language,
+      character, and manners in common with that country, under the
+      Archbishopric of Cambray. Malines, situated in the middle of Brabant and
+      in the centre of all the seventeen provinces, was made the primacy of all
+      the rest, and was, with several rich abbeys, the reward of Granvella. The
+      revenues of the new bishoprics were provided by an appropriation of the
+      treasures of the cloisters and abbeys which had accumulated from pious
+      benefactions during centuries. Some of the abbots were raised to the
+      episcopal throne, and with the possession of their cloisters and prelacies
+      retained also the vote at the diet which was attached to them. At the same
+      time to every bishopric nine prebends were attached, and bestowed on the
+      most learned juris-consultists and theologians, who were to support the
+      Inquisition and the bishop in his spiritual office. Of these, the two who
+      were most deserving by knowledge, experience, and unblemished life were to
+      be constituted actual inquisitors, and to have the first voice in the
+      Synods. To the Archbishop of Malines, as metropolitan of all the seventeen
+      provinces, the full authority was given to appoint, or at discretion
+      depose, archbishops and bishops; and the Romish See was only to give its
+      ratification to his acts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At any other period the nation would have received with gratitude and
+      approved of such a measure of church reform since it was fully called for
+      by circumstances, was conducive to the interests of religion, and
+      absolutely indispensable for the moral reformation of the monkhood. Now
+      the temper of the times saw in it nothing but a hateful change. Universal
+      was the indignation with which it was received. A cry was raised that the
+      constitution was trampled under foot, the rights of the nation violated,
+      and that the Inquisition was already at the door, and would soon open
+      here, as in Spain, its bloody tribunal. The people beheld with dismay
+      these new servants of arbitrary power and of persecution. The nobility saw
+      in it nothing but a strengthening of the royal authority by the addition
+      of fourteen votes in the states&rsquo; assembly, and a withdrawal of the firmest
+      prop of their freedom, the balance of the royal and the civil power. The
+      old bishops complained of the diminution of their incomes and the
+      circumscription of their sees; the abbots and monks had not only lost
+      power and income, but had received in exchange rigid censors of their
+      morals. Noble and simple, laity and clergy, united against the common foe,
+      and while all singly struggled for some petty private interest, the cry
+      appeared to come from the formidable voice of patriotism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among all the provinces Brabant was loudest in its opposition. The
+      inviolability of its church constitution was one of the important
+      privileges which it had reserved in the remarkable charter of the &ldquo;Joyful
+      Entry,&rdquo;&mdash;statutes which the sovereign could not violate without
+      releasing the nation from its allegiance to him. In vain did the
+      university of Louvain assert that in disturbed times of the church a
+      privilege lost its power which had been granted in the period of its
+      tranquillity. The introduction of the new bishoprics into the constitution
+      was thought to shake the whole fabric of liberty. The prelacies, which
+      were now transferred to the bishops, must henceforth serve another rule
+      than the advantage of the province of whose states they had been members.
+      The once free patriotic citizens were to be instruments of the Romish See
+      and obedient tools of the archbishop, who again, as first prelate of
+      Brabant, had the immediate control over them. The freedom of voting was
+      gone, because the bishops, as servile spies of the crown, made every one
+      fearful. &ldquo;Who,&rdquo; it was asked, &ldquo;will after this venture to raise his voice
+      in parliament before such observers, or in their presence dare to protect
+      the rights of the nation against the rapacious hands of the government?
+      They will trace out the resources of the provinces, and betray to the
+      crown the secrets of our freedom and our property. They will obstruct the
+      way to all offices of honor; we shall soon see the courtiers of the king
+      succeed the present men; the children of foreigners will, for the future,
+      fill the parliament, and the private interest of their patron will guide
+      their venal votes.&rdquo; &ldquo;What an act of oppression,&rdquo; rejoined the monks, &ldquo;to
+      pervert to other objects the pious designs of our holy institutions, to
+      contemn the inviolable wishes of the dead, and to take that which a devout
+      charity had deposited in our chests for the relief of the unfortunate and
+      make it subservient to the luxury of the bishops, thus inflating their
+      arrogant pomp with the plunder of the poor?&rdquo; Not only the abbots and
+      monks, who really did suffer by this act of appropriation, but every
+      family which could flatter itself with the slightest hope of enjoying, at
+      some time or other, even in the most remote posterity, the benefit of this
+      monastic foundation, felt this disappointment of their distant
+      expectations as much as if they had suffered an actual injury, and the
+      wrongs of a few abbot-prelates became the concern of a whole nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Historians have not omitted to record the covert proceedings of William of
+      Orange during this general commotion, who labored to conduct to one end
+      these various and conflicting passions. At his instigation the people of
+      Brabant petitioned the regent for an advocate and protector, since they
+      alone, of all his Flemish subjects, had the misfortune to unite, in one
+      and the same person, their counsel and their ruler. Had the demand been
+      granted, their choice could fall on no other than the Prince of Orange.
+      But Granvella, with his usual presence of mind, broke through the snare.
+      &ldquo;The man who receives this office,&rdquo; he declared in the state council,
+      &ldquo;will, I hope, see that he divides Brabant with the king!&rdquo; The long delay
+      of the papal bull, which was kept back by a misunderstanding between the
+      Romish and Spanish courts, gave the disaffected an opportunity to combine
+      for a common object. In perfect secrecy the states of Brabant despatched
+      an extraordinary messenger to Pins IV. to urge their wishes in Rome
+      itself. The ambassador was provided with important letters of
+      recommendation from the Prince of Orange, and carried with him
+      considerable sums to pave his way to the father of the church. At the same
+      time a public letter was forwarded from the city of Antwerp to the King of
+      Spain containing the most urgent representations, and supplicating him to
+      spare that flourishing commercial town from the threatened innovation.
+      They knew, it was stated, that the intentions of the monarch were the
+      best, and that the institution of the new bishops was likely to be highly
+      conducive to the maintenance of true religion; but the foreigners could
+      not be convinced of this, and on them depended the prosperity of their
+      town. Among them the most groundless rumors would be as perilous as the
+      most true. The first embassy was discovered in time, and its object
+      disappointed by the prudence of the regent; by the second the town of
+      Antwerp gained so far its point that it was to remain without a bishop, at
+      least until the personal arrival of the king, which was talked of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The example and success of Antwerp gave the signal of opposition to all
+      the other towns for which a new bishop was intended. It is a remarkable
+      proof of the hatred to the Inquisition and the unanimity of the Flemish
+      towns at this date that they preferred to renounce all the advantages
+      which the residence of a bishop would necessarily bring to their local
+      trade rather than by their consent promote that abhorred tribunal, and
+      thus act in opposition to the interests of the whole nation. Deventer,
+      Ruremond, and Leuwarden placed themselves in determined opposition, and
+      (1561) successfully carried their point; in the other towns the bishops
+      were, in spite of all remonstrances, forcibly inducted. Utrecht, Haarlem,
+      St. Omer, and Middelburg were among the first which opened their gates to
+      them; the remaining towns followed their example; but in Malines and
+      Herzogenbusch the bishops were received with very little respect. When
+      Granvella made his solemn entry into the former town not a single nobleman
+      showed himself, and his triumph was wanting in everything that could make
+      it real, because those remained away over whom it was meant to be
+      celebrated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime, too, the period had elapsed within which the Spanish
+      troops were to have left the country, and as yet there was no appearance
+      of their being withdrawn. People perceived with terror the real cause of
+      the delay, and suspicion lent it a fatal connection with the Inquisition.
+      The detention of these troops, as it rendered the nation more vigilant and
+      distrustful, made it more difficult for the minister to proceed with the
+      other innovations, and yet he would fain not deprive himself of this
+      powerful and apparently indispensable aid in a country where all hated
+      him, and in the execution of a commission to which all were opposed. At
+      last, however, the regent saw herself compelled by the universal murmurs
+      of discontent, to urge most earnestly upon the king the necessity of the
+      withdrawal of the troops. &ldquo;The provinces,&rdquo; she writes to Madrid, &ldquo;have
+      unanimously declared that they would never again be induced to grant the
+      extraordinary taxes required by the government as long as word was not
+      kept with them in this matter. The danger of a revolt was far more
+      imminent than that of an attack by the French Protestants, and if a
+      rebellion was to take place in the Netherlands these forces would be too
+      weak to repress it, and there was not sufficient money in the treasury to
+      enlist new.&rdquo; By delaying his answer the king still sought at least to gain
+      time, and the reiterated representations of the regent would still have
+      remained ineffectual, if, fortunately for the provinces, a loss which he
+      had lately suffered from the Turks had not compelled him to employ these
+      troops in the Mediterranean. He, therefore, at last consented to their
+      departure: they were embarked in 1561 in Zealand, and the exulting shouts
+      of all the provinces accompanied their departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Granvella ruled in the council of state almost uncontrolled. All
+      offices, secular and spiritual, were given away through him; his opinion
+      prevailed against the unanimous voice of the whole assembly. The regent
+      herself was governed by him. He had contrived to manage so that her
+      appointment was made out for two years only, and by this expedient he kept
+      her always in his power. It seldom happened that any important affair was
+      submitted to the other members, and if it really did occur it was only
+      such as had been long before decided, to which it was only necessary for
+      formality&rsquo;s sake to gain their sanction. Whenever a royal letter was read
+      Viglius received instructions to omit all such passages as were underlined
+      by the minister. It often happened that this correspondence with Spain
+      laid open the weakness of the government, or the anxiety felt by the
+      regent, with which it was not expedient to inform the members, whose
+      loyalty was distrusted. If again it occurred that the opposition gained a
+      majority over the minister, and insisted with determination on an article
+      which he could not well put off any longer, he sent it to the ministry at
+      Madrid for their decision, by which he at least gained time, and in any
+      case was certain to find support.&mdash;With the exception of the Count of
+      Barlaimont, the President Viglius, and a few others, all the other
+      counsellors were but superfluous figures in the senate, and the minister&rsquo;s
+      behavior to them marked the small value which he placed upon their
+      friendship and adherence. No wonder that men whose pride had been so
+      greatly indulged by the flattering attentions of sovereign princes, and to
+      whom, as to the idols of their country, their fellow-citizens paid the
+      most reverential submission, should be highly indignant at this arrogance
+      of a plebeian. Many of them had been personally insulted by Granvella.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince of Orange was well aware that it was he who had prevented his
+      marriage with the Princess of Lorraine, and that he had also endeavored to
+      break off the negotiations for another alliance with the Princess of
+      Savoy. He had deprived Count Horn of the government of Gueldres and
+      Zutphen, and had kept for himself an abbey which Count Egmont had in vain
+      exerted himself to obtain for a relation. Confident of his superior power,
+      he did not even think it worth while to conceal from the nobility his
+      contempt for them, and which, as a rule, marked his whole administration;
+      William of Orange was the only one with whom he deemed it advisable to
+      dissemble. Although he really believed himself to be raised far above all
+      the laws of fear and decorum, still in this point, however, his confident
+      arrogance misled him, and he erred no less against policy than he shined
+      against propriety. In the existing posture of affairs the government could
+      hardly have adopted a worse measure than that of throwing disrespect on
+      the nobility. It had it in its power to flatter the prejudices and
+      feelings of the aristocracy, and thus artfully and imperceptibly win them
+      over to its plans, and through them subvert the edifice of national
+      liberty. Now it admonished them, most inopportunely, of their duties,
+      their dignity, and their power; calling upon them even to be patriots, and
+      to devote to the cause of true greatness an ambition which hitherto it had
+      inconsiderately repelled. To carry into effect the ordinances it required
+      the active co-operation of the lieutenant-governors; no wonder, however,
+      that the latter showed but little zeal to afford this assistance. On the
+      contrary, it is highly probable that they silently labored to augment the
+      difficulties of the minister, and to subvert his measures, and through his
+      ill-success to diminish the king&rsquo;s confidence in him, and expose his
+      administration to contempt. The rapid progress which in spite of those
+      horrible edicts the Reformation made during Granvella&rsquo;s administration in
+      the Netherlands, is evidently to be ascribed to the lukewarmness of the
+      nobility in opposing it. If the minister had been sure of the nobles he
+      might have despised the fury of the mob, which would have impotently
+      dashed itself against the dreaded barriers of the throne. The sufferings
+      of the citizens lingered long in tears and sighs, until the arts and the
+      example of the nobility called forth a louder expression of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the inquisitions into religion were carried on with renewed
+      vigor by the crowd of new laborers (1561, 1562), and the edicts against
+      heretics were enforced with fearful obedience. But the critical moment
+      when this detestable remedy might have been applied was allowed to pass
+      by; the nation had become too strong and vigorous for such rough
+      treatment. The new religion could now be extirpated only by the death of
+      all its professors. The present executions were but so many alluring
+      exhibitions of its excellence, so many scenes of its triumphs and radiant
+      virtue. The heroic greatness with which the victims died made converts to
+      the opinions for which they perished. One martyr gained ten new
+      proselytes. Not in towns only, or villages, but on the very highways, in
+      the boats and public carriages disputes were held touching the dignity of
+      the pope, the saints, purgatory, and indulgences, and sermons were
+      preached and men converted. From the country and from the towns the common
+      people rushed in crowds to rescue the prisoners of the Holy Tribunal from
+      the hands of its satellites, and the municipal officers who ventured to
+      support it with the civil forces were pelted with stones. Multitudes
+      accompanied the Protestant preachers whom the Inquisition pursued, bore
+      them on their shoulders to and from church, and at the risk of their lives
+      concealed them from their persecutors. The first province which was seized
+      with the fanatical spirit of rebellion was, as had been expected, Walloon
+      Flanders. A French Calvinist, by name Lannoi, set himself up in Tournay as
+      a worker of miracles, where he hired a few women to simulate diseases, and
+      to pretend to be cured by him. He preached in the woods near the town,
+      drew the people in great numbers after him, and scattered in their minds
+      the seeds of rebellion. Similar teachers appeared in Lille and
+      Valenciennes, but in the latter place the municipal functionaries
+      succeeded in seizing the persons of these incendiaries; while, however,
+      they delayed to execute them their followers increased so rapidly that
+      they became sufficiently strong to break open the prisons and forcibly
+      deprive justice of its victims. Troops at last were brought into the town
+      and order restored. But this trifling occurrence had for a moment
+      withdrawn the veil which had hitherto concealed the strength of the
+      Protestant party, and allowed the minister to compute their prodigious
+      numbers. In Tournay alone five thousand at one time had been seen
+      attending the sermons, and not many less in Valenciennes. What might not
+      be expected from the northern provinces, where liberty was greater, and
+      the seat of government more remote, and where the vicinity of Germany and
+      Denmark multiplied the sources of contagion? One slight provocation had
+      sufficed to draw from its concealment so formidable a multitude. How much
+      greater was, perhaps, the number of those who in their hearts acknowledged
+      the new sect, and only waited for a favorable opportunity to publish their
+      adhesion to it. This discovery greatly alarmed the regent. The scanty
+      obedience paid to the edicts, the wants of the exhausted treasury, which
+      compelled her to impose new taxes, and the suspicious movements of the
+      Huguenots on the French frontiers still further increased her anxiety. At
+      the same time she received a command from Madrid to send off two thousand
+      Flemish cavalry to the army of the Queen Mother in France, who, in the
+      distresses of the civil war, had recourse to Philip II. for assistance.
+      Every affair of faith, in whatever land it might be, was made by Philip
+      his own business. He felt it as keenly as any catastrophe which could
+      befall his own house, and in such cases always stood ready to sacrifice
+      his means to foreign necessities. If it were interested motives that here
+      swayed him they were at least kingly and grand, and the bold support of
+      his principles wins our admiration as much as their cruelty withholds our
+      esteem.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent laid before the council of state the royal will on the subject
+      of these troops, but with a very warm opposition on the part of the
+      nobility. Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange declared that the time was
+      illchosen for stripping the Netherlands of troops, when the aspect of
+      affairs rendered rather the enlistment of new levies advisable. The
+      movements of the troops in France momentarily threatened a surprise, and
+      the commotions within the provinces demanded, more than ever, the utmost
+      vigilance on the part of the government. Hitherto, they said, the German
+      Protestants had looked idly on during the struggles of their brethren in
+      the faith; but will they continue to do so, especially when we are lending
+      our aid to strengthen their enemy? By thus acting shall we not rouse their
+      vengeance against us, and call their arms into the northern Netherlands?
+      Nearly the whole council of state joined in this opinion; their
+      representations were energetic and not to be gainsaid. The regent herself,
+      as well as the minister, could not but feel their truth, and their own
+      interests appeared to forbid obedience to the royal mandate. Would it not
+      be impolitic to withdraw from the Inquisition its sole prop by removing
+      the larger portion of the army, and in a rebellious country to leave
+      themselves without defence, dependent on the arbitrary will of an arrogant
+      aristocracy? While the regent, divided between the royal commands, the
+      urgent importunity of her council, and her own fears, could not venture to
+      come to a decision, William of Orange rose and proposed the assembling of
+      the States General. But nothing could have inflicted a more fatal blow on
+      the supremacy of the crown than by yielding to this advice to put the
+      nation in mind of its power and its rights. No measure could be more
+      hazardous at the present moment. The danger which was thus gathering over
+      the minister did not escape him; a sign from him warned the regent to
+      break off the consultation and adjourn the council. &ldquo;The government,&rdquo; he
+      writes to Madrid, &ldquo;can do nothing more injurious to itself than to consent
+      to the assembling of the states. Such a step is at all times perilous,
+      because it tempts the nation to test and restrict the rights of the crown;
+      but it is many times more objectionable at the present moment, when the
+      spirit of rebellion is already widely spread amongst us; when the abbots,
+      exasperated at the loss of their income, will neglect nothing to impair
+      the dignity of the bishops; when the whole nobility and all the deputies
+      from the towns are led by the arts of the Prince of Orange, and the
+      disaffected can securely reckon on the assistance of the nation.&rdquo; This
+      representation, which at least was not wanting in sound sense, did not
+      fail in having the desired effect on the king&rsquo;s mind. The assembling of
+      the states was rejected once and forever, the penal statutes against the
+      heretics were renewed in all their rigor, and the regent was directed to
+      hasten the despatch of the required auxiliaries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to this the council of state would not consent. All that she obtained
+      was, instead of the troops, a supply of money for the Queen Mother, which
+      at this crisis was still more welcome to her. In place, however, of
+      assembling the states, and in order to beguile the nation with, at least,
+      the semblance of republican freedom, the regent summoned the governors of
+      the provinces and the knights of the Golden Fleece to a special congress
+      at Brussels, to consult on the present dangers and necessities of the
+      state. When the President, Viglius, had laid before them the matters on
+      which they were summoned to deliberate, three days were given to them for
+      consideration. During this time the Prince of Orange assembled them in his
+      palace, where he represented to them the necessity of coming to some
+      unanimous resolution before the next sitting, and of agreeing on the
+      measures which ought to be followed in the present dangerous state of
+      affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The majority assented to the propriety of this course; only Barlaimont,
+      with a few of the dependents of the cardinal, had the courage to plead for
+      the interests of the crown and of the minister. &ldquo;It did not behoove them,&rdquo;
+       he said, &ldquo;to interfere in the concerns of the government, and this
+      previous agreement of votes was an illegal and culpable assumption, in the
+      guilt of which he would not participate;&rdquo;&mdash;a declaration which broke
+      up the meeting without any conclusion being come to. The regent, apprised
+      of it by the Count Barlaimont, artfully contrived to keep the knights so
+      well employed during their stay in the town that they could find no time
+      for coming to any further secret understanding; in this session, however,
+      it was arranged, with their concurrence, that Florence of Montmorency,
+      Lord of Montigny, should make a journey to Spain, in order to acquaint the
+      king with the present posture of affairs. But the regent sent before him
+      another messenger to Madrid, who previously informed the king of all that
+      had been debated between the Prince of Orange and the knights at the
+      secret conference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Flemish ambassador was flattered in Madrid with empty protestations of
+      the king&rsquo;s favor and paternal sentiments towards the Netherlands, while
+      the regent was commanded to thwart, to the utmost of her power, the secret
+      combinations of the nobility, and, if possible, to sow discord among their
+      most eminent members. Jealousy, private interest, and religious
+      differences had long divided many of the nobles; their share in the common
+      neglect and contempt with which they were treated, and a general hatred of
+      the minister had again united them. So long as Count Egmont and the Prince
+      of Orange were suitors for the regency it could not fail but that at times
+      their competing claims should have brought them into collision. Both had
+      met each other on the road to glory and before the throne; both again met
+      in the republic, where they strove for the same prize, the favor of their
+      fellow-citizens. Such opposite characters soon became estranged, but the
+      powerful sympathy of necessity as quickly reconciled them. Each was now
+      indispensable to the other, and the emergency united these two men
+      together with a bond which their hearts would never have furnished. But it
+      was on this very uncongeniality of disposition that the regent based her
+      plans; if she could fortunately succeed in separating them she would at
+      the same time divide the whole Flemish nobility into two parties. Through
+      the presents and small attentions by which she exclusively honored these
+      two she also sought to excite against them the envy and distrust of the
+      rest, and by appearing to give Count Egmont a preference over the Prince
+      of Orange she hoped to make the latter suspicious of Egmont&rsquo;s good faith.
+      It happened that at this very time she was obliged to send an
+      extraordinary ambassador to Frankfort, to be present at the election of a
+      Roman emperor. She chose for this office the Duke of Arschot, the avowed
+      enemy of the prince, in order in some degree to show in his case how
+      splendid was the reward which hatred against the latter might look for.
+      The Orange faction, however, instead of suffering any diminution, had
+      gained an important accession in Count Horn, who, as admiral of the
+      Flemish marine, had convoyed the king to Biscay, and now again took his
+      seat in the council of state. Horn&rsquo;s restless and republican spirit
+      readily met the daring schemes of Orange and Egmont, and a dangerous
+      Triumvirate was soon formed by these three friends, which shook the royal
+      power in the Netherlands, but which terminated very differently for each
+      of its members.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1562.) Meanwhile Montigny had returned from his embassy, and brought back
+      to the council of state the most gracious assurance of the monarch. But
+      the Prince of Orange had, through his own secret channels of intelligence,
+      received more credible information from Madrid, which entirely
+      contradicted this report. By these means be learnt all the ill services
+      which Granvella had done him and his friends with the king, and the odious
+      appellations which were there applied to the Flemish nobility. There was
+      no help for them so long as the minister retained the helm of government,
+      and to procure his dismissal was the scheme, however rash and adventurous
+      it appeared, which wholly occupied the mind of the prince. It was agreed
+      between him and Counts Horn and Egmont to despatch a joint letter to the
+      king, and, in the name of the whole nobility, formally to accuse the
+      minister, and press energetically for his removal. The Duke of Arschot, to
+      whom this proposition was communicated by Count Egmont, refused to concur
+      in it, haughtily declaring that he was not disposed to receive laws from
+      Egmont and Orange; that he had no cause of complaint against Granvella,
+      and that he thought it very presumptuous to prescribe to the king what
+      ministers he ought to employ. Orange received a similar answer from the
+      Count of Aremberg. Either the seeds of distrust which the regent had
+      scattered amongst the nobility had already taken root, or the fear of the
+      minister&rsquo;s power outweighed the abhorrence of his measures; at any rate,
+      the whole nobility shrunk back timidly and irresolutely from the proposal.
+      This disappointment did not, however, discourage them. The letter was
+      written and subscribed by all three (1563).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In it Granvella was represented as the prime cause of all the disorders in
+      the Netherlands. So long as the highest power should be entrusted to him
+      it would, they declared, be impossible for them to serve the nation and
+      king effectually; on the other hand, all would revert to its former
+      tranquillity, all opposition be discontinued, and the government regain
+      the affections of the people as soon as his majesty should be pleased to
+      remove this man from the helm of the state. In that case, they added,
+      neither exertion nor zeal would be wanting on their part to maintain in
+      these countries the dignity of the king and the purity of the faith, which
+      was no less sacred to them than to the cardinal, Granvella.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Secretly as this letter was prepared still the duchess was informed of it
+      in sufficient time to anticipate it by another despatch, and to counteract
+      the effect which it might have had on the king&rsquo;s mind. Some months passed
+      ere an answer came from Madrid. It was mild, but vague. &ldquo;The king,&rdquo; such
+      was its import, &ldquo;was not used to condemn his ministers unheard on the mere
+      accusations of their enemies. Common justice alone required that the
+      accusers of the cardinal should descend from general imputations to
+      special proofs, and if they were not inclined to do this in writing, one
+      of them might come to Spain, where he should be treated with all respect.&rdquo;
+       Besides this letter, which was equally directed to all three, Count Egmont
+      further received an autograph letter from the king, wherein his majesty
+      expressed a wish to learn from him in particular what in the common letter
+      had been only generally touched upon. The regent, also, was specially
+      instructed how she was to answer the three collectively, and the count
+      singly. The king knew his man. He felt it was easy to manage Count Egmont
+      alone; for this reason he sought to entice him to Madrid, where he would
+      be removed from the commanding guidance of a higher intellect. In
+      distinguishing him above his two friends by so flattering a mark of his
+      confidence, he made a difference in the relation in which they severally
+      stood to the throne; how could they, then, unite with equal zeal for the
+      same object when the inducements were no longer the same? This time,
+      indeed, the vigilance of Orange frustrated the scheme; but the sequel of
+      the history will show that the seed which was now scattered was not
+      altogether lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1563.) The king&rsquo;s answer gave no satisfaction to the three confederates;
+      they boldly determined to venture a second attempt. &ldquo;It had,&rdquo; they wrote,
+      &ldquo;surprised them not a little, that his majesty had thought their
+      representations so unworthy of attention. It was not as accusers of the
+      minister, but as counsellors of his majesty, whose duty it was to inform
+      their master of the condition of his states, that they had despatched that
+      letter to him. They sought not the ruin of the minister, indeed it would
+      gratify them to see him contented and happy in any other part of the world
+      than here in the Netherlands. They were, however, fully persuaded of this,
+      that his continued presence there was absolutely incompatible with the
+      general tranquillity. The present dangerous condition of their native
+      country would allow none of them to leave it, much less to take so long a
+      journey as to Spain on Granvella&rsquo;s account. If, therefore, his majesty did
+      not please to comply with their written request, they hoped to be excused
+      for the future from attendance in the senate, where they were only exposed
+      to the mortification of meeting the minister, and where they could be of
+      no service either to the king or the state, but only appeared contemptible
+      in their own sight. In conclusion, they begged his majesty would not take
+      ill the plain simplicity of their language, since persons of their
+      character set more value on acting well than on speaking finely.&rdquo; To the
+      same purport was a separate letter from Count Egmont, in which he returned
+      thanks for the royal autograph. This second address was followed by an
+      answer to the effect that &ldquo;their representations should be taken into
+      consideration, meanwhile they were requested to attend the council of
+      state as heretofore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was evident that the monarch was far from intending to grant their
+      request; they, therefore, from this tune forth absented themselves from
+      the state council, and even left Brussels. Not having succeeded in
+      removing the minister by lawful means they sought to accomplish this end
+      by a new mode from which more might be expected. On every occasion they
+      and their adherents openly showed the contempt which they felt for him,
+      and contrived to throw ridicule on everything he undertook. By this
+      contemptuous treatment they hoped to harass the haughty spirit of the
+      priest, and to obtain through his mortified self-love what they had failed
+      in by other means. In this, indeed, they did not succeed; but the
+      expedient on which they had fallen led in the end to the ruin of the
+      minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The popular voice was raised more loudly against him so soon as it was
+      perceived that he had forfeited the good opinion of the nobles, and that
+      men whose sentiments they had been used blindly to echo preceded them in
+      detestation of him. The contemptuous manner in which the nobility now
+      treated him devoted him in a measure to the general scorn and emboldened
+      calumny which never spares even what is holiest and purest, to lay its
+      sacrilegious hand on his honor. The new constitution of the church, which
+      was the great grievance of the nation, had been the basis of his fortunes.
+      This was a crime that could not be forgiven. Every fresh execution&mdash;and
+      with such spectacles the activity of the inquisitors was only too liberal&mdash;kept
+      alive and furnished dreadful exercise to the bitter animosity against him,
+      and at last custom and usage inscribed his name on every act of
+      oppression. A stranger in a land into which he had been introduced against
+      its will; alone among millions of enemies; uncertain of all his tools;
+      supported only by the weak arm of distant royalty; maintaining his
+      intercourse with the nation, which he had to gain, only by means of
+      faithless instruments, all of whom made it their highest object to falsify
+      his actions and misrepresent his motives; lastly, with a woman for his
+      coadjutor who could not share with him the burden of the general
+      execration&mdash;thus he stood exposed to the wantonness, the ingratitude,
+      the faction, the envy, and all the evil passions of a licentious,
+      insubordinate people. It is worthy of remark that the hatred which he had
+      incurred far outran the demerits which could be laid to his charge; that
+      it was difficult, nay impossible, for his accusers to substantiate by
+      proof the general condemnation which fell upon him from all sides. Before
+      and after him fanaticism dragged its victims to the altar; before and
+      after him civil blood flowed, the rights of men were made a mock of, and
+      men themselves rendered wretched. Under Charles V. tyranny ought to have
+      pained more acutely through its novelty; under the Duke of Alva it was
+      carried to far more unnatural lengths, insomuch that Granvella&rsquo;s
+      administration, in comparison with that of his successor, was even
+      merciful; and yet we do not find that his contemporaries ever evinced the
+      same degree of personal exasperation and spite against the latter in which
+      they indulged against his predecessor. To cloak the meanness of his birth
+      in the splendor of high dignities, and by an exalted station to place him
+      if possible above the malice of his enemies, the regent had made interest
+      at Rome to procure for him the cardinal&rsquo;s hat; but this very honor, which
+      connected him more closely with the papal court, made him so much the more
+      an alien in the provinces. The purple was a new crime in Brussels, and an
+      obnoxious, detested garb, which in a measure publicly held forth to view
+      the principles on which his future conduct would be governed. Neither his
+      honorable rank, which alone often consecrates the most infamous caitiff,
+      nor his talents, which commanded esteem, nor even his terrible
+      omnipotence, which daily revealed itself in so many bloody manifestations,
+      could screen him from derision. Terror and scorn, the fearful and the
+      ludicrous, were in his instance unnaturally blended.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The nobility, at the suggestion of Count Egmont, caused their
+   servants to wear a common livery, on which was embroidered a fool&rsquo;s
+   cap. All Brussels interpreted it for the cardinal&rsquo;s hat, and every
+   appearance of such a servant renewed their laughter; this badge of
+   a fool&rsquo;s cap, which was offensive to the court, was subsequently
+   changed into a bundle of arrows&mdash;an accidental jest which took a
+   very serious end, and probably was the origin of the arms of the
+   republic. Vit. Vigl. T. II. 35 Thuan. 489. The respect for the
+   cardinal sunk at last so low that a caricature was publicly placed
+   in his own hand, in which he was represented seated on a heap of
+   eggs, out of which bishops were crawling. Over him hovered a devil
+   with the inscription&mdash;&ldquo;This is my son, hear ye him!&rdquo;]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Odious rumors branded his honor; murderous attempts on the lives of Egmont
+      and Orange were ascribed to him; the most incredible things found
+      credence; the most monstrous, if they referred to him or were said to
+      emanate from him, surprised no longer. The nation had already become
+      uncivilized to that degree where the most contradictory sentiments prevail
+      side by side, and the finer boundary lines of decorum and moral feeling
+      are erased. This belief in extraordinary crimes is almost invariably their
+      immediate precursor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But with this gloomy prospect the strange destiny of this man opens at the
+      same time a grander view, which impresses the unprejudiced observer with
+      pleasure and admiration. Here he beholds a nation dazzled by no splendor,
+      and restrained by no fear, firmly, inexorably, and unpremeditatedly
+      unanimous in punishing the crime which had been committed against its
+      dignity by the violent introduction of a stranger into the heart of its
+      political constitution. We see him ever aloof and ever isolated, like a
+      foreign hostile body hovering over a surface which repels its contact. The
+      strong hand itself of the monarch, who was. his friend and protector,
+      could not support him against the antipathies of the nation which had once
+      resolved to withhold from him all its sympathy. The voice of national
+      hatred was all powerful, and was ready to forego even private interest,
+      its certain gains; his alms even were shunned, like the fruit of an
+      accursed tree. Like pestilential vapor, the infamy of universal
+      reprobation hung over him. In his case gratitude believed itself absolved
+      from its duties; his adherents shunned him; his friends were dumb in his
+      behalf. So terribly did the people avenge the insulted majesty of their
+      nobles and their nation on the greatest monarch of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      History has repeated this memorable example only once, in Cardinal
+      Mazarin; but the instance differed according to the spirit of the two
+      periods and nations. The highest power could not protect either from
+      derision; but if France found vent for its indignation in laughing at its
+      pantaloon, the Netherlands hurried from scorn to rebellion. The former,
+      after a long bondage under the vigorous administration of Richelieu, saw
+      itself placed suddenly in unwonted liberty; the latter had passed from
+      ancient hereditary freedom into strange and unusual servitude; it was as
+      natural that the Fronde should end again in subjection as that the Belgian
+      troubles should issue in republican independence. The revolt of the
+      Parisians was the offspring of poverty; unbridled, but not bold, arrogant,
+      but without energy, base and plebeian, like the source from which it
+      sprang. The murmur of the Netherlands was the proud and powerful voice of
+      wealth. Licentiousness and hunger inspired the former; revenge, life,
+      property, and religion were the animating motives of the latter. Rapacity
+      was Mazarin&rsquo;s spring of action; Granvella&rsquo;s lust of power. The former was
+      humane and mild; the latter harsh, imperious, cruel. The French minister
+      sought in the favor of his queen an asylum from the hatred of the magnates
+      and the fury of the people; the Netherlandish minister provoked the hatred
+      of a whole nation in order to please one man. Against Mazarin were only a
+      few factions and the mob they could arm; an entire and united nation
+      against Granvella. Under the former parliament attempted to obtain, by
+      stealth, a power which did not belong to them; under the latter it
+      struggled for a lawful authority which he insidiously had endeavored to
+      wrest from them. The former had to contend with the princes of the blood
+      and the peers of the realm, as the latter had with the native nobility and
+      the states, but instead of endeavoring, like the former, to overthrow the
+      common enemy, in the hope of stepping themselves into his place, the
+      latter wished to destroy the place itself, and to divide a power which no
+      single man ought to possess entire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While these feelings were spreading among the people the influence of the
+      minister at the court of the regent began to totter. The repeated
+      complaints against the extent of his power must at last have made her
+      sensible how little faith was placed in her own; perhaps, too, she began
+      to fear that the universal abhorrence which attached to him would soon
+      include herself also, or that his longer stay would inevitably provoke the
+      menaced revolt. Long intercourse with him, his instruction and example,
+      had qualified her to govern without him. His dignity began to be more
+      oppressive to her as he became less necessary, and his faults, to which
+      her friendship had hitherto lent a veil, became visible as it was
+      withdrawn. She was now as much disposed to search out and enumerate these
+      faults as she formerly had been to conceal them. In this unfavorable state
+      of her feelings towards the cardinal the urgent and accumulated
+      representations of the nobles began at last to find access to her mind,
+      and the more easily, as they contrived to mix up her own fears with their
+      own. &ldquo;It was matter of great astonishment,&rdquo; said Count Egmont to her,
+      &ldquo;that to gratify a man who was not even a Fleming, and of whom, therefore,
+      it must be well known that his happiness could not be dependent on the
+      prosperity of this country, the king could be content to see all his
+      Netherlandish subjects suffer, and this to please a foreigner, who if his
+      birth made him a subject of the Emperor, the purple had made a creature of
+      the court of Rome.&rdquo; &ldquo;To the king alone,&rdquo; added the count, &ldquo;was Granvella
+      indebted for his being still among the living; for the future, however, he
+      would leave that care of him to the regent, and he hereby gave her
+      warning.&rdquo; As the majority of the nobles, disgusted with the contemptuous
+      treatment which they met with in the council of state, gradually withdrew
+      from it, the arbitrary proceedings of the minister lost the last semblance
+      of republican deliberation which had hitherto softened the odious aspect,
+      and the empty desolation of the council chamber made his domineering rule
+      appear in all its obnoxiousness. The regent now felt that she had a master
+      over her, and from that moment the banishment of the minister was decided
+      upon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With this object she despatched her private secretary, Thomas Armenteros,
+      to Spain, to acquaint the king with the circumstances in which the
+      cardinal was placed, to apprise him of the intimations she had received of
+      the intentions of the nobles, and in this manner to cause the resolution
+      for his recall to appear to emanate from the king himself. What she did
+      not like to trust to a letter Armenteros was ordered ingeniously to
+      interweave in the oral communication which the king would probably require
+      from him. Armenteros fulfilled his commission with all the ability of a
+      consummate courtier; but an audience of four hours could not overthrow the
+      work of many years, nor destroy in Philip&rsquo;s mind his opinion of his
+      minister, which was there unalterably established. Long did the monarch
+      hold counsel with his policy and his interest, until Granvella himself
+      came to the aid of his wavering resolution and voluntarily solicited a
+      dismissal, which, he feared, could not much longer be deferred. What the
+      detestation of all the Netherlands could not effect the contemptuous
+      treatment of the nobility accomplished; he was at last weary of a power
+      which was no longer feared, and exposed him less to envy than to infamy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps as some have believed he trembled for his life, which was
+      certainly in more than imaginary danger; perhaps he wished to receive his
+      dismissal from the king under the shape of a boon rather than of a
+      sentence, and after the example of the Romans meet with dignity a fate
+      which he could no longer avoid. Philip too, it would appear, preferred
+      generously to accord to the nation a request rather than to yield at a
+      later period to a demand, and hoped at least to merit their thanks by
+      voluntarily conceding now what necessity would ere long extort. His fears
+      prevailed over his obstinacy, and prudence overcame pride.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Granvella doubted not for a moment what the decision of the king would be.
+      A few days after the return of Armenteros he saw humility and flattery
+      disappear from the few faces which had till then servilely smiled upon
+      him; the last small crowd of base flatterers and eyeservants vanished from
+      around his person; his threshold was forsaken; he perceived that the
+      fructifying warmth of royal favor had left him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Detraction, which had assailed him during his whole administration, did
+      not spare him even in the moment of resignation. People did not scruple to
+      assert that a short time before he laid down his office he had expressed a
+      wish to be reconciled to the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont, and even
+      offered, if their forgiveness could be hoped for on no other terms, to ask
+      pardon of them on his knees. It was base and contemptible to sully the
+      memory of a great and extraordinary man with such a charge, but it is
+      still more so to hand it down uncontradicted to posterity. Granvella
+      submitted to the royal command with a dignified composure. Already had he
+      written, a few months previously, to the Duke of Alva in Spain, to prepare
+      him a place of refuge in Madrid, in case of his having to quit the
+      Netherlands. The latter long bethought himself whether it was advisable to
+      bring thither so dangerous a rival for the favor of his king, or to deny
+      so important a friend such a valuable means of indulging his old hatred of
+      the Flemish nobles. Revenge prevailed over fear, and he strenuously
+      supported Granvella&rsquo;s request with the monarch. But his intercession was
+      fruitless. Armenteros had persuaded the king that the minister&rsquo;s residence
+      in Madrid would only revive, with increased violence, all the complaints
+      of the Belgian nation, to which his ministry had been sacrificed; for
+      then, he said, he would be suspected of poisoning the very source of that
+      power, whose outlets only he had hitherto been charged with corrupting. He
+      therefore sent him to Burgundy, his native place, for which a decent
+      pretext fortunately presented itself. The cardinal gave to his departure
+      from Brussels the appearance of an unimportant journey, from which he
+      would return in a few days. At the same time, however, all the state
+      counsellors, who, under his administration, had voluntarily excluded
+      themselves from its sittings, received a command from the court to resume
+      their seats in the senate at Brussels. Although the latter circumstance
+      made his return not very credible, nevertheless the remotest possibility
+      of it sobered the triumph which celebrated his departure. The regent
+      herself appears to have been undecided what to think about the report;
+      for, in a fresh letter to the king, she repeated all the representations
+      and arguments which ought to restrain him from restoring this minister.
+      Granvella himself, in his correspondence with Barlaimont and Viglius,
+      endeavored to keep alive this rumor, and at least to alarm with fears,
+      however unsubstantial, the enemies whom he could no longer punish by his
+      presence. Indeed, the dread of the influence of this extraordinary man was
+      so exceedingly great that, to appease it, he was at last driven even from
+      his home and his country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the death of Pius IV., Granvella went to Rome, to be present at the
+      election of a new pope, and at the same time to discharge some commissions
+      of his master, whose confidence in him remained unshaken. Soon after,
+      Philip made him viceroy of Naples, where he succumbed to the seductions of
+      the climate, and the spirit which no vicissitudes could bend
+      voluptuousness overcame. He was sixty-two years old when the king allowed
+      him to revisit Spain, where he continued with unlimited powers to
+      administer the affairs of Italy. A gloomy old age, and the self-satisfied
+      pride of a sexagenarian administration made him a harsh and rigid judge of
+      the opinions of others, a slave of custom, and a tedious panegyrist of
+      past times. But the policy of the closing century had ceased to be the
+      policy of the opening one. A new and younger ministry were soon weary of
+      so imperious a superintendent, and Philip himself began to shun the aged
+      counsellor, who found nothing worthy of praise but the deeds of his
+      father. Nevertheless, when the conquest of Portugal called Philip to
+      Lisbon, he confided to the cardinal the care of his Spanish territories.
+      Finally, on an Italian tour, in the town of Mantua, in the seventy-third
+      year of his life, Granvella terminated his long existence in the full
+      enjoyment of his glory, and after possessing for forty years the
+      uninterrupted confidence of his king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1564.) Immediately upon the departure of the minister, all the happy
+      results which were promised from his withdrawal were fulfilled. The
+      disaffected nobles resumed their seats in the council, and again devoted
+      themselves to the affairs of the state with redoubled zeal, in order to
+      give no room for regret for him whom they had driven away, and to prove,
+      by the fortunate administration of the state, that his services were not
+      indispensable. The crowd round the duchess was great. All vied with one
+      another in readiness, in submission, and zeal in her service; the hours of
+      night were not allowed to stop the transaction of pressing business of
+      state; the greatest unanimity existed between the three councils, the best
+      understanding between the court and the states. From the obliging temper
+      of the Flemish nobility everything was to be had, as soon as their pride
+      and self-will was flattered by confidence and obliging treatment. The
+      regent took advantage of the first joy of the nation to beguile them into
+      a vote of certain taxes, which, under the preceding administration, she
+      could not have hoped to extort. In this, the great credit of the nobility
+      effectually supported her, and she soon learned from this nation the
+      secret, which had been so often verified in the German diet&mdash;that
+      much must be demanded in order to get a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With pleasure did the regent see herself emancipated from her long
+      thraldom; the emulous industry of the nobility lightened for her the
+      burden of business, and their insinuating humility allowed her to feel the
+      full sweetness of power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1564). Granvella had been overthrown, but his party still remained. His
+      policy lived in his creatures, whom he left behind him in the privy
+      council and in the chamber of finance. Hatred still smouldered amongst the
+      factious long after the leader was banished, and the names of the Orange
+      and Royalist parties, of the Patriots and Cardinalists still continued to
+      divide the senate and to keep up the flames of discord. Viglius Van
+      Zuichem Van Aytta, president of the privy council, state counsellor and
+      keeper of the seal, was now looked upon as the most important person in
+      the senate, and the most powerful prop of the crown and the tiara. This
+      highly meritorious old man, whom we have to thank for some valuable
+      contributions towards the history of the rebellion of the Low Countries,
+      and whose confidential correspondence with his friends has generally been
+      the guide of our narrative, was one of the greatest lawyers of his time,
+      as well as a theologian and priest, and had already, under the Emperor,
+      filled the most important offices. Familiar intercourse with the learned
+      men who adorned the age, and at the head of whom stood Erasmus of
+      Rotterdam, combined with frequent travels in the imperial service, had
+      extended the sphere of his information and experience, and in many points
+      raised him in his principles and opinions above his contemporaries. The
+      fame of his erudition filled the whole century in which he lived, and has
+      handed his name down to posterity. When, in the year 1548, the connection
+      of the Netherlands with the German empire was to be settled at the Diet of
+      Augsburg, Charles V. sent hither this statesman to manage the interests of
+      the provinces; and his ability principally succeeded in turning the
+      negotiations to the advantage of the Netherlands. After the death of the
+      Emperor, Viglius was one of the many eminent ministers bequeathed to
+      Philip by his father, and one of the few in whom he honored his memory.
+      The fortune of the minister, Granvella, with whom he was united by the
+      ties of an early acquaintance, raised him likewise to greatness; but he
+      did not share the fall of his patron, because he had not participated in
+      his lust of power; nor, consequently, the hatred which attached to him. A
+      residence of twenty years in the provinces, where the most important
+      affairs were entrusted to him, approved loyalty to his king, and zealous
+      attachment to the Roman Catholic tenets, made him one of the most
+      distinguished instruments of royalty in the Netherlands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Viglius was a man of learning, but no thinker; an experienced statesman,
+      but without an enlightened mind; of an intellect not sufficiently powerful
+      to break, like his friend Erasmus, the fetters of error, yet not
+      sufficiently bad to employ it, like his predecessor, Granvella, in the
+      service of his own passions. Too weak and timid to follow boldly the
+      guidance of his reason, he preferred trusting to the more convenient path
+      of conscience; a thing was just so soon as it became his duty; he belonged
+      to those honest men who are indispensable to bad ones; fraud reckoned on
+      his honesty. Half a century later he would have received his immortality
+      from the freedom which he now helped to subvert. In the privy council at
+      Brussels he was the servant of tyranny; in the parliament in London, or in
+      the senate at Amsterdam, he would have died, perhaps, like Thomas More or
+      Olden Barneveldt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the Count Barlaimont, the president of the council of finance, the
+      opposition had a no less formidable antagonist than in Viglius. Historians
+      have transmitted but little information regarding the services and the
+      opinions of this man. In the first part of his career the dazzling
+      greatness of Cardinal Granvella seems to have cast a shade over him; after
+      the latter had disappeared from the stage the superiority of the opposite
+      party kept him down, but still the little that we do find respecting him
+      throws a favorable light over his character. More than once the Prince of
+      Orange exerted himself to detach him from the interests of the cardinal,
+      and to join him to his own party&mdash;sufficient proof that he placed a
+      value on the prize. All his efforts failed, which shows that he had to do
+      with no vacillating character. More than once we see him alone, of all the
+      members of the council, stepping forward to oppose the dominant faction,
+      and protecting against universal opposition the interests of the crown,
+      which were in momentary peril of being sacrificed. When the Prince of
+      Orange had assembled the knights of the Golden Fleece in his own palace,
+      with a view to induce them to come to a preparatory resolution for the
+      abolition of the Inquisition, Barlaimont was the first to denounce the
+      illegality of this proceeding and to inform the regent of it. Some time
+      after the prince asked him if the regent knew of that assembly, and
+      Barlaitnont hesitated not a moment to avow to him the truth. All the steps
+      which have been ascribed to him bespeak a man whom neither influence nor
+      fear could tempt, who, with a firm courage and indomitable constancy,
+      remained faithful to the party which he had once chosen, but who, it must
+      at the same time be confessed, entertained too proud and too despotic
+      notions to have selected any other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amongst the adherents of the royal party at Brussels, we have, further,
+      the names of the Duke of Arschot, the Counts of Mansfeld, Megen, and
+      Aremberg&mdash;all three native Netherlanders; and therefore, as it
+      appeared, bound equally with the whole Netherlandish nobility to oppose
+      the hierarchy and the royal power in their native country. So much the
+      more surprised must we feel at their contrary behavior, and which is
+      indeed the more remarkable, since we find them on terms of friendship with
+      the most eminent members of the faction, and anything but insensible to
+      the common grievances of their country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they had not self-confidence or heroism enough to venture on an
+      unequal contest with so superior an antagonist. With a cowardly prudence
+      they made their just discontent submit to the stern law of necessity, and
+      imposed a hard sacrifice on their pride because their pampered vanity was
+      capable of nothing better. Too thrifty and too discreet to wish to extort
+      from the justice or the fear of their sovereign the certain good which
+      they already possessed from his voluntary generosity, or to resign a real
+      happiness in order to preserve the shadow of another, they rather employed
+      the propitious moment to drive a traffic with their constancy, which, from
+      the general defection of the nobility, had now risen in value. Caring
+      little for true glory, they allowed their ambition to decide which party
+      they should take; for the ambition of base minds prefers to bow beneath
+      the hard yoke of compulsion rather than submit to the gentle sway of a
+      superior intellect. Small would have been the value of the favor conferred
+      had they bestowed themselves on the Prince of Orange; but their connection
+      with royalty made them so much the more formidable as opponents. There
+      their names would have been lost among his numerous adherents and in the
+      splendor of their rival. On the almost deserted side of the court their
+      insignificant merit acquired lustre.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The families of Nassau and Croi (to the latter belonged the Duke of
+      Arschot) had for several reigns been competitors for influence and honor,
+      and their rivalry had kept up an old feud between their families, which
+      religious differences finally made irreconcilable. The house of Croi from
+      time immemorial had been renowned for its devout and strict observance of
+      papistic rites and ceremonies; the Counts of Nassau had gone over to the
+      new sect&mdash;sufficient reasons why Philip of Croi, Duke of Arschot,
+      should prefer a party which placed him the most decidedly in opposition to
+      the Prince of Orange. The court did not fail to take advantage of this
+      private feud, and to oppose so important an enemy to the increasing
+      influence of the house of Nassau in the republic. The Counts Mansfeld and
+      Megen had till lately been the confidential friends of Count Egmont. In
+      common with him they had raised their voice against the minister, had
+      joined him in resisting the Inquisition and the edicts, and had hitherto
+      held with him as far as honor and duty would permit. But at these limits
+      the three friends now separated. Egmont&rsquo;s unsuspecting virtue incessantly
+      hurried him forwards on the road to ruin; Mansfeld and Megen, admonished
+      of the danger, began in good time to think of a safe retreat. There still
+      exist letters which were interchanged between the Counts Egmont and
+      Mansfeld, and which, although written at a later period, give us a true
+      picture of their former friendship. &ldquo;If,&rdquo; replied Count Mansfeld to his
+      friend, who in an amicable manner had reproved him for his defection to
+      the king, &ldquo;if formerly I was of opinion that the general good made the
+      abolition of the Inquisition, the mitigation of the edicts, and the
+      removal of the Cardinal Granvella necessary, the king has now acquiesced
+      in this wish and removed the cause of complaint. We have already done too
+      much against the majesty of the sovereign and the authority of the church;
+      it is high time for us to turn, if we would wish to meet the king, when he
+      comes, with open brow and without anxiety. As regards my own person, I do
+      not dread his vengeance; with confident courage I would at his first
+      summons present myself in Spain, and boldly abide my sentence from his
+      justice and goodness. I do not say this as if I doubted whether Count
+      Egmont can assert the same, but he will act prudently in looking more to
+      his own safety, and in removing suspicion from his actions. If I hear,&rdquo; he
+      says, in conclusion, &ldquo;that he has allowed my admonitions to have their due
+      weight, our friendship continues; if not, I feel myself in that case
+      strong enough to sacrifice all human ties to my duty and to honor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The enlarged power of the nobility exposed the republic to almost a
+      greater evil than that which it had just escaped by the removal of the
+      minister. Impoverished by long habits of luxury, which at the same time
+      had relaxed their morals, and to which they were now too much addicted to
+      be able to renounce them, they yielded to the perilous opportunity of
+      indulging their ruling inclination, and of again repairing the expiring
+      lustre of their fortunes. Extravagance brought on the thirst for gain, and
+      this introduced bribery. Secular and ecclesiastical offices were publicly
+      put up to sale; posts of honor, privileges, and patents were sold to the
+      highest bidder; even justice was made a trade. Whom the privy council had
+      condemned was acquitted by the council of state, and what the former
+      refused to grant was to be purchased from the latter. The council of
+      state, indeed, subsequently retorted the charge on the two other councils,
+      but it forgot that it was its own example that corrupted them. The
+      shrewdness of rapacity opened new sources of gain. Life, liberty, and
+      religion were insured for a certain sum, like landed estates; for gold,
+      murderers and malefactors were free, and the nation was plundered by a
+      lottery. The servants and creatures of the state, counsellors and
+      governors of provinces, were, without regard to rank or merit, pushed into
+      the most important posts; whoever had a petition to present at court had
+      to make his way through the governors of provinces and their inferior
+      servants. No artifice of seduction was spared to implicate in these
+      excesses the private secretary of the duchess, Thomas Armenteros, a man up
+      to this time of irreproachable character. By pretended professions of
+      attachment and friendship a successful attempt was made to gain his
+      confidence, and by luxurious entertainments to undermine his principles;
+      the seductive example infected his morals, and new wants overcame his
+      hitherto incorruptible integrity. He was now blind to abuses in which he
+      was an accomplice, and drew a veil over the crimes of others in order at
+      the same time to cloak his own. With his knowledge the royal exchequer was
+      robbed, and the objects of the government were defeated through a corrupt
+      administration of its revenues. Meanwhile the regent wandered on in a fond
+      dream of power and activity, which the flattery of the nobles artfully
+      knew how to foster. The ambition of the factious played with the foibles
+      of a woman, and with empty signs and an humble show of submission
+      purchased real power from her. She soon belonged entirely to the faction,
+      and had imperceptibly changed her principles. Diametrically opposing all
+      her former proceedings, even in direct violation of her duty, she now
+      brought before the council of state, which was swayed by the faction, not
+      only questions which belonged to the other councils, but also the
+      suggestions which Viglius had made to her in private, in the same way as
+      formerly, under Granvella&rsquo;s administration, she had improperly neglected
+      to consult it at all. Nearly all business and all influence were now
+      diverted to the governors of provinces. All petitions were directed to
+      them, by them all lucrative appointments were bestowed. Their usurpations
+      were indeed carried so far that law proceedings were withdrawn from the
+      municipal authorities of the towns and brought before their own tribunals.
+      The respectability of the provincial courts decreased as theirs extended,
+      and with the respectability of the municipal functionaries the
+      administration of justice and civil order declined. The smaller courts
+      soon followed the example of the government of the country. The spirit
+      which ruled the council of state at Brussels soon diffused itself through
+      the provinces. Bribery, indulgences, robbery, venality of justice, were
+      universal in the courts of judicature of the country; morals degenerated,
+      and the new sects availed themselves of this all-pervading licentiousness
+      to propagate their opinions. The religious indifference or toleration of
+      the nobles, who, either themselves inclined to the side of the innovators,
+      or, at least, detested the Inquisition as an instrument of despotism, had
+      mitigated the rigor of the religious edicts, and through the letters of
+      indemnity, which were bestowed on many Protestants, the holy office was
+      deprived of its best victims. In no way could the nobility more agreeably
+      announce to the nation its present share in the government of the country
+      than by sacrificing to it the hated tribunal of the Inquisition&mdash;and
+      to this inclination impelled them still more than the dictates of policy.
+      The nation passed in a moment from the most oppressive constraint of
+      intolerance into a state of freedom, to which, however, it had already
+      become too unaccustomed to support it with moderation. The inquisitors,
+      deprived of the support of the municipal authorities, found themselves an
+      object of derision rather than of fear. In Bruges the town council caused
+      even some of their own servants to be placed in confinement, and kept on
+      bread and water, for attempting to lay hands upon a supposed heretic.
+      About this very time the mob in Antwerp, having made a futile, attempt to
+      rescue a person charged with heresy from the holy office, there was
+      placarded in the public market-place an inscription, written in blood, to
+      the effect that a number of persons had bound themselves by oath to avenge
+      the death of that innocent person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the corruption which pervaded the whole council of state, the privy
+      council, and the chamber of finance, in which Viglius and Barlaimont were
+      presidents, had as yet, for the most part, kept themselves pure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the faction could not succeed in insinuating their adherents into those
+      two councils the only course open to them was, if possible, to render both
+      inefficient, and to transfer their business to the council of state. To
+      carry out this design the Prince of Orange sought to secure the
+      co-operation of the other state counsellors. &ldquo;They were called, indeed,
+      senators,&rdquo; he frequently declared to his adherents, &ldquo;but others possessed
+      the power. If gold was wanted to pay the troops, or when the question was
+      how the spreading heresy was to be repressed, or the people kept in order,
+      then they were consulted; although in fact they were the guardians neither
+      of the treasury nor of the laws, but only the organs through which the
+      other two councils operated on the state. And yet alone they were equal to
+      the whole administration of the country, which had been uselessly
+      portioned out amongst three separate chambers. If they would among
+      themselves only agree to reunite to the council of state these two
+      important branches of government, which had been dissevered from it, one
+      soul might animate the whole body.&rdquo; A plan was preliminarily and secretly
+      agreed on, in accordance with which twelve new Knights of the Fleece were
+      to be added to the council of state, the administration of justice
+      restored to the tribunal at Malines, to which it originally belonged, the
+      granting of letters of grace, patents, and so forth, assigned to the
+      president, Viglius, while the management of the finances should be
+      committed to it. All the difficulties, indeed, which the distrust of the
+      court and its jealousy of the increasing power of the nobility would
+      oppose to this innovation were foreseen and provided against. In order to
+      constrain the regent&rsquo;s assent, some of the principal officers of the army
+      were put forward as a cloak, who were to annoy the court at Brussels with
+      boisterous demands for their arrears of pay, and in case of refusal to
+      threaten a rebellion. It was also contrived to have the regent assailed
+      with numerous petitions and memorials complaining of the delays of
+      justice, and exaggerating the danger which was to be apprehended from the
+      daily growth of heresy. Nothing was omitted to darken the picture of the
+      disorganized state of society, of the abuse of justice, and of the
+      deficiency in the finances, which was made so alarming that she awoke with
+      terror from the delusion of prosperity in which she had hitherto cradled
+      herself. She called the three councils together to consult them on the
+      means by which these disorders were to be remedied. The majority was in
+      favor of sending an extraordinary ambassador to Spain, who by a
+      circumstantial and vivid delineation should make the king acquainted with
+      the true position of affairs, and if possible prevail on him to adopt
+      efficient measures of reform. This proposition was opposed by Viglius,
+      who, however, had not the slighest suspicion of the secret designs of the
+      faction. &ldquo;The evil complained of,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is undoubtedly great, and one
+      which can no longer be neglected with impunity, but it is not irremediable
+      by ourselves. The administration of justice is certainly crippled, but the
+      blame of this lies with the nobles themselves; by their contemptuous
+      treatment they have thrown discredit on the municipal authorities, who,
+      moreover, are very inadequately supported by the governors of provinces.
+      If heresy is on the increase it is because the secular arm has deserted
+      the spiritual judges, and because the lower orders, following the example
+      of the nobles, have thrown off all respect for those in authority. The
+      provinces are undoubtedly oppressed by a heavy debt, but it has not been
+      accumulated, as alleged, by any malversation of the revenues, but by the
+      expenses of former wars and the king&rsquo;s present exigences; still wise and
+      prudent measures of finance might in a short time remove the burden. If
+      the council of state would not be so profuse of its indulgences, its
+      charters of immunity, and its exemptions; if it would commence the
+      reformation of morals with itself, show greater respect to the laws, and
+      do what lies in its power to restore to the municipal functionaries their
+      former consideration; in short, if the councils and the governors of
+      provinces would only fulfil their own duties the present grounds of
+      complaint would soon be removed. Why, then, send an ambassador to Spain,
+      when as yet nothing has occurred to justify so extraordinary an expedient?
+      If, however, the council thinks otherwise, he would not oppose the general
+      voice; only he must make it a condition of his concurrence that the
+      principal instruction of the envoy should be to entreat the king to make
+      them a speedy visit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was but one voice as to the choice of an envoy. Of all the Flemish
+      nobles Count Egmont was the only one whose appointment would give equal
+      satisfaction to both parties. His hatred of the Inquisition, his patriotic
+      and liberal sentiments, and the unblemished integrity of his character,
+      gave to the republic sufficient surety for his conduct, while for the
+      reasons already mentioned he could not fail to be welcome to the king.
+      Moreover, Egmont&rsquo;s personal figure and demeanor were calculated on his
+      first appearance to make that favorable impression which goes co far
+      towards winning the hearts of princes; and his engaging carriage would
+      come to the aid of his eloquence, and enforce his petition with those
+      persuasive arts which are indispensable to the success of even the most
+      trifling suits to royalty. Egmont himself, too, wished for the embassy, as
+      it would afford him the opportunity of adjusting, personally, matters with
+      his sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About this time the Council, or rather synod, of Trent closed its
+      sittings, and published its decrees to the whole of Christendom. But these
+      canons, far from accomplishing the object for which the synod was
+      originally convened, and satisfying the expectation of religious parties,
+      had rather widened the breach between them, and made the schism
+      irremediable and eternal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The labors of the synod instead of purifying the Romish Church from its
+      corruptions had only reduced the latter to greater definiteness and
+      precision, and invested them with the sanction of authority. All the
+      subtilties of its teaching, all the arts and usurpations of the Roman See,
+      which had hitherto rested more on arbitrary usage, were now passed into
+      laws and raised into a system. The uses and abuses which during the
+      barbarous times of ignorance and superstition had crept into Christianity
+      were now declared essential parts of its worship, and anathemas were
+      denounced upon all who should dare to contradict the dogmas or neglect the
+      observances of the Romish communion. All were anathematized who should
+      either presume to doubt the miraculous power of relics, and refuse to
+      honor the bones of martyrs, or should be so bold as to doubt the availing
+      efficacy of the intercession of saints. The power of granting indulgences,
+      the first source of the defection from the See of Rome, was now propounded
+      in an irrefragable article of faith; and the principle of monasticism
+      sanctioned by an express decree of the synod, which allowed males to take
+      the vows at sixteen and females at twelve. And while all the opinions of
+      the Protestants were, without exception, condemned, no indulgence was
+      shown to their errors or weaknesses, nor a single step taken to win them
+      back by mildness to the bosom of the mother church. Amongst the
+      Protestants the wearisome records of the subtle deliberations of the
+      synod, and the absurdity of its decisions, increased, if possible, the
+      hearty contempt which they had long entertained for popery, and laid open
+      to their controversialists new and hitherto unnoticed points of attack. It
+      was an ill-judged step to bring the mysteries of the church too close to
+      the glaring torch of reason, and to fight with syllogisms for the tenets
+      of a blind belief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover, the decrees of the Council of Trent were not satisfactory even
+      to all the powers in communion with Rome. France rejected them entirely,
+      both because she did not wish to displease the Huguenots, and also because
+      she was offended by the supremacy which the pope arrogated to himself over
+      the council; some of the Roman Catholic princes of Germany likewise
+      declared against it. Little, however, as Philip II. was pleased with many
+      of its articles, which trenched too closely upon his own rights, for no
+      monarch was ever more jealous of his prerogative; highly as the pope&rsquo;s
+      assumption of control over the council, and its arbitrary, precipitate
+      dissolution had offended him; just as was his indignation at the slight
+      which the pope had put upon his ambassador; he nevertheless acknowledged
+      the decrees of the synod, even in its present form, because it favored his
+      darling object&mdash;the extirpation of heresy. Political considerations
+      were all postponed to this one religious object, and he commanded the
+      publication and enforcement of its canons throughout his dominions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The spirit of revolt, which was diffused through the Belgian provinces,
+      scarcely required this new stimulus. There the minds of men were in a
+      ferment, and the character of the Romish Church had sunk almost to the
+      lowest point of contempt in the general opinion. Under such circumstances
+      the imperious and frequently injudicious decrees of the council could not
+      fail of being highly offensive; but Philip II. could not belie his
+      religious character so far as to allow a different religion to a portion
+      of his subjects, even though they might live on a different soil and under
+      different laws from the rest. The regent was strictly enjoined to exact in
+      the Netherlands the same obedience to the decrees of Trent which was
+      yielded to them in Spain and Italy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img alt="1pb124 (121K)" src="images/1pb124.jpg" style="width:100%;"   /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They met, however, with the warmest opposition in the council of state at
+      Brussels. &ldquo;The nation,&rdquo; William of Orange declared, &ldquo;neither would nor
+      could acknowledge them, since they were, for the most part, opposed to the
+      fundamental principles of their constitution; and, for similar reasons,
+      they had even been rejected by several Roman Catholic princes.&rdquo; The whole
+      council nearly was on the side of Orange; a decided majority were for
+      entreating the king either to recall the decrees entirely or at least to
+      publish them under certain limitations. This proposition was resisted by
+      Viglius, who insisted on a strict and literal obedience to the royal
+      commands. &ldquo;The church,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;had in all ages maintained the purity of
+      its doctrines and the strictness of its discipline by means of such
+      general councils. No more efficacious remedy could be opposed to the
+      errors of opinion which had so long distracted their country than these
+      very decrees, the rejection of which is now urged by the council of state.
+      Even if they are occasionally at variance with the constitutional rights
+      of the citizens this is an evil which can easily be met by a judicious and
+      temperate application of them. For the rest it redounds to the honor of
+      our sovereign, the King of Spain, that he alone, of all the princes of his
+      time, refuses to yield his better judgment to necessity, and will not, for
+      any fear of consequences, reject measures which the welfare of the church
+      demands, and which the happiness of his subjects makes a duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the decrees also contained several matters which affected the rights
+      of the crown itself. Occasion was therefore taken of this fact to propose
+      that these sections at least should be omitted from the proclamation. By
+      this means the king might, it was argued, be relieved from these obnoxious
+      and degrading articles by a happy expedient; the national liberties of the
+      Netherlands might be advanced as the pretext for the omission, and the
+      name of the republic lent to cover this encroachment on the authority of
+      the synod. But the king had caused the decrees to be received and enforced
+      in his other dominions unconditionally; and it was not to be expected that
+      he would give the other Roman Catholic powers such an example of
+      opposition, and himself undermine the edifice whose foundation he had been
+      so assiduous in laying.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+             COUNT EGMONT IN SPAIN.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont was despatched to Spain to make a forcible representation to
+      the king on the subject of these decrees; to persuade him, if possible, to
+      adopt a milder policy towards his Protestant subjects, and to propose to
+      him the incorporation of the three councils, was the commission he
+      received from the malcontents. By the regent he was charged to apprise the
+      monarch of the refractory spirit of the people; to convince him of the
+      impossibility of enforcing these edicts of religion in their full
+      severity; and lastly to acquaint him with the bad state of the military
+      defences and the exhausted condition of the exchequer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The count&rsquo;s public instructions were drawn up by the President Viglius.
+      They contained heavy complaints of the decay of justice, the growth of
+      heresy, and the exhaustion of the treasury. He was also to press urgently
+      a personal visit from the king to the Netherlands. The rest was left to
+      the eloquence of the envoy, who received a hint from the regent not to let
+      so fair an opportunity escape of establishing himself in the favor of his
+      sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The terms in which the count&rsquo;s instructions and the representations which
+      he was to make to the king were drawn up appeared to the Prince of Orange
+      far too vague and general. &ldquo;The president&rsquo;s statement,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;of our
+      grievances comes very far short of the truth. How can the king apply the
+      suitable remedies if we conceal from him the full extent of the evil? Let
+      us not represent the numbers of the heretics inferior to what it is in
+      reality. Let us candidly acknowledge that they swarm in every province and
+      in every hamlet, however small. Neither let us disguise from him the truth
+      that they despise the penal statutes and entertain but little reverence
+      for the government. What good can come of this concealment? Let us rather
+      openly avow to the king that the republic cannot long continue in its
+      present condition. The privy council indeed will perhaps pronounce
+      differently, for to them the existing disorders are welcome. For what else
+      is the source of the abuse of justice and the universal corruption of the
+      courts of law but its insatiable rapacity? How otherwise can the pomp and
+      scandalous luxury of its members, whom we have seen rise from the dust, be
+      supported if not by bribery? Do not the people daily complain that no
+      other key but gold can open an access to them; and do not even their
+      quarrels prove how little they are swayed by a care for the common weal?
+      Are they likely to consult the public good who are the slaves of their
+      private passions? Do they think forsooth that we, the governors of the
+      provinces are, with our soldiers, to stand ready at the beck and call of
+      an infamous lictor? Let them set bounds to their indulgences and free
+      pardons which they so lavishly bestow on the very persons to whom we think
+      it just and expedient to deny them. No one can remit the punishment of a
+      crime without sinning against the society and contributing to the increase
+      of the general evil. To my mind, and I have no hesitation to avow it, the
+      distribution amongst so many councils of the state secrets and the affairs
+      of government has always appeared highly objectionable. The council of
+      state is sufficient for all the duties of the administration; several
+      patriots have already felt this in silence, and I now openly declare it.
+      It is my decided conviction that the only sufficient remedy for all the
+      evils complained of is to merge the other two chambers in the council of
+      state. This is the point which we must endeavor to obtain from the king,
+      or the present embassy, like all others, will be entirely useless and
+      ineffectual.&rdquo; The prince now laid before the assembled senate the plan
+      which we have already described. Viglius, against whom this new
+      proposition was individually and mainly directed, and whose eyes were now
+      suddenly opened, was overcome by the violence of his vexation. The
+      agitation of his feelings was too much for his feeble body, and he was
+      found, on the following morning, paralyzed by apoplexy, and in danger of
+      his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His place was supplied by Jaachim Hopper, a member of the privy council at
+      Brussels, a man of old-fashioned morals and unblemished integrity, the
+      president&rsquo;s most trusted and worthiest friend.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Vita Vigl. 89. The person from whose memoirs I have already drawn
+   so many illustrations of the times of this epoch. His subsequent
+   journey to Spain gave rise to the correspondence between him and
+   the president, which is one of the most valuable documents for our
+   history.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      To meet the wishes of the Orange party he made some additions to the
+      instructions of the ambassador, relating chiefly to the abolition of the
+      Inquisition and the incorporation of the three councils, not so much with
+      the consent of the regent as in the absence of her prohibition. Upon Count
+      Egmont taking leave of the president, who had recovered from his attack,
+      the latter requested him to procure in Spain permission to resign his
+      appointment. His day, he declared, was past; like the example of his
+      friend and predecessor, Granvella, he wished to retire into the quiet of
+      private life, and to anticipate the uncertainty of fortune. His genius
+      warned him of impending storm, by which he could have no desire to be
+      overtaken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont embarked on his journey to Spain in January, 1565, and was
+      received there with a kindness and respect which none of his rank had ever
+      before experienced. The nobles of Castile, taught by the king&rsquo;s example to
+      conquer their feelings, or rather, true to his policy, seemed to have laid
+      aside their ancient grudge against the Flemish nobility, and vied with one
+      another in winning his heart by their affability. All his private matters
+      were immediately settled to his wishes by the king, nay, even his
+      expectations exceeded; and during the whole period of his stay he had
+      ample cause to boast of the hospitality of the monarch. The latter assured
+      him in the strongest terms of his love for his Belgian subjects, and held
+      out hopes of his acceding eventually to the general wish, and remitting
+      somewhat of the severity of the religious edicts. At the same time,
+      however, he appointed in Madrid a commission of theologians to whom he
+      propounded the question, &ldquo;Is it necessary to grant to the provinces the
+      religious toleration they demand?&rdquo; As the majority of them were of opinion
+      that the peculiar constitution of the Netherlands, and the fear of a
+      rebellion might well excuse a degree of forbearance in their case, the
+      question was repeated more pointedly. &ldquo;He did not seek to know,&rdquo; he said,
+      &ldquo;if he might do so, but if he must.&rdquo; When the latter question was answered
+      in the negative, he rose from his seat, and kneeling down before a
+      crucifix prayed in these words: &ldquo;Almighty Majesty, suffer me not at any
+      time to fall so low as to consent to reign over those who reject thee!&rdquo; In
+      perfect accordance with the spirit of this prayer were the measures which
+      he resolved to adopt in the Netherlands. On the article of religion this
+      monarch had taken his resolution once forever; urgent necessity might,
+      perhaps, have constrained him temporarily to suspend the execution of the
+      penal statutes, but never, formally, to repeal them entirely, or even to
+      modify them. In vain did Egmont represent to him that the public execution
+      of the heretics daily augmented the number of their followers, while the
+      courage and even joy with which they met their death filled the spectators
+      with the deepest admiration, and awakened in them high opinions of a
+      doctrine which could make such heroes of its disciples. This
+      representation was not indeed lost upon the king, but it had a very
+      different effect from what it was intended to produce. In order to prevent
+      these seductive scenes, without, however, compromising the severity of the
+      edicts, he fell upon an expedient, and ordered that in future the
+      executions should take place in private. The answer of the king on the
+      subject of the embassy was given to the count in writing, and addressed to
+      the regent. The king, when he granted him an audience to take leave, did
+      not omit to call him to account for his behavior to Granvella, and alluded
+      particularly to the livery invented in derision of the cardinal. Egmont
+      protested that the whole affair had originated in a convivial joke, and
+      nothing was further from their meaning than to derogate in the least from
+      the respect that was due to royalty. &ldquo;If he knew,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that any
+      individual among them had entertained such disloyal thoughts be himself
+      would challenge him to answer for it with his life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At his departure the monarch made him a present of fifty thousand florins,
+      and engaged, moreover, to furnish a portion for his daughter on her
+      marriage. He also consigned to his care the young Farnese of Parma, whom,
+      to gratify the regent, his mother, he was sending to Brussels. The king&rsquo;s
+      pretended mildness, and his professions of regard for the Belgian nation,
+      deceived the open-hearted Fleming. Happy in the idea of being the bearer
+      of so much felicity to his native country, when in fact it was more remote
+      than ever, he quitted Madrid satisfied beyond measure to think of the joy
+      with which the provinces would welcome the message of their good king; but
+      the opening of the royal answer in the council of state at Brussels
+      disappointed all these pleasing hopes. &ldquo;Although in regard to the
+      religious edicts,&rdquo; this was its tenor, &ldquo;his resolve was firm and
+      immovable, and he would rather lose a thousand lives than consent to alter
+      a single letter of it, still, moved by the representations of Count
+      Egmont, he was, on the other hand, equally determined not to leave any
+      gentle means untried to guard the people against the delusions of heresy,
+      and so to avert from them that punishment which must otherwise infallibly
+      overtake them. As he had now learned from the count that the principal
+      source of the existing errors in the faith was in the moral depravity of
+      the clergy, the bad instruction and the neglected education of the young,
+      he hereby empowered the regent to appoint a special commission of three
+      bishops, and a convenient number of learned theologians, whose business it
+      should be to consult about the necessary reforms, in order that the people
+      might no longer be led astray through scandal, nor plunge into error
+      through ignorance. As, moreover, he had been informed that the public
+      executions of the heretics did but afford them an opportunity of
+      boastfully displaying a foolhardy courage, and of deluding the common herd
+      by an affectation of the glory of martyrdom, the commission was to devise
+      means for putting in force the final sentence of the Inquisition with
+      greater privacy, and thereby depriving condemned heretics of the honor of
+      their obduracy.&rdquo; In order, however, to provide against the commission
+      going beyond its prescribed limits Philip expressly required that the
+      Bishop of Ypres, a man whom he could rely on as a determined zealot for
+      the Romish faith, should be one of the body. Their deliberaations were to
+      be conducted, if possible, in secrecy, while the object publicly assigned
+      to them should be the introduction of the Tridentine decrees. For this his
+      motive seems to have been twofold; on the one hand, not to alarm the court
+      of Rome by the assembling of a private council; nor, on the other, to
+      afford any encouragement to the spirit of rebellion in the provinces. At
+      its sessions the duchess was to preside, assisted by some of the more
+      loyally disposed of her counsellors, and regularly transmit to Philip a
+      written account of its transactions. To meet her most pressing wants he
+      sent her a small supply in money. He also gave her hopes of a visit from
+      himself; first, however, it was necessary that the war with the Turks, who
+      were then expected in hostile force before Malta, should be terminated. As
+      to the proposed augmentation of the council of state, and its union with
+      the privy council and chamber of finance, it was passed over in perfect
+      silence. The Duke of Arschot, however, who is already known to us as a
+      zealous royalist, obtained a voice and seat in the latter. Viglius,
+      indeed, was allowed to retire from the presidency of the privy council,
+      but he was obliged, nevertheless, to continue to discharge its duties for
+      four more years, because his successor, Carl Tyssenaque, of the council
+      for Netherlandish affairs in Madrid, could not sooner be spared.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   SEVERER RELIGIOUS EDICTS&mdash;UNIVERSAL OPPOSITION OF THE NATION.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely was Egmont returned when severer edicts against heretics, which,
+      as it were, pursued him from Spain, contradicted the joyful tidings which
+      he had brought of a happy change in the sentiments of the monarch. They
+      were at the same time accompanied with a transcript of the decrees of
+      Trent, as they were acknowledged in Spain, and were now to be proclaimed
+      in the Netherlands also; with it came likewise the death warrants of some
+      Anabaptists and other kinds of heretics. &ldquo;The count has been beguiled,&rdquo;
+       William the Silent was now heard to say, &ldquo;and deluded by Spanish cunning.
+      Self-love and vanity have blinded his penetration; for his own advantage
+      he has forgotten the general welfare.&rdquo; The treachery of the Spanish
+      ministry was now exposed, and this dishonest proceeding roused the
+      indignation of the noblest in the land. But no one felt it more acutely
+      than Count Egmont, who now perceived himself to have been the tool of
+      Spanish duplicity, and to have become unwittingly the betrayer of his own
+      country. &ldquo;These specious favors then,&rdquo; he exclaimed, loudly and bitterly,
+      &ldquo;were nothing but an artifice to expose me to the ridicule of my
+      fellow-citizens, and to destroy my good name. If this is the fashion after
+      which the king purposes to keep the promises which he made to me in Spain,
+      let who will take Flanders; for my part, I will prove by my retirement
+      from public business that I have no share in this breach of faith.&rdquo; In
+      fact, the Spanish ministry could not have adopted a surer method of
+      breaking the credit of so important a man&mdash;than by exhibiting him to
+      his fellow citizens, who adored him, as one whom they had succeeded in
+      deluding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the commission had been appointed, and had unanimously come to
+      the following decision: &ldquo;Whether for the moral reformation of the clergy,
+      or for the religious instruction of the people, or for the education of
+      youth, such abundant provision had already been made in the decrees of
+      Trent that nothing now was requisite but to put these decrees in force as
+      speedily as possible. The imperial edicts against the heretics already
+      ought on no account to be recalled or modified; the courts of justice,
+      however, might be secretly instructed to punish with death none but
+      obstinate heretics or preachers, to make a difference between the
+      different sects, and to show consideration to the age, rank, sex, or
+      disposition of the accused. If it were really the case that public
+      executions did but inflame fanaticism, then, perhaps, the unheroic, less
+      observed, but still equally severe punishment of the galleys, would be
+      well-adapted to bring down all high notions of martyrdom. As to the
+      delinquencies which might have arisen out of mere levity, curiosity, and
+      thoughtlessness it would perhaps be sufficient to punish them by fines,
+      exile, or even corporal chastisement.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      During these deliberations, which, moreover, it was requisite to submit to
+      the king at Madrid, and to wait for the notification of his approval of
+      them, the time passed away unprofitably, the proceedings against the
+      sectaries being either suspended, or at least conducted very supinely.
+      Since the recall of Granvella the disunion which prevailed in the higher
+      councils, and from thence had extended to the provincial courts of
+      justice, combined with the mild feelings generally of the nobles on the
+      subject of religion, had raised the courage of the sects, and allowed free
+      scope to the proselytizing mania of their apostles. The inquisitors, too,
+      had fallen into contempt in consequence of the secular arm withdrawing its
+      support, and in many places even openly taking their victims under its
+      protection. The Roman Catholic part of the nation. had formed great
+      expectations from the decrees of the synod of Trent, as well as from
+      Egmont&rsquo;s embassy to Spain; but in the latter case their hopes had scarcely
+      been justified by the joyous tidings which the count had brought back,
+      and, in the integrity of his heart, left nothing undone to make known as
+      widely as possible. The more disused the nation had become to severity in
+      matters pertaining to religion the more acutely was it likely to feel the
+      sudden adoption of even still more rigorous measures. In this position of
+      affairs the royal rescript arrived from Spain in answer to the proposition
+      of the bishops and the last despatches of the regent. &ldquo;Whatever
+      interpretation (such was its tenor) Count Egmont may have given to the
+      king&rsquo;s verbal communications, it had never in the remotest manner entered
+      his mind to think of altering in the slightest degree the penal statutes
+      which the Emperor, his father, had five-and-thirty years ago published in
+      the provinces. These edicts he therefore commanded should henceforth be
+      carried rigidly into effect, the Inquisition should receive the most
+      active support from the secular arm, and the decrees of the council of
+      Trent be irrevocably and unconditionally acknowledged in all the provinces
+      of his Netherlands. He acquiesced fully in the opinion of the bishops and
+      canonists as to the sufficiency of the Tridentine decrees as guides in all
+      points of reformation of the clergy or instruction of the people; but he
+      could not concur with them as to the mitigation of punishment which they
+      proposed in consideration either of the age, sex, or character of
+      individuals, since he was of opinion that his edicts were in no degree
+      wanting in moderation. To nothing but want of zeal and disloyalty on the
+      part of judges could he ascribe the progress which heresy had already made
+      in the country. In future, therefore, whoever among them should be thus
+      wanting in zeal must be removed from his office and make room for a more
+      honest judge. The Inquisition ought to pursue its appointed path firmly,
+      fearlessly, and dispassionately, without regard to or consideration of
+      human feelings, and was to look neither before nor behind. He would always
+      be ready to approve of all its measures however extreme if it only avoided
+      public scandal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter of the king, to which the Orange party have ascribed all the
+      subsequent troubles of the Netherlands, caused the most violent excitement
+      amongst the state counsellors, and the expressions which in society they
+      either accidentally or intentionally let fall from them with regard to it
+      spread terror and alarm amongst the people. The dread of the Spanish
+      Inquisition returned with new force, and with it came fresh apprehensions
+      of the subversion of their liberties. Already the people fancied they
+      could hear prisons building, chains and fetters forging, and see piles of
+      fagots collecting. Society was occupied with this one theme of
+      conversation, and fear kept no longer within bounds. Placards were affixed
+      to houses of the nobles in which they were called upon, as formerly Rome
+      called on her Brutus, to come forward and save expiring freedom. Biting
+      pasquinades were published against the new bishops&mdash;tormentors as
+      they were called; the clergy were ridiculed in comedies, and abuse spared
+      the throne as little as the Romish see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Terrified by the rumors which were afloat, the regent called together all
+      the counsellors of state to consult them on the course she ought to adopt
+      in this perilous crisis. Opinion varied and disputes were violent.
+      Undecided between fear and duty they hesitated to come to a conclusion,
+      until at last the aged senator, Viglius, rose and surprised the whole
+      assembly by his opinion. &ldquo;It would,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;be the height of folly in
+      us to think of promulgating the royal edict at the present moment; the
+      king must be informed of the reception which, in all probability, it will
+      now meet. In the meantime the inquisitors must be enjoined to use their
+      power with moderation, and to abstain from severity.&rdquo; But if these words
+      of the aged president surprised the whole assembly, still greater was the
+      astonishment when the Prince of Orange stood up and opposed his advice.
+      &ldquo;The royal will,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is too clearly and too precisely stated; it is
+      the result of too long and too mature deliberation for us to venture to
+      delay its execution without bringing on ourselves the reproach of the most
+      culpable obstinacy.&rdquo; &ldquo;That I take on myself,&rdquo; interrupted Viglius; &ldquo;I
+      oppose myself to, his displeasure. If by this delay we purchase for him
+      the peace of the Netherlands our opposition will eventually secure for us
+      the lasting gratitude of the king.&rdquo; The regent already began to incline to
+      the advice of Viglius, when the prince vehemently interposing, &ldquo;What,&rdquo; he
+      demanded, &ldquo;what have the many representations which we have already made
+      effected? of what avail was the embassy we so lately despatched? Nothing!
+      And what then do we wait for more? Shall we, his state counsellors, bring
+      upon ourselves the whole weight of his displeasure by determining, at our
+      own peril, to render him a service for which he will never thank us?&rdquo;
+       Undecided and uncertain the whole assembly remained silent; but no one had
+      courage enough to assent to or reply to him. But the prince had appealed
+      to the fears of the regent, and these left her no choice. The consequences
+      of her unfortunate obedience to the king&rsquo;s command will soon appear. But,
+      on the other hand, if by a wise disobedience she had avoided these fatal
+      consequences, is it clear that the result would not have been the same?
+      However she had adopted the most fatal of the two counsels: happen what
+      would the royal ordinance was to be promulgated. This time, therefore,
+      faction prevailed, and the advice of the only true friend of the
+      government, who, to serve his monarch, was ready to incur his displeasure,
+      was disregarded. With this session terminated the peace of the regent:
+      from this day the Netherlands dated all the trouble which uninterruptedly
+      visited their country. As the counsellors separated the Prince of Orange
+      said to one who stood nearest to him, &ldquo;Now will soon be acted a great
+      tragedy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The conduct of the Prince of Orange in this meeting of the council
+   has been appealed to by historians of the Spanish party as a proof
+   of his dishonesty, and they have availed themselves over and over
+   again to blacken his character. &ldquo;He,&rdquo; say they, &ldquo;who had,
+   invariably up to this period, both by word and deed, opposed the
+   measures of the court so long as he had any ground to fear that the
+   king&rsquo;s measures could be successfully carried out, supported them
+   now for the first time when he was convinced that a scrupulous
+   obedience to the royal orders would inevitably prejudice him. In
+   order to convince the king of his folly in disregarding his
+   warnings; in order to be able to boast, &lsquo;this I foresaw,&rsquo; and &lsquo;I
+   foretold that,&rsquo; he was willing to risk the welfare of his nation,
+   for which alone he had hitherto professed to struggle. The whole
+   tenor of his previous conduct proved that he held the enforcement
+   of the edicts to be an evil; nevertheless, he at once becomes false
+   to his own convictions and follows an opposite course; although, so
+   far as the nation was concerned, the same grounds existed as had
+   dictated his former measures; and he changed his conduct simply
+   that the result might be different to the king.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is clear,
+   therefore,&rdquo; continue his adversaries, &ldquo;that the welfare of the
+   nation had less weight with him than his animosity to his
+   sovereign. In order to gratify his hatred to the latter he does
+   not hesitate to sacrifice the former.&rdquo; But is it then true that by
+   calling for the promulgation of these edicts he sacrificed the
+   nation? or, to speak more correctly, did he carry the edicts into
+   effect by insisting on their promulgation? Can it not, on the
+   contrary, be shown with far more probability that this was really
+   the only way effectually to frustrate them? The nation was in a
+   ferment, and the indignant people would (there was reason to
+   expect, and as Viglius himself seems to have apprehended) show so
+   decided a spirit of opposition as must compel the king to yield.
+   &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; says Orange, &ldquo;my country feels all the impulse necessary for
+   it to contend successfully with tyranny! If I neglect the present
+   moment the tyrant will, by secret negotiation and intrigue, find
+   means to obtain by stealth what by open force he could not. The
+   some object will be steadily pursued, only with greater caution and
+   forbearance; but extremity alone can combine the people to unity of
+   purpose, and move them to bold measures.&rdquo; It is clear, therefore,
+   that with regard to the king the prince did but change his language
+   only; but that as far as the people was concerned his conduct was
+   perfectly consistent. And what duties did he owe the king apart
+   from those he owed the republic? Was he to oppose an arbitrary act
+   in the very moment when it was about to entail a just retribution
+   on its author? Would he have done his duty to his country if he
+   had deterred its oppressor from a precipitate step which alone
+   could save it from its otherwise unavoidable misery?]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      An edict, therefore, was issued to all the governors of provinces,
+      commanding them rigorously to enforce the mandates of the Emperor against
+      heretics, as well as those which had been passed under the present
+      government, the decrees of the council of Trent, and those of the
+      episcopal commission, which had lately sat to give all the aid of the
+      civil force to the Inquisition, and also to enjoin a similar line of
+      conduct on the officers of government under them. More effectually to
+      secure their object, every governor was to select from his own council an
+      efficient officer who should frequently make the circuit of the province
+      and institute strict inquiries into the obedience shown by the inferior
+      officers to these commands, and then transmit quarterly, to the capital an
+      exact report of their visitation. A copy of the Tridentine decrees,
+      according to the Spanish original, was also sent to the archbishops and
+      bishops, with an intimation that in case of their needing the assistance
+      of the secular power, the governors of their diocese, with their troops,
+      were placed at their disposal. Against these decrees no privilege was to
+      avail; however, the king willed and commanded that the particular
+      territorial rights of the provinces and towns should in no case be
+      infringed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These commands, which were publicly read in every town by a herald,
+      produced an effect on the people which in the fullest manner verified the
+      fears of the President Viglius and the hopes of the Prince of Orange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearly all the governors of provinces refused compliance with them, and
+      threatened to throw up their appointments if the attempt should be made to
+      compel their obedience. &ldquo;The ordinance,&rdquo; they wrote back, &ldquo;was based on a
+      statement of the numbers of the sectaries, which was altogether false.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The number of the heretics was very unequally computed by the two
+   parties according as the interests and passions of either made its
+   increase or diminution desirable, and the same party often
+   contradicted itself when its interest changed. If the question
+   related to new measures of oppression, to the introduction of the
+   inquisitional tribunals, etc., the numbers of the Protestants were
+   countless and interminable. If, on the other hand, the question
+   was of lenity towards them, of ordinances to their advantage, they
+   were now reduced to such an insignificant number that it would not
+   repay the trouble of making an innovation for this small body of
+   ill-minded people.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Justice was appalled at the prodigious crowd of victims which daily
+      accumulated under its hands; to destroy by the flames fifty thousand or
+      sixty thousand persons from their districts was no commission for them.&rdquo;
+       The inferior clergy too, in particular, were loud in their outcries
+      against the decrees of Trent, which cruelly assailed their ignorance and
+      corruption, and which moreover threatened them with a reform they so much
+      detested. Sacrificing, therefore, the highest interests of their church to
+      their own private advantage, they bitterly reviled the decrees and the
+      whole council, and with liberal hand scattered the seeds of revolt in the
+      minds of the people. The same outcry was now revived which the monks had
+      formerly raised against the new bishops. The Archbishop of Cambray
+      succeeded at last, but not without great opposition, in causing the
+      decrees to be proclaimed. It cost more labor to effect this in Malines and
+      Utrect, where the archbishops were at strife with their clergy, who, as
+      they were accused, preferred to involve the whole church in ruin rather
+      than submit to a reformation of morals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of all the provinces Brabant raised its voice the loudest. The states of
+      this province appealed to their great privilege, which protected their
+      members from being brought before a foreign court of justice. They spoke
+      loudly of the oath by which the king had bound himself to observe all
+      their statutes, and of the conditions under which they alone had sworn
+      allegiance to him. Louvain, Antwerp, Brussels, and Herzogenbusch solemnly
+      protested against the decrees, and transmitted their protests in distinct
+      memorials to the regent. The latter, always hesitating and wavering, too
+      timid to obey the king, and far more afraid to disobey him, again summoned
+      her council, again listened to the arguments for and against the question,
+      and at last again gave her assent to the opinion which of all others was
+      the most perilous for her to adopt. A new reference to the king in Spain
+      was proposed; the next moment it was asserted that so urgent a crisis did
+      not admit of so dilatory a remedy; it was necessary for the regent to act
+      on her own responsibility, and either defy the threatening aspect of
+      despair, or to yield to it by modifying or retracting the royal ordinance.
+      She finally caused the annals of Brabant to be examined in order to
+      discover if possible a precedent for the present case in the instructions
+      of the first inquisitor whom Charles V. had appointed to the province.
+      These instructions indeed did not exactly correspond with those now given;
+      but had not the king declared that he introduced no innovation? This was
+      precedent enough, and it was declared that the new edicts must also be
+      interpreted in accordance with the old and existing statutes of the
+      province. This explanation gave indeed no satisfaction to the states of
+      Brabant, who had loudly demanded the entire abolition of the inquisition,
+      but it was an encouragement to the other provinces to make similar
+      protests and an equally bold opposition. Without giving the duchess time
+      to decide upon their remonstrances they, on their own authority, ceased to
+      obey the inquisition, and withdrew their aid from it. The inquisitors, who
+      had so recently been expressly urged to a more rigid execution of their
+      duties now saw themselves suddenly deserted by the secular arm, and robbed
+      of all authority, while in answer to their application for assistance the
+      court could give them only empty promises. The regent by thus endeavoring
+      to satisfy all parties had displeased all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During these negotiations between the court, the councils, and the states
+      a universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation. Men began to
+      investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the prerogative
+      of kings. &ldquo;The Netherlanders were not so stupid,&rdquo; many were heard to say
+      with very little attempt at secrecy, &ldquo;as not to know right well what was
+      due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king to the subject;
+      and that perhaps means would yet be found to repel force with force,
+      although at present there might be no appearance of it.&rdquo; In Antwerp a
+      placard was set up in several places calling upon the town council to
+      accuse the King of Spain before the supreme court at Spires of having
+      broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country, for, Brabant
+      being a portion of the Burgundian circle, was included in the religious
+      peace of Passau and Augsburg. About this time too the Calvinists published
+      their confession of faith, and in a preamble addressed to the king,
+      declared that they, although a hundred thousand strong, kept themselves
+      nevertheless quiet, and like the rest of his subjects, contributed to all
+      the taxes of the country; from which it was evident, they added, that of
+      themselves they entertained no ideas of insurrection. Bold and incendiary
+      writings were publicly disseminated, which depicted the Spanish tyranny in
+      the most odious colors, and reminded the nation of its privileges, and
+      occasionally also of its powers.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The regent mentioned to the king a number (three thousand) of
+   these writings. Strada 117. It is remarkable how important a part
+   printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of the
+   Netherlands. Through this organ one restless spirit spoke to
+   millions. Besides the lampoons, which for the most part were
+   composed with all the low scurrility and brutality which was the
+   distinguishing character of most of the Protestant polemical
+   writings of the time, works were occasionally published which
+   defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The warlike preparations of Philip against the Porte, as well as those
+      which, for no intelligible reason, Eric, Duke of Brunswick, about this
+      time made in the vicinity, contributed to strengthen the general suspicion
+      that the Inquisition was to be forcibly imposed on the Netherlands. Many
+      of the most eminent merchants already spoke of quitting their houses and
+      business to seek in some other part of the world the liberty of which they
+      were here deprived; others looked about for a leader, and let fall hints
+      of forcible resistance and of foreign aid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That in this distressing position of affairs the regent might be left
+      entirely without an adviser and without support, she was now deserted by
+      the only person who was at the present moment indispensable to her, and
+      who had contributed to plunge her into this embarrassment. &ldquo;Without
+      kindling a civil war,&rdquo; wrote to her William of Orange, &ldquo;it was absolutely
+      impossible to comply now with the orders of the king. If, however,
+      obedience was to be insisted upon, he must beg that his place might be
+      supplied by another who would better answer the expectations of his
+      majesty, and have more power than he had over the minds of the nation. The
+      zeal which on every other occasion he had shown in the service of the
+      crown, would, he hoped, secure his present proceeding from
+      misconstruction; for, as the case now stood, he had no alternative between
+      disobeying the king and injuring his country and himself.&rdquo; From this time
+      forth William of Orange retired from the council of state to his town of
+      Breda, where in observant but scarcely inactive repose he watched the
+      course of affairs. Count Horn followed his example. Egmont, ever
+      vacillating between the republic and the throne, ever wearying himself in
+      the vain attempt to unite the good citizen with the obedient subject&mdash;Egmont,
+      who was less able than the rest to dispense with the favor of the monarch,
+      and to whom, therefore, it was less an object of indifference, could not
+      bring himself to abandon the bright prospects which were now opening for
+      him at the court of the regent. The Prince of Orange had, by his superior
+      intellect, gained an influence over the regent&mdash;which great minds
+      cannot fail to command from inferior spirits. His retirement had opened a
+      void in her confidence which Count Egmont was now to fill by virtue of
+      that sympathy which so naturally subsists between timidity, weakness, and
+      good-nature. As she was as much afraid of exasperating the people by an
+      exclusive confidence in the adherents to the crown, as she was fearful of
+      displeasing the king by too close an understanding with the declared
+      leaders of the faction, a better object for her confidence could now
+      hardly be presented than this very Count Egmont, of whom it could not be
+      said that he belonged to either of the two conflicting parties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK III.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CONSPIRACY OF THE NOBLES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      1565. Up to this point the general peace had it appears been the sincere
+      wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and their
+      friends. They had pursued the true interests of their sovereign as much as
+      the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions had been as
+      little at variance with the former as with the latter. Nothing bad as yet
+      occurred to make their motives suspected, or to manifest in them a
+      rebellious spirit. What they had done they had done in discharge of their
+      bounden duty as members of a free state, as the representatives of the
+      nation, as advisers of the king, as men of integrity and honor. The only
+      weapons they had used to oppose the encroachments of the court had been
+      remonstrances, modest complaints, petitions. They had never allowed
+      themselves to be so far carried away by a just zeal for their good cause
+      as to transgress the limits of prudence and moderation which on many
+      occasions are so easily overstepped by party spirit. But all the nobles of
+      the republic did not now listen to the voice of that prudence; all did not
+      abide within the bounds of moderation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While in the council of state the great question was discussed whether the
+      nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies summoned to
+      their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity, and while the
+      middle-classes and the people contented themselves with empty complaints,
+      menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of all seemed least
+      called upon, and on whose support least reliance had been placed, began to
+      take more active measures. We have already described a class of the
+      nobility whose services and wants Philip at his accession had not
+      considered it necessary to remember. Of these by far the greater number
+      had asked for promotion from a much more urgent reason than a love of the
+      mere honor. Many of them were deeply sunk in debt, from which by their own
+      resources they could not hope to emancipate themselves. When then, in
+      filling up appointments, Philip passed them over he wounded them in a
+      point far more sensitive than their pride. In these suitors he had by his
+      neglect raised up so many idle spies and merciless judges of his actions,
+      so many collectors and propagators of malicious rumor. As their pride did
+      not quit them with their prosperity, so now, driven by necessity, they
+      trafficked with the sole capital which they could not alienate&mdash;their
+      nobility and the political influence of their names; and brought into
+      circulation a coin which only in such a period could have found currency&mdash;their
+      protection. With a self-pride to which they gave the more scope as it was
+      all they could now call their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong
+      intermediate power between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed
+      themselves called upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state,
+      which looked imploringly to them for succor. This idea was ludicrous only
+      so far as their self-conceit was concerned in it; the advantages which
+      they contrived to draw from it were substantial enough. The Protestant
+      merchants, who held in their hands the chief part of the wealth of the
+      Netherlands, and who believed they could not at any price purchase too
+      dearly the undisturbed exercise of their religion, did not fail to make
+      use of this class of people who stood idle in the market and ready to be
+      hired. These very men whom at any other time the merchants, in the pride
+      of riches, would most probably have looked down upon, now appeared likely
+      to do them good service through their numbers, their courage, their credit
+      with the populace, their enmity to the government, nay, through their
+      beggarly pride itself and their despair. On these grounds they zealously
+      endeavored to form a close union with them, and diligently fostered the
+      disposition for rebellion, while they also used every means to keep alive
+      their high opinions of themselves, and, what was most important, lured
+      their poverty by well-applied pecuniary assistance and glittering
+      promises. Few of them were so utterly insignificant as not to possess some
+      influence, if not personally, yet at least by their relationship with
+      higher and more powerful nobles; and if united they would be able to raise
+      a formidable voice against the crown. Many of them had either already
+      joined the new sect or were secretly inclined to it; and even those who
+      were zealous Roman Catholics had political or private grounds enough to
+      set them against the decrees of Trent and the Inquisition. All, in fine,
+      felt the call of vanity sufficiently powerful not to allow the only moment
+      to escape them in which they might possibly make some figure in the
+      republic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But much as might be expected from the co-operation of these men in a body
+      it would have been futile and ridiculous to build any hopes on any one of
+      them singly; and the great difficulty was to effect a union among them.
+      Even to bring them together some unusual occurrence was necessary, and
+      fortunately such an incident presented itself. The nuptials of Baron
+      Montigny, one of the Belgian nobles, as also those of the Prince Alexander
+      of Parma, which took place about this time in Brussels, assembled in that
+      town a great number of the Belgian nobles. On this occasion relations met
+      relations; new friendships were formed and old renewed; and while the
+      distress of the country was the topic of conversation wine and mirth
+      unlocked lips and hearts, hints were dropped of union among themselves,
+      and of an alliance with foreign powers. These accidental meetings soon led
+      to concealed ones, and public discussions gave rise to secret
+      consultations. Two German barons, moreover, a Count of Holle and a Count
+      of Schwarzenberg, who at this time were on a visit to the Netherlands,
+      omitted nothing to awaken expectations of assistance from their neighbors.
+      Count Louis of Nassau, too, had also a short time before visited several
+      German courts to ascertain their sentiments.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [It was not without cause that the Prince of Orange suddenly
+   disappeared from Brussels in order to be present at the election of
+   a king of Rome in Frankfort. An assembly of so many German princes
+   must have greatly favored a negotiation.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It has even been asserted that secret emissaries of the Admiral Coligny
+      were seen at this time in Brabant, but this, however, may be reasonably
+      doubted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If ever a political crisis was favorable to an attempt at revolution it
+      was the present. A woman at the helm of government; the governors of
+      provinces disaffected themselves and disposed to wink at insubordination
+      in others; most of the state counsellors quite inefficient; no army to
+      fall back upon; the few troops there were long since discontented on
+      account of the outstanding arrears of pay, and already too often deceived
+      by false promises to be enticed by new; commanded, moreover, by officers
+      who despised the Inquisition from their hearts, and would have blushed to
+      draw a sword in its behalf; and, lastly, no money in the treasury to
+      enlist new troops or to hire foreigners. The court at Brussels, as well as
+      the three councils, not only divided by internal dissensions, but in the
+      highest degree&mdash;venal and corrupt; the regent without full powers to
+      act on the spot, and the king at a distance; his adherents in the
+      provinces few, uncertain, and dispirited; the faction numerous and
+      powerful; two-thirds of the people irritated against popery and desirous
+      of a change&mdash;such was the unfortunate weakness of the government, and
+      the more unfortunate still that this weakness was so well known to its
+      enemies!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to unite so many minds in the prosecution of a common object a
+      leader was still wanting, and a few influential names to give political
+      weight to their enterprise. The two were supplied by Count Louis of Nassau
+      and Henry Count Brederode, both members of the most illustrious houses of
+      the Belgian nobility, who voluntarily placed themselves at the head of the
+      undertaking. Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of Orange, united many
+      splendid qualities which made him worthy of appearing on so noble and
+      important a stage. In Geneva, where he studied, he had imbibed at once a
+      hatred to the hierarchy and a love to the new religion, and on his return
+      to his native country had not failed to enlist proselytes to his opinions.
+      The republican bias which his mind had received in that school kindled in
+      him a bitter hatred of the Spanish name, which animated his whole conduct
+      and only left him with his latest breath. Popery and Spanish rule were in
+      his mind identical&mdash; as indeed they were in reality&mdash;and the
+      abhorrence which he entertained for the one helped to strengthen his
+      dislike for the other. Closely as the brothers agreed in their
+      inclinations and aversions the ways by which each sought to gratify them
+      were widely dissimilar. Youth and an ardent temperament did not allow the
+      younger brother to follow the tortuous course through which the elder
+      wound himself to his object. A cold, calm circumspection carried the
+      latter slowly but surely to his aim, and with a pliable subtilty he made
+      all things subserve his purpose; with a foolhardy impetuosity which
+      overthrew all obstacles, the other at times compelled success, but oftener
+      accelerated disaster. For this reason William was a general and Louis
+      never more than an adventurer; a sure and powerful arm if only it were
+      directed by a wise head. Louis&rsquo; pledge once given was good forever; his
+      alliances survived every vicissitude, for they were mostly formed in the
+      pressing moment of necessity, and misfortune binds more firmly than
+      thoughtless joy. He loved his brother as dearly as he did his cause, and
+      for the latter he died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry of Brederode, Baron of Viane and Burgrave of Utrecht, was descended
+      from the old Dutch counts who formerly ruled that province as sovereign
+      princes. So ancient a title endeared him to the people, among whom the
+      memory of their former lords still survived, and was the more treasured
+      the less they felt they had gained by the change. This hereditary splendor
+      increased the self-conceit of a man upon whose tongue the glory of his
+      ancestors continually hung, and who dwelt the more on former greatness,
+      even amidst its ruins, the more unpromising the aspect of his own
+      condition became. Excluded from the honors and employments to which, in
+      his opinion, his own merits and his noble ancestry fully entitled him (a
+      squadron of light cavalry being all which was entrusted to him), he hated
+      the government, and did not scruple boldly to canvass and to rail at its
+      measures. By these means he won the hearts of the people. He also favored
+      in secret the evangelical belief; less, however, as a conviction of his
+      better reason than as an opposition to the government. With more loquacity
+      than eloquence, and more audacity than courage, he was brave rather from
+      not believing in danger than from being superior to it. Louis of Nassau
+      burned for the cause which he defended, Brederode for the glory of being
+      its defender; the former was satisfied in acting for his party, the latter
+      discontented if he did not stand at its head. No one was more fit to lead
+      off the dance in a rebellion, but it could hardly have a worse
+      ballet-master. Contemptible as his threatened designs really were, the
+      illusion of the multitude might have imparted to them weight and terror if
+      it had occurred to them to set up a pretender in his person. His claim to
+      the possessions of his ancestors was an empty name; but even a name was
+      now sufficient for the general disaffection to rally round. A pamphlet
+      which was at the time disseminated amongst the people openly called him
+      the heir of Holland; and his engraved portrait, which was publicly
+      exhibited, bore the boastful inscription:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        Sum Brederodus ego, Batavae non infima gentis
+        Gloria, virtutem non unica pagina claudit.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      (1565.) Besides these two, there were others also from among the most
+      illustrious of the Flemish nobles the young Count Charles of Mansfeld, a
+      son of that nobleman whom we have found among the most zealous royalists;
+      the Count Kinlemburg; two Counts of Bergen and of Battenburg; John of
+      Marnix, Baron of Toulouse; Philip of Marnix, Baron of St. Aldegonde; with
+      several others who joined the league, which, about the middle of November,
+      in the year 1565, was formed at the house of Von Hanimes, king at arms of
+      the Golden Fleece. Here it was that six men decided the destiny of their
+      country as formerly a few confederates consummated the liberty of
+      Switzerland, kindled the torch of a forty years&rsquo; war, and laid the basis
+      of a freedom which they themselves were never to enjoy. The objects of the
+      league were set forth in the following declaration, to which Philip of
+      Marnix was the first to subscribe his name: &ldquo;Whereas certain ill-disposed
+      persons, under the mask of a pious zeal, but in reality under the impulse
+      of avarice and ambition, have by their evil counsels persuaded our most
+      gracious sovereign the king to introduce into these countries the
+      abominable tribunal of the Inquisition, a tribunal diametrically opposed
+      to all laws, human and divine, and in cruelty far surpassing the barbarous
+      institutions of heathenism; which raises the inquisitors above every other
+      power, and debases man to a perpetual bondage, and by its snares exposes
+      the honest citizen to a constant fear of death, inasmuch as any one
+      (priest, it may be, or a faithless friend, a Spaniard or a reprobate), has
+      it in his power at any moment to cause whom he will to be dragged before
+      that tribunal, to be placed in confinement, condemned, and executed
+      without the accused ever being allowed to face his accuser, or to adduce
+      proof of his innocence; we, therefore, the undersigned, have bound
+      ourselves to watch over the safety of our families, our estates, and our
+      own persons. To this we hereby pledge ourselves, and to this end bind
+      ourselves as a sacred fraternity, and vow with a solemn oath to oppose to
+      the best of our power the introduction of this tribunal into these
+      countries, whether it be attempted openly or secretly, and under whatever
+      name it may be disguised. We at the same time declare that we are far from
+      intending anything unlawful against the king our sovereign; rather is it
+      our unalterable purpose to support and defend the royal prerogative, and
+      to maintain peace, and, as far as lies in our power, to put down all
+      rebellion. In accordance with this purpose we have sworn, and now again
+      swear, to hold sacred the government, and to respect it both in word and
+      deed, which witness Almighty God!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all times
+      and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles which are
+      set forth in this covenant. We hereby bind ourselves that no accusation of
+      any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed, whether
+      rebellion, sedition, or otherwise, shall avail to annul our oath towards
+      the accused, or absolve us from our obligation towards him. No act which
+      is directed against the Inquisition can deserve the name of a rebellion.
+      Whoever, therefore, shall be placed in arrest on any such charge, we here
+      pledge ourselves to assist him to the utmost of our ability, and to
+      endeavor by every allowable means to effect his liberation. In this,
+      however, as in all matters, but especially in the conduct of all measures
+      against the tribunal of the Inquisition, we submit ourselves to the
+      general regulations of the league, or to the decision of those whom we may
+      unanimously appoint our counsellors and leaders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In witness hereof, and in confirmation of this our common league and
+      covenant, we call upon the holy name of the living God, maker of heaven
+      and earth, and of all that are therein, who searches the hearts, the
+      consciences, and the thoughts, and knows the purity of ours. We implore
+      the aid of the Holy Spirit, that success and honor may crown our
+      undertaking, to the glory of His name, and to the peace and blessing of
+      our country!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This covenant was immediately translated into several languages, and
+      quickly disseminated through the provinces. To swell the league as
+      speedily as possible each of the confederates assembled all his friends,
+      relations, adherents, and retainers. Great banquets were held, which
+      lasted whole days&mdash;irresistible temptations for a sensual, luxurious
+      people, in whom the deepest wretchedness could not stifle the propensity
+      for voluptuous living. Whoever repaired to these banquets&mdash;and every
+      one was welcome&mdash;was plied with officious assurances of friendship,
+      and, when heated with wine, carried away by the example of numbers, and
+      overcome by the fire of a wild eloquence. The hands of many were guided
+      while they subscribed their signatures; the hesitating were derided, the
+      pusillanimous threatened, the scruples of loyalty clamored down; some even
+      were quite ignorant what they were signing, and were ashamed afterwards to
+      inquire. To many whom mere levity brought to the entertainment the general
+      enthusiasm left no choice, while the splendor of the confederacy allured
+      the mean, and its numbers encouraged the timorous. The abettors of the
+      league had not scrupled at the artifice of counterfeiting the signature
+      and seals of the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, Mcgen, and others,
+      a trick which won them hundreds of adherents. This was done especially
+      with a view of influencing the officers of the army, in order to be safe
+      in this quarter, if matters should come at last to violence. The device
+      succeeded with many, especially with subalterns, and Count Brederode even
+      drew his sword upon an ensign who wished time for consideration. Men of
+      all classes and conditions signed it. Religion made no difference. Roman
+      Catholic priests even were associates of the league. The motives were not
+      the same with all, but the pretext was similar. The Roman Catholics
+      desired simply the abolition of the Inquisition, and a mitigation of the
+      edicts; the Protestants aimed at unlimited freedom of conscience. A few
+      daring spirits only entertained so bold a project as the overthrow of the
+      present government, while the needy and indigent based the vilest hopes on
+      a general anarchy. A farewell entertainment, which about this time was
+      given to the Counts Schwarzenberg and Holle in Breda, and another shortly
+      afterwards in Hogstraten, drew many of the principal nobility to these two
+      places, and of these several had already signed the covenant. The Prince
+      of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, and Megen were present at the latter
+      banquet, but without any concert or design, and without having themselves
+      any share in the league, although one of Egmont&rsquo;s own secretaries and some
+      of the servants of the other three noblemen had openly joined it. At this
+      entertainment three hundred persons gave in their adhesion to the
+      covenant, and the question was mooted whether the whole body should
+      present themselves before the regent armed or unarmed, with a declaration
+      or with a petition? Horn and Orange (Egmont would not countenance the
+      business in any way) were called in as arbiters upon this point, and they
+      decided in favor of the more moderate and submissive procedure. By taking
+      this office upon them they exposed themselves to the charge of having in
+      no very covert manner lent their sanction to the enterprise of the
+      confederates. In compliance, therefore, with their advice, it was
+      determined to present their address unarmed, and in the form of a
+      petition, and a day was appointed on which they should assemble in
+      Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first intimation the regent received of this conspiracy of the nobles
+      was given by the Count of Megen soon after his return to the capital.
+      &ldquo;There was,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;an enterprise on foot; no less than three hundred
+      of the nobles were implicated in it; it referred to religion; the members
+      of it had bound themselves together by an oath; they reckoned much on
+      foreign aid; she would soon know more about it.&rdquo; Though urgently pressed,
+      he would give her no further information. &ldquo;A nobleman,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;had
+      confided it to him under the seal of secrecy, and he had pledged his word
+      of honor to him.&rdquo; What really withheld him from giving her any further
+      explanation was, in all probability, not so much any delicacy about his
+      honor, as his hatred of the Inquisition, which he would not willingly do
+      anything to advance. Soon after him, Count Egmont delivered to the regent
+      a copy of the covenant, and also gave her the names of the conspirators,
+      with some few exceptions. Nearly about the same time the Prince of Orange
+      wrote to her: &ldquo;There was, as he had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred
+      officers were already named, and twenty thousand men would presently
+      appear in arms.&rdquo; Thus the rumor was intentionally exaggerated, and the
+      danger was multiplied in every mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent, petrified with alarm at the first announcement of these
+      tidings, and guided solely by her fears, hastily called together all the
+      members of the council of state who happened to be then in Brussels, and
+      at the same time sent a pressing summons to the Prince of Orange and Count
+      Horn, inviting them to resume their seats in the senate. Before the latter
+      could arrive she consulted with Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont what course
+      was to be adopted in the present dangerous posture of affairs. The
+      question debated was whether it would be better to have recourse to arms
+      or to yield to the emergency and grant the demands of the confederates; or
+      whether they should be put off with promises, and an appearance of
+      compliance, in order to gain time for procuring instructions from Spain,
+      and obtaining money and troops? For the first plan the requisite supplies
+      were wanting, and, what was equally requisite, confidence in the army, of
+      which there seemed reason to doubt whether it had not been already gained
+      by the conspirators. The second expedient would it was quite clear never
+      be sanctioned by the king; besides it would serve rather to raise than
+      depress the courage of the confederates; while, on the other hand, a
+      compliance with their reasonable demands and a ready unconditional pardon
+      of the past would in all probability stifle the rebellion in the cradle.
+      The last opinion was supported by Megen and Egmont but opposed by
+      Barlaimont. &ldquo;Rumor,&rdquo; said the latter, &ldquo;had exaggerated the matter; it is
+      impossible that so formidable an armament could have been prepared so
+      secretly and, so rapidly. It was but a band of a few outcasts and
+      desperadoes, instigated by two or three enthusiasts, nothing more. All
+      will be quiet after a few heads have been struck off.&rdquo; The regent
+      determined to await the opinion of the council of state, which was shortly
+      to assemble; in the meanwhile, however, she was not inactive. The
+      fortifications in the most important places were inspected and the
+      necessary repairs speedily executed; her ambassadors at foreign courts
+      received orders to redouble their vigilance; expresses were sent off to
+      Spain. At the same time she caused the report to be revived of the near
+      advent of the king, and in her external deportment put on a show of that
+      imperturbable firmness which awaits attack without intending easily to
+      yield to it. At the end of March (four whole months consequently from the
+      framing of the covenant), the whole state council assembled in Brussels.
+      There were present the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Arschot, Counts
+      Egmont, Bergen, Megen, Aremberg, Horn, Hosstraten, Barlaimont, and others;
+      the Barons Montigny and Hachicourt, all the knights of the Golden Fleece,
+      with the President Viglius, State Counsellor Bruxelles, and the other
+      assessors of the privy council. Several letters were produced which gave a
+      clearer insight into the nature and objects of the conspiracy. The
+      extremity to which the regent was reduced gave the disaffected a power
+      which on the present occasion they did not neglect to use. Venting their
+      long suppressed indignation, they indulged in bitter complaints against
+      the court and against the government. &ldquo;But lately,&rdquo; said the Prince of
+      Orange, &ldquo;the king sent forty thousand gold florins to the Queen of
+      Scotland to support her in her undertakings against England, and he allows
+      his Netherlands to be burdened with debt. Not to mention the
+      unseasonableness of this subsidy and its fruitless expenditure, why should
+      he bring upon us the resentment of a queen, who is both so important to us
+      as a friend and as an enemy so much to be dreaded?&rdquo; The prince did not
+      even refrain on the present occasion from glancing at the concealed hatred
+      which the king was suspected of cherishing against the family of Nassau
+      and against him in particular. &ldquo;It is well known,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that he has
+      plotted with the hereditary enemies of my house to take away my life, and
+      that he waits with impatience only for a suitable opportunity.&rdquo; His
+      example opened the lips of Count Horn also, and of many others besides,
+      who with passionate vehemence descanted on their own merits and the
+      ingratitude of the king. With difficulty did the regent succeed in
+      silencing the tumult and in recalling attention to the proper subject of
+      the debate. The question was whether the confederates, of whom it was now
+      known that they intended to appear at court with a petition, should be
+      admitted or not? The Duke of Arschot, Counts Aremberg, Megen, and
+      Barlaimont gave their negative to the proposition. &ldquo;What need of five
+      hundred persons,&rdquo; said the latter, &ldquo;to deliver a small memorial? This
+      paradox of humility and defiance implies no good. Let them send to us one
+      respectable man from among their number without pomp, without assumption,
+      and so submit their application to us. Otherwise, shut the gates upon
+      them, or if some insist on their admission let them be closely watched,
+      and let the first act of insolence which any one of them shall be guilty
+      of be punished with death.&rdquo; In this advice concurred Count Mansfeld, whose
+      own son was among the conspirators; he had even threatened to disinherit
+      his son if he did not quickly abandon the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Counts Megen, also, and Aremberg hesitated to receive the petition; the
+      Prince of Orange, however, Counts Egmont, Horn, Hogstraten, and others
+      voted emphatically for it. &ldquo;The confederates,&rdquo; they declared, &ldquo;were known
+      to them as men of integrity and honor; a great part of them were connected
+      with themselves by friendship and relationship, and they dared vouch for
+      their behavior. Every subject was allowed to petition; a right which was
+      enjoyed by the meanest individual in the state could not without injustice
+      be denied to so respectable a body of men.&rdquo; It was therefore resolved by a
+      majority of votes to admit the confederates on the condition that they
+      should appear unarmed and conduct themselves temperately. The squabbles of
+      the members of council had occupied the greater part of the sitting, so
+      that it was necessary to adjourn the discussion to the following day. In
+      order that the principal matter in debate might not again be lost sight of
+      in useless complaints the regent at once hastened to the point:
+      &ldquo;Brederode, we are informed,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;is coming to us, with an address
+      in the name of the league, demanding the abolition of the Inquisition and
+      a mitigation of the edicts. The advice of my senate is to guide me in my
+      answer to him; but before you give your opinions on this point permit me
+      to premise a few words. I am told that there are many even amongst
+      yourselves who load the religious edicts of the Emperor, my father, with
+      open reproaches, and describe them to the people as inhuman and barbarous.
+      Now I ask you, lords and gentlemen, knights of the Fleece, counsellors of
+      his majesty and of the state, whether you did not yourselves vote for
+      these edicts, whether the states of the realm have not recognized them as
+      lawful? Why is that now blamed, which was formerly declared right? Is it
+      because they have now become even more necessary than they then were?
+      Since when is the Inquisition a new thing in the Netherlands? Is it not
+      full sixteen years ago since the Emperor established it? And wherein is it
+      more cruel than the edicts? If it be allowed that the latter were the work
+      of wisdom, if the universal consent of the states has sanctioned them&mdash;
+      why this opposition to the former, which is nevertheless far more humane
+      than the edicts, if they are to be observed to the letter? Speak now
+      freely; I am not desirous of fettering your decision; but it is your
+      business to see that it is not misled by passion and prejudice.&rdquo; The
+      council of state was again, as it always had been, divided between two
+      opinions; but the few who spoke for the Inquisition and the literal
+      execution of the edicts were outvoted by the opposite party with the
+      Prince of Orange at its head. &ldquo;Would to heaven,&rdquo; he began,&mdash;&ldquo;that my
+      representations had been then thought worthy of attention, when as yet the
+      grounds of apprehension were remote; things would in that case never have
+      been carried so far as to make recourse to extreme measures indispensable,
+      nor would men have been plunged deeper in error by the very means which
+      were intended to beguile them from their delusion. We are all unanimous on
+      the one main point. We all wish to see the Catholic religion safe; if this
+      end can be secured without the aid of the Inquisition, it is well, and we
+      offer our wealth and our blood to its service; but on this very point it
+      is that our opinions are divided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are two kinds of inquisition: the see of Rome lays claim to one,
+      the other has, from time immemorial, been exercised by the bishops. The
+      force of prejudice and of custom has made the latter light and supportable
+      to us. It will find little opposition in the Netherlands, and the
+      augmented numbers of the bishops will make it effective. To what purpose
+      then insist on the former, the mere name of which is revolting to all the
+      feelings of our minds? When so many nations exist without it why should it
+      be imposed on us? Before Luther appeared it was never heard of; but the
+      troubles with Luther happened at a time when there was an inadequate
+      number of spiritual overseers, and when the few bishops were, moreover,
+      indolent, and the licentiousness of the clergy excluded them from the
+      office of judges. Now all is changed; we now count as many bishops as
+      there are provinces. Why should not the policy of the government adjust
+      itself to the altered circumstances of the times? We want leniency, not
+      severity. The repugnance of the people is manifest&mdash;this we must seek
+      to appease if we would not have it burst out into rebellion. With the
+      death of Pius IV. the full powers of the inquisitors have expired; the new
+      pope has as yet sent no ratification of their authority, without which no
+      one formerly ventured to exercise his office. Now, therefore, is the time
+      when it can be suspended without infringing the rights of any party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What I have stated with regard to the Inquisition holds equally good in
+      respect to the edicts also. The exigency of the times called them forth,
+      but are not those times passed? So long an experience of them ought at
+      last to have taught us that against hersey no means are less successful
+      than the fagot and sword. What incredible progress has not the new
+      religion made during only the last few years in the provinces; and if we
+      investigate the cause of this increase we shall find it principally in the
+      glorious constancy of those who have fallen sacrifices to the truth of
+      their opinions. Carried away by sympathy and admiration, men begin to
+      weigh in silence whether what is maintained with such invincible courage
+      may not really be the truth. In France and in England the same severities
+      may have been inflicted on the Protestants, but have they been attended
+      with any better success there than here? The very earliest Christians
+      boasted that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. The
+      Emperor Julian, the most terrible enemy that Christianity ever
+      experienced, was fully persuaded of this. Convinced that persecution did
+      but kindle enthusiasm he betook himself to ridicule and derision, and
+      found these weapons far more effective than force. In the Greek empire
+      different teachers of heresy have arisen at different times. Arius under
+      Constantine, Aetius under Constantius, Nestorius under Theodosius. But
+      even against these arch-heretics and their disciples such cruel measures
+      were never resorted to as are thought necessary against our unfortunate
+      country&mdash;and yet where are all those sects now which once a whole
+      world, I had almost said, could not contain? This is the natural course of
+      heresy. If it is treated with contempt it crumbles into insignificance. It
+      is as iron, which, if it lies idle, corrodes, and only becomes sharp by
+      use. Let no notice be paid to it, and it loses its most powerful
+      attraction, the magic of what is new and what is forbidden. Why will we
+      not content ourselves with the measures which have been approved of by the
+      wisdom of such great rulers? Example is ever the safest guide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what need to go to pagan antiquity for guidance and example when we
+      have near at hand the glorious precedent of Charles V., the greatest of
+      kings, who taught at last by experience, abandoned the bloody path of
+      persecution, and for many years before his abdication adopted milder
+      measures. And Philip himself, our most gracious sovereign, seemed at first
+      strongly inclined to leniency until the counsels of Granvella and of
+      others like him changed these views; but with what right or wisdom they
+      may settle between themselves. To me, however, it has always appeared
+      indispensable that legislation to be wise and successful must adjust
+      itself to the manners and maxims of the times. In conclusion, I would beg
+      to remind you of the close understanding which subsists between the
+      Huguenots and the Flemish Protestants. Let us beware of exasperating them
+      any further. Let us not act the part of French Catholics towards them,
+      lest they should play the Huguenots against us, and, like the latter,
+      plunge their country into the horrors of a civil war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [No one need wonder, says Burgundias (a vehement stickler for the
+   Roman Catholic religion and the Spanish party), that the speech of
+   this prince evinced so much acquaintance with philosophy; he had
+   acquired it in his intercourse with Balduin. 180. Barry, 174-178.
+   Hopper, 72. Strada, 123,124.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It was, perhaps, not so much the irresistible truth of his arguments,
+      which, moreover, were supported by a decisive majority in the senate, as
+      rather the ruinous state of the military resources, and the exhaustion of
+      the treasury, that prevented the adoption of the opposite opinion which
+      recommended an appeal to the force of arms that the Prince of Orange had
+      chiefly to thank for the attention which now at last was paid to his
+      representations. In order to avert at first the violence of the storm, and
+      to gain time, which was so necessary to place the government in a better
+      sate of preparation, it was agreed that a portion of the demands should be
+      accorded to the confederates. It was also resolved to mitigate the penal
+      statutes of the Emperor, as he himself would certainly mitigate them, were
+      he again to appear among them at that day &mdash;and as, indeed, he had
+      once shown under circumstances very similar to the present that he did not
+      think it derogatory to his high dignity to do. The Inquisition was not to
+      be introduced in any place where it did not already exist, and where it
+      had been it should adopt a milder system, or even be entirely suspended,
+      especially since the inquisitors had not yet been confirmed in their
+      office by the pope. The latter reason was put prominently forward, in
+      order to deprive the Protestants of the gratification of ascribing the
+      concessions to any fear of their own power, or to the justice of their
+      demands. The privy council was commissioned to draw out this decree of the
+      senate without delay. Thus prepared the confederates were awaited.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                THE GUEUX.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The members of the senate had not yet dispersed, when all Brussels
+      resounded with the report that the confederates were approaching the town.
+      They consisted of no more than two hundred horse, but rumor greatly
+      exaggerated their numbers. Filled with consternation, the regent consulted
+      with her ministers whether it was best to close the gates on the
+      approaching party or to seek safety in flight? Both suggestions were
+      rejected as dishonorable; and the peaceable entry of the nobles soon
+      allayed all fears of violence. The first morning after their arrival they
+      assembled at Kuilemberg house, where Brederode administered to them a
+      second oath, binding them before all other duties to stand by one another,
+      and even with arms if necessary. At this meeting a letter from Spain was
+      produced, in which it was stated that a certain Protestant, whom, they all
+      knew and valued, had been burned alive in that country by a slow fire.
+      After these and similar preliminaries he called on them one after another
+      by name to take the new oath and renew the old one in their own names and
+      in those of the absent. The next day, the 5th of April, 1556, was fixed
+      for the presentation of the petition. Their numbers now amounted to
+      between three and four hundred. Amongst them were many retainers of the
+      high nobility, as also several servants of the king himself and of the
+      duchess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the Counts of Nassau and Brederode at their head, and formed in ranks
+      of four by four, they advanced in procession to the palace; all Brussels
+      attended the unwonted spectacle in silent astonishment. Here were to be
+      seen a body of men advancing with too much boldness and confidence to look
+      like supplicants, and led by two men who were not wont to be petitioners;
+      and, on the other hand, with so much order and stillness as do not usually
+      accompany rebellion. The regent received the procession surrounded by all
+      her counsellors and the Knights of the Fleece. &ldquo;These noble
+      Netherlanders,&rdquo; thus Brederode respectfully addressed her, &ldquo;who here
+      present themselves before your highness, wish in their own name, and of
+      many others besides who are shortly to arrive, to present to you a
+      petition of whose importance as well as of their own humility this solemn
+      procession must convince you. I, as speaker of this body, entreat you to
+      receive our petition, which contains nothing but what is in unison with
+      the laws of our country and the honor of the king.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this petition,&rdquo; replied Margaret, &ldquo;really contains nothing which is at
+      variance either with the good of the country, or with the authority of the
+      king, there is no doubt that it will be favorably considered.&rdquo; &ldquo;They had
+      learnt,&rdquo; continued the spokesman, &ldquo;with indignation and regret that
+      suspicious objects had been imputed to their association, and that
+      interested parties had endeavored to prejudice her highness against him;
+      they therefore craved that she would name the authors of so grave an
+      accusation, and compel them to bring their charges publicly, and in due
+      form, in order that he who should be found guilty might suffer the
+      punishment of his demerits.&rdquo; &ldquo;Undoubtedly,&rdquo; replied the regent, &ldquo;she had
+      received unfavorable rumors of their designs and alliance. She could not
+      be blamed, if in consequence she had thought it requisite to call the
+      attention of the governors of the provinces to the matter; but, as to
+      giving up the names of her informants to betray state secrets,&rdquo; she added,
+      with an appearance of displeasure, &ldquo;that could not in justice be required
+      of her.&rdquo; She then appointed the next day for answering their petition; and
+      in the meantime she proceeded to consult the members of her council upon
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never&rdquo; (so ran the petition which, according to some, was drawn up by the
+      celebrated Balduin), &ldquo;never had they failed in their loyalty to their
+      king, and nothing now could be farther from their hearts; but they would
+      rather run the risk of incurring the displeasure of their sovereign than
+      allow him to remain longer in ignorance of the evils with which their
+      native country was menaced, by the forcible introduction of the
+      Inquisition and the continued enforcement of the edicts. They had long
+      remained consoling themselves with the expectation that a general assembly
+      of the states would be summoned to remedy these grievances; but now that
+      even this hope was extinguished, they held it to be their duty to give
+      timely warning to the regent. They, therefore, entreated her highness to
+      send to Madrid an envoy, well disposed, and fully acquainted with the
+      state and temper of the times, who should endeavor to persuade the king to
+      comply with the demands of the whole nation, and abolish the Inquisition,
+      to revoke the edicts, and in their stead cause new and more humane ones to
+      be drawn up at a general assembly of the states. But, in the meanwhile,
+      until they could learn the king&rsquo;s decision, they prayed that the edicts
+      and the operations of the Inquisition be suspended.&rdquo; &ldquo;If,&rdquo; they concluded,
+      &ldquo;no attention should be paid to their humble request, they took God, the
+      king, the regent, and all her counsellors to witness that they had done
+      their part, and were not responsible for any unfortunate result that might
+      happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The following day the confederates, marching in the same order of
+      procession, but in still greater numbers (Counts Bergen and Kuilemberg
+      having, in the interim, joined them with their adherents), appeared before
+      the regent in order to receive her answer. It was written on the margin of
+      the petition, and was to the effect, &ldquo;that entirely to suspend the
+      Inquisition and the edicts, even temporarily, was beyond her powers; but
+      in compliance with the wishes of the confederates she was ready to
+      despatch one of the nobles to the king in Spain, and also to support their
+      petition with all her influence. In the meantime, she would recommend the
+      inquisitors to administer their office with moderation; but in return she
+      should expect on the part of the league that they should abstain from all
+      acts of violence, and undertake nothing to the prejudice of the Catholic
+      faith.&rdquo; Little as these vague and general promises satisfied the
+      confederates, they were, nevertheless, as much as they could have
+      reasonably expected to gain at first. The granting or refusing of the
+      petition had nothing to do with the primary object of the league. Enough
+      for them at present that it was once recognized, enough that it was now,
+      as it were, an established body, which by its power and threats might, if
+      necessary, overawe the government. The confederates, therefore, acted
+      quite consistently with their designs, in contenting themselves with this
+      answer, and referring the rest to the good pleasure of the king. As,
+      indeed, the whole pantomime of petitioning had only been invented to cover
+      the more daring plan of the league, until it should have strength enough
+      to show itself in its true light, they felt that much more depended on
+      their being able to continue this mask, and on the favorable reception of
+      their petition, than on its speedily being granted. In a new memorial,
+      which they delivered three days after, they pressed for an express
+      testimonial from the regent that they had done no more than their duty,
+      and been guided simply by their zeal for the service of the king. When the
+      duchess evaded a declaration, they even sent a person to repeat this
+      request in a private interview. &ldquo;Time alone and their future behavior,&rdquo;
+       she replied to this person, &ldquo;would enable her to judge of their designs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The league had its origin in banquets, and a banquet gave it form and
+      perfection. On the very day that the second petition was presented
+      Brederode entertained the confederates in Kuilemberg house. About three
+      hundred guests assembled; intoxication gave them courage, and their
+      audacity rose with their numbers. During the conversation one of their
+      number happened to remark that he had overheard the Count of Barlaimont
+      whisper in French to the regent, who was seen to turn pale on the delivery
+      of the petitions, that &ldquo;she need not be afraid of a band of beggars
+      (gueux);&rdquo; (in fact, the majority of them had by their bad management of
+      their incomes only too well deserved this appellation.) Now, as the very
+      name for their fraternity was the very thing which had most perplexed
+      them, an expression was eagerly caught up, which, while it cloaked the
+      presumption of their enterprise in humility, was at the same time
+      appropriate to them as petitioners. Immediately they drank to one another
+      under this name, and the cry &ldquo;long live the Gueux!&rdquo; was accompanied with a
+      general shout of applause. After the cloth had been removed Brederode appeared
+      with a wallet over his shoulder similar to that which the vagrant pilgrims
+      and mendicant monks of the time used to carry, and after returning thanks
+      to all for their accession to the league, and boldly assuring them that he
+      was ready to venture life and limb for every individual present, he drank
+      to the health of the whole company out of a wooden beaker. The cup went
+      round and every one uttered the same vow as be set it to his lips. Then
+      one after the other they received the beggar&rsquo;s purse, and each hung it on
+      a nail which he had appropriated to himself. The shouts and uproar
+      attending this buffoonery attracted the Prince of Orange and Counts Egmont
+      and Horn, who by chance were passing the spot at the very moment, and on
+      entering the house were boisterously pressed by Brederode, as host, to
+      remain and drink a glass with them.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [&ldquo;But,&rdquo; Egmont asserted in his written defence &ldquo;we drank only one
+   single small glass, and thereupon they cried &lsquo;long live the king
+   and the Gueux!&rsquo; This was the first time that I heard that
+   appellation, and it certainly did not please me. But the times
+   were so bad that one was often compelled to share in much that was
+   against one&rsquo;s inclination, and I knew not but I was doing an
+   innocent thing.&rdquo; Proces criminels des Comtes d&rsquo;Egmont, etc.. 7. 1.
+   Egmont&rsquo;s defence, Hopper, 94. Strada, 127-130. Burgund., 185,
+   187.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The entrance of three such influential personages renewed the mirth of the
+      guests, and their festivities soon passed the bounds of moderation. Many
+      were intoxicated; guests and attendants mingled together without
+      distinction; the serious and the ludicrous, drunken fancies and affairs of
+      state were blended one with another in a burlesque medley; and the
+      discussions on the general distress of the country ended in the wild
+      uproar of a bacchanalian revel. But it did not stop here; what they had
+      resolved on in the moment of intoxication they attempted when sober to
+      carry into execution. It was necessary to manifest to the people in some
+      striking shape the existence of their protectors, and likewise to fan the
+      zeal of the faction by a visible emblem; for this end nothing could be
+      better than to adopt publicly this name of Gueux, and to borrow from it
+      the tokens of the association. In a few days the town of Brussels swarmed
+      with ash-gray garments such as were usually worn by mendicant friars and
+      penitents. Every confederate put his whole family and domestics in this
+      dress. Some carried wooden bowls thinly overlaid with plates of silver,
+      cups of the same kind, and wooden knives; in short the whole paraphernalia
+      of the beggar tribe, which they either fixed around their hats or
+      suspended from their girdles: Round the neck they wore a golden or silver
+      coin, afterwards called the Geusen penny, of which one side bore the
+      effigy of the king, with the inscription, &ldquo;True to the king;&rdquo; on the other
+      side were seen two hands folded together holding a wallet, with the words
+      &ldquo;as far as the beggar&rsquo;s scrip.&rdquo; Hence the origin of the name &ldquo;Gueux,&rdquo;
+       which was subsequently borne in the Netherlands by all who seceded from
+      popery and took up arms against the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the confederates separated and dispersed among the provinces they
+      presented themselves once more before the duchess, in order to remind her
+      of the necessity of leniency towards the heretics until the arrival of the
+      king&rsquo;s answer from Spain, if she did not wish to drive the people to
+      extremities. &ldquo;If, however,&rdquo; they added, &ldquo;a contrary behavior should give
+      rise to any evils they at least must be regarded as having done their
+      duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To this the regent replied, &ldquo;she hoped to be able to adopt such measures
+      as would render it impossible for disorders to ensue; but if,
+      nevertheless, they did occur, she could ascribe them to no one but the
+      confederates. She therefore earnestly admonished them on their part to
+      fulfil their engagements, but especially to receive no new members into
+      the league, to hold no more private assemblies, and generally not to
+      attempt any novel and unconstitutional measures.&rdquo; And in order to
+      tranquillize their minds she commanded her private secretary, Berti, to
+      show them the letters to the inquisitors and secular judges, wherein they
+      were enjoined to observe moderation towards all those who had not
+      aggravated their heretical offences by any civil crime. Before their
+      departure from Brussels they named four presidents from among their number
+      who were to take care of the affairs of the league, and also particular
+      administrators for each province. A few were left behind in Brussels to
+      keep a watchful eye on all the movements of the court. Brederode,
+      Kuilemberg, and Bergen at last quitted the town, attended by five hundred
+      and fifty horsemen, saluted it once more beyond the walls with a discharge
+      of musketry, and then the three leaders parted, Brederode taking the road
+      to Antwerp, and the two others to Guelders. The regent had sent off an
+      express to Antwerp to warn the magistrate of that town against him. On his
+      arrival more than a thousand persons thronged to the hotel where he had
+      taken up his abode. Showing himself at a window, with a full wineglass in
+      his hand, he thus addressed them: &ldquo;Citizens of Antwerp! I am here at the
+      hazard of my life and my property to relieve you from the oppressive
+      burden of the Inquisition. If you are ready to share this enterprise with
+      me, and to acknowledge me as your leader, accept the health which I here
+      drink to you, and hold up your hands in testimony of your approbation.&rdquo;
+       Hereupon he drank to their health, and all hands were raised amidst
+      clamorous shouts of exultation. After this heroic deed he quitted Antwerp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately after the delivery of the &ldquo;petition of the nobles,&rdquo; the regent
+      had caused a new form of the edicts to be drawn up in the privy council,
+      which should keep the mean between the commands of the king and the
+      demands of the confederates. But the next question that arose was to
+      determine whether it would be advisable immediately to promulgate this
+      mitigated form, or moderation, as it was commonly called, or to submit it
+      first to the king for his ratification. The privy council who maintained
+      that it would be presumptuous to take a step so important and so contrary
+      to the declared sentiments of the monarch without having first obtained
+      his sanction, opposed the vote of the Prince of Orange who supported the
+      former proposition. Besides, they urged, there was cause to fear that it
+      would not even content the nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A &ldquo;moderation&rdquo; devised with the assent of the states was what they
+      particularly insisted on. In order, therefore, to gain the consent of the
+      states, or rather to obtain it from them by stealth, the regent artfully
+      propounded the question to the provinces singly, and first of all to those
+      which possessed the least freedom, such as Artois, Namur, and Luxemburg.
+      Thus she not only prevented one province encouraging another in
+      opposition, but also gained this advantage by it, that the freer
+      provinces, such as Flanders and Brabant, which were prudently reserved to
+      the last, allowed themselves to be carried away by the example of the
+      others. By a very illegal procedure the representatives of the towns were
+      taken by surprise, and their consent exacted before they could confer with
+      their constituents, while complete silence was imposed upon them with
+      regard to the whole transaction. By these means the regent obtained the
+      unconditional consent of some of the provinces to the &ldquo;moderation,&rdquo; and,
+      with a few slight changes, that of other provinces. Luxemburg and Namur
+      subscribed it without scruple. The states of Artois simply added the
+      condition that false informers should be subjected to a retributive
+      penalty; those of Hainault demanded that instead of confiscation of the
+      estates, which directly militated against their privileges, another
+      discretionary punishment should be introduced. Flanders called for the
+      entire abolition of the Inquisition, and desired that the accused might be
+      secured in right of appeal to their own province. The states of Brabant
+      were outwitted by the intrigues of the court. Zealand, Holland, Utrecht,
+      Guelders, and Friesland as being provinces which enjoyed the most
+      important privileges, and which, moreover, watched over them with the
+      greatest jealousy, were never asked for their opinion. The provincial
+      courts of judicature had also been required to make a report on the
+      projected amendment of the law, but we may well suppose that it was
+      unfavorable, as it never reached Spain. From the principal cause of this
+      &ldquo;moderation,&rdquo; which, however, really deserved its name, we may form a
+      judgment of the general character of the edicts themselves. &ldquo;Sectarian
+      writers,&rdquo; it ran, &ldquo;the heads and teachers of sects, as also those who
+      conceal heretical meetings, or cause any other public scandal, shall be
+      punished with the gallows, and their estates, where the law of the
+      province permit it, confiscated; but if they abjure their errors, their
+      punishment shall be commuted into decapitation with the sword, and their
+      effects shall be preserved to their families.&rdquo; A cruel snare for parental
+      affection! Less grievous heretics, it was further enacted, shall, if
+      penitent, be pardoned; and if impenitent shall be compelled to leave the
+      country, without, however, forfeiting their estates, unless by continuing
+      to lead others astray they deprive themselves of the benefit of this
+      provision. The Anabaptists, however, were expressly excluded from
+      benefiting by this clause; these, if they did not clear themselves by the
+      most thorough repentance, were to forfeit their possessions; and if, on
+      the other hand, they relapsed after penitence, that is, were backsliding
+      heretics, they were to be put to death without mercy. The greater regard
+      for life and property which is observable in this ordinance as compared
+      with the edicts, and which we might be tempted to ascribe to a change of
+      intention in the Spanish ministry, was nothing more than a compulsory step
+      extorted by the determined opposition of the nobles. So little, too, were
+      the people in the Netherlands satisfied by this &ldquo;moderation,&rdquo; which
+      fundamentally did not remove a single abuse, that instead of &ldquo;moderation&rdquo;
+       (mitigation), they indignantly called it &ldquo;moorderation,&rdquo; that is,
+      murdering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the consent of the states had in this manner been extorted from
+      them, the &ldquo;moderation&rdquo; was submitted to the council of the state, and,
+      after receiving their signatures, forwarded to the king in Spain in order
+      to receive from his ratification the force of law.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The embassy to Madrid, which had been agreed upon with the confederates,
+      was at the outset entrusted to the Marquis of Bergen, who, however, from a
+      distrust of the present disposition of the king, which was only too well
+      grounded, and from reluctance to engage alone in so delicate a business,
+      begged for a coadjutor.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [This Marquis of Bergen is to be distinguished from Count William
+   of Bergen, who was among the first who subscribed the covenant.
+   Vigi. ad Hopper, Letter VII.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      He obtained one in the Baron of Montigny, who had previously been employed
+      in a similar duty, and had discharged it with high credit. As, however,
+      circumstances had since altered so much that he had just anxiety as to his
+      present reception in Madrid for his greater safety, he stipulated with the
+      duchess that she should write to the monarch previously; and that he, with
+      his companion, should, in the meanwhile, travel slowly enough to give time
+      for the king&rsquo;s answer reaching him en route. His good genius wished, as it
+      appeared, to save him from the terrible fate which awaited him in Madrid,
+      for his departure was delayed by an unexpected obstacle, the Marquis of
+      Bergen being disabled from setting out immediately through a wound which
+      he received from the blow of a tennis-ball. At last, however, yielding to
+      the pressing importunities of the regent, who was anxious to expedite the
+      business, he set out alone, not, as he hoped, to carry the cause of his
+      nation, but to die for it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime the posture of affairs had changed so greatly in the
+      Netherlands, the step which the nobles had recently taken had so nearly
+      brought on a complete rupture with the government, that it seemed
+      impossible for the Prince of Orange and his friends to maintain any longer
+      the intermediate and delicate position which they had hitherto held
+      between the country and the court, or to reconcile the contradictory
+      duties to which it gave rise. Great must have been the restraint which,
+      with their mode of thinking, they had to put on themselves not to take
+      part in this contest; much, too, must their natural love of liberty, their
+      patriotism, and their principles of toleration have suffered from the
+      constraint which their official station imposed upon them. On the other
+      hand, Philip&rsquo;s distrust, the little regard which now for a long time had
+      been paid to their advice, and the marked slights which the duchess
+      publicly put upon them, had greatly contributed to cool their zeal for the
+      service, and to render irksome the longer continuance of a part which they
+      played with so much repugnance and with so little thanks. This feeling was
+      strengthened by several intimations they received from Spain which placed
+      beyond doubt the great displeasure of the king at the petition of the
+      nobles, and his little satisfaction with their own behavior on that
+      occasion, while they were also led to expect that he was about to enter
+      upon measures, to which, as favorable to the liberties of their country,
+      and for the most part friends or blood relations of the confederates; they
+      could never lend their countenance or support. On the name which should be
+      applied in Spain to the confederacy of the nobles it principally depended
+      what course they should follow for the future. If the petition should be
+      called rebellion no alternative would be left them but either to come
+      prematurely to a dangerous explanation with the court, or to aid it in
+      treating as enemies those with whom they had both a fellow-feeling and a
+      common interest. This perilous alternative could only be avoided by
+      withdrawing entirely from public affairs; this plan they had once before
+      practically adopted, and under present circumstances it was something more
+      than a simple expedient. The whole nation had their eyes upon them. An
+      unlimited confidence in their integrity, and the universal veneration for
+      their persons, which closely bordered on idolatry, would ennoble the cause
+      which they might make their own and ruin that which they should abandon.
+      Their share in the administration of the state, though it were nothing
+      more than nominal, kept the opposite party in check; while they attended
+      the senate violent measures were avoided because their continued presence
+      still favored some expectations of succeeding by gentle means. The
+      withholding of their approbation, even if it did not proceed from their
+      hearts, dispirited the faction, which, on the contrary, would exert its
+      full strength so soon as it could reckon even distantly on obtaining so
+      weighty a sanction. The very measures of the government which, if they
+      came through their hands, were certain of a favorable reception and issue,
+      would without them prove suspected and futile; even the royal concessions,
+      if they were not obtained by the mediation of these friends of the people,
+      would fail of the chief part of their efficacy. Besides, their retirement
+      from public affairs would deprive the regent of the benefit of their
+      advice at a time when counsel was most indispensable to her; it would,
+      moreover, leave the preponderance with a party which, blindly dependent on
+      the court, and ignorant of the peculiarities of republican character,
+      would neglect nothing to aggravate the evil, and to drive to extremity the
+      already exasperated mind of the public.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these motives (and it is open to every one, according to his good or
+      bad opinion of the prince, to say which was the most influential) tended
+      alike to move him to desert the regent, and to divest himself of all share
+      in public affairs. An opportunity for putting this resolve into execution
+      soon presented itself. The prince had voted for the immediate promulgation
+      of the newly-revised edicts; but the regent, following the suggestion of
+      her privy council, had determined to transmit them first to the king. &ldquo;I
+      now see clearly,&rdquo; he broke out with well-acted vehemence, &ldquo;that all the
+      advice which I give is distrusted. The king requires no servants whose
+      loyalty he is determined to doubt; and far be it from me to thrust my
+      services upon a sovereign who is unwilling to receive them. Better,
+      therefore, for him and me that I withdraw from public affairs.&rdquo; Count Horn
+      expressed himself nearly to the same effect. Egmont requested permission
+      to visit the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle, the use of which had been
+      prescribed to him by his physician, although (as it is stated in his
+      accusation) he appeared health itself. The regent, terrified at the
+      consequences which must inevitably follow this step, spoke sharply to the
+      prince. &ldquo;If neither my representations, nor the general welfare can
+      prevail upon you, so far as to induce you to relinquish this intention,
+      let me advise you to be more careful, at least, of your own reputation.
+      Louis of Nassau is your brother; he and Count Brederode, the heads of the
+      confederacy, have publicly been your guests. The petition is in substance
+      identical with your own representations in the council of state. If you
+      now suddenly desert the cause of your king will it not be universally said
+      that you favor the conspiracy?&rdquo; We do not find it anywhere stated whether
+      the prince really withdrew at this time from the council of state; at all
+      events, if he did, he must soon have altered his mind, for shortly after
+      he appears again in public transactions. Egmont allowed himself to be
+      overcome by the remonstrances of the regent; Horn alone actually withdrew
+      himself to one of his estates,&mdash;[Where he remained three months
+      inactive.]&mdash;with the resolution of never more serving either emperor
+      or king. Meanwhile the Gueux had dispersed themselves through the
+      provinces, and spread everywhere the most favorable reports of their
+      success. According to their assertions, religious freedom was finally
+      assured; and in order to confirm their statements they helped themselves,
+      where the truth failed, with falsehood. For example, they produced a
+      forged letter of the Knights of the Fleece, in which the latter were made
+      solemnly to declare that for the future no one need fear imprisonment, or
+      banishment, or death on account of religion, unless he also committed a
+      political crime; and even in that case the confederates alone were to be
+      his judges; and this regulation was to be in force until the king, with
+      the consent and advice of the states of the realm, should otherwise
+      dispose. Earnestly as the knights applied themselves upon the first
+      information of the fraud to rescue the nation from their delusion, still
+      it had already in this short interval done good service to the faction. If
+      there are truths whose effect is limited to a single instant, then
+      inventions which last so long can easily assume their place. Besides, the
+      report, however false, was calculated both to awaken distrust between the
+      regent and the knights, and to support the courage of the Protestants by
+      fresh hopes, while it also furnished those who were meditating innovation
+      an appearance of right, which, however unsubstantial they themselves knew
+      it to be, served as a colorable pretext for their proceedings. Quickly as
+      this delusion was dispelled, still, in the short space of time that it
+      obtained belief, it had occasioned so many extravagances, had introduced
+      so much irregularity and license, that a return to the former state of
+      things became impossible, and continuance in the course already commenced
+      was rendered necessary as well by habit as by despair. On the very first
+      news of this happy result the fugitive Protestants had returned to their
+      homes, which they had so unwillingly abandoned; those who had been in
+      concealment came forth from their hiding-places; those who had hitherto
+      paid homage to the new religion in their hearts alone, emboldened by these
+      pretended acts of toleration, now gave in their adhesion to it publicly
+      and decidedly. The name of the &ldquo;Gueux&rdquo; was extolled in all the provinces;
+      they were called the pillars of religion and liberty; their party
+      increased daily, and many of the merchants began to wear their insignia.
+      The latter made an alteration in the &ldquo;Gueux&rdquo; penny, by introducing two
+      travellers&rsquo; staffs, laid crosswise, to intimate that they stood prepared
+      and ready at any instant to forsake house and hearth for the sake of
+      religion. The Gueux league, in short, had now given to things an entirely
+      different form. The murmurs of the people, hitherto impotent and despised,
+      as being the cries of individuals, had, now that they were concentrated,
+      become formidable; and had gained power, direction, and firmness through
+      union. Every one who was rebelliously disposed now looked on himself as
+      the member of a venerable and powerful body, and believed that by carrying
+      his own complaints to the general stock of discontent he secured the free
+      expression of them. To be called an important acquisition to the league
+      flattered the vain; to be lost, unnoticed, and irresponsible in the crowd
+      was an inducement to the timid. The face which the confederacy showed to
+      the nation was very unlike that which it had turned to the court. But had
+      its objects been the purest, had it really been as well disposed towards
+      the throne as it wished to appear, still the multitude would have regarded
+      only what was illegal in its proceedings, and upon them its better
+      intentions would have been entirely lost.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+              PUBLIC PREACHING.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      No moment could be more favorable to the Huguenots and the German
+      Protestants than the present to seek a market for their dangerous
+      commodity in the Netherlands. Accordingly, every considerable town now
+      swarmed with suspicious arrivals, masked spies, and the apostles of every
+      description of heresy. Of the religious parties, which had sprung up by
+      secession from the ruling church, three chiefly had made considerable
+      progress in the provinces. Friesland and the adjoining districts were
+      overrun by the Anabaptists, who, however, as the most indigent, without
+      organization and government, destitute of military resources, and moreover
+      at strife amongst themselves, awakened the least apprehension. Of far more
+      importance were the Calvanists, who prevailed in the southern provinces,
+      and above all in Flanders, who were powerfully supported by their
+      neighbors the Huguenots, the republic of Geneva, the Swiss Cantons, and
+      part of Germany, and whose opinions, with the exception of a slight
+      difference, were also held by the throne in England. They were also the
+      most numerous party, especially among the merchants and common citizens.
+      The Huguenots, expelled from France, had been the chief disseminators of
+      the tenets of this party. The Lutherans were inferior both in numbers and
+      wealth, but derived weight from having many adherents among the nobility.
+      They occupied, for the most part, the eastern portion of the Netherlands,
+      which borders on Germany, and were also to be found in some of the
+      northern territories. Some of the most powerful princes of Germany were
+      their allies; and the religious freedom of that empire, of which by the
+      Burgundian treaty the Netherlands formed an integral part, was claimed by
+      them with some appearance of right. These three religious denominations
+      met together in Antwerp, where the crowded population concealed them, and
+      the mingling of all nations favored liberty. They had nothing in common,
+      except an equally inextinguishable hatred of popery, of the Inquisition in
+      particular, and of the Spanish government, whose instrument it was; while,
+      on the other hand, they watched each other with a jealousy which kept
+      their zeal in exercise, and prevented the glowing ardor of fanaticism from
+      waxing dull.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent, in expectation that the projected &ldquo;moderation&rdquo; would be
+      sanctioned by the king, had, in the meantime, to gratify the Gueux,
+      recommended the governors and municipal officers of the provinces to be as
+      moderate as possible in their proceedings against heretics; instructions
+      which were eagerly followed, and interpreted in the widest sense by the
+      majority, who had hitherto administered the painful duty of punishment
+      with extreme repugnance. Most of the chief magistrates were in their
+      hearts averse to the Inquisition and the Spanish tyranny, and many were
+      even secretly attached to one or other of the religious parties; even the
+      others were unwilling to inflict punishment on their countrymen to gratify
+      their sworn enemies, the Spaniards. All, therefore, purposely
+      misunderstood the regent, and allowed the Inquisition and the edicts to
+      fall almost entirely into disuse. This forbearance of the government,
+      combined with the brilliant representations of the Gueux, lured from their
+      obscurity the Protestants, who, however, had now grown too powerful to be
+      any longer concealed. Hitherto they had contented themselves with secret
+      assemblies by night; now they thought themselves numerous and formidable
+      enough to venture to these meetings openly and publicly. This license
+      commenced somewhere between Oudenarde and Ghent, and soon spread through
+      the rest of Flanders. A certain Herrnann Stricker, born at Overyssel,
+      formerly a monk, a daring enthusiast of able mind, imposing figure, and
+      ready tongue, was the first who collected the people for a sermon in the
+      open air. The novelty of the thing gathered together a crowd of about
+      seven thousand persons. A magistrate of the neighborhood, more courageous
+      than wise, rushed amongst the crowd with his drawn sword, and attempted to
+      seize the preacher, but was so roughly handled by the multitude, who for
+      want of other weapons took up stones and felled him to the ground, that he
+      was glad to beg for his life.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The unheard-of foolhardiness of a single man rushing into the
+   midst of a fanatical crowd of seven thousand people to seize before
+   their eyes one whom they adored, proves, more than all that can be
+   said on the subject the insolent contempt with which the Roman
+   Catholics of the time looked down upon the so-called heretics as an
+   inferior race of beings.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img alt="1pb174 (139K)" src="images/1pb174.jpg" style="width:100%;"   /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This success of the first attempt inspired courage for a second. In the
+      vicinity of Aalst they assembled again in still greater numbers; but on
+      this occasion they provided themselves with rapiers, firearms, and
+      halberds, placed sentries at all the approaches, which they also
+      barricaded with carts and carriages. All passers-by were obliged, whether
+      willing or otherwise, to take part in the religious service, and to
+      enforce this object lookout parties were posted at certain distances round
+      the place of meeting. At the entrance booksellers stationed themselves,
+      offering for sale Protestant catechisms, religious tracts, and pasquinades
+      on the bishops. The preacher, Hermann Stricker, held forth from a pulpit
+      which was hastily constructed for the occasion out of carts and trunks of
+      trees. A canvas awning drawn over it protected him from the sun and the
+      rain; the preacher&rsquo;s position was in the quarter of the wind that the
+      people might not lose any part of his sermon, which consisted principally
+      of revilings against popery. Here the sacraments were administered after
+      the Calvinistic fashion, and water was procured from the nearest river to
+      baptize infants without further ceremony, after the practice, it was
+      pretended, of the earliest times of Christianity. Couples were also united
+      in wedlock, and the marriage ties dissolved between others. To be present
+      at this meeting half the population of Ghent had left its gates; their
+      example was soon followed in other parts, and ere long spread over the
+      whole of East Flanders. In like manner Peter Dathen, another renegade
+      monk, from Poperingen, stirred up West Flanders; as many as fifteen
+      thousand persons at a time attended his preaching from the villages and
+      hamlets; their number made them bold, and they broke into the prisons,
+      where some Anabaptists were reserved for martyrdom. In Tournay the
+      Protestants were excited to a similar pitch of daring by Ambrosius Ville,
+      a French Calvinist. They demanded the release of the prisoners of their
+      sect, and repeatedly threatened if their demands were not complied with to
+      deliver up the town to the French. It was entirely destitute of a
+      garrison, for the commandant, from fear of treason, had withdrawn it into
+      the castle, and the soldiers, moreover, refused to act against their
+      fellow-citizens. The sectarians carried their audacity to such great
+      lengths as to require one of the churches within the town to be assigned
+      to them; and when this was refused they entered into a league with
+      Valenciennes and Antwerp to obtain a legal recognition of their worship,
+      after the example of the other towns, by open force. These three towns
+      maintained a close connection with each other, and the Protestant party
+      was equally powerful in all. While, however, no one would venture singly
+      to commence the disturbance, they agreed simultaneously to make a
+      beginning with public preaching. Brederode&rsquo;s appearance in Antwerp at last
+      gave them courage. Six thousand persons, men and women, poured forth from
+      the town on an appointed day, on which the same thing happened in Tournay
+      and Valenciennes. The place of meeting was closed in with a line of
+      vehicles, firmly fastened together, and behind them armed men were
+      secretly posted, with a view to protect the service from any surprise. Of
+      the preachers, most of whom were men of the very lowest class&mdash;some
+      were Germans, some were Huguenots&mdash;and spoke in the Walloon dialect;
+      some even of the citizens felt themselves called upon to take a part in
+      this sacred work, now that no fears of the officers of justice alarmed
+      them. Many were drawn to the spot by mere curiosity to hear what kind of
+      new and unheard-of doctrines these foreign teachers, whose arrival had
+      caused so much talk, would set forth. Others were attracted by the melody
+      of the psalms, which were sung in a French version, after the custom in
+      Geneva. A great number came to hear these sermons as so many amusing
+      comedies such was the buffoonery with which the pope, the fathers of the
+      ecclesiastical council of Trent, purgatory, and other dogmas of the ruling
+      church were abused in them. And, in fact, the more extravagant was this
+      abuse and ridicule the more it tickled the ears of the lower orders; and a
+      universal clapping of hands, as in a theatre, rewarded the speaker who had
+      surpassed others in the wildness of his jokes and denunciations. But the
+      ridicule which was thus cast upon the ruling church was, nevertheless, not
+      entirely lost on the minds of the hearers, as neither were the few grains
+      of truth or reason which occasionally slipped in among it; and many a one,
+      who had sought from these sermons anything but conviction, unconsciously
+      carried away a little also of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These assemblies were several times repeated, and each day augmented the
+      boldness of the sectarians; till at last they even ventured, after
+      concluding the service to conduct their preachers home in triumph, with an
+      escort of armed horsemen, and ostentatiously to brave the law. The town
+      council sent express after express to the duchess, entreating her to visit
+      them in person, and if possible to reside for a short time in Antwerp, as
+      the only expedient to curb the arrogance of the populace; and assuring her
+      that the most eminent merchants, afraid of being plundered, were already
+      preparing to quit it. Fear of staking the royal dignity on so hazardous a
+      stroke of policy forbade her compliance; but she despatched in her stead
+      Count Megen, in order to treat with the magistrate for the introduction of
+      a garrison. The rebellious mob, who quickly got an inkling of the object
+      of his visit, gathered around him with tumultuous cries, shouting, &ldquo;He was
+      known to them as a sworn enemy of the Gueux; that it was notorious he was
+      bringing upon them prisons and the Inquisition, and that he should leave
+      the town instantly.&rdquo; Nor was the tumult quieted till Megen was beyond the
+      gates. The Calvinists now handed in to the magistrate a memorial, in which
+      they showed that their great numbers made it impossible for them
+      henceforward to assemble in secrecy, and requested a separate place of
+      worship to be allowed them inside the town. The town council renewed its
+      entreaties to the duchess to assist, by her personal presence, their
+      perplexities, or at least to send to them the Prince of Orange, as the
+      only person for whom the people still had any respect, and, moreover, as
+      specially bound to the town of Antwerp by his hereditary title of its
+      burgrave. In order to escape the greater evil she was compelled to consent
+      to the second demand, however much against her inclination to entrust
+      Antwerp to the prince. After allowing himself to be long and fruitlessly
+      entreated, for he had all at once resolved to take no further share in
+      public affairs, he yielded at last to the earnest persuasions of the
+      regent and the boisterous wishes of the people. Brederode, with a numerous
+      retinue, came half a mile out of the town to meet him, and both parties
+      saluted each other with a discharge of pistols. Antwerp appeared to have
+      poured out all her inhabitants to welcome her deliverer. The high road
+      swarmed with multitudes; the roofs were taken off the houses in order that
+      they might accommodate more spectators; behind fences, from churchyard
+      walls, even out of graves started up men. The attachment of the people to
+      the prince showed itself in childish effusions. &ldquo;Long live the Gueux!&rdquo; was
+      the shout with which young and old received him. &ldquo;Behold,&rdquo; cried others,
+      &ldquo;the man who shall give us liberty.&rdquo; &ldquo;He brings us,&rdquo; cried the Lutherans,
+      &ldquo;the Confession of Augsburg!&rdquo; &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want the Gueux now!&rdquo; exclaimed
+      others; &ldquo;we have no more need of the troublesome journey to Brussels. He
+      alone is everything to us!&rdquo; Those who knew not what to say vented their
+      extravagant joy in psalms, which they vociferously chanted as they moved
+      along. He, however, maintained his gravity, beckoned for silence, and at
+      last, when no one would listen to him, exclaimed with indignation, half
+      real and half affected, &ldquo;By God, they ought to consider what they did, or
+      they would one day repent what they had now done.&rdquo; The shouting increased
+      even as he rode into the town. The first conference of the prince with the
+      heads of the different religious sects, whom he sent for and separately
+      interrogated, presently convinced him that the chief source of the evil
+      was the mutual distrust of the several parties, and the suspicions which
+      the citizens entertained of the designs of the government, and that
+      therefore it must be his first business to restore confidence among them
+      all. First of all he attempted, both by persuasion and artifice, to induce
+      the Calvinists, as the most numerous body, to lay down their weapons, and
+      in this he at last, with much labor, succeeded. When, however, some wagons
+      were soon afterwards seen laden with ammunition in Malines, and the high
+      bailiff of Brabant showed himself frequently in the neighborhood of
+      Antwerp with an armed force, the Calvinists, fearing hostile interruption
+      of their religious worship, besought the prince to allot them a place
+      within the walls for their sermons, which should be secure from a
+      surprise. He succeeded once more in pacifying them, and his presence
+      fortunately prevented an outbreak on the Assumption of the Virgin, which,
+      as usual, had drawn a crowd to the town, and from whose sentiments there
+      was but too much reason for alarm. The image of the Virgin was, with the
+      usual pomp, carried round the town without interruption; a few words of
+      abuse, and a suppressed murmur about idolatry, was all that the
+      disapproving multitudes indulged in against the procession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. While the regent received from one province after another the most
+      melancholy accounts of the excesses of the Protestants, and while she
+      trembled for Antwerp, which she was compelled to leave in the dangerous
+      hands of the Prince of Orange, a new terror assailed her from another
+      quarter. Upon the first authentic tidings of the public preaching she
+      immediately called upon the league to fulfil its promises and to assist
+      her in restoring order. Count Brederode used this pretext to summon a
+      general meeting of the whole league, for which he could not have selected
+      a more dangerous moment than the present. So ostentatious a display of the
+      strength of the league, whose existence and protection had alone
+      encouraged the Protestant mob to go the length it had already gone, would
+      now raise the confidence of the sectarians, while in the same degree it
+      depressed the courage of the regent. The convention took place in the town
+      of Liege St. Truyen, into which Brederode and Louis of Nassau had thrown
+      themselves at the head of two thousand confederates. As the long delay of
+      the royal answer from Madrid seemed to presage no good from that quarter,
+      they considered it advisable in any case to extort from the regent a
+      letter of indemnity for their persons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those among them who were conscious of a disloyal sympathy with the
+      Protestant mob looked on its licentiousness as a favorable circumstance
+      for the league; the apparent success of those to whose degrading
+      fellowship they had deigned to stoop led them to alter their tone; their
+      former laudable zeal began to degenerate into insolence and defiance. Many
+      thought that they ought to avail themselves of the general confusion and
+      the perplexity of the duchess to assume a bolder tone and heap demand upon
+      demand. The Roman Catholic members of the league, among whom many were in
+      their hearts still strongly inclined to the royal cause, and who had been
+      drawn into a connection with the league by occasion and example, rather
+      than from feeling and conviction, now heard to their astonishment
+      propositions for establishing universal freedom of religion, and were not
+      a little shocked to discover in how perilous an enterprise they had
+      hastily implicated themselves. On this discovery the young Count Mansfeld
+      withdrew immediately from it, and internal dissensions already began to
+      undermine the work of precipitation and haste, and imperceptibly to loosen
+      the joints of the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont and William of Orange were empowered by the regent to treat
+      with the confederates. Twelve of the latter, among whom were Louis of
+      Nassau, Brederode, and Kuilemberg, conferred with them in Duffle, a
+      village near Malines. &ldquo;Wherefore this new step?&rdquo; demanded the regent by
+      the mouth of these two noblemen. &ldquo;I was required to despatch ambassadors
+      to Spain; and I sent them. The edicts and the Inquisition were complained
+      of as too rigorous; I have rendered both more lenient. A general assembly
+      of the states of the realm was proposed; I have submitted this request to
+      the king because I could not grant it from my own authority. What, then,
+      have I unwittingly either omitted or done that should render necessary
+      this assembling in St. Truyen? Is it perhaps fear of the king&rsquo;s anger and
+      of its consequences that disturbs the confederates? The provocation
+      certainly is great, but his mercy is even greater. Where now is the
+      promise of the league to excite no disturbances amongst the people? Where
+      those high-sounding professions that they were ready to die at my feet
+      rather, than offend against any of the prerogatives of the crown? The
+      innovators already venture on things which border closely on rebellion,
+      and threaten the state with destruction; and it is to the league that they
+      appeal. If it continues silently to tolerate this it will justly bring on
+      itself the charge of participating in the guilt of their offences; if it
+      is honestly disposed towards the sovereign it cannot remain longer
+      inactive in this licentiousness of the mob. But, in truth, does it not
+      itself outstrip the insane population by its dangerous example,
+      concluding, as it is known to do, alliances with the enemies of the
+      country, and confirming the evil report of its designs by the present
+      illegal meeting?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Against these reproaches the league formally justified itself in a
+      memorial which it deputed three of its members to deliver to the council
+      of state at Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All,&rdquo; it commenced, &ldquo;that your highness has done in respect to our
+      petition we have felt with the most lively gratitude; and we cannot
+      complain of any new measure, subsequently adopted, inconsistent with your
+      promise; but we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the orders of
+      your highness are by the judicial courts, at least, very little regarded;
+      for we are continually hearing&mdash;and our own eyes attest to the truth
+      of the report&mdash;that in all quarters our fellow-citizens are in spite
+      of the orders of your highness still mercilessly dragged before the courts
+      of justice and condemned to death for religion. What the league engaged on
+      its part to do it has honestly fulfilled; it has, too, to the utmost of
+      its power endeavored to prevent the public preachings; but it certainly is
+      no wonder if the long delay of an answer from Madrid fills the mind of the
+      people with distrust, and if the disappointed hopes of a general assembly
+      of the states disposes them to put little faith in any further assurances.
+      The league has never allied, nor ever felt any temptation to ally, itself
+      with the enemies of the country. If the arms of France were to appear in
+      the provinces we, the confederates, would be the first to mount and drive
+      them back again. The league, however, desires to be candid with your
+      highness. We thought we read marks of displeasure in your countenance; we
+      see men in exclusive possession of your favor who are notorious for their
+      hatred against us. We daily hear that persons are warned from associating
+      with us, as with those infected with the plague, while we are denounced
+      with the arrival of the king as with the opening of a day of judgment&mdash;what
+      is more natural than that such distrust shown to us should at last rouse
+      our own? That the attempt to blacken our league with the reproach of
+      treason, that the warlike preparations of the Duke of Savoy and of other
+      princes, which, according to common report, are directed against
+      ourselves; the negotiations of the king with the French court to obtain a
+      passage through that kingdom for a Spanish army, which is destined, it is
+      said, for the Netherlands&mdash;what wonder if these and similar
+      occurrences should have stimulated us to think in time of the means of
+      self-defence, and to strengthen ourselves by an alliance with our friends
+      beyond the frontier? On a general, uncertain, and vague rumor we are
+      accused of a share in this licentiousness of the Protestant mob; but who
+      is safe from general rumor? True it is, certainly, that of our numbers
+      some are Protestants, to whom religious toleration would be a welcome
+      boon; but even they have never forgotten what they owe to their sovereign.
+      It is not fear of the king&rsquo;s anger which instigated us to hold this
+      assembly. The king is good, and we still hope that he is also just. It
+      cannot, therefore, be pardon that we seek from him, and just as little can
+      it be oblivion that we solicit for our actions, which are far from being
+      the least considerable of the services we have at different times rendered
+      his majesty. Again, it is true, that the delegates of the Lutherans and
+      Calvinists are with us in St. Truyen; nay, more, they have delivered to us
+      a petition which, annexed to this memorial, we here present to your
+      highness. In it they offer to go unarmed to their preachings if the league
+      will tender its security to them, and be willing to engage for a general
+      meeting of the states. We have thought it incumbent upon us to communicate
+      both these matters to you, for our guarantee can have no force unless it
+      is at the same time confirmed by your highness and some of your principal
+      counsellors. Among these no one can be so well acquainted with the
+      circumstances of our cause, or be so upright in intention towards us, as
+      the Prince of Orange and Counts Horn and Egmont. We gladly accept these
+      three as meditators if the necessary powers are given to them, and
+      assurance is afforded us that no troops will be enlisted without their
+      knowledge. This guarantee, however, we only require for a given period,
+      before the expiration of which it will rest with the king whether he will
+      cancel or confirm it for the future. If the first should be his will it
+      will then be but fair that time should be allowed us to place our persons
+      and our property in security; for this three weeks will be sufficient.
+      Finally, and in conclusion, we on our part also pledge ourselves to
+      undertake nothing new without the concurrence of those three persons, our
+      mediators.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The league would not have ventured to hold such bold language if it had
+      not reckoned on powerful support and protection; but the regent was as
+      little in a condition to concede their demands as she was incapable of
+      vigorously opposing them. Deserted in Brussels by most of her counsellors
+      of state, who had either departed to their provinces, or under some
+      pretext or other had altogether withdrawn from public affairs; destitute
+      as well of advisers as of money (the latter want had compelled her, in the
+      first instance, to appeal to the liberality of the clergy; when this
+      proved insufficient, to have recourse to a lottery), dependent on orders
+      from Spain, which were ever expected and never received, she was at last
+      reduced to the degrading expedient of entering into a negotiation with the
+      confederates in St. Truyen, that they should wait twenty-four days longer
+      for the king&rsquo;s resolution before they took any further steps. It was
+      certainly surprising that the king still continued to delay a decisive
+      answer to the petition, although it was universally known that he had
+      answered letters of a much later date, and that the regent earnestly
+      importuned him on this head. She had also, on the commencement of the
+      public preaching, immediately despatched the Marquis of Bergen after the
+      Baron of Montigny, who, as an eye-witness of these new occurrences, could
+      confirm her written statements, to move the king to an earlier decision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. In the meanwhile, the Flemish ambassador, Florence of Montigny, had
+      arrived in Madrid, where he was received with a great show of
+      consideration. His instructions were to press for the abolition of the
+      Inquisition and the mitigation of the edicts; the augmentation of the
+      council of state, and the incorporation with it of the two other councils;
+      the calling of a general assembly of the states, and, lastly, to urge the
+      solicitations of the regent for a personal visit from the king. As the
+      latter, however, was only desirous of gaining time, Montigny was put off
+      with fair words until the arrival of his coadjutor, without whom the king
+      was not willing to come to any final determination. In the meantime,
+      Montigny had every day and at any hour that he desired, an audience with
+      the king, who also commanded that on all occasions the despatches of the
+      duchess and the answers to them should be communicated to himself. He was,
+      too, frequently admitted to the council for Belgian affairs, where he
+      never omitted to call the king&rsquo;s attention to the necessity of a general
+      assembly of the states, as being the only means of successfully meeting
+      the troubles which had arisen, and as likely to supersede the necessity of
+      any other measure. He moreover impressed upon him that a general and
+      unreserved indemnity for the past would alone eradicate the distrust,
+      which was the source of all existing complaints, and would always
+      counteract the good effects of every measure, however well advised. He
+      ventured, from a thorough acquaintance with circumstances and accurate
+      knowledge of the character of his countrymen, to pledge himself to the
+      king for their inviolable loyalty, as soon as they should be convinced of
+      the honesty of his intentions by the straightforwardness of his
+      proceedings; while, on the contrary, he assured him that there would be no
+      hopes of it as long as they were not relieved of the fear of being made
+      the victims of the oppression, and sacrificed to the envy of the Spanish
+      nobles. At last Montigny&rsquo;s coadjutor made his appearance, and the objects
+      of their embassy were made the subject of repeated deliberations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. The king was at that time at his palace at Segovia, where also he
+      assembled his state council. The members were: the Duke of Alva; Don Gomez
+      de Figueroa; the Count of Feria; Don Antonio of Toledo, Grand Commander of
+      St. John; Don John Manriquez of Lara, Lord Steward to the Queen; Ruy
+      Gomez, Prince of Eboli and Count of Melito; Louis of Quixada, Master of
+      the Horse to the Prince; Charles Tyssenacque, President of the Council for
+      the Netherlands; Hopper, State Counsellor and Keeper of the Seal; and
+      State Counsellor Corteville. The sitting of the council was protracted for
+      several days; both ambassadors were in attendance, but the king was not
+      himself present. Here, then, the conduct of the Belgian nobles was
+      examined by Spanish eyes; step by step it was traced back to the most
+      distant source; circumstances were brought into relation with others
+      which, in reality, never had any connection; and what had been the
+      offspring of the moment was made out to be a well-matured and far-sighted
+      plan. All the different transactions and attempts of the nobles which had
+      been governed solely by chance, and to which the natural order of events
+      alone assigned their particular shape and succession, were said to be the
+      result of a preconcerted scheme for introducing universal liberty in
+      religion, and for placing all the power of the state in the hands of the
+      nobles. The first step to this end was, it was said, the violent expulsion
+      of the minister Granvella, against whom nothing could be charged, except
+      that he was in possession of an authority which they preferred to exercise
+      themselves. The second step was sending Count Egmont to Spain to urge the
+      abolition of the Inquisition and the mitigation of the penal statutes, and
+      to prevail on the king to consent to an augmentation of the council of
+      state. As, however, this could not be surreptitiously obtained in so quiet
+      a manner, the attempt was made to extort it from the court by a third and
+      more daring step&mdash;by a formal conspiracy, the league of the Gueux.
+      The fourth step to the same end was the present embassy, which at length
+      boldly cast aside the mask, and by the insane proposals which they were
+      not ashamed to make to their king, clearly brought to light the object to
+      which all the preceding steps had tended. Could the abolition of the
+      Inquisition, they exclaimed, lead to anything less than a complete freedom
+      of belief? Would not the guiding helm of conscience be lost with it? Did
+      not the proposed &ldquo;moderation&rdquo; introduce an absolute impunity for all
+      heresies? What was the project of augmenting the council of state and of
+      suppressing the two other councils but a complete remodelling of the
+      government of the country in favor of the nobles?&mdash;a general
+      constitution for all the provinces of the Netherlands? Again, what was
+      this compact of the ecclesiastics in their public preachings but a third
+      conspiracy, entered into with the very same objects which the league of
+      the nobles in the council of state and that of the Gueux had failed to
+      effect?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, it was confessed that whatever might be the source of the evil it
+      was not on that account the less important and imminent. The immediate
+      personal presence of the king in Brussels was, indubitably, the most
+      efficacious means speedily and thoroughly to remedy it. As, however, it
+      was already so late in the year, and the preparations alone for the
+      journey would occupy the short tine which was to elapse before the winter
+      set in; as the stormy season of the year, as well as the danger from
+      French and English ships, which rendered the sea unsafe, did not allow of
+      the king&rsquo;s taking the northern route, which was the shorter of the two; as
+      the rebels themselves meanwhile might become possessed of the island of
+      Walcheren, and oppose the lauding of the king; for all these reasons, the
+      journey was not to be thought of before the spring, and in absence of the
+      only complete remedy it was necessary to rest satisfied with a partial
+      expedient. The council, therefore, agreed to propose to the king, in the
+      first place, that he should recall the papal Inquisition from the
+      provinces and rest satisfied with that of the bishops; in the second
+      place, that a new plan for the mitigation of the edicts should be
+      projected, by which the honor of religion and of the king would be better
+      preserved than it had been in the transmitted &ldquo;moderation;&rdquo; thirdly, that
+      in order to reassure the minds of the people, and to leave no means
+      untried, the king should impart to the regent full powers to extend free
+      grace and pardon to all those who had not already committed any heinous
+      crime, or who had not as yet been condemned by any judicial process; but
+      from the benefit of this indemnity the preachers and all who harbored them
+      were to be excepted. On the other hand, all leagues, associations, public
+      assemblies, and preachings were to be henceforth prohibited under heavy
+      penalties; if, however, this prohibition should be infringed, the regent
+      was to be at liberty to employ the regular troops and garrisons for the
+      forcible reduction of the refractory, and also, in case of necessity, to
+      enlist new troops, and to name the commanders over them according as
+      should be deemed advisable. Finally, it would have a good effect if his
+      majesty would write to the most eminent towns, prelates, and leaders of
+      the nobility, to some in his own hand, and to all in a gracious tone, in
+      order to stimulate their zeal in his service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this resolution of his council of state was submitted to the king his
+      first measure was to command public processions and prayers in all the
+      most considerable places of the kingdom and also of the Netherlands,
+      imploring the Divine guidance in his decision. He appeared in his own
+      person in the council of state in order to approve this resolution and
+      render it effective. He declared the general assembly of the states to be
+      useless and entirely abolished it. He, however, bound himself to retain
+      some German regiments in his pay, and, that they might serve with the more
+      zeal, to pay them their long-standing arrears. He commanded the regent in
+      a private letter to prepare secretly for war; three thousand horse and ten
+      thousand infantry were to be assembled by her in Germany, to which end he
+      furnished her with the necessary letters and transmitted to her a sum of
+      three hundred thousand gold florins. He also accompanied this resolution
+      with several autograph letters to some private individuals and towns, in
+      which he thanked them in the most gracious terms for the zeal which they
+      had already displayed in his service and called upon them to manifest the
+      same for the future. Notwithstanding that he was inexorable on the most
+      important point, and the very one on which the nation most particularly
+      insisted&mdash;the convocation of the states, notwithstanding that his
+      limited and ambiguous pardon was as good as none, and depended too much on
+      arbitrary will to calm the public mind; notwithstanding, in fine, that he
+      rejected, as too lenient, the proposed &ldquo;moderation,&rdquo; but which, on the
+      part of the people, was complained of as too severe; still he had this
+      time made an unwonted step in the favor of the nation; he had sacrificed
+      to it the papal Inquisition and left only the episcopal, to which it was
+      accustomed. The nation had found more equitable judges in the Spanish
+      council than they could reasonably have hoped for. Whether at another time
+      and under other circumstances this wise concession would have had the
+      desired effect we will not pretend to say. It came too late; when (1566)
+      the royal letters reached Brussels the attack on images had already
+      commenced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK IV.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE ICONOCLASTS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be sought
+      for so far back as many historians affect to trace them. It is certainly
+      possible, and very probable, that the French Protestants did industriously
+      exert themselves to raise in the Netherlands a nursery for their religion,
+      and to prevent by all means in their power an amicable adjustment of
+      differences between their brethren in the faith in that quarter and the
+      King of Spain, in order to give that implacable foe of their party enough
+      to do in his own country. It is natural, therefore, to suppose that their
+      agents in the provinces left nothing undone to encourage their oppressed
+      brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their animosity against the ruling
+      church, and by exaggerating the oppression under which they sighed to
+      hurry them imperceptibly into illegal courses. It is possible, too, that
+      there were many among the confederates who thought to help out their own
+      lost cause by increasing the number of their partners in guilt; who
+      thought they could not otherwise maintain the legal character of their
+      league unless the unfortunate results against which they had warned the
+      king really came to pass, and who hoped in the general guilt of all to
+      conceal their own individual criminality. It is, however, incredible that
+      the outbreak of the Iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan,
+      preconcerted, as it is alleged, at the convent of St. Truyen. It does not
+      seem likely that in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of
+      whom the greater part were the adherents of popery, an individual should
+      be found insane enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not
+      so much injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under
+      foot all respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and
+      which could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate.
+      Besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in its
+      execution altogether, too monstrous to have been anything more than the
+      offspring of the moment in which it saw the light; it seemed to flow so
+      naturally from the circumstances which preceded it that it does not
+      require to be traced far back to remount to its origin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, made brutal by
+      harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town,
+      scared from place to place and driven almost to despair, were compelled to
+      worship their God, and to hide like a work of darkness the universal,
+      sacred privilege of humanity. Before their eyes proudly rose the temples
+      of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged in ease
+      their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven from the
+      walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced, here in
+      the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful secrecy to
+      worship the same God; cast out from civil society into a state of nature,
+      and reminded in one dread moment of the rights of that state! The greater
+      their superiority of numbers the more unnatural did their lot appear; with
+      wonder they perceive the truth. The free heaven, the arms lying ready, the
+      frenzy in their brains and fury in their hearts combine to aid the
+      suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the occasion calls; no
+      premeditation is necessary where all eyes at once declare consent; the
+      resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely uttered; ready for any
+      unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what, the furious band rushes
+      onwards. The smiling prosperity of the hostile religion insults the
+      poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized temples casts contempt on
+      their proscribed belief; every cross they set up upon the highway, every
+      image of the saints that they meet, is a trophy erected over their own
+      humiliation, and they all must be removed by their avenging hands.
+      Fanaticism suggests these detestable proceedings, but base passions carry
+      them into execution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. The commencement of the attack on images took place in West Flanders
+      and Artois, in the districts between Lys and the sea. A frantic herd of
+      artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes, beggars,
+      vagabonds, and thieves, about three hundred in number, furnished with
+      clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords (a few only were provided with
+      swords or fire arms), cast themselves, with fanatical fury, into the
+      villages and hamlets near St. Omer, and breaking open the gates of such
+      churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow everywhere the
+      altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and trample them under
+      foot. With their excitement increased by its indulgence, and reinforced by
+      newcomers, they press on by the direct road to Ypres, where they can count
+      on the support of a strong body of Calvinists. Unopposed, they break into
+      the cathedral, and mounting on ladders they hammer to pieces the pictures,
+      hew down with axes the pulpits and pews, despoil the altars of their
+      ornaments, and steal the holy vessels. This example was quickly followed
+      in Menin, Comines, Verrich, Lille, and Oudenard; in a few days the same
+      fury spreads through the whole of Flanders. At the very time when the
+      first tidings of this occurrence arrived Antwerp was swarming with a crowd
+      of houseless people, which the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin had
+      brought together in that city. Even the presence of the Prince of Orange
+      was hardly sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned to
+      imitate the doings of their brethren in St. Omer; but an order from the
+      court which summoned him to Brussels, where the regent was just assembling
+      her council of state, in order to lay before them the royal letters,
+      obliged him to abandon Antwerp to the outrages of this band. His departure
+      was the signal for tumult. Apprehensive of the lawless violence of which,
+      on the very first day of the festival, the mob had given indications in
+      derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying about the image of the
+      Virgin for a short time, brought it for safety to the choir, without, as
+      formerly, setting it up in the middle of the church. This incited some
+      mischievous boys from among the people to pay it a visit there, and
+      jokingly inquire why she had so soon absented herself from among them?
+      Others mounting the pulpit, mimicked the preacher, and challenged the
+      papists to a dispute. A Roman Catholic waterman, indignant at this jest,
+      attempted to pull them down, and blows were exchanged in the preacher&rsquo;s
+      seat. Similar scenes occurred on the following evening. The numbers
+      increased, and many came already provided with suspicious implements and
+      secret weapons. At last it came into the head of one of them to cry, &ldquo;Long
+      live the Gueux!&rdquo; immediately the whole band took up the cry, and the image
+      of the Virgin was called upon to do the same. The few Roman Catholics who
+      were present, and who had given up the hope of effecting anything against
+      these desperadoes, left the church after locking all the doors except one.
+      So soon as they found themselves alone it was proposed to sing one of the
+      psalms in the new version, which was prohibited by the government. While
+      they were yet singing they all, as at a given signal, rushed furiously
+      upon the image of the Virgin, piercing it with swords and daggers, and
+      striking off its head; thieves and prostitutes tore the great wax-lights
+      from the altar, and lighted them to the work. The beautiful organ of the
+      church, a masterpiece of the art of that period, was broken to pieces, all
+      the paintings were effaced, the statues smashed to atoms. A crucifix, the
+      size of life, which was set up between the two thieves, opposite the high
+      altar, an ancient and highly valued piece of workmanship, was pulled to
+      the ground with cords, and cut to pieces with axes, while the two
+      malefactors at its side were respectfully spared. The holy wafers were
+      strewed on the ground and trodden under foot; in the wine used for the
+      Lord&rsquo;s Supper, which was accidentally found there, the health of the Gueux
+      was drunk, while with the holy oil they rubbed their shoes. The very tombs
+      were opened, and the half-decayed corpses torn up and trampled on. All
+      this was done with as much wonderful regularity as if each had previously
+      had his part assigned to him; every one worked into his neighbor&rsquo;s hands;
+      no one, dangerous as the work was, met with injury; in the midst of thick
+      darkness, which the tapers only served to render more sensible, with heavy
+      masses falling on all sides, and though on the very topmost steps of the
+      ladders, they scuffled with each other for the honors of demolition&mdash;yet
+      no one suffered the least injury. In spite of the many tapers which
+      lighted them below in their villanous work not a single individual was
+      recognized. With incredible rapidity was the dark deed accomplished; a
+      number of men, at most a hundred, despoiled in a few hours a temple of
+      seventy altars&mdash;after St. Peter&rsquo;s at Rome, perhaps the largest and
+      most magnificent in Christendom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The devastation of the cathedral did not content them; with torches and
+      tapers purloined from it they set out at midnight to perform a similar
+      work of havoc on the remaining churches, cloisters, and chapels. The
+      destructive hordes increased with every fresh exploit of infamy, and
+      thieves were allured by the opportunity. They carried away whatever they
+      found of value&mdash;the consecrated vessels, altar-cloths, money, and
+      vestments; in the cellars of the cloisters they drank to intoxication; to
+      escape greater indignities the monks and nuns abandoned everything to
+      them. The confused noises of these riotous acts had startled the citizens
+      from their first sleep; but night made the danger appear more alarming
+      than it really was, and instead of hastening to defend their churches the
+      citizens fortified themselves in their houses, and in terror and anxiety
+      awaited the dawn of morning. The rising sun at length revealed the
+      devastation which had been going on during the night; but the havoc did
+      not terminate with the darkness. Some churches and cloisters still
+      remained uninjured; the same fate soon overtook them also. The work of
+      destruction lasted three whole days. Alarmed at last lest the frantic mob,
+      when it could no longer find anything sacred to destroy, should make a
+      similar attack on lay property and plunder their ware houses; and
+      encouraged, too, by discovering how small was the number of the
+      depredators, the wealthier citizens ventured to show themselves in arms at
+      the doors of their houses. All the gates of the town were locked but one,
+      through which the Iconoclasts broke forth to renew the same atrocities in
+      the rural districts. On one occasion only during all this time did the
+      municipal officers venture to exert their authority, so strongly were they
+      held in awe by the superior power of the Calvinists, by whom, as it was
+      believed, this mob of miscreants was hired. The injury inflicted by this
+      work of devastation was incalculable. In the church of the Virgin it was
+      estimated at not less than four hundred thousand gold florins. Many
+      precious works of art were destroyed; many valuable manuscripts; many
+      monuments of importance to history and to diplomacy were thereby lost. The
+      city magistrate ordered the plundered articles to be restored on pain of
+      death; in enforcing this restitution he was effectually assisted by the
+      preachers of the Reformers, who blushed for their followers. Much was in
+      this manner recovered, and the ringleaders of the mob, less animated,
+      perhaps, by the desire of plunder than by fanaticism and revenge, or
+      perhaps being ruled by some unseen head, resolved for the future to guard
+      against these excesses, and to make their attacks in regular bands and in
+      better order.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The town of Ghent, meanwhile, trembled for a like destiny. Immediately on
+      the first news of the outbreak of the Iconoclasts in Antwerp the
+      magistrate of the former town with the most eminent citizens had bound
+      themselves to repel by force the church spoilers; when this oath was
+      proposed to the commonalty also the voices were divided, and many declared
+      openly that they were by no means disposed to hinder so devout a work. In
+      this state of affairs the Roman Catholic clergy found it advisable to
+      deposit in the citadel the most precious movables of their churches, and
+      private families were permitted in like manner to provide for the safety
+      of offerings which had been made by their ancestors. Meanwhile all the
+      services were discontinued, the courts of justice were closed; and, like a
+      town in momentary danger of being stormed by the enemy, men trembled in
+      expectation of what was to come. At last an insane band of rioters
+      ventured to send delegates to the governor with this impudent message:
+      &ldquo;They were ordered,&rdquo; they said, &ldquo;by their chiefs to take the images out of
+      the churches, as had been done in the other towns. If they were not
+      opposed it should be done quietly and with as little injury as possible,
+      but otherwise they would storm the churches;&rdquo; nay, they went so far in
+      their audacity as to ask the aid of the officers of justice therein. At
+      first the magistrate was astounded at this demand; upon reflection,
+      however, and in the hope that the presence of the officers of law would
+      perhaps restrain their excesses, he did not scruple to grant their
+      request.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Tournay the churches were despoiled of their ornaments within sight of
+      the garrison, who could not be induced to march against the Iconoclasts.
+      As the latter had been told that the gold and silver vessels and other
+      ornaments of the church were buried underground, they turned up the whole
+      floor, and exposed, among others, the body of the Duke Adolph of Gueldres,
+      who fell in battle at the head of the rebellious burghers of Ghent, and
+      had been buried herein Tournay. This Adolph had waged war against his
+      father, and had dragged the vanquished old man some miles barefoot to
+      prison&mdash;an indignity which Charles the Bold afterwards retaliated on
+      him. And now, again, after more than half a century fate avenged a crime
+      against nature by another against religion; fanaticism was to desecrate
+      that which was holy in order to expose once more to execration the bones
+      of a parricide. Other Iconoclasts from Valenciennes united themselves with
+      those of Tournay to despoil all the cloisters of the surrounding district,
+      during which a valuable library, the accumulation of centuries, was
+      destroyed by fire. The evil soon penetrated into Brabant, also Malines,
+      Herzogenbusch, Breda, and Bergen-op-Zoom experienced the same fate. The
+      provinces, Namur and Luxemburg, with a part of Artois and of Hainault, had
+      alone the good fortune to escape the contagion of those outrages. In the
+      short period of four or five days four hundred cloisters were plundered in
+      Brabant and Flanders alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The northern Netherlands were soon seized with the same mania which had
+      raged so violently through the southern. The Dutch towns, Amsterdam,
+      Leyden, and Gravenhaag, had the alternative of either voluntarily
+      stripping their churches of their ornaments, or of seeing them violently
+      torn from there; the determination of their magistrates saved Delft,
+      Haarlem, Gouda, and Rotterdam from the devastation. The same acts of
+      violence were practised also in the islands of Zealand; the town of
+      Utrecht and many places in Overyssel and Groningen suffered the same
+      storms. Friesland was protected by the Count of Aremberg, and Gueldres by
+      the Count of Megen from a like fate. An exaggerated report of these
+      disturbances which came in from the provinces spread the alarm to
+      Brussels, where the regent had just made preparations for an extraordinary
+      session of the council of state. Swarms of Iconoclasts already penetrated
+      into Brabant; and the metropolis, where they were certain of powerful
+      support, was threatened by them with a renewal of the same atrocities then
+      under the very eyes of majesty. The regent, in fear for her personal
+      safety, which, even in the heart of the country, surrounded by provincial
+      governors and Knights of the Fleece, she fancied insecure, was already
+      meditating a flight to Mons, in Hainault, which town the Duke of Arschot
+      held for her as a place of refuge, that she might not be driven to any
+      undignified concession by falling into the power of the Iconoclasts. In
+      vain did the knights pledge life and blood for her safety, and urgently
+      beseech her not to expose them to disgrace by so dishonorable a flight, as
+      though they were wanting in courage or zeal to protect their princess; to
+      no purpose did the town of Brussels itself supplicate her not to abandon
+      them in this extremity, and vainly did the council of state make the most
+      impressive representations that so pusillanimous a step would not fail to
+      encourage still more the insolence of the rebels; she remained immovable
+      in this desperate condition. As messenger after messenger arrived to warn
+      her that the Iconoclasts were advancing against the metropolis, she issued
+      orders to hold everything in readiness for her flight, which was to take
+      place quietly with the first approach of morning. At break of day the aged
+      Viglius presented himself before her, whom, with the view of gratifying
+      the nobles, she had been long accustomed to neglect. He demanded to know
+      the meaning of the preparations he observed, upon which she at last
+      confessed that she intended to make her escape, and assured him that he
+      would himself do well to secure his own safety by accompanying her. &ldquo;It is
+      now two years,&rdquo; said the old man to her, &ldquo;that you might have anticipated
+      these results. Because I have spoken more freely than your courtiers you
+      have closed your princely ear to me, which has been open only to
+      pernicious suggestions.&rdquo; The regent allowed that she had been in fault,
+      and had been blinded by an appearance of probity; but that she was now
+      driven by necessity. &ldquo;Are you resolved,&rdquo; answered Viglius, &ldquo;resolutely to
+      insist upon obedience to the royal commands?&rdquo; &ldquo;I am,&rdquo; answered the
+      duchess. &ldquo;Then have recourse to the great secret of the art of government,
+      to dissimulation, and pretend to join the princes until, with their
+      assistance, you have repelled this storm. Show them a confidence which you
+      are far from feeling in your heart. Make them take an oath to you that
+      they will make common cause in resisting these disorders. Trust those as
+      your friends who show themselves willing to do it; but be careful to avoid
+      frightening away the others by contemptuous treatment.&rdquo; Viglius kept the
+      regent engaged in conversation until the princes arrived, who he was quite
+      certain would in nowise consent to her flight. When they appeared he
+      quietly withdrew in order to issue commands to the town council to close
+      the gates of the city and prohibit egress to every one connected with the
+      court. This last measure effected more than all the representations had
+      done. The regent, who saw herself a prisoner in her own capital, now
+      yielded to the persuasions of the nobles, who pledged themselves to stand
+      by her to the last drop of blood. She made Count Mansfeld commandant of
+      the town, who hastily increased the garrison and armed her whole court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The state council was now held, who finally came to a resolution that it
+      was expedient to yield to the emergency; to permit the preachings in those
+      places where they had already commenced; to make known the abolition of
+      the papal Inquisition; to declare the old edicts against the heretics
+      repealed, and before all things to grant the required indemnity to the
+      confederate nobles, without limitation or condition. At the same time the
+      Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Horn, with some others, were appointed
+      to confer on this head with the deputies of the league. Solemnly and in
+      the most unequivocal terms the members of the league were declared free
+      from all responsibility by reason of the petition which had been
+      presented, and all royal officers and authorities were enjoined to act in
+      conformity with this assurance, and neither now nor for the future to
+      inflict any injury upon any of the confederates on account of the said
+      petition. In return, the confederates bound themselves to be true and
+      loyal servants of his majesty, to contribute to the utmost of their power
+      to the re-establishment of order and the punishment of the Iconiclasts, to
+      prevail on the people to lay down their arms, and to afford active
+      assistance to the king against internal and foreign enemies. Securities,
+      formally drawn up and subscribed by the plenipotentiaries of both sides,
+      were exchanged between them; the letter of indemnity, in particular, was
+      signed by the duchess with her own hand and attested by her seal. It was
+      only after a severe struggle, and with tears in her eyes, that the regent,
+      as she tremblingly confessed to the king, was at last induced to consent
+      to this painful step. She threw the whole blame upon the nobles, who had
+      kept her a prisoner in Brussels and compelled her to it by force. Above
+      all she complained bitterly of the Prince of Orange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This business accomplished, all the governors hastened to their provinces;
+      Egmont to Flanders, Orange to Antwerp. In the latter city the Protestants
+      had seized the despoiled and plundered churches, and, as if by the rights
+      of war, had taken possession of them. The prince restored them to their
+      lawful owners, gave orders for their repair, and re-established in them
+      the Roman Catholic form of worship. Three of the Iconoclasts, who had been
+      convicted, paid the penalty of their sacrilege on the gallows; some of the
+      rioters were banished, and many others underwent punishment. Afterwards he
+      assembled four deputies of each dialect, or nations, as they were termed,
+      and agreed with them that, as the approaching winter made preaching in the
+      open air impossible, three places within the town should be granted then,
+      where they might either erect new churches, or convert private houses to
+      that purpose. That they should there perform their service every Sunday
+      and holiday, and always at the same hour, but on no other days. If,
+      however, no holiday happened in the week, Wednesday should be kept by them
+      instead. No religious party should maintain more than two clergymen, and
+      these must be native Netherlanders, or at least have received
+      naturalization from some considerable town of the provinces. All should
+      take an oath to submit in civil matters to the municipal authorities and
+      the Prince of Orange. They should be liable, like the other citizens, to
+      all imposts. No one should attend sermons armed; a sword, however, should
+      be allowed to each. No preacher should assail the ruling religion from the
+      pulpit, nor enter upon controverted points, beyond what the doctrine
+      itself rendered unavoidable, or what might refer to morals. No psalm
+      should be sung by them out of their appointed district. At the election of
+      their preachers, churchwardens, and deacons, as also at all their other
+      consistorial meetings, a person from the government should on each
+      occasion be present to report their proceedings to the prince and the
+      magistrate. As to all other points they should enjoy the same protection
+      as the ruling religion. This arrangement was to hold good until the king,
+      with consent of the states, should determine otherwise; but then it should
+      be free to every one to quit the country with his family and his property.
+      From Antwerp the prince hastened to Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, in
+      order to make there similar arrangements for the restoration of peace;
+      Antwerp, however, was, during his absence, entrusted to the
+      superintendence of Count Howstraten, who was a mild man, and although an
+      adherent of the league, had never failed in loyalty to the king. It is
+      evident that in this agreement the prince had far overstepped the powers
+      entrusted to him, and though in the service of the king had acted exactly
+      like a sovereign lord. But he alleged in excuse that it would be far
+      easier to the magistrate to watch these numerous and powerful sects if he
+      himself interfered in their worship, and if this took place under his
+      eyes, than if he were to leave the sectarians to themselves in the open
+      air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Gueldres Count Megen showed more severity, and entirely suppressed the
+      Protestant sects and banished all their preachers. In Brussels the regent
+      availed herself of the advantage derived from her personal presence to put
+      a stop to the public preaching, even outside the town. When, in reference
+      to this, Count Nassau reminded her in the name of the confederates of the
+      compact which had been entered into, and demanded if the town of Brussels
+      had inferior rights to the other towns? she answered, if there were public
+      preachings in Brussels before the treaty, it was not her work if they were
+      now discontinued. At the same time, however, she secretly gave the
+      citizens to understand that the first who should venture to attend a
+      public sermon should certainly be hung. Thus she kept the capital at least
+      faithful to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was more difficult to quiet Tournay, which office was committed to
+      Count Horn, in the place of Montigny, to whose government the town
+      properly belonged. Horn commanded the Protestants to vacate the churches
+      immediately, and to content themselves with a house of worship outside the
+      walls. To this their preachers objected that the churches were erected for
+      the use of the people, by which terms, they said, not the heads but the
+      majority were meant. If they were expelled from the Roman Catholic
+      churches it was at least fair that they should be furnished with money for
+      erecting churches of their own. To this the magistrate replied even if the
+      Catholic party was the weaker it was indisputably the better. The erection
+      of churches should not be forbidden them; they could not, however, after
+      the injury which the town had already suffered from their brethren, the
+      Iconoclasts, very well expect that it should be further burdened by the
+      erection of their churches. After long quarrelling on both sides, the
+      Protestants contrived to retain possession of some churches, which, for
+      greater security, they occupied with guards. In Valenciennes, too, the
+      Protestants refused submission to the conditions which were offered to
+      them through Philip St. Aldegonde, Baron of Noircarmes, to whom, in the
+      absence of the Marquis of Bergen, the government of that place was
+      entrusted. A reformed preacher, La Grange, a Frenchman by birth, who by
+      his eloquence had gained a complete command over them, urged them to
+      insist on having churches of their own within the town, and to threaten in
+      case of refusal to deliver it up to the Huguenots. A sense of the superior
+      numbers of the Calvinists, and of their understanding with the Huguenots,
+      prevented the governor adopting forcible measures against them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont, also to manifest his zeal for the king&rsquo;s service, did
+      violence to his natural kind-heartedness. Introducing a garrison into the
+      town of Ghent, he caused some of the most refractory rebels to be put to
+      death. The churches were reopened, the Roman Catholic worship renewed, and
+      all foreigners, without exception, ordered to quit the province. To the
+      Calvinists, but to them alone, a site was granted outside the town for the
+      erection of a church. In return they were compelled to pledge themselves
+      to the most rigid obedience to the municipal authorities, and to active
+      co-operation in the proceedings against the Iconoclasts. He pursued
+      similar measures through all Flanders and Artois. One of his noblemen,
+      John Cassembrot, Baron of Beckerzeel, and a leaguer, pursuing the
+      Iconoclasts at the head of some horsemen of the league, surprised a band
+      of them just as they were about to break into a town of Hainault, near
+      Grammont, in Flanders, and took thirty of them prisoners, of whom
+      twenty-two were hung upon the spot, and the rest whipped out of the
+      province.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Services of such importance one would have thought scarcely deserved to be
+      rewarded with the displeasure of the king; what Orange, Egmont, and Horn
+      performed on this occasion evinced at least as much zeal and had as
+      beneficial a result as anything that was accomplished by Noircarmes,
+      Megen, and Aremberg, to whom the king vouchsafed to show his gratitude
+      both by words and deeds. But their zeal, their services came too late.
+      They had spoken too loudly against his edicts, had been too vehement in
+      their opposition to his measures, had insulted him too grossly in the
+      person of his minister Granvella, to leave room for forgiveness. No time,
+      no repentance, no atonement, however great, could efface this one offence
+      from the memory of their sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip lay sick at Segovia when the news of the outbreak of the
+      Iconoclasts and the uncatholic agreement entered into with the Reformers
+      reached him. At the same time the regent renewed her urgent entreaty for
+      his personal visit, of which also all the letters treated, which the
+      President Viglius exchanged with his friend Hopper. Many also of the
+      Belgian nobles addressed special letters to the king, as, for instance,
+      Egmont, Mansfeld, Megen, Aremberg, Noircarmes, and Barlaimont, in which
+      they reported the state of their provinces, and at once explained and
+      justified the arrangements they had made with the disaffected. Just at
+      this period a letter arrived from the German Emperor, in which he
+      recommended Philip to act with clemency towards his Belgian subjects, and
+      offered his mediation in the matter. He had also written direct to the
+      regent herself in Brussels, and added letters to the several leaders of
+      the nobility, which, however, were never delivered. Having conquered the
+      first anger which this hateful occurrence had excited, the king referred
+      the whole matter to his council.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The party of Granvella, which had the preponderance in the council, was
+      diligent in tracing a close connection between the behavior of the Flemish
+      nobles and the excesses of the church desecrators, which showed itself in
+      similarity of the demands of both parties, and especially the time which
+      the latter chose for their outbreak. In the same month, they observed, in
+      which the nobles had sent in their three articles of pacification, the
+      Iconoclasts had commenced their work; on the evening of the very day that
+      Orange quitted Antwerp the churches too were plundered. During the whole
+      tumult not a finger was lifted to take up arms; all the expedients
+      employed were invariably such as turned to the advantage of the sects,
+      while, on the contrary, all others were neglected which tended to the
+      maintenance of the pure faith. Many of the Iconoclasts, it was further
+      said, had confessed that all that they had done was with the knowledge and
+      consent of the princes; though surely nothing was more natural, than for
+      such worthless wretches to seek to screen with great names a crime which
+      they had undertaken solely on their own account. A writing also was
+      produced in which the high nobility were made to promise their services to
+      the &ldquo;Gueux,&rdquo; to procure the assembly of the states general, the
+      genuineness of which, however, the former strenuously denied. Four
+      different seditious parties were, they said, to be noticed in the
+      Netherlands, which were all more or less connected with one another, and
+      all worked towards a common end. One of these was those bands of
+      reprobates who desecrated the churches; a second consisted of the various
+      sects who had hired the former to perform their infamous acts; the
+      &ldquo;Gueux,&rdquo; who had raised themselves to be the defenders of the sects were
+      the third; and the leading nobles who were inclined to the &ldquo;Gueux&rdquo; by
+      feudal connections, relationship, and friendship, composed the fourth.
+      All, consequently, were alike fatally infected, and all equally guilty.
+      The government had not merely to guard against a few isolated members; it
+      had to contend with the whole body. Since, then, it was ascertained that
+      the people were the seduced party, and the encouragement to rebellion came
+      from higher quarters, it would be wise and expedient to alter the plan
+      hitherto adopted, which now appeared defective in several respects.
+      Inasmuch as all classes had been oppressed without distinction, and as
+      much of severity shown to the lower orders as of contempt to the nobles,
+      both had been compelled to lend support to one another; a party had been
+      given to the latter and leaders to the former. Unequal treatment seemed an
+      infallible expedient to separate them; the mob, always timid and indolent
+      when not goaded by the extremity of distress, would very soon desert its
+      adored protectors and quickly learn to see in their fate well-merited
+      retribution if only it was not driven to share it with them. It was
+      therefore proposed to the king to treat the great multitude for the future
+      with more leniency, and to direct all measures of severity against the
+      leaders of the faction. In order, however, to avoid the appearance of a
+      disgraceful concession, it was considered advisable to accept the
+      mediation of the Emperor, and to impute to it alone and not to the justice
+      of their demands, that the king out of pure generosity had granted to his
+      Belgian subjects as much as they asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The question of the king&rsquo;s personal visit to the provinces was now again
+      mooted, and all the difficulties which had formerly been raised on this
+      head appeared to vanish before the present emergency. &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said
+      Tyssenacque and Hopper, &ldquo;the juncture has really arrived at which the
+      king, according to his own declaration formerly made to Count Egmont, will
+      be ready to risk a thousand lives. To restore quiet to Ghent Charles V.
+      had undertaken a troublesome and dangerous journey through an enemy&rsquo;s
+      country. This was done for the sake of a single town; and now the peace,
+      perhaps even the possession, of all the United Provinces was at stake.&rdquo;
+       This was the opinion of the majority; and the journey of the king was
+      looked upon as a matter from which he could not possibly any longer
+      escape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The question now was, whether he should enter upon it with a numerous body
+      of attendants or with few; and here the Prince of Eboli and Count Figueroa
+      were at issue with the Duke of Alva, as their private interests clashed.
+      If the king journeyed at the head of an army the presence of the Duke of
+      Alva would be indispensable, who, on the other hand, if matters were
+      peaceably adjusted, would be less required, and must make room for his
+      rivals. &ldquo;An army,&rdquo; said Figueroa, who spoke first, &ldquo;would alarm the
+      princes through whose territories it must march, and perhaps even be
+      opposed by them; it would, moreover, unnecessarily burden the provinces
+      for whose tranquillization it was intended, and add a new grievance to the
+      many which had already driven the people to such lengths. It would press
+      indiscriminately upon all of the king&rsquo;s subjects, whereas a court of
+      justice, peaceably administering its office, would observe a marked
+      distinction between the innocent and the guilty. The unwonted violence of
+      the former course would tempt the leaders of the faction to take a more
+      alarming view of their behavior, in which wantonness and levity had the
+      chief share, and consequently induce them to proceed with deliberation and
+      union; the thought of having forced the king to such lengths would plunge
+      them into despair, in which they would be ready to undertake anything. If
+      the king placed himself in arms against the rebels he would forfeit the
+      most important advantage which he possessed over them, namely, his
+      authority as sovereign of the country, which would prove the more powerful
+      in proportion as he showed his reliance upon that alone. He would place
+      himself thereby, as it were, on a level with the rebels, who on their side
+      would not be at a loss to raise an army, as the universal hatred of the
+      Spanish forces would operate in their favor with the nation. By this
+      procedure the king would exchange the certain advantage which his position
+      as sovereign of the country conferred upon him for the uncertain result of
+      military operations, which, result as they might, would of necessity
+      destroy a portion of his own subjects. The rumor of his hostile approach
+      would outrun him time enough to allow all who were conscious of a bad
+      cause to place themselves in a posture of defence, and to combine and
+      render availing both their foreign and domestic resources. Here again the
+      general alarm would do them important service; the uncertainty who would
+      be the first object of this warlike approach would drive even the less
+      guilty to the general mass of the rebels, and force those to become
+      enemies to the king who otherwise would never have been so. If, however,
+      he was coming among them without such a formidable accompaniment; if his
+      appearance was less that of a sanguinary judge than of an angry parent,
+      the courage of all good men would rise, and the bad would perish in their
+      own security. They would persuade themselves what had happened was
+      unimportant; that it did not appear to the king of sufficient moment to
+      call for strong measures. They wished if they could to avoid the chance of
+      ruining, by acts of open violence, a cause which might perhaps yet be
+      saved; consequently, by this quiet, peaceable method everything would be
+      gained which by the other would be irretrievably lost; the loyal subject
+      would in no degree be involved in the same punishment with the culpable
+      rebel; on the latter alone would the whole weight of the royal indignation
+      descend. Lastly, the enormous expenses would be avoided which the
+      transport of a Spanish army to those distant regions would occasion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; began the Duke of Alva, &ldquo;ought the injury of some few citizens to
+      be considered when danger impends over the whole? Because a few of the
+      loyally-disposed may suffer wrong are the rebels therefore not to be
+      chastised? The offence has been universal, why then should not the
+      punishment be the same? What the rebels have incurred by their actions the
+      rest have incurred equally by their supineness. Whose fault is it but
+      theirs that the former have so far succeeded? Why did they not promptly
+      oppose their first attempts? It is said that circumstances were not so
+      desperate as to justify this violent remedy; but who will insure us that
+      they will not be so by the time the king arrives, especially when,
+      according to every fresh despatch of the regent, all is hastening with
+      rapid strides to a-ruinous consummation? Is it a hazard we ought to run to
+      leave the king to discover on his entrance into the provinces the
+      necessity of his having brought with him a military force? It is a fact
+      only too well-established that the rebels have secured foreign succors,
+      which stand ready at their command on the first signal; will it then be
+      time to think of preparing for war when the enemy pass the frontiers? Is
+      it a wise risk to rely for aid upon the nearest Belgian troops when their
+      loyalty is so little to be depended upon? And is not the regent
+      perpetually reverting in her despatches to the fact that nothing but the
+      want of a suitable military force has hitherto hindered her from enforcing
+      the edicts, and stopping the progress of the rebels? A well-disciplined
+      and formidable army alone will disappoint all their hopes of maintaining
+      themselves in opposition to their lawful sovereign, and nothing but the
+      certain prospect of destruction will make them lower their demands.
+      Besides, without an adequate force, the king cannot venture his person in
+      hostile countries; he cannot enter into any treaties with his rebellious
+      subjects which would not be derogatory to his honor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The authority of the speaker gave preponderance to his arguments, and the
+      next question was, when the king should commence his journey and what road
+      he should take. As the voyage by sea was on every account extremely
+      hazardous, he had no other alternative but either to proceed thither
+      through the passes near Trent across. Germany, or to penetrate from Savoy
+      over the Apennine Alps. The first route would expose him to the danger of
+      the attack of the German Protestants, who were not likely to view with
+      indifference the objects of his journey, and a passage over the Apennines
+      was at this late season of the year not to be attempted. Moreover, it
+      would be necessary to send for the requisite galleys from Italy, and
+      repair them, which would take several months. Finally, as the assembly of
+      the Cortes of Castile, from which he could not well be absent, was already
+      appointed for December, the journey could not be undertaken before the
+      spring. Meanwhile the regent pressed for explicit instructions how she was
+      to extricate herself from her present embarrassment, without compromising
+      the royal dignity too far; and it was necessary to do something in the
+      interval till the king could undertake to appease the troubles by his
+      personal presence. Two separate letters were therefore despatched to the
+      duchess; one public, which she could lay before the states and the council
+      chambers, and one private, which was intended for herself alone. In the
+      first, the king announced to her his restoration to health, and the
+      fortunate birth of the Infanta Clara Isabella Eugenia, afterwards wife of
+      the Archduke Albert of Austria and Princess of the Netherlands. He
+      declared to her his present firm intention to visit the Netherlands in
+      person, for which he was already making the necessary preparations. The
+      assembling of the states he refused, as he had previously done. No mention
+      was made in this letter of the agreement which she had entered into with
+      the Protestants and with the league, because he did not deem it advisable
+      at present absolutely to reject it, and he was still less disposed to
+      acknowledge its validity. On the other hand, he ordered her to reinforce
+      the army, to draw together new regiments from Germany, and to meet the
+      refractory with force. For the rest, he concluded, he relied upon the
+      loyalty of the leading nobility, among whom he knew many who were sincere
+      in their attachment both to their religion and their king. In the secret
+      letter she was again enjoined to do all in her power to prevent the
+      assembling of the states; but if the general voice should become
+      irresistible, and she was compelled to yield, she was at least to manage
+      so cautiously that the royal dignity should not suffer, and no one learn
+      the king&rsquo;s consent to their assembly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While these consultations were held in Spain the Protestants in the
+      Netherlands made the most extensive use of the privileges which had been
+      compulsorily granted to them. The erection of churches wherever it was
+      permitted was completed with incredible rapidity; young and old, gentle
+      and simple, assisted in carrying stones; women sacrificed even their
+      ornaments in order to accelerate the work. The two religious parties
+      established in several towns consistories, and a church council of their
+      own, the first move of the kind being made in Antwerp, and placed their
+      form of worship on a well-regulated footing. It was also proposed to raise
+      a common fund by subscription to meet any sudden emergency of the
+      Protestant church in general. In Antwerp a memorial was presented by the
+      Calvinists of that town to the Count of Hogstraten, in which they offered
+      to pay three millions of dollars to secure the free exercise of their
+      religion. Many copies of this writing were circulated in the Netherlands;
+      and in order to stimulate others, many had ostentatiously subscribed their
+      names to large sums. Various interpretations of this extravagant offer
+      were made by the enemies of the Reformers, and all had some appearance of
+      reason. For instance, it was urged that under the pretext of collecting
+      the requisite sum for fulfilling this engagement they hoped, without
+      suspicion, to raise funds for military purposes; for whether they should
+      be called upon to contribute for or against they would, it was thought, be
+      more ready to burden themselves with a view of preserving peace than for
+      an oppressive and devasting war. Others saw in this offer nothing more
+      than a temporary stratagem of the Protestants by which they hoped to bind
+      the court and keep it irresolute until they should have gained sufficient
+      strength to confront it. Others again declared it to be a downright
+      bravado in order to alarm the regent, and to raise the courage of their
+      own party by the display of such rich resources. But whatever was the true
+      motive of this proposition, its originators gained little by it; the
+      contributions flowed in scantily and slowly, and the court answered the
+      proposal with silent contempt. The excesses, too, of the Iconoclasts, far
+      from promoting the cause of the league and advancing the Protestants
+      interests, had done irreparable injury to both. The sight of their ruined
+      churches, which, in the language of Viglius, resembled stables more than
+      houses of God, enraged the Roman Catholics, and above all the clergy. All
+      of that religion, who had hitherto been members of the league, now forsook
+      it, alleging that even if it had not intentionally excited and encouraged
+      the excesses of the Iconoclasts it had beyond question remotely led to
+      them. The intolerance of the Calvinists who, wherever they were the ruling
+      party, cruelly oppressed the Roman Catholics, completely expelled the
+      delusion in which the latter had long indulged, and they withdrew their
+      support from a party from which, if they obtained the upper hand, their
+      own religion had so much cause to fear. Thus the league lost many of its
+      best members; the friends and patrons, too, which it had hitherto found
+      amongst the well-disposed citizens now deserted it, and its character
+      began perceptibly to decline. The severity with which some of its members
+      had acted against the Iconoclasts in order to prove their good disposition
+      towards the regent, and to remove the suspicion of any connection with the
+      malcontents, had also injured them with the people who favored the latter,
+      and thus the league was in danger of ruining itself with both parties at
+      the same time. The regent had no sooner became acquainted with this change
+      in the public mind than she devised a plan by which she hoped gradually to
+      dissolve the whole league, or at least to enfeeble it through internal
+      dissensions. For this end she availed herself of the private letters which
+      the king had addressed to some of the nobles, and enclosed to her with
+      full liberty to use them at her discretion. These letters, which
+      overflowed with kind expressions were presented to those for whom they
+      were intended, with an attempt at secrecy, which designedly miscarried, so
+      that on each occasion some one or other of those who had received nothing
+      of the sort got a hint of them. In order to spread suspicion the more
+      widely numerous copies of the letters were circulated. This artifice
+      attained its object. Many members of the league began to doubt the honesty
+      of those to whom such brilliant promises were made; through fear of being
+      deserted by their principal members and supporters, they eagerly accepted
+      the conditions which were offered them by the regent, and evinced great
+      anxiety for a speedy reconciliation with the court. The general rumor of
+      the impending visit of the king, which the regent took care to have widely
+      circulated, was also of great service to her in this matter; many who
+      could not augur much good to themselves from the royal presence did not
+      hesitate to accept a pardon, which, perhaps, for what they could tell, was
+      offered them for the last time. Among those who thus received private
+      letters were Egmont and Prince of Orange. Both had complained to the king
+      of the evil reports with which designing persons in Spain had labored to
+      brand their names, and to throw suspicion on their motives and intentions;
+      Egmont, in particular, with the honest simplicity which was peculiar to
+      his character, had asked the monarch only to point out to him what he most
+      desired, to determine the particular action by which his favor could be
+      best obtained and zeal in his service evinced, and it should, he assured
+      him, be done. The king in reply caused the president, Von Tyssenacque, to
+      tell him that he could do nothing better to refute his traducers than to
+      show perfect submission to the royal orders, which were so clearly and
+      precisely drawn up, that no further exposition of them was required, nor
+      any particular instruction. It was the sovereign&rsquo;s part to deliberate, to
+      examine, and to decide; unconditionally to obey was the duty of the
+      subject; the honor of the latter consisted in his obedence. It did not
+      become a member to hold itself wiser than the head. He was assuredly to be
+      blamed for not having done his utmost to curb the unruliness of his
+      sectarians; but it was even yet in his power to make up for past
+      negligence by at least maintaining peace and order until the actual
+      arrival of the king. In thus punishing Count Egmont with reproofs like a
+      disobedient child, the king treated him in accordance with what he knew of
+      his character; with his friend he found it necessary to call in the aid of
+      artifice and deceit. Orange, too, in his letter, had alluded to the
+      suspicions which the king entertained of his loyalty and attachment, but
+      not, like Egmont, in the vain hope of removing them; for this, he had long
+      given up; but in order to pass from these complaints to a request for
+      permission to resign his offices. He had already frequently made this
+      request to the regent, but had always received from her a refusal,
+      accompanied with the strongest assurance of her regard. The king also, to
+      whom he now at last addressed a direct application, returned him the same
+      answer, graced with similar strong assurances of his satisfaction and
+      gratitude. In particular he expressed the high satisfaction he entertained
+      of his services, which he had lately rendered the crown in Antwerp, and
+      lamented deeply that the private affairs of the prince (which the latter
+      had made his chief plea for demanding his dismissal) should have fallen
+      into such disorder; but ended with the declaration that it was impossible
+      for him to dispense with his valuable services at a crisis which demanded
+      the increase, rather than diminution, of his good and honest servants. He
+      had thought, he added, that the prince entertained a better opinion of him
+      than to suppose him capable of giving credit to the idle talk of certain
+      persons, who were friends neither to the prince nor to himself. But, at
+      the same time, to give him a proof of his sincerity, he complained to him
+      in confidence of his brother, the Count of Nassau, pretended to ask his
+      advice in the matter, and finally expressed a wish to have the count
+      removed for a period from the Netherlands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Philip had here to do with a head which in cunning was superior to his
+      own. The Prince of Orange had for a long time held watch over him and his
+      privy council in Madrid and Segovia, through a host of spies, who reported
+      to him everything of importance that was transacted there. The court of
+      this most secret of all despots had become accessible to his intriguing
+      spirit and his money; in this manner he had gained possession of several
+      autograph letters of the regent, which she had secretly written to Madrid,
+      and had caused copies to be circulated in triumph in Brussels, and in a
+      measure under her own eyes, insomuch that she saw with astonishment in
+      everybody&rsquo;s hands what she thought was preserved with so much care, and
+      entreated the king for the future to destroy her despatches immediately
+      they were read. William&rsquo;s vigilance did not confine itself simply to the
+      court of Spain; he had spies in France, and even at more distant courts.
+      He is also charged with not being over scrupulous as to the means by which
+      he acquired his intelligence. But the most important disclosure was made
+      by an intercepted letter of the Spanish ambassador in France, Francis Von
+      Alava, to the duchess, in which the former descanted on the fair
+      opportunity which was now afforded to the king, through the guilt of the
+      Netherlandish people, of establishing an arbitrary power in that country.
+      He therefore advised her to deceive the nobles by the very arts which they
+      had hitherto employed against herself, and to secure them through smooth
+      words and an obliging behavior. The king, he concluded, who knew the
+      nobles to be the hidden springs of all the previous troubles, would take
+      good care to lay hands upon them at the first favorable opportunity, as
+      well as the two whom he had already in Spain; and did not mean to let them
+      go again, having sworn to make an example in them which should horrify the
+      whole of Christendom, even if it should cost him his hereditary dominions.
+      This piece of evil news was strongly corroborated by the letters which
+      Bergen and Montigny wrote from Spain, and in which they bitterly
+      complained of the contemptuous behavior of the grandees and the altered
+      deportment of the monarch towards them; and the Prince of Orange was now
+      fully sensible what he had to expect from the fair promises of the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The letter of the minister, Alava, together with some others from Spain,
+      which gave a circumstantial account of the approaching warlike visit of
+      the king, and of his evil intentions against the nobles, was laid by the
+      prince before his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, Counts Egmont, Horn, and
+      Hogstraten, at a meeting at Dendermonde in Flanders, whither these five
+      knights had repaired to confer on the measures necessary for their
+      security. Count Louis, who listened only to his feelings of indignation,
+      foolhardily maintained that they ought, without loss of time, to take up
+      arms and seize some strongholds. That they ought at all risks to prevent
+      the king&rsquo;s armed entrance into the provinces. That they should endeavor to
+      prevail on the Swiss, the Protestant princes of Germany, and the Huguenots
+      to arm and obstruct his passage through their territories; and if,
+      notwithstanding, he should force his way through these impediments, that
+      the Flemings should meet him with an army on the frontiers. He would take
+      upon himself to negotiate a defensive alliance in France, in Switzerland,
+      and in Germany, and to raise in the latter empire four thousand horse,
+      together with a proportionate body of infantry. Pretexts would not be
+      wanting for collecting the requisite supplies of money, and the merchants
+      of the reformed sect would, he felt assured, not fail them. But William,
+      more cautious and more wise, declared himself against this proposal,
+      which, in the execution, would be exposed to numberless difficulties, and
+      had as yet nothing to justify it. The Inquisition, he represented, was in
+      fact abolished, the edicts were nearly sunk into oblivion, and a fair
+      degree of religious liberty accorded. Hitherto, therefore, there existed
+      no valid or adequate excuse for adopting this hostile method; he did not
+      doubt, however, that one would be presented to them before long, and in
+      good time for preparation. His own opinion consequently was that they
+      should await this opportunity with patience, and in the meanwhile still
+      keep a watchful eye upon everything, and contrive to give the people a
+      hint of the threatened danger, that they might be ready to act if
+      circumstances should call for their co-operation. If all present had
+      assented to the opinion of the Prince of Orange, there is no doubt but so
+      powerful a league, formidable both by the influence and the high character
+      of its members, would have opposed obstacles to the designs of the king
+      which would have compelled him to abandon them entirely. But the
+      determination of the assembled knights was much shaken by the declaration
+      with which Count Egmont surprised them. &ldquo;Rather,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;may all that
+      is evil befall me than that I should tempt fortune so rashly. The idle
+      talk of the Spaniard, Alava, does not move me; how should such a person be
+      able to read the mind of a sovereign so reserved as Philip, and to
+      decipher his secrets? The intelligence which Montigny gives us goes to
+      prove nothing more than that the king has a very doubtful opinion of our
+      zeal for his service, and believes he has cause to distrust our loyalty;
+      and for this I for my part must confess that we have given him only too
+      much cause. And it is my serious purpose, by redoubling my zeal, to regain
+      his good opinion, and by my future behavior to remove, if possible, the
+      distrust which my actions have hitherto excited. How could I tear myself
+      from the arms of my numerous and dependent family to wander as an exile at
+      foreign courts, a burden to every one who received me, the slave of every
+      one who condescended to assist me, a servant of foreigners, in order to
+      escape a slight degree of constraint at home? Never can the monarch act
+      unkindly towards a servant who was once beloved and dear to him, and who
+      has established a well-grounded claim to his gratitude. Never shall I be
+      persuaded that he who has expressed such favorable, such gracious
+      sentiments towards his Belgian subjects, and with his own mouth gave me
+      such emphatic, such solemn assurances, can be now devising, as it is
+      pretended, such tyrannical schemes against them. If we do but restore to
+      the country its former repose, chastise the rebels, and re-establish the
+      Roman Catholic form of worship wherever it has been violently suppressed,
+      then, believe me, we shall hear no more of Spanish troops. This is the
+      course to which I now invite you all by my counsel and my example, and to
+      which also most of our brethren already incline. I, for my part, fear
+      nothing from the anger of the king. My conscience acquits me. I trust my
+      fate and fortunes to his justice and clemency.&rdquo; In vain did Nassau, Horn,
+      and Orange labor to shake his resolution, and to open his eyes to the near
+      and inevitable danger. Egmont was really attached to the king; the royal
+      favors, and the condescension with which they were conferred, were still
+      fresh in his remembrance. The attentions with which the monarch had
+      distinguished him above all his friends had not failed of their effect. It
+      was more from false shame than from party spirit that he had defended the
+      cause of his countrymen against him; more from temperament and natural
+      kindness of heart than from tried principles that he had opposed the
+      severe measures of the government. The love of the nation, which
+      worshipped him as its idol, carried him away. Too vain to renounce a title
+      which sounded so agreeable, he had been compelled to do something to
+      deserve it; but a single look at his family, a harsher designation applied
+      to his conduct, a dangerous inference drawn from it, the mere sound of
+      crime, terrified him from his self-delusion, and scared him back in haste
+      and alarm to his duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Orange&rsquo;s whole plan was frustrated by Egmont&rsquo;s withdrawal. The latter
+      possessed the hearts of the people and the confidence of the army, without
+      which it was utterly impossible to undertake anything effective. The rest
+      had reckoned with so much certainty upon him that his unexpected defection
+      rendered the whole meeting nugatory. They therefore separated without
+      coming to a determination. All who had met in Dendermonde were expected in
+      the council of state in Brussels; but Egmont alone repaired thither. The
+      regent wished to sift him on the subject of this conference, but she could
+      extract nothing further from him than the production of the letter of
+      Alava, of which he had purposely taken a copy, and which, with the
+      bitterest reproofs, he laid before her. At first she changed color at
+      sight of it, but quickly recovering herself, she boldly declared that it
+      was a forgery. &ldquo;How can this letter,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;really come from Alava,
+      when I miss none? And would he who pretends to have intercepted it have
+      spared the other letters? Nay, how can it be true, when not a single
+      packet has miscarried, nor a single despatch failed to come to hand? How,
+      too, can it be thought likely that the king would have made Alava master
+      of a secret which he has not communicated even to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                CIVIL WAR
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      1566. Meanwhile the regent hastened to take advantage of the schism
+      amongst the nobles to complete the ruin of the league, which was already
+      tottering under the weight of internal dissensions. Without loss of time
+      she drew from Germany the troops which Duke Eric of Brunswick was holding
+      in readiness, augmented the cavalry, and raised five regiments of
+      Walloons, the command of which she gave to Counts Mansfeld, Megen,
+      Aremberg, and others. To the prince, likewise, she felt it necessary to
+      confide troops, both because she did not wish, by withholding them
+      pointedly, to insult him, and also because the provinces of which he was
+      governor were in urgent need of them; but she took the precaution of
+      joining with him a Colonel Waldenfinger, who should watch all his steps
+      and thwart his measures if they appeared dangerous. To Count Egmont the
+      clergy in Flanders paid a contribution of forty thousand gold florins for
+      the maintenance of fifteen hundred men, whom he distributed among the
+      places where danger was most apprehended. Every governor was ordered to
+      increase his military force, and to provide himself with ammunition. These
+      energetic preparations, which were making in all places, left no doubt as
+      to the measures which the regent would adopt in future. Conscious of her
+      superior force, and certain of this important support, she now ventured to
+      change her tone, and to employ quite another language with the rebels. She
+      began to put the most arbitrary interpretation on the concessions which,
+      through fear and necessity, she had made to the Protestants, and to
+      restrict all the liberties which she had tacitly granted them to the mere
+      permission of their preaching. All other religious exercises and rites,
+      which yet appeared to be involved in the former privilege, were by new
+      edicts expressly forbidden, and all offenders in such matters were to be
+      proceeded against as traitors. The Protestants were permitted to think
+      differently from the ruling church upon the sacrament, but to receive it
+      differently was a crime; baptism, marriage, burial, after their fashion,
+      were probibited under pain of death. It was a cruel mockery to allow them
+      their religion, and forbid the exercise of it; but this mean artifice of
+      the regent to escape from the obligation of her pledged word was worthy of
+      the pusillanimity with which she had submitted to its being extorted from
+      her. She took advantage of the most trifling innovations and the smallest
+      excesses to interrupt the preachings; and some of the preachers, under the
+      charge of having performed their office in places not appointed to them,
+      were brought to trial, condemned, and executed. On more than one occasion
+      the regent publicly declared that the confederates had taken unfair
+      advantage of her fears, and that she did not feel herself bound by an
+      engagement which had been extorted from her by threats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of all the Belgian towns which had participated in the insurrection of the
+      Iconoclasts none had caused the regent so much alarm as the town of
+      Valenciennes, in Hainault. In no other was the party of the Calvinists so
+      powerful, and the spirit of rebellion for which the province of Hainault
+      had always made itself conspicuous, seemed to dwell here as in its native
+      place. The propinquity of France, to which, as well by language as by
+      manners, this town appeared to belong, rather than to the Netherlands, had
+      from the first led to its being governed with great mildness and
+      forbearance, which, however, only taught it to feel its own importance. At
+      the last outbreak of the church-desecrators it had been on the point of
+      surrendering to the Huguenots, with whom it maintained the closest
+      understanding. The slightest excitement night renew this danger. On this
+      account Valenciennes was the first town to which the regent proposed, as
+      soon as should be in her power, to send a strong garrison. Philip of
+      Noircarmes, Baron of St. Aldegonde, Governor of Hainault in the place of
+      the absent Marquis of Bergen, had received this charge, and now appeared
+      at the head of an army before its walls. Deputies came to meet him on the
+      part of the magistrate from the town, to petition against the garrison,
+      because the Protestant citizens, who were the superior number, had
+      declared against it. Noircarnes acquainted them with the will of the
+      regent, and gave them the choice between the garrison or a siege. He
+      assured them that not more than four squadrons of horse and six companies
+      of foot should be imposed upon the town; and for this he would give them
+      his son as a hostage. These terms were laid before the magistrate, who,
+      for his part, was much inclined to accept them. But Peregrine Le Grange,
+      the preacher, and the idol of the populace, to whom it was of vital
+      importance to prevent a submission of which he would inevitably become the
+      victim, appeared at the head of his followers, and by his powerful
+      eloquence excited the people to reject the conditions. When their answer
+      was brought to Noircarmes, contrary to all law of nations, he caused the
+      messengers to be placed in irons, and carried them away with him as
+      prisoners; he was, however, by express command of the regent, compelled to
+      set them free again. The regent, instructed by secret orders from Madrid
+      to exercise as much forbearance as possible, caused the town to be
+      repeatedly summoned to receive the garrison; when, however, it obstinately
+      persisted in its refusal, it was declared by public edict to be in
+      rebellion, and Noircarmes was authorized to commence the siege in form.
+      The other provinces were forbidden to assist this rebellious town with
+      advice, money, or arms. All the property contained in it was confiscated.
+      In order to let it see the war before it began in earnest, and to give it
+      time for rational reflection, Noircarmes drew together troops from all
+      Hainault and Cambray (1566), took possession of St. Amant, and placed
+      garrisons in all adjacent places.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The line of conduct adopted towards Valenciennes allowed the other towns
+      which were similarly situated to infer the fate which was intended for
+      them also, and at once put the whole league in motion. An army of the
+      Gueux, between three thousand and four thousand strong, which was hastily
+      collected from the rabble of fugitives, and the remaining bands of the
+      Iconoclasts, appeared in the territories of Tournay and Lille, in order to
+      secure these two towns, and to annoy the enemy at Valenciennes. The
+      commandant of Lille was fortunate enough to maintain that place by routing
+      a detachment of this army, which, in concert with the Protestant
+      inhabitants, had made an attempt to get possession of it. At the same time
+      the army of the Gueux, which was uselessly wasting its time at Lannoy, was
+      surprised by Noircarmes and almost entirely annihilated. The few who with
+      desperate courage forced their way through the enemy, threw themselves
+      into the town of Tournay, which was immediately summoned by the victor to
+      open its gates and admit a garrison. Its prompt obedience obtained for it
+      a milder fate. Noircarmes contented himself with abolishing the Protestant
+      consistory, banishing the preachers, punishing the leaders of the rebels,
+      and again re-establishing the Roman Catholic worship, which he found
+      almost entirely suppressed. After giving it a steadfast Roman Catholic as
+      governor, and leaving in it a sufficient garrison, he again returned with
+      his victorious army to Valenciennes to press the siege.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This town, confident in its strength, actively prepared for defence,
+      firmly resolved to allow things to come to extremes before it surrendered.
+      The inhabitants had not neglected to furnish themselves with ammunition
+      and provisions for a long siege; all who could carry arms (the very
+      artisans not excepted), became soldiers; the houses before the town, and
+      especially the cloisters, were pulled down, that the besiegers might not
+      avail themselves of them to cover their attack. The few adherents of the
+      crown, awed by the multitude, were silent; no Roman Catholic ventured to
+      stir himself. Anarchy and rebellion had taken the place of good order, and
+      the fanaticism of a foolhardy priest gave laws instead of the legal
+      dispensers of justice. The male population was numerous, their courage
+      confirmed by despair, their confidence unbounded that the siege would be
+      raised, while their hatred against the Roman Catholic religion was excited
+      to the highest pitch. Many had no mercy to expect; all abhorred the
+      general thraldom of an imperious garrison. Noircarmes, whose army had
+      become formidable through the reinforcements which streamed to it from all
+      quarters, and was abundantly furnished with all the requisites for a long
+      blockade, once more attempted to prevail on the town by gentle means, but
+      in vain. At last he caused the trenches to be opened and prepared to
+      invest the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meanwhile the position of the Protestants had grown as much worse
+      as that of the regent had improved. The league of the nobles had gradually
+      melted away to a third of its original number. Some of its most important
+      defenders, Count Egmont, for instance, had gone over to the king; the
+      pecuniary contributions which had been so confidently reckoned upon came
+      in but slowly and scantily; the zeal of the party began perceptibly to
+      cool, and the close of the fine season made it necessary to discontinue
+      the public preachings, which, up to this time, had been continued. These
+      and other reasons combined induced the declining party to moderate its
+      demands, and to try every legal expedient before it proceeded to
+      extremities. In a general synod of the Protestants, which was held for
+      this object in Antwerp, and which was also attended by some of the
+      confederates, it was resolved to send deputies to the regent to
+      remonstrate with her upon this breach of faith, and to remind her of her
+      compact. Brederode undertook this office, but was obliged to submit to a
+      harsh and disgraceful rebuff, and was shut out of Brussels. He had now
+      recourse to a written memorial, in which,&mdash;in the name of the whole
+      league, he complained that the duchess had, by violating her word,
+      falsified in sight of all the Protestants the security given by the
+      league, in reliance on which all of them had laid down their arms; that by
+      her insincerity she had undone all the good which the confederates had
+      labored to effect; that she had sought to degrade the league in the eyes
+      of the people, had excited discord among its members, and had even caused
+      many of them to be persecuted as criminals. He called upon her to recall
+      her late ordinances, which deprived the Protestants of the free exercise
+      of their religion, but above all to raise the siege of Valenciennes, to
+      disband the troops newly enlisted, and ended by assuring her that on these
+      conditions and these alone the league would be responsible for the general
+      tranquillity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this the regent replied in a tone very different from her previous
+      moderation. &ldquo;Who these confederates are who address me in this memorial
+      is, indeed, a mystery to me. The confederates with whom I had formerly to
+      do, for ought I know to the contrary, have dispersed. All at least cannot
+      participate in this statement of grievances, for I myself know of many,
+      who, satisfied in all their demands, have returned to their duty. But
+      still, whoever he may be, who without authority and right, and without
+      name addresses me, he has at least given a very false interpretation to my
+      word if he asserts that I guaranteed to the Protestants complete religious
+      liberty. No one can be ignorant how reluctantly I was induced to permit
+      the preachings in the places where they had sprung up unauthorized, and
+      this surely cannot be counted for a concession of freedom in religion. Is
+      it likely that I should have entertained the idea of protecting these
+      illegal consistories, of tolerating this state within a state? Could I
+      forget myself so far as to grant the sanction of law to an objectionable
+      sect; to overturn all order in the church and in the state, and abominably
+      to blaspheme my holy religion? Look to him who has given you such
+      permission, but you must not argue with me. You accuse me of having
+      violated the agreement which gave you impunity and security. The past I am
+      willing to look over, but not what may be done in future. No advantage was
+      to be taken of you on account of the petition of last April, and to the
+      best of my knowledge nothing of the kind has as yet been done; but whoever
+      again offends in the same way against the majesty of the king must be
+      ready to bear the consequences of his crime. In fine, how can you presume
+      to remind me of an agreement which you have been the first to break? At
+      whose instigation were the churches plundered, the images of the saints
+      thrown down, and the towns hurried into rebellion? Who formed alliances
+      with foreign powers, set on foot illegal enlistments, and collected
+      unlawful taxes from the subjects of the king? These are the reasons which
+      have impelled me to draw together my troops, and to increase the severity
+      of the edicts. Whoever now asks me to lay down my arms cannot mean well to
+      his country or his king, and if ye value your own lives, look to it that
+      your own actions acquit you, instead of judging mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All the hopes which the confederates might have entertained of an amicable
+      adjustment sank with this high-toned declaration. Without being confident
+      of possessing powerful support, the regent would not, they argued, employ
+      such language. An army was in the field, the enemy was before
+      Valenciennes, the members who were the heart of the league had abandoned
+      it, and the regent required unconditional submission. Their cause was now
+      so bad that open resistance could not make it worse. If they gave
+      themselves up defenceless into the hands of their exasperated sovereign
+      their fate was certain; an appeal to arms could at least make it a matter
+      of doubt; they, therefore, chose the latter, and began seriously to take
+      steps for their defence. In order to insure the assistance of the German
+      Protestants, Louis of Nassau attempted to persuade the towns of Amsterdam,
+      Antwerp, Tournay, and Valenciennes to adopt the confession of Augsburg,
+      and in this manner to seal their alliance with a religious union. But the
+      proposition was not successful, because the hatred of the Calvinists to
+      the Lutherans exceeded, if possible, that which they bore to popery.
+      Nassau also began in earnest to negotiate for supplies from France, the
+      Palatinate, and Saxony. The Count of Bergen fortified his castles;
+      Brederode threw himself with a small force into his strong town of Vianne
+      on the Leek, over which he claimed the rights of sovereignty, and which he
+      hastily placed in a state of defense, and there awaited a reinforcement
+      from the league, and the issue of Nassua&rsquo;s negotiations. The flag of war
+      was now unfurled, everywhere the drum was heard to beat; in all parts
+      troops were seen on the march, contributions collected, and soldiers
+      enlisted. The agents of each party often met in the same place, and hardly
+      had the collectors and recruiting officers of the regent quitted a town
+      when it had to endure a similar visit from the agents of the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From Valenciennes the regent directed her attention to Herzogenbusch,
+      where the Iconoclasts had lately committed fresh excesses, and the party
+      of the Protestants had gained a great accession of strength. In order to
+      prevail on the citizens peaceably to receive a garrison, she sent thither,
+      as ambassador, the Chancellor Scheiff, from Brabant, with counsellor
+      Merode of Petersheim, whom she appointed governor of the town; they were
+      instructed to secure the place by judicious means, and to exact from the
+      citizens a new oath of allegiance. At the same time the Count of Megen,
+      who was in the neighborhood with a body of troops, was ordered to support
+      the two envoys in effecting their commission, and to afford the means of
+      throwing in a garrison immediately. But Brederode, who obtained
+      information of these movements in Viane, had already sent thither one of
+      his creatures, a certain Anton von Bomber,&mdash; a hot Calvinist, but
+      also a brave soldier, in order to raise the courage of his party, and to
+      frustrate the designs of the regent. This Bomberg succeeded in getting
+      possession of the letters which the chancellor brought with him from the
+      duchess, and contrived to substitute in their place counterfeit ones,
+      which, by their harsh and imperious language, were calculated to
+      exasperate the minds of the citizens. At the same time he attempted to
+      throw suspicion on both the ambassadors of the duchess as having evil
+      designs upon the town. In this he succeeded so well with the mob that in
+      their mad fury they even laid hands on the ambassadors and placed them in
+      confinement. He himself, at the head of eight thousand men, who had
+      adopted him as their leader, advanced against the Count of Megen, who was
+      moving in order of battle, and gave him so warm a reception, with some
+      heavy artillery, that he was compelled to retire without accomplishing his
+      object. The regent now sent an officer of justice to demand the release of
+      her ambassadors, and in case of refusal to threaten the place with siege;
+      but Bomberg with his party surrounded the town hall and forced the
+      magistrate to deliver to him the key of the town. The messenger of the
+      regent was ridiculed and dismissed, and an answer sent through him that
+      the treatment of the prisoners would depend upon Brederode&rsquo;s orders. The
+      herald, who was remaining outside before the town, now appeared to declare
+      war against her, which, however, the chancellor prevented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After his futile attempt on Herzogenhusch the Count of Megen threw himself
+      into Utrecht in order to prevent the execution of a design which Count
+      Brederode had formed against that town. As it had suffered much from the
+      army of the confederates, which was encamped in its immediate
+      neighborhood, near Viane, it received Megen with open arms as its
+      protector, and conformed to all the alterations which he made in the
+      religious worship. Upon this he immediately caused a redoubt to be thrown
+      up on the bank of the Leek, which would command Viane. Brederode, not
+      disposed to await his attack, quitted that rendezvous with the best part
+      of his army and hastened to Amsterdam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However unprofitably the Prince of Orange appeared to be losing his time
+      in Antwerp during these operations he was, nevertheless, busily employed.
+      At his instigation the league had commenced recruiting, and Brederode had
+      fortified his castles, for which purpose he himself presented him with
+      three cannons which he had had cast at Utrecht. His eye watched all the
+      movements of the court, and he kept the league warned of the towns which
+      were next menaced with attack. But his chief object appeared to be to get
+      possession of the principal places in the districts under his own
+      government, to which end he with all his power secretly assisted
+      Brederode&rsquo;s plans against Utrecht and Amsterdam. The most important place
+      was the Island of Walcheren, where the king was expected to land; and he
+      now planned a scheme for the surprise of this place, the conduct of which
+      was entrusted to one of the confederate nobles, an intimate friend of the
+      Prince of Orange, John of Marnix, Baron of Thoulouse, and brother of
+      Philip of Aldegonde.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1567. Thoulouse maintained a secret understanding with the late mayor of
+      Middleburg, Peter Haak, by which he expected to gain an opportunity of
+      throwing a garrison into Middleburg and Flushing. The recruiting, however,
+      for this undertaking, which was set on foot in Antwerp, could not be
+      carried on so quietly as not to attract the notice of the magistrate. In
+      order, therefore, to lull the suspicions of the latter, and at the same
+      time to promote the success of the scheme, the prince caused the herald by
+      public proclamation to order all foreign soldiers and strangers who were
+      in the service of the state, or employed in other business, forthwith to
+      quit the town. He might, say his adversaries, by closing the gates have
+      easily made himself master of all these suspected recruits; but be
+      expelled them from the town in order to drive them the more quickly to the
+      place of their destination. They immediately embarked on the Scheldt, and
+      sailed down to Rammekens; as, however, a market-vessel of Antwerp, which
+      ran into Flushing a little before them had given warning of their design
+      they were forbidden to enter the port. They found the same difficulty at
+      Arnemuiden, near Middleburg, although the Protestants in that place
+      exerted themselves to raise an insurrection in their favor. Thoulouse,
+      therefore, without having accomplished anything, put about his ships and
+      sailed back down the Scheldt as far as Osterweel, a quarter of a mile from
+      Antwerp, where he disembarked his people and encamped on the shore, with
+      the hope of getting men from Antwerp, and also in order to revive by his
+      presence the courage of his party, which had been cast down by the
+      proceedings of the magistrate. By the aid of the Calvinistic clergy, who
+      recruited for him, his little army increased daily, so that at last he
+      began to be formidable to the Antwerpians, whose whole territory he laid
+      waste. The magistrate was for attacking him here with the militia, which,
+      however, the Prince of Orange successfully opposed by the pretext that it
+      would not be prudent to strip the town of soldiers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the regent had hastily brought together a small army under the
+      command of Philip of Launoy, which moved from Brussels to Antwerp by
+      forced marches. At the same time Count Megen managed to keep the army of
+      the Gueux shut up and employed at Viane, so that it could neither hear of
+      these movements nor hasten to the assistance of its confederates. Launoy,
+      on his arrival attacked by surprise the dispersed crowds, who, little
+      expecting an enemy, had gone out to plunder, and destroyed them in one
+      terrible carnage. Thoulouse threw himself with the small remnant of his
+      troops into a country house, which had served him as his headquarters, and
+      for a long time defended himself with the courage of despair, until
+      Launoy, finding it impossible to dislodge him, set fire to the house. The
+      few who escaped the flames fell on the swords of the enemy or were drowned
+      in the Scheldt. Thoulouse himself preferred to perish in the flames rather
+      than to fall into the hands of the enemy. This victory, which swept off
+      more than a thousand of the enemy, was purchased by the conqueror cheaply
+      enough, for he did not lose more than two men. Three hundred of the
+      leaguers who surrendered were cut down without mercy on the spot, as a
+      sally from Antwerp was momentarily dreaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the battle actually commenced no anticipation of such an event had
+      been entertained at Antwerp. The Prince of Orange, who had got early
+      information of it, had taken the precaution the day before of causing the
+      bridge which unites the town with Osterweel to be destroyed, in order, as
+      he gave out, to prevent the Calvinists within the town going out to join
+      the army of Thoulouse. A more probable motive seems to have been a fear
+      lest the Catholics should attack the army of the Gueux general in the
+      rear, or lest Launoy should prove victorious, and try to force his way
+      into the town. On the same pretext the gates of the city were also shut by
+      his orders, arnd the inhabitants, who did not comprehend the meaning of
+      all these movements, fluctuated between curiosity and alarm, until the
+      sound of artillery from Osterweel announced to them what there was going
+      on. In clamorous crowds they all ran to the walls and ramparts, from
+      which, as the wind drove the smoke from the contending armies, they
+      commanded a full view of the whole battle. Both armies were so near to the
+      town that they could discern their banners, and clearly distinguish the
+      voices of the victors and the vanquished. More terrible even than the
+      battle itself was the spectacle which this town now presented. Each of the
+      conflicting armies had its friends and its enemies on the wall. All that
+      went on in the plain roused on the ramparts exultation or dismay; on the
+      issue of the conflict the fate of each spectator seemed to depend. Every
+      movement on the field could be read in the faces of the townsmen; defeat
+      and triumph, the terror of the conquered, and the fury of the conqueror.
+      Here a painful but idle wish to support those who are giving way, to rally
+      those who fly; there an equally futile desire to overtake them, to slay
+      them, to extirpate them. Now the Gueux fly, and ten thousand men rejoice;
+      Thoulouse&rsquo;s last place and refuge is in flames, and the hopes of twenty
+      thousand citizens are consumed with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the first bewilderment of alarm soon gave place to a frantic desire of
+      revenge. Shrieking aloud, wringing her hands and with dishevelled hair,
+      the widow of the slain general rushed amidst the crowds to implore their
+      pity and help. Excited by their favorite preacher, Hermann, the Calvinists
+      fly to arms, determined to avenge their brethren, or to perish with them;
+      without reflection, without plan or leader, guided by nothing but their
+      anguish, their delirium, they rush to the Red Gate of the city which leads
+      to the field of battle; but there is no egress, the gate is shut and the
+      foremost of the crowd recoil on those that follow. Thousands and thousands
+      collect together, a dreadful rush is made to the Meer Bridge. We are
+      betrayed! we are prisoners! is the general cry. Destruction to the
+      papists, death to him who has betrayed us!&mdash;a sullen murmur,
+      portentous of a revolt, runs through the multitude. They begin to suspect
+      that all that has taken place has been set on foot by the Roman Catholics
+      to destroy the Calvinists. They had slain their defenders, and they would
+      now fall upon the defenceless. With fatal speed this suspicion spreads
+      through the whole of Antwerp. Now they can, they think, understand the
+      past, and they fear something still worse in the background; a frightful
+      distrust gains possession of every mind. Each party dreads the other;
+      every one sees an enemy in his neighbor; the mystery deepens the alarm and
+      horror; a fearful condition for a populous town, in which every accidental
+      concourse instantly becomes tumult, every rumor started amongst them
+      becomes a fact, every small spark a blazing flame, and by the force of
+      numbers and collision all passions are furiously inflamed. All who bore
+      the name of Calvinists were roused by this report. Fifteen thousand of
+      them take possession of the Meer Bridge, and plant heavy artillery upon
+      it, which they had taken by force from the arsenal; the same thing also
+      happens at another bridge; their number makes them formidable, the town is
+      in their hands; to escape an imaginary danger they bring all Antwerp to
+      the brink of ruin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately on the commencement of the tumult the Prince of Orange
+      hastened to the Meer Bridge, where, boldly forcing his way through the
+      raging crowd, he commanded peace and entreated to be heard. At the other
+      bridge Count Hogstraten, accompanied by the Burgomaster Strahlen, made the
+      same attempt; but not possessing a sufficient share either of eloquence or
+      of popularity to command attention, he referred the tumultuous crowd to
+      the prince, around whom all Antwerp now furiously thronged. The gate, he
+      endeavored to explain to them, was shut simply to keep off the victor,
+      whoever he might be, from the city, which would otherwise become the prey
+      of an infuriated soldiery. In vain! the frantic people would not listen,
+      and one more daring than the rest presented his musket at him, calling him
+      a traitor. With tumultuous shouts they demanded the key of the Red Gate,
+      which he was ultimately forced to deliver into the hands of the preacher
+      Hermann. But, he added with happy presence of mind, they must take heed
+      what they were doing; in the suburbs six hundred of the enemy&rsquo;s horse were
+      waiting to receive them. This invention, suggested by the emergency, was
+      not so far removed from the truth as its author perhaps imagined; for no
+      sooner had the victorious general perceived the commotion in Antwerp than
+      he caused his whole cavalry to mount in the hope of being able, under
+      favor of the disturbance, to break into the town. I, at least, continued
+      the Prince of Orange, shall secure my own safety in time, and he who
+      follows my example will save himself much future regret. These words
+      opportunely spoken and immediately acted upon had their effect. Those who
+      stood nearest followed him, and were again followed by the next, so that
+      at last the few who had already hastened out of the city when they saw no
+      one coming after them lost the desire of coping alone with the six hundred
+      horse. All accordingly returned to the Meer Bridge, where they posted
+      watches and videttes, and the night was passed tumultuously under arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The town of Antwerp was now threatened with fearful bloodshed and pillage.
+      In this pressing emergency Orange assembled an extraordinary senate, to
+      which were summoned all the best-disposed citizens of the four nations. If
+      they wished, said he, to repress the violence of the Calvinists they must
+      oppose them with an army strong enough and prepared to meet them. It was
+      therefore resolved to arm with speed the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the
+      town, whether natives, Italians, or Spaniards, and, if possible, to induce
+      the Lutherans also to join them. The haughtiness of the Calvinists, who,
+      proud of their wealth and confident in their numbers, treated every other
+      religious party with contempt, had long made the Lutherans their enemies,
+      and the mutual exasperation of these two Protestant churches was even more
+      implacable than their common hatred of the dominant church. This jealousy
+      the magistrate had turned to advantage, by making use of one party to curb
+      the other, and had thus contrived to keep the Calvinists in check, who,
+      from their numbers and insolence, were most to be feared. With this view,
+      he had tacitly taken into his protection the Lutherans, as the weaker and
+      more peaceable party, having moreover invited for them, from Germany,
+      spiritual teachers, who, by controversial sermons, might keep up the
+      mutual hatred of the two bodies. He encouraged the Lutherans in the vain
+      idea that the king thought more favorably of their religious creed than
+      that of the Calvinists, and exhorted them to be careful how they damaged
+      their good cause by any understanding with the latter. It was not,
+      therefore, difficult to bring about, for the moment, a union with the
+      Roman Catholics and the Lutherans, as its object was to keep down their
+      detested rivals. At dawn of day an army was opposed to the Calvinists
+      which was far superior in force to their own. At the head of this army,
+      the eloquence of Orange had far greater effect, and found far more
+      attention than on the preceding evening, unbacked by such strong
+      persuasion. The Calvinists, though in possession of arms and artillery,
+      yet, alarmed at the superior numbers arrayed against them, were the first
+      to send envoys, and to treat for an amicable adjustment of differences,
+      which by the tact and good temper of the Prince of Orange, he concluded to
+      the satisfaction of all parties. On the proclamation of this treaty the
+      Spaniards and Italians immediately laid down their arms. They were
+      followed by the Calvinists, and these again by the Roman Catholics; last
+      of all the Lutherans disarmed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days and two nights Antwerp had continued in this alarming state.
+      During the tumult the Roman Catholics had succeeded in placing barrels of
+      gunpowder under the Meer Bridge, and threatened to blow into the air the
+      whole army of the Calvinists, who had done the same in other places to
+      destroy their adversaries. The destruction of the town hung on the issue
+      of a moment, and nothing but the prince&rsquo;s presence of mind saved it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noircarmes, with his army of Walloons, still lay before Valenciennes,
+      which, in firm reliance on being relieved by the Gueux, obstinately
+      refused to listen to all the representations of the regent, and rejected
+      every idea of surrender. An order of the court had expressly forbidden the
+      royalist general to press the siege until he should receive reinforcements
+      from Germany. Whether from forbearance or fear, the king regarded with
+      abhorrence the violent measure of storming the place, as necessarily
+      involving the innocent in the fate of the guilty, and exposing the loyal
+      subject to the same ill-treatment as the rebel. As, however, the
+      confidence of the besieged augmented daily, and emboldened by the
+      inactivity of the besiegers, they annoyed him by frequent sallies, and
+      after burning the cloisters before the town, retired with the plunder&mdash;as
+      the time uselessly lost before this town was put to good use by the rebels
+      and their allies, Noircarmes besought the duchess to obtain immediate
+      permission from the king to take it by storm. The answer arrived more
+      quickly than Philip was ever before wont to reply. As yet they must be
+      content, simply to make the necessary preparations, and then to wait
+      awhile to allow terror to have its effect; but if upon this they did not
+      appear ready to capitulate, the storming might take place, but, at the
+      same time, with the greatest possible regard for the lives of the
+      inhabitants. Before the regent allowed Noircarmes to proceed to this
+      extremity she empowered Count Egmont, with the Duke Arschot, to treat once
+      more with the rebels amicably. Both conferred with the deputies of the
+      town, and omitted no argument calculated to dispel their delusion. They
+      acquainted them with the defeat of Thoulouse, their sole support, and with
+      the fact that the Count of Megen had cut off the army of the Gueux from
+      the town, and assured them that if they had held out so long they owed it
+      entirely to the king&rsquo;s forbearance. They offered them full pardon for the
+      past; every one was to be free to prove his innocence before whatever
+      tribunal he should chose; such as did not wish to avail themselves of this
+      privilege were to be allowed fourteen days to quit the town with all their
+      effects. Nothing was required of the townspeople but the admission of the
+      garrison. To give time to deliberate on these terms an armistice of three
+      days was granted. When the deputies returned they found their
+      fellow-citizens less disposed than ever to an accommodation, reports of
+      new levies by the Gueux having, in the meantime, gained currency.
+      Thoulouse, it was pretended, had conquered, and was advancing with a
+      powerful army to relieve the place. Their confidence went so far that they
+      even ventured to break the armistice, and to fire upon the besiegers. At
+      last the burgomaster, with difficulty, succeeded in bringing matters so
+      far towards a peaceful settlement that twelve of the town counsellors were
+      sent into the camp with the following conditions: The edict by which
+      Valenciennes had been charged with treason and declared an enemy to the
+      country was required to be recalled, the confiscation of their goods
+      revoked, and the prisoners on both sides restored to liberty; the garrison
+      was not to enter the town before every one who thought good to do so had
+      placed himself and his property in security; and a pledge to be given that
+      the inhabitants should not be molested in any manner, and that their
+      expenses should be paid by the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noircarmes was so indignant with these conditions that he was almost on
+      the point of ill-treating the deputies. If they had not come, he told
+      them, to give up the place, they might return forthwith, lest he should
+      send them home with their hands tied behind their backs. Upon this the
+      deputies threw the blame on the obstinacy of the Calvinists, and entreated
+      him, with tears in their eyes, to keep them in the camp, as they did not,
+      they said, wish to have anything more to do with their rebellious
+      townsmen, or to be joined in their fate. They even knelt to beseech the
+      intercession of Egmont, but Noircarmes remained deaf to all their
+      entreaties, and the sight of the chains which he ordered to be brought out
+      drove them reluctantly enough back to Valenciennes. Necessity, not
+      severity, imposed this harsh procedure upon the general. The detention of
+      ambassadors had on a former occasion drawn upon him the reprimand of the
+      duchess; the people in the town would not have failed to have ascribed the
+      non-appearance of their present deputies to the same cause as in the
+      former case had detained them. Besides, he was loath to deprive the town
+      of any out of the small residue of well-disposed citizens, or to leave it
+      a prey to a blind, foolhardy mob. Egmont was so mortified at the bad
+      report of his embassy that he the night following rode round to
+      reconnoitre its fortifications, and returned well satisfied to have
+      convinced himself that it was no longer tenable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Valenciennes stretches down a gentle acclivity into the level plain, being
+      built on a site as strong as it is delightful. On one side enclosed by the
+      Scheldt and another smaller river, and on the other protected by deep
+      ditches, thick walls, and towers, it appears capable of defying every
+      attack. But Noircarmes had discovered a few points where neglect had
+      allowed the fosse to be filled almost up to the level of the natural
+      surface, and of these he determined to avail himself in storming. He drew
+      together all the scattered corps by which he had invested the town, and
+      during a tempestuous night carried the suburb of Berg without the loss of
+      a single man. He then assigned separate points of attack to the Count of
+      Bossu, the young Charles of Mansfeld, and the younger Barlaimont, and
+      under a terrible fire, which drove the enemy from his walls, his troops
+      were moved up with all possible speed. Close before the town, and opposite
+      the gate under the eyes of the besiegers, and with very little loss, a
+      battery was thrown up to an equal height with the fortifications. From
+      this point the town was bombarded with an unceasing fire for four hours.
+      The Nicolaus tower, on which the besieged had planted some artillery, was
+      among the first that fell, and many perished under its ruins. The guns
+      were directed against all the most conspicuous buildings, and a terrible
+      slaughter was made amongst the inhabitants. In a few hours their principal
+      works were destroyed, and in the gate itself so extensive a breach was
+      made that the besieged, despairing of any longer defending themselves,
+      sent in haste two trumpeters to entreat a parley. This was granted, but
+      the storm was continued without intermission. The ambassador entreated
+      Noircarmes to grant them the same terms which only two days before they
+      had rejected. But circumstances had now changed, and the victor would hear
+      no more of conditions. The unceasing fire left the inhabitants no time to
+      repair the ramparts, which filled the fosse with their debris, and opened
+      many a breach for the enemy to enter by. Certain of utter destruction,
+      they surrendered next morning at discretion after a bombardment of
+      six-and-thirty hours without intermission, and three thousand bombs had
+      been thrown into the city. Noircarmes marched into the town with his
+      victorious army under the strictest discipline, and was received by a
+      crowd of women and children, who went to meet him, carrying green boughs,
+      and beseeching his pity. All the citizens were immediately disarmed, the
+      commandant and his son beheaded; thirty-six of the most guilty of the
+      rebels, among whom were La Grange and another Calvinistic preacher, Guido
+      de Bresse, atoned for their obstinacy at the gallows; all the municipal
+      functionaries were deprived of their offices, and the town of all its
+      privileges. The Roman Catholic worship was immediately restored in full
+      dignity, and the Protestant abolished. The Bishop of Arras was obliged to
+      quit his residence in the town, and a strong garrison placed in it to
+      insure its future obedience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fate of Valenciennes, towards which all eyes had been turned, was a
+      warning to the other towns which had similarly offended. Noircarmes
+      followed up his victory, and marched immediately against Maestricht, which
+      surrendered without a blow, and received a garrison. From thence he
+      marched to Tornhut to awe by his presence the people of Herzogenbusch and
+      Antwerp. The Gueux in this place, who under the command of Bomberg had
+      carried all things before them, were now so terrified at his approach that
+      they quitted the town in haste. Noircarmes was received without
+      opposition. The ambassadors of the duchess were immediately set at
+      liberty. A strong garrison was thrown into Tornhut. Cambray also opened
+      its gates, and joyfully recalled its archbishop, whom the Calvinists had
+      driven from his see, and who deserved this triumph as he did not stain his
+      entrance with blood. Ghent, Ypres, and Oudenarde submitted and received
+      garrisons. Gueldres was now almost entirely cleared of the rebels and
+      reduced to obedience by the Count of Megen. In Friesland and Groningen the
+      Count of Aremberg had eventually the same success; but it was not obtained
+      here so rapidly or so easily, since the count wanted consistency and
+      firmness, and these warlike republicans maintained more pertinaciously
+      their privileges, and were greatly supported by the strength of their
+      position. With the exception of Holland all the provinces had yielded
+      before the victorious arms of the duchess. The courage of the disaffected
+      sunk entirely, and nothing was left to them but flight or submission.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          RESIGNATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Ever since the establishment of the Guesen league, but more perceptibly
+      since the outbreak of the Iconoclasts, the spirit of rebellion and
+      disaffection had spread so rapidly among all classes, parties had become
+      so blended and confused, that the regent had difficulty in distinguishing
+      her own adherents, and at last hardly knew on whom to rely. The lines of
+      demarcation between the loyal and the disaffected had grown gradually
+      fainter, until at last they almost entirely vanished. The frequent
+      alterations, too, which she had been obliged to make in the laws, and
+      which were at most the expedients and suggestions of the moment, had taken
+      from them their precision and binding force, and had given full scope to
+      the arbitrary will of every individual whose office it was to interpret
+      them. And at last, amidst the number and variety of the interpretations,
+      the spirit was lost and the intention of the lawgiver baffled. The close
+      connection which in many cases subsisted between Protestants and Roman
+      Catholics, between Gueux and Royalists, and which not unfrequently gave
+      them a common interest, led the latter to avail themselves of the loophole
+      which the vagueness of the laws left open, and in favor of their
+      Protestant friends and associates evaded by subtle distinctions all
+      severity in the discharge of their duties. In their minds it was enough
+      not to be a declared rebel, not one of the Gueux, or at least not a
+      heretic, to be authorized to mould their duties to their inclinations, and
+      to set the most arbitrary limits to their obedience to the king. Feeling
+      themselves irresponsible, the governors of the provinces, the civil
+      functionaries, both high and low, the municipal officers, and the military
+      commanders had all become extremely remiss in their duty, and presuming
+      upon this impunity showed a pernicious indulgence to the rebels and their
+      adherents which rendered abortive all the regent&rsquo;s measures of coercion.
+      This general indifference and corruption of so many servants of the state
+      had further this injurious result, that it led the turbulent to reckon on
+      far stronger support than in reality they had cause for, and to count on
+      their own side all who were but lukewarm adherents of the court. This way
+      of thinking, erroneous as it was, gave them greater courage and
+      confidence; it had the same effect as if it had been well founded; and the
+      uncertain vassals of the king became in consequence almost as injurious to
+      him as his declared enemies, without at the same time being liable to the
+      same measures of severity. This was especially the case with the Prince of
+      Orange, Counts Egmont, Bergen, Hogstraten, Horn, and several others of the
+      higher nobility. The regent felt the necessity of bringing these doubtful
+      subjects to an explanation, in order either to deprive the rebels of a
+      fancied support or to unmask the enemies of the king. And the latter
+      reason was of the more urgent moment when being obliged to send an army
+      into the field it was of the utmost importance to entrust the command of
+      the troops to none but those of whose fidelity she was fully assured. She
+      caused, therefore, an oath to be drawn up which bound all who took it to
+      advance the Roman Catholic faith, to pursue and punish the Iconoclasts,
+      and to help by every means in their power in extirpating all kinds of
+      heresy. It also pledged them to treat the king&rsquo;s enemies as their own, and
+      to serve without distinction against all whom the regent in the king&rsquo;s
+      name should point out. By this oath she did not hope so much to test their
+      sincerity, and still less to secure them, as rather to gain a pretext for
+      removing the suspected parties if they declined to take it, and for
+      wresting from their hands a power which they abused, or a legitimate
+      ground for punishing them if they took it and broke it. This oath was
+      exacted from all Knights of the Fleece, all civil functionaries and
+      magistrates, all officers of the army&mdash;from every one in short who
+      held any appointment in the state. Count Mansfeld was the first who
+      publicly took it in the council of state at Brussels; his example was
+      followed by the Duke of Arschot, Counts Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont.
+      Hogstraten and Horn endeavored to evade the necessity. The former was
+      offended at a proof of distrust which shortly before the regent had given
+      him. Under the pretext that Malines could not safely be left any longer
+      without its governor, but that the presence of the count was no less
+      necessary in Antwerp, she had taken from him that province and given it to
+      another whose fidelity she could better reckon upon. Hostraten expressed
+      his thanks that she had been pleased to release him from one of his
+      burdens, adding that she would complete the obligation if she would
+      relieve him from the other also. True to his determination Count Horn was
+      living on one of his estates in the strong town of Weerdt, having retired
+      altogether from public affairs. Having quitted the service of the state,
+      he owed, he thought, nothing more either to the republic or to the king,
+      and declined the oath, which in his case appears at last to have been
+      waived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Count of Brederode was left the choice of either taking the prescribed
+      oath or resigning the command of his squadron of cavalry. After many
+      fruitless attempts to evade the alternative, on the plea that he did not
+      hold office in the state, he at last resolved upon the latter course, and
+      thereby escaped all risk of perjuring himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vain were all the attempts to prevail on the Prince of Orange to take the
+      oath, who, from the suspicion which had long attached to him, required
+      more than any other this purification; and from whom the great power which
+      it had been necessary to place in his hands fully justified the regent in
+      exacting it. It was not, however, advisable to proceed against him with
+      the laconic brevity adopted towards Brederode and the like; on the other
+      hand, the voluntary resignation of all his offices, which he tendered, did
+      not meet the object of the regent, who foresaw clearly enough how really
+      dangerous he would become, as soon as he should feel himself independent,
+      and be no longer checked by any external considerations of character or
+      duty in the prosecution of his secret designs. But ever since the
+      consultation in Dendermonde the Prince of Orange had made up his mind to
+      quit the service of the King of Spain on the first favorable opportunity,
+      and till better days to leave the country itself. A very disheartening
+      experience had taught him how uncertain are hopes built on the multitude,
+      and how quickly their zeal is cooled by the necessity of fulfilling its
+      lofty promises. An army was already in the field, and a far stronger one
+      was, he knew, on its road, under the command of the Duke of Alva. The time
+      for remonstrances was past; it was only at the head of an army that an
+      advantageous treaty could now be concluded with the regent, and by
+      preventing the entrance of the Spanish general. But now where was he to
+      raise this army, in want as he was of money, the sinews of warfare, since
+      the Protestants had retracted their boastful promises and deserted him in
+      this pressing emergency?
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [How valiant the wish, and how sorry the deed was, is proved by the
+   following instance amongst others. Some friends of the national
+   liberty, Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, had solemnly
+   engaged in Amsterdam to subscribe to a common fund the hundredth
+   penny of their estates, until a sum of eleven thousand florins
+   should be collected, which was to be devoted to the common cause
+   and interests. An alms-box, protected by three locks, was prepared
+   for the reception of these contributions. After the expiration of
+   the prescribed period it was opened, and a sum was found amounting
+   to seven hundred florins, which was given to the hostess of the
+   Count of Brederode, in part payment of his unliquidated score.
+   Univ. Hist. of the N., vol. 3.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Religious jealousy and hatred, moreover, separated the two Protestant
+      churches, and stood in the way of every salutary combination against the
+      common enemy of their faith. The rejection of the Confession of Augsburg
+      by the Calvinists had exasperated all the Protestant princes of Germany,
+      so that no support was to be looked for from the empire. With Count Egmont
+      the excellent army of Walloons was also lost to the cause, for they
+      followed with blind devotion the fortunes of their general, who had taught
+      them at St. Quentin and Gravelines to be invincible. And again, the
+      outrages which the Iconoclasts had perpetrated on the churches and
+      convents had estranged from the league the numerous, wealthy, and powerful
+      class of the established clergy, who, before this unlucky episode, were
+      already more than half gained over to it; while, by her intrigues, the
+      regent daily contrived to deprive the league itself of some one or other
+      of its most influential members.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these considerations combined induced the prince to postpone to a more
+      favorable season a project for which the present juncture was little
+      suited, and to leave a country where his longer stay could not effect any
+      advantage for it, but must bring certain destruction on himself. After
+      intelligence gleaned from so many quarters, after so many proofs of
+      distrust, so many warnings from Madrid, he could be no longer doubtful of
+      the sentiments of Philip towards him. If even he had any doubt, his
+      uncertainty would soon have been dispelled by the formidable armament
+      which was preparing in Spain, and which was to have for its leader, not
+      the king, as was falsely given out, but, as he was better informed, the
+      Duke of Alva, his personal enemy, and the very man he had most cause to
+      fear. The prince had seen too deeply into Philip&rsquo;s heart to believe in the
+      sincerity of his reconciliation after having once awakened his fears. He
+      judged his own conduct too justly to reckon, like his friend Egmont, on
+      reaping a gratitude from the king to which he had not sown. He could
+      therefore expect nothing but hostility from him, and prudence counselled
+      him to screen himself by a timely flight from its actual outbreak. He had
+      hitherto obstinately refused to take the new oath, and all the written
+      exhortations of the regent had been fruitless. At last she sent to him at
+      Antwerp her private secretary, Berti, who was to put the matter
+      emphatically to his conscience, and forcibly remind him of all the evil
+      consequences which so sudden a retirement from the royal service would
+      draw upon the country, as well as the irreparable injury it would do to
+      his own fair fame. Already, she informed him by her ambassador, his
+      declining the required oath had cast a shade upon his honor, and imparted
+      to the general voice, which accused him of an understanding with the
+      rebels, an appearance of truth which this unconditional resignation would
+      convert to absolute certainty. It was for the sovereign to discharge his
+      servants, but it did not become the servant to abandon his sovereign. The
+      envoy of the regent found the prince in his palace at Antwerp, already, as
+      it appeared, withdrawn from the public service, and entirely devoted to
+      his private concerns. The prince told him, in the presence of Hogstraten,
+      that he had refused to take the required oath because he could not find
+      that such a proposition had ever before been made to a governor of a
+      province; because he had already bound himself, once for all, to the king,
+      and therefore, by taking this new oath, he would tacitly acknowledge that
+      he had broken the first. He had also refused because the old oath enjoined
+      him to protect the rights and privileges of the country, but he could not
+      tell whether this new one might not impose upon him duties which would
+      contravene the first; because, too, the clause which bound him to serve,
+      if required, against all without distinction, did not except even the
+      emperor, his feudal lord, against whom, however, he, as his vassal, could
+      not conscientiously make war. He had refused to take this oath because it
+      might impose upon him the necessity of surrendering his friends and
+      relations, his children, nay, even his wife, who was a Lutheran, to
+      butchery. According to it, moreover, he must lend himself to every thing
+      which it should occur to the king&rsquo;s fancy or passion to demand. But the
+      king might thus exact from him things which he shuddered even to think of,
+      and even the severities which were now, and had been all along, exercised
+      upon the Protestants, were the most revolting to his heart. This oath, in
+      short, was repugnant to his feelings as a man, and he could not take it.
+      In conclusion, the name of the Duke of Alva dropped from his lips in a
+      tone of bitterness, and he became immediately silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these objections were answered, point by point, by Berti. Certainly
+      such an oath had never been required from a governor before him, because
+      the provinces had never been similarly circumstanced. It was not exacted
+      because the governors had broken the first, but in order to remind them
+      vividly of their former vows, and to freshen their activity in the present
+      emergency. This oath would not impose upon him anything which offended
+      against the rights and privileges of the country, for the king had sworn
+      to observe these as well as the Prince of Orange. The oath did not, it was
+      true, contain any reference to a war with the emperor, or any other
+      sovereign to whom the prince might be related; and if he really had
+      scruples on this point, a distinct clause could easily be inserted,
+      expressly providing against such a contingency. Care would be taken to
+      spare him any duties which were repugnant to his feelings as a man, and no
+      power on earth would compel him to act against his wife or against his
+      children. Berti was then passing to the last point, which related to the
+      Duke of Alva, but the prince, who did not wish to have this part of his
+      discourse canvassed, interrupted him. &ldquo;The king was coming to the
+      Netherlands,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and he knew the king. The king would not endure
+      that one of his servants should have wedded a Lutheran, and he had
+      therefore resolved to go with his whole family into voluntary banishment
+      before he was obliged to submit to the same by compulsion. But,&rdquo; he
+      concluded, &ldquo;wherever he might be, he would always conduct himself as a
+      subject of the king.&rdquo; Thus far-fetched were the motives which the prince
+      adduced to avoid touching upon the single one which really decided him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Berti had still a hope of obtaining, through Egmont&rsquo;s eloquence, what by
+      his own he despaired of effecting. He therefore proposed a meeting with
+      the latter (1567), which the prince assented to the more willingly as he
+      himself felt a desire to embrace his friend once more before his
+      departure, and if possible to snatch the deluded man from certain
+      destruction. This remarkable meeting, at which the private secretary,
+      Berti, and the young Count Mansfeld, were also present, was the last that
+      the two friends ever held, and took place in Villebroeck, a village on the
+      Rupel, between Brussels and Antwerp. The Calvinists, whose last hope
+      rested on the issue of this conference, found means to acquaint themselves
+      of its import by a spy, who concealed himself in the chimney of the
+      apartment where it was held. All three attempted to shake the
+      determination of the prince, but their united eloquence was unable to move
+      him from his purpose. &ldquo;It will cost you your estates, Orange, if you
+      persist in this intention,&rdquo; said the Prince of Gaure, as he took him aside
+      to a window. &ldquo;And you your life, Egmont, if you change not yours,&rdquo; replied
+      the former. &ldquo;To me it will at least be a consolation in my misfortunes
+      that I desired, in deed as well as in word, to help my country and my
+      friends in the hour of need; but you, my friend, you are dragging friends
+      and country with you to destruction.&rdquo; And saying these words, he once
+      again exhorted him, still more urgently than ever, to return to the cause
+      of his country, which his arm alone was yet able to preserve; if not, at
+      least for his own sake to avoid the tempest which was gathering against
+      him from Spain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all the arguments, however lucid, with which a far-discerning prudence
+      supplied him, and however urgently enforced, with all the ardor and
+      animation which the tender anxiety of friendship could alone inspire, did
+      not avail to destroy the fatal confidence which still fettered Egmont&rsquo;s
+      better reason. The warning of Orange seemed to come from a sad and
+      dispirited heart; but for Egmont the world still smiled. To abandon the
+      pomp and affluence in which he had grown up to youth and manhood; to part
+      with all the thousand conveniences of life which alone made it valuable to
+      him, and all this to escape an evil which his buoyant spirit regarded as
+      remote, if not imaginary; no, that was not a sacrifice which could be
+      asked from Egmont. But had he even been less given to indulgence than he
+      was, with what heart could he have consigned a princess, accustomed by
+      uninterrupted prosperity to ease and comfort, a wife who loved him as
+      dearly as she was beloved, the children on whom his soul hung in hope and
+      fondness, to privations at the prospect of which his own courage sank, and
+      which a sublime philosophy alone can enable sensuality to undergo. &ldquo;You
+      will never persuade me, Orange,&rdquo; said Egmont, &ldquo;to see things in the gloomy
+      light in which they appear to thy mournful prudence. When I have succeeded
+      in abolishing the public preachings, and chastising the Iconoclasts, in
+      crushing the rebels, and restoring peace and order in the provinces, what
+      can the king lay to my charge? The king is good and just; I have claims
+      upon his gratitude, and I must not forget what I owe to myself.&rdquo; &ldquo;Well,
+      then,&rdquo; cried Orange, indignantly and with bitter anguish, &ldquo;trust, if you
+      will, to this royal gratitude; but a mournful presentiment tells me&mdash;and
+      may Heaven grant that I am deceived!&mdash;that you, Egmont, will be the
+      bridge by which the Spaniards will pass into our country to destroy it.&rdquo;
+       After these words, he drew him to his bosom, ardently clasping him in his
+      arms. Long, as though the sight was to serve for the remainder of his
+      life, did he keep his eyes fixed upon him; the tears fell; they saw each
+      other no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The very next day the Prince of Orange wrote his letter of resignation to
+      the regent, in which he assured her of his perpetual esteem, and once
+      again entreated her to put the best interpretation on his present step. He
+      then set off with his three brothers and his whole family for his own town
+      of Breda, where he remained only as long as was requisite to arrange some
+      private affairs. His eldest son, Prince Philip William, was left behind at
+      the University of Louvain, where he thought him sufficiently secure under
+      the protection of the privileges of Brabant and the immunities of the
+      academy; an imprudence which, if it was really not designed, can hardly be
+      reconciled with the just estimate which, in so many other cases, he had
+      taken of the character of his adversary. In Breda the heads of the
+      Calvinists once more consulted him whether there was still hope for them,
+      or whether all was irretrievably lost. &ldquo;He had before advised them,&rdquo;
+       replied the prince, &ldquo;and must now do so again, to accede to the Confession
+      of Augsburg; then they might rely upon aid from Germany. If they would
+      still not consent to this, they must raise six hundred thousand florins,
+      or more, if they could.&rdquo; &ldquo;The first,&rdquo; they answered, &ldquo;was at variance with
+      their conviction and their conscience; but means might perhaps be found to
+      raise the money if he would only let them know for what purpose he would
+      use it.&rdquo; &ldquo;No!&rdquo; cried he, with the utmost displeasure, &ldquo;if I must tell you
+      that, it is all over with the use of it.&rdquo; With these words he immediately
+      broke off the conference and dismissed the deputies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince of Orange was reproached with having squandered his fortune,
+      and with favoring the innovations on account of his debts; but he asserted
+      that he still enjoyed sixty thousand florins yearly rental. Before his
+      departure he borrowed twenty thousand florins from the states of Holland
+      on the mortgage of some manors. Men could hardly persuade themselves that
+      he would have succumbed to necessity so entirely, and without an effort at
+      resistance given up all his hopes and schemes. But what he secretly
+      meditated no one knew, no one had read in his heart. Being asked how he
+      intended to conduct himself towards the King of Spain, &ldquo;Quietly,&rdquo; was his
+      answer, &ldquo;unless he touches my honor or my estates.&rdquo; He left the
+      Netherlands soon afterwards, and betook himself in retirement to the town
+      of Dillenburg, in Nassau, at which place he was born. He was accompanied
+      to Germany by many hundreds, either as his servants or as volunteers, and
+      was soon followed by Counts Hogstraten, Kuilemberg, and Bergen, who
+      preferred to share a voluntary exile with him rather than recklessly
+      involve themselves in an uncertain destiny. In his departure the nation
+      saw the flight of its guardian angel; many had adored, all had honored
+      him. With him the last stay of the Protestants gave way; they, however,
+      had greater hopes from this man in exile than from all the others together
+      who remained behind. Even the Roman Catholics could not witness his
+      departure without regret. Them also had he shielded from tyranny; he had
+      not unfrequently protected them against the oppression of their own
+      church, and he had rescued many of them from the sanguinary jealousy of
+      their religious opponents. A few fanatics among the Calvinists, who were
+      offended with his proposal of an alliance with their brethren, who avowed
+      the Confession of Augsburg, solemnized with secret thanksgivings the day
+      on which the enemy left them. (1567).
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        DECAY AND DISPERSION OF THE GEUSEN LEAGUE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Immediately after taking leave of his friend, the Prince of Gaure hastened
+      back to Brussels, to receive from the regent the reward of his firmness,
+      and there, in the excitement of the court and in the sunshine of his good
+      fortune, to dispel the light cloud which the earnest warnings of the
+      Prince of Orange had cast over his natural gayety. The flight of the
+      latter now left him in possession of the stage. He had now no longer any
+      rival in the republic to dim his glory. With redoubled zeal he wooed the
+      transient favor of the court, above which he ought to have felt himself
+      far exalted. All Brussels must participate in his joy. He gave splendid
+      banquets and public entertainments, at which, the better to eradicate all
+      suspicion from his mind, the regent herself frequently attended. Not
+      content with having taken the required oath, he outstripped the most
+      devout in devotion; outran the most zealous in zeal to extirpate the
+      Protestant faith, and to reduce by force of arms the refractory towns of
+      Flanders. He declared to his old friend, Count Hogstraten, as also to the
+      rest of the Gueux, that he would withdraw from them his friendship forever
+      if they hesitated any longer to return into the bosom of the church, and
+      reconcile themselves with their king. All the confidential letters which
+      had been exchanged between him and them were returned, and by this last
+      step the breach between them was made public and irreparable. Egmont&rsquo;s
+      secession, and the flight of the Prince of Orange, destroyed the last hope
+      of the Protestants and dissolved the whole league of the Gueux. Its
+      members vied with each other in readiness&mdash;nay, they could not soon
+      enough abjure the covenant and take the new oath proposed to them by the
+      government. In vain did the Protestant merchants exclaim at this breach of
+      faith on the part of the nobles; their weak voice was no longer listened
+      to, and all the sums were lost with which they had supplied the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most important places were quickly reduced and garrisoned; the rebels
+      had fled, or perished by the hand of the executioner; in the provinces no
+      protector was left. All yielded to the fortune of the regent, and her
+      victorious army was advancing against Antwerp. After a long and obstinate
+      contest this town had been cleared of the worst rebels; Hermann and his
+      adherents took to flight; the internal storms had spent their rage. The
+      minds of the people became gradually composed, and no longer excited at
+      will by every furious fanatic, began to listen to better counsels. The
+      wealthier citizens earnestly longed for peace to revive commerce and
+      trade, which had suffered severely from the long reign of anarchy. The
+      dread of Alva&rsquo;s approach worked wonders; in order to prevent the miseries
+      which a Spanish army would inflict upon the country, the people hastened
+      to throw themselves on the gentler mercies of the regent. Of their own
+      accord they despatched plenipotentiaries to Brussels to negotiate for a
+      treaty and to hear her terms. Agreeably as the regent was surprised by
+      this voluntary step, she did not allow herself to be hurried away by her
+      joy. She declared that she neither could nor would listen to any overtures
+      or representations until the town had received a garrison. Even this was
+      no longer opposed, and Count Mansfeld marched in the day after with
+      sixteen squadrons in battle array. A solemn treaty was now made between
+      the town and duchess, by which the former bound itself to prohibit the
+      Calvinistic form of worship, to banish all preachers of that persuasion,
+      to restore the Roman Catholic religion to its former dignity, to decorate
+      the despoiled churches with their former ornaments, to administer the old
+      edicts as before, to take the new oath which the other towns had sworn to,
+      and, lastly, to deliver into the hands of justice all who been guilty of
+      treason, in bearing arms, or taking part in the desecration of the
+      churches. On the other hand, the regent pledged herself to forget all that
+      had passed, and even to intercede for the offenders with the king. All
+      those who, being dubious of obtaining pardon, preferred banishment, were
+      to be allowed a month to convert their property into money, and place
+      themselves in safety. From this grace none were to be excluded but such as
+      had been guilty of a capital offence, and who were excepted by the
+      previous article. Immediately upon the conclusion of this treaty all
+      Calvinist and Lutheran preachers in Antwerp, and the adjoining territory,
+      were warned by the herald to quit the country within twenty-four hours.
+      All the streets and gates were now thronged with fugitives, who for the
+      honor of their God abandoned what was dearest to them, and sought a more
+      peaceful home for their persecuted faith. Here husbands were taking an
+      eternal farewell of their wives, fathers of their children; there whole
+      families were preparing to depart. All Antwerp resembled a house of
+      mourning; wherever the eye turned some affecting spectacle of painful
+      separation presented itself. A seal was set on the doors of the Protestant
+      churches; the whole worship seemed to be extinct. The 10th of April (1567)
+      was the day appointed for the departure of the preachers. In the town
+      hall, where they appeared for the last time to take leave of the
+      magistrate, they could not command their grief; but broke forth into
+      bitter reproaches. They had been sacrificed, they exclaimed, they had been
+      shamefully betrayed; but a time would come when Antwerp would pay dearly
+      enough for this baseness. Still more bitter were the complaints of the
+      Lutheran clergy, whom the magistrate himself had invited into the country
+      to preach against the Calvinists. Under the delusive representation that
+      the king was not unfavorable to their religion they had been seduced into
+      a combination against the Calvinists, but as soon as the latter had been
+      by their co-operation brought under subjection, and their own services
+      were no longer required, they were left to bewail their folly, which had
+      involved themselves and their enemies in common ruin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few days afterwards the regent entered Antwerp in triumph, accompanied
+      by a thousand Walloon horse, the Knights of the Golden Fleece, all the
+      governors and counsellors, a number of municipal officers, and her whole
+      court. Her first visit was to the cathedral, which still bore lamentable
+      traces of the violence of the Iconoclasts, and drew from her many and
+      bitter tears. Immediately afterwards four of the rebels, who had been
+      overtaken in their flight, were brought in and executed in the public
+      market-place. All the children who had been baptized after the Protestant
+      rites were rebaptized by Roman Catholic priests; all the schools of
+      heretics were closed, and their churches levelled to the ground. Nearly
+      all the towns in the Netherlands followed the example of Antwerp and
+      banished the Protestant preachers. By the end of April the Roman Catholic
+      churches were repaired and embellished more splendidly than ever, while
+      all the Protestant places of worship were pulled down, and every vestige
+      of the proscribed belief obliterated in the seventeen provinces. The
+      populace, whose sympathies are generally with the successful party, was
+      now as active in accelerating the ruin of the unfortunate as a short time
+      before it had been furiously zealous in its cause; in Ghent a large and
+      beautiful church which the Calvinists had erected was attacked, and in
+      less than an hour had wholly disappeared. From the beams of the roofless
+      churches gibbets were erected for those who had profaned the sanctuaries
+      of the Roman Catholics. The places of execution were filled with corpses,
+      the prisons with condemned victims, the high roads with fugitives.
+      Innumerable were the victims of this year of murder; in the smallest towns
+      fifty at least, in several of the larger as many as three hundred, were
+      put to death, while no account was kept of the numbers in the open country
+      who fell into the hands of the provost-marshal and were immediately strung
+      up as miscreants, without trial and without mercy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent was still in Antwerp when ambassadors presented themselves from
+      the Electors of Brandenburg, Saxony, Hesse, Wurtemberg, and Baden to
+      intercede for their fugitive brethren in the faith. The expelled preachers
+      of the Augsburg Confession had claimed the rights assured to them by the
+      religious peace of the Germans, in which Brabant, as part of the empire,
+      participated, and had thrown themselves on the protection of those
+      princes. The arrival of the foreign ministers alarmed the regent, and she
+      vainly endeavored to prevent their entrance into Antwerp; under the guise,
+      however, of showing them marks of honor, she continued to keep them
+      closely watched lest they should encourage the malcontents in any attempts
+      against the peace of the town. From the high tone which they most
+      unreasonably adopted towards the regent it might almost be inferred that
+      they were little in earnest in their demand. &ldquo;It was but reasonable,&rdquo; they
+      said, &ldquo;that the Confession of Augsburg, as the only one which met the
+      spirit of the gospel, should be the ruling faith in the Netherlands; but
+      to persecute it by such cruel edicts as were in force was positively
+      unnatural and could not be allowed. They therefore required of the regent,
+      in the name of religion, not to treat the people entrusted to her rule
+      with such severity.&rdquo; She replied through the Count of Staremberg, her
+      minister for German affairs, that such an exordium deserved no answer at
+      all. From the sympathy which the German princes had shown for the Belgian
+      fugitives it was clear that they gave less credit to the letters of the
+      king, in explanation of his measures, than to the reports of a few
+      worthless wretches who, in the desecrated churches, had left behind them a
+      worthier memorial of their acts and characters. It would far more become
+      them to leave to the King of Spain the care of his own subjects, and
+      abandon the attempt to foster a spirit of rebellion in foreign countries,
+      from which they would reap neither honor nor profit. The ambassadors left
+      Antwerp in a few days without having effected anything. The Saxon
+      minister, indeed, in a private interview with the regent even assured her
+      that his master had most reluctantly taken this step.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The German ambassadors had not quitted Antwerp when intelligence from
+      Holland completed the triumph of the regent. From fear of Count Megen
+      Count Brederode had deserted his town of Viane, and with the aid of the
+      Protestants inhabitants had succeeded in throwing himself into Amsterdam,
+      where his arrival caused great alarm to the city magistrate, who had
+      previously found difficulty in preventing a revolt, while it revived the
+      courage of the Protestants. Here Brederode&rsquo;s adherents increased daily,
+      and many noblemen flocked to him from Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen,
+      whence the victorious arms of Megen and Aremberg had driven them. Under
+      various disguises they found means to steal into the city, where they
+      gathered round Brederode, and served him as a strong body-guard. The
+      regent, apprehensive of a new outbreak, sent one of her private
+      secretaries, Jacob de la Torre, to the council of Amsterdam, and ordered
+      them to get rid of Count Brederode on any terms and at any risk. Neither
+      the magistrate nor de la Torre himself, who visited Brederode in person to
+      acquaint him with the will of the duchess, could prevail upon him to
+      depart. The secretary was even surprised in his own chamber by a party of
+      Brederode&rsquo;s followers, and deprived of all his papers, and would, perhaps,
+      have lost his life also if he had not contrived to make his escape.
+      Brederode remained in Amsterdam a full month after this occurrence, a
+      powerless idol of the Protestants, and an oppressive burden to the Roman
+      Catholics; while his fine army, which he had left in Viane, reinforced by
+      many fugitives from the southern provinces, gave Count Megen enough to do
+      without attempting to harass the Protestants in their flight. At last
+      Brederode resolved to follow the example of Orange, and, yielding to
+      necessity, abandon a desperate cause. He informed the town council that he
+      was willing to leave Amsterdam if they would enable him to do so by
+      furnishing him with the pecuniary means. Glad to get quit of him, they
+      hastened to borrow the money on the security of the town council.
+      Brederode quitted Amsterdam the same night, and was conveyed in a gunboat
+      as far as Vlie, from whence he fortunately escaped to Embden. Fate treated
+      him more mildly than the majority of those he had implicated in his
+      foolhardy enterprise; he died the year after, 1568, at one of his castles
+      in Germany, from the effects of drinking, by which he sought ultimately to
+      drown his grief and disappointments. His widow, Countess of Moers in her
+      own right, was remarried to the Prince Palatine, Friedrich III. The
+      Protestant cause lost but little by his demise; the work which he had
+      commenced, as it had not been kept alive by him, so it did not die with
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The little army, which in his disgraceful flight he had deserted, was bold
+      and valiant, and had a few resolute leaders. It disbanded, indeed, as soon
+      as he, to whom it looked for pay, had fled; but hunger and courage kept
+      its parts together some time longer. One body, under command of Dietrich
+      of Battenburgh, marched to Amsterdam in the hope of carrying that town;
+      but Count Megen hastened with thirteen companies of excellent troops to
+      its relief, and compelled the rebels to give up the attempt. Contenting
+      themselves with plundering the neighboring cloisters, among which the
+      abbey of Egmont in particular was hardly dealt with, they turned off
+      towards Waaterland, where they hoped the numerous swamps would protect
+      them from pursuit. But thither Count Megen followed them, and compelled
+      them in all haste to seek safety in the Zuyderzee. The brothers Van
+      Battenburg, and two Friesan nobles, Beima and Galama, with a hundred and
+      twenty men and the booty they had taken from the monasteries, embarked
+      near the town of Hoorne, intending to cross to Friesland, but through the
+      treachery of the steersman, who ran the vessel on a sand-bank near
+      Harlingen, they fell into the hands of one of Aremberg&rsquo;s captains, who
+      took them all prisoners. The Count of Aremberg immediately pronounced
+      sentence upon all the captives of plebeian rank, but sent his noble
+      prisoners to the regent, who caused seven of them to be beheaded. Seven
+      others of the most noble, including the brothers Van Battenburg and some
+      Frieslanders, all in the bloom of youth, were reserved for the Duke of
+      Alva, to enable him to signalize the commencement of his administration by
+      a deed which was in every way worthy of him. The troops in four other
+      vessels which set sail from Medenhlick, and were pursued by Count Megen in
+      small boats, were more successful. A contrary wind had forced them out of
+      their course and driven them ashore on the coast of Gueldres, where they
+      all got safe to land; crossing the Rhine, near Heusen, they fortunately
+      escaped into Cleves, where they tore their flags in pieces and dispersed.
+      In North Holland Count Megen overtook some squadrons who had lingered too
+      long in plundering the cloisters, and completely overpowered them. He
+      afterwards formed a junction with Noircarmes and garrisoned Amsterdam. The
+      Duke Erich of Brunswick also surprised three companies, the last remains
+      of the army of the Gueux, near Viane, where they were endeavoring to take
+      a battery, routed them and captured their leader, Rennesse, who was
+      shortly afterwards beheaded at the castle of Freudenburg, in Utrecht.
+      Subsequently, when Duke Erich entered Viane, he found nothing but deserted
+      streets, the inhabitants having left it with the garrison on the first
+      alarm. He immediately razed the fortifications, and reduced this arsenal
+      of the Gueux to an open town without defences. All the originators of the
+      league were now dispersed; Brederode and Louis of Nassau had fled to
+      Germany, and Counts Hogstraten, Bergen, and Kuilemberg had followed their
+      example. Mansfeld had seceded, the brothers Van Battenburg awaited in
+      prison an ignomonious fate, while Thoulouse alone had found an honorable
+      death on the field of battle. Those of the confederates who had escaped
+      the sword of the enemy and the axe of the executioner had saved nothing
+      but their lives, and thus the title which they had assumed for show became
+      at last a terrible reality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the inglorious end of the noble league, which in its beginning
+      awakened such fair hopes and promised to become a powerful protection
+      against oppression. Unanimity was its strength, distrust and internal
+      dissension its ruin. It brought to light and developed many rare and
+      beautiful virtues, but it wanted the most indispensable of all, prudence
+      and moderation, without which any undertaking must miscarry, and all the
+      fruits of the most laborious industry perish. If its objects had been as
+      pure as it pretended, or even had they remained as pure as they really
+      were at its first establishment, it might have defied the unfortunate
+      combination of circumstances which prematurely overwhelmed it, and even if
+      unsuccessful it would still have deserved an honorable mention in history.
+      But it is too evident that the confederate nobles, whether directly or
+      indirectly, took a greater share in the frantic excesses of the
+      Iconoclasts than comported with the dignity and blamelessness of their
+      confederation, and many among them openly exchanged their own good cause
+      for the mad enterprise of these worthless vagabonds. The restriction of
+      the Inquisition and a mitigation of the cruel inhumanity of the edicts
+      must be laid to the credit of the league; but this transient relief was
+      dearly purchased, at the cost of so many of the best and bravest citizens,
+      who either lost their lives in the field, or in exile carried their wealth
+      and industry to another quarter of the world; and of the presence of Alva
+      and the Spanish arms. Many, too, of its peaceable citizens, who without
+      its dangerous temptations would never have been seduced from the ranks of
+      peace and order, were beguiled by the hope of success into the most
+      culpable enterprises, and by their failure plunged into ruin and misery.
+      But it cannot be denied that the league atoned in some measure for these
+      wrongs by positive benefits. It brought together and emboldened many whom
+      a selfish pusillanimity kept asunder and inactive; it diffused a salutary
+      public spirit amongst the Belgian people, which the oppression of the
+      government had almost entirely extinguished, and gave unanimity and a
+      common voice to the scattered members of the nation, the absence of which
+      alone makes despots bold. The attempt, indeed, failed, and the knots, too
+      carelessly tied, were quickly unloosed; but it was through such failures
+      that the nation was eventually to attain to a firm and lasting union,
+      which should bid defiance to change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The total destruction of the Geusen army quickly brought the Dutch towns
+      also back to their obedience, and in the provinces there remained not a
+      single place which had not submitted to the regent; but the increasing
+      emigration, both of the natives and the foreign residents, threatened the
+      country with depopulation. In Amsterdam the crowd of fugitives was so
+      great that vessels were wanting to convey them across the North Sea and
+      the Zuyderzee, and that flourishing emporium beheld with dismay the
+      approaching downfall of its prosperity. Alarmed at this general flight,
+      the regent hastened to write letters to all the towns, to encourage the
+      citizens to remain, and by fair promises to revive a hope of better and
+      milder measures. In the king&rsquo;s name she promised to all who would freely
+      swear to obey the state and the church complete indemnity, and by public
+      proclamation invited the fugitives to trust to the royal clemency and
+      return to their homes. She engaged also to relieve the nation from the
+      dreaded presence of a Spanish army, even if it were already on the
+      frontiers; nay, she went so far as to drop hints that, if necessary, means
+      might be found to prevent it by force from entering the provinces, as she
+      was fully determined not to relinquish to another the glory of a peace
+      which it had cost her so much labor to effect. Few, however, returned in
+      reliance upon her word, and these few had cause to repent it in the
+      sequel; many thousands had already quitted the country, and several
+      thousands more quickly followed them. Germany and England were filled with
+      Flemish emigrants, who, wherever they settled, retained their usages and
+      manners, and even their costume, unwilling to come to the painful
+      conclusion that they should never again see their native land, and to give
+      up all hopes of return. Few carried with them any remains of their former
+      affluence; the greater portion had to beg their way, and bestowed on their
+      adopted country nothing but industrious skill and honest citizens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now the regent hastened to report to the king tidings such as, during
+      her whole administration, she had never before been able to gratify him
+      with. She announced to him that she had succeeded in restoring quiet
+      throughout the provinces, and that she thought herself strong enough to
+      maintain it. The sects were extirpated, and the Roman Catholic worship
+      re-established in all its former splendor; the rebels had either already
+      met with, or were awaiting in prison, the punishment they deserved; the
+      towns were secured by adequate garrisons. There was therefore no necessity
+      for sending Spanish troops into the Netherlands, and nothing to justify
+      their entrance. Their arrival would tend to destroy the existing repose,
+      which it had cost so much to establish, would check the much-desired
+      revival of commerce and trade, and, while it would involve the country in
+      new expenses, would at the same time deprive them of the only means of
+      supporting them. The mere rumor of the approach of a Spanish army had
+      stripped the country of many thousands of its most valuable citizens; its
+      actual appearance would reduce it to a desert. As there was no longer any
+      enemy to subdue, or rebellion to suppress, the people would see no motive
+      for the march of this army but punishment and revenge, and under this
+      supposition its arrival would neither be welcomed nor honored. No longer
+      excused by necessity, this violent expedient would assume the odious
+      aspect of oppression, would exasperate the national mind afresh, drive the
+      Protestants to desperation, and arm their brethren in other countries in
+      their defence. The regent, she said, had in the king&rsquo;s name promised the
+      nation it should be relieved from this foreign army, and to this
+      stipulation she was principally indebted for the present peace; she could
+      not therefore guarantee its long continuance if her pledge was not
+      faithfully fulfilled. The Netherlands would receive him as their
+      sovereign, the king, with every mark of attachment and veneration, but he
+      must come as a father to bless, not as a despot to chastise them. Let him
+      come to enjoy the peace which she had bestowed on the country, but not to
+      destroy it afresh.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      ALVA&rsquo;S ARMAMENT AND EXPEDITION TO THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      But it was otherwise determined in the council at Madrid. The minister,
+      Granvella, who, even while absent himself, ruled the Spanish cabinet by
+      his adherents; the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor, Spinosa, and the Duke of
+      Alva, swayed respectively by hatred, a spirit of persecution, or private
+      interest, had outvoted the milder councils of the Prince Ruy Gomes of
+      Eboli, the Count of Feria, and the king&rsquo;s confessor, Fresneda. The
+      insurrection, it was urged by the former, was indeed quelled for the
+      present, but only because the rebels were awed by the rumor of the king&rsquo;s
+      armed approach; it was to fear of punishment alone, and not to sorrow for
+      their crime, that the present calm was to be ascribed, and it would soon
+      again be broken if that feeling were allowed to subside. In fact, the
+      offences of the people fairly afforded the king the opportunity he had so
+      long desired of carrying out his despotic views with an appearance of
+      justice. The peaceable settlement for which the regent took credit to
+      herself was very far from according with his wishes, which sought rather
+      for a legitimate pretext to deprive the provinces of their privileges,
+      which were so obnoxious to his despotic temper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With an impenetrable dissimulation Philip had hitherto fostered the
+      general delusion that he was about to visit the provinces in person, while
+      all along nothing could have been more remote from his real intentions.
+      Travelling at any time ill suited the methodical regularity of his life,
+      which moved with the precision of clockwork; and his narrow and sluggish
+      intellect was oppressed by the variety and multitude of objects with which
+      new scenes crowded it. The difficulties and dangers which would attend a
+      journey to the Netherlands must, therefore, have been peculiarly alarming
+      to his natural timidity and love of ease. Why should he, who, in all that
+      he did, was accustomed to consider himself alone, and to make men
+      accommodate themselves to his principles, not his principles to men,
+      undertake so perilous an expedition, when he could see neither the
+      advantage nor necessity of it. Moreover, as it had ever been to him an
+      utter impossibility to separate, even for a moment, his person from his
+      royal dignity, which no prince ever guarded so tenaciously and
+      pedantically as himself, so the magnificence and ceremony which in his
+      mind were inseparably connected with such a journey, and the expenses
+      which, on this account, it would necessarily occasion, were of themselves
+      sufficient motives to account for his indisposition to it, without its
+      being at all requisite to call in the aid of the influence of his
+      favorite, Ruy Gomes, who is said to have desired to separate his rival,
+      the Duke of Alva, from the king. Little, however, as be seriously intended
+      this journey, he still deemed it advisable to keep up the expectation of
+      it, as well with a view of sustaining the courage of the loyal as of
+      preventing a dangerous combination of the disaffected, and stopping the
+      further progress of the rebels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to carry on the deception as long as possible, Philip made
+      extensive preparations for his departure, and neglected nothing which
+      could be required for such an event. He ordered ships to be fitted out,
+      appointed the officers and others to attend him. To allay the suspicion
+      such warlike preparations might excite in all foreign courts, they were
+      informed through his ambassadors of his real design. He applied to the
+      King of France for a passage for himself and attendants through that
+      kingdom, and consulted the Duke of Savoy as to the preferable route. He
+      caused a list to be drawn up of all the towns and fortified places that
+      lay in his march, and directed all the intermediate distances to be
+      accurately laid down. Orders were issued for taking a map and survey of
+      the whole extent of country between Savoy and Burgundy, the duke being
+      requested to furnish the requisite surveyors and scientific officers. To
+      such lengths was the deception carried that the regent was commanded to
+      hold eight vessels at least in readiness off Zealand, and to despatch them
+      to meet the king the instant she heard of his having sailed from Spain;
+      and these ships she actually got ready, and caused prayers to be offered
+      up in all the churches for the king&rsquo;s safety during the voyage, though in
+      secret many persons did not scruple to remark that in his chamber at
+      Madrid his majesty would not have much cause to dread the storms at sea.
+      Philip played his part with such masterly skill that the Belgian
+      ambassadors at Madrid, Lords Bergen and Montigny, who at first had
+      disbelieved in the sincerity of his pretended journey, began at last to be
+      alarmed, and infected their friends in Brussels with similar
+      apprehensions. An attack of tertian ague, which about this time the king
+      suffered, or perhaps feigned, in Segovia, afforded a plausible pretence
+      for postponing his journey, while meantime the preparations for it were
+      carried on with the utmost activity. At last, when the urgent and repeated
+      solicitations of his sister compelled him to make a definite explanation
+      of his plans, he gave orders that the Duke of Alva should set out
+      forthwith with an army, both to clear the way before him of rebels, and to
+      enhance the splendor of his own royal arrival. He did not yet venture to
+      throw off the mask and announce the duke as his substitute. He had but too
+      much reason to fear that the submission which his Flemish nobles would
+      cheerfully yield to their sovereign would be refused to one of his
+      servants, whose cruel character was well known, and who, moreover, was
+      detested as a foreigner and the enemy of their constitution. And, in fact,
+      the universal belief that the king was soon to follow, which long survived
+      Alva&rsquo;s entrance into the country, restrained the outbreak of disturbances
+      which otherwise would assuredly have been caused by the cruelties which
+      marked the very opening of the duke&rsquo;s government.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergy of Spain, and especially the Inquisition, contributed richly
+      towards the expenses of this expedition as to a holy war. Throughout Spain
+      the enlisting was carried on with the utmost zeal. The viceroys and
+      governors of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Milan received orders to select
+      the best of their Italian and Spanish troops in the garrisons and despatch
+      them to the general rendezvous in the Genoese territory, where the Duke of
+      Alva would exchange them for the Spanish recruits which he should bring
+      with him. At the same time the regent was commanded to hold in readiness a
+      few more regiments of German infantry in Luxembourg, under the command of
+      the Counts Eberstein, Schaumburg, and Lodrona, and also some squadrons of
+      light cavalry in the Duchy of Burgundy to reinforce the Spanish general
+      immediately on his entrance into the provinces. The Count of Barlaimont
+      was commissioned to furnish the necessary provision for the armament, and
+      a sum of two hundred thousand gold florins was remitted to the regent to
+      enable her to meet these expenses and to maintain her own troops.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The French court, however, under pretence of the danger to be apprehended
+      from the Huguenots, had refused to allow the Spanish army to pass through
+      France. Philip applied to the Dukes of Savoy and Lorraine, who were too
+      dependent upon him to refuse his request. The former merely stipulated
+      that he should be allowed to maintain two thousand infantry and a squadron
+      of horse at the king&rsquo;s expense in order to protect his country from the
+      injuries to which it might otherwise be exposed from the passage of the
+      Spanish army. At the same time he undertook to provide the necessary
+      supplies for its maintenance during the transit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rumor of this arrangement roused the Huguenots, the Genevese, the
+      Swiss, and the Grisons. The Prince of Conde and the Admiral Coligny
+      entreated Charles IX. not to neglect so favorable a moment of inflicting a
+      deadly blow on the hereditary foe of France. With the aid of the Swiss,
+      the Genevese, and his own Protestant subjects, it would, they alleged, be
+      an easy matter to destroy the flower of the Spanish troops in the narrow
+      passes of the Alpine mountains; and they promised to support him in this
+      undertaking with an army of fifty thousand Huguenots. This advice,
+      however, whose dangerous object was not easily to be mistaken, was
+      plausibly declined by Charles IX., who assured them that he was both able
+      and anxious to provide for the security of his kingdom. He hastily
+      despatched troops to cover the French frontiers; and the republics of
+      Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and the Grisons followed his example, all ready to
+      offer a determined opposition to the dreaded enemy of their religion and
+      their liberty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the 5th of May, 1567, the Duke of Alva set sail from Carthagena with
+      thirty galleys, which had been furnished by Andrew Doria and the Duke
+      Cosmo of Florence, and within eight days landed at Genoa, where the four
+      regiments were waiting to join him. But a tertian ague, with which he was
+      seized shortly after his arrival, compelled him to remain for some days
+      inactive in Lombardy&mdash;a delay of which the neighboring powers availed
+      themselves to prepare for defence. As soon as the duke recovered he held
+      at Asti, in Montferrat, a review of all his troops, who were more
+      formidable by their valor than by their numbers, since cavalry and
+      infantry together did not amount to much above ten thousand men. In his
+      long and perilous march he did not wish to encumber himself with useless
+      supernumeraries, which would only impede his progress and increase the
+      difficulty of supporting his army. These ten thousand veterans were to
+      form the nucleus of a greater army, which, according as circumstances and
+      occasion might require, he could easily assemble in the Netherlands
+      themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This array, however, was as select as it was small. It consisted of the
+      remains of those victorious legions at whose head Charles V. had made
+      Europe tremble; sanguinary, indomitable bands, in whose battalions the
+      firmness of the old Macedonian phalanx lived again; rapid in their
+      evolutions from long practice, hardy and enduring, proud of their leader&rsquo;s
+      success, and confident from past victories, formidable by their
+      licentiousness, but still more so by their discipline; let loose with all
+      the passions of a warmer climate upon a rich and peaceful country, and
+      inexorable towards an enemy whom the church had cursed. Their fanatical
+      and sanguinary spirit, their thirst for glory and innate courage was aided
+      by a rude sensuality, the instrument by which the Spanish general firmly
+      and surely ruled his otherwise intractable troops. With a prudent
+      indulgence he allowed riot and voluptuousness to reign throughout the
+      camp. Under his tacit connivance Italian courtezans followed the
+      standards; even in the march across the Apennines, where the high price of
+      the necessaries of life compelled him to reduce his force to the smallest
+      possible number, he preferred to have a few regiments less rather than to
+      leave behind these instruments of voluptuousness.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The bacchanalian procession of this army contrasted strangely
+   enough with the gloomy seriousness and pretended sanctity of his
+   aim. The number of these women was so great that to restrain the
+   disorders and quarrelling among themselves they hit upon the
+   expedient of establishing a discipline of their own. They ranged
+   themselves under particular flags, marched in ranks and sections,
+   and in admirable military order, after each battalion, and classed
+   themselves with strict etiquette according to their rank and pay.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      But industriously as Alva strove to relax the morals of his soldiers, he
+      enforced the more rigidly a strict military discipline, which was
+      interrupted only by a victory or rendered less severe by a battle. For all
+      this he had, he said, the authority of the Athenian General Iphicrates,
+      who awarded the prize of valor to the pleasure-loving and rapacious
+      soldier. The more irksome the restraint by which the passions of the
+      soldiers were kept in check, the greater must have been the vehemence with
+      which they broke forth at the sole outlet which was left open to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The duke divided his infantry, which was about nine thousand strong, and
+      chiefly Spaniards, into four brigades, and gave the command of them to
+      four Spanish officers. Alphonso of Ulloa led the Neapolitan brigade of
+      nine companies, amounting to three thousand two hundred and thirty men;
+      Sancho of Lodogno commanded the Milan brigade, three thousand two hundred
+      men in ten companies; the Sicilian brigade, with the same number of
+      companies, and consisting of sixteen hundred men, was under Julian Romero,
+      an experienced warrior, who had already fought on Belgian ground.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The same officer who commanded one of the Spanish regiments about
+   which so much complaint had formerly been made in the States-
+   General.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Gonsalo of Braccamonte headed that of Sardinia, which was raised by three
+      companies of recruits to the full complement of the former. To every
+      company, moreover, were added fifteen Spanish musqueteers. The horse, in
+      all twelve hundred strong, consisted of three Italian, two Albanian, and
+      seven Spanish squadrons, light and heavy cavalry, and the chief command
+      was held by Ferdinand and Friedrich of Toledo, the two sons of Alva.
+      Chiappin Vitelli, Marquis of Cetona, was field-marshal; a celebrated
+      general whose services had been made over to the King of Spain by Cosmo of
+      Florence; and Gabriel Serbellon was general of artillery. The Duke of
+      Savoy lent Alva an experienced engineer, Francis Pacotto, of Urbino, who
+      was to be employed in the erection of new fortifications. His standard was
+      likewise followed by a number of volunteers, and the flower of the Spanish
+      nobility, of whom the greater part had fought under Charles V. in Germany,
+      Italy, and before Tunis. Among these were Christopher Mondragone, one of
+      the ten Spanish heroes who, near Mithlberg, swam across the Elbe with
+      their swords between their teeth, and, under a shower of bullets from the
+      enemy, brought over from the opposite shore the boats which the emperor
+      required for the construction of a bridge. Sancho of Avila, who had been
+      trained to war under Alva himself, Camillo of Monte, Francis Ferdugo, Karl
+      Davila, Nicolaus Basta, and Count Martinego, all fired with a noble ardor,
+      either to commence their military career under so eminent a leader, or by
+      another glorious campaign under his command to crown the fame they had
+      already won. After the review the army marched in three divisions across
+      Mount Cenis, by the very route which sixteen centuries before Hannibal is
+      said to have taken. The duke himself led the van; Ferdinand of Toledo,
+      with whom was associated Lodogno as colonel, the centre; and the Marquis
+      of Cetona the rear. The Commissary General, Francis of Ibarra, was sent
+      before with General Serbellon to open the road for the main body, and get
+      ready the supplies at the several quarters for the night. The places which
+      the van left in the morning were entered in the evening by the centre,
+      which in its turn made room on the following day for the rear. Thus the
+      army crossed the Alps of Savoy by regular stages, and with the fourteenth
+      day completed that dangerous passage. A French army of observation
+      accompanied it side by side along the frontiers of Dauphins, and the
+      course of the Rhone, and the allied army of the Genevese followed it on
+      the right, and was passed by it at a distance of seven miles. Both these
+      armies of observation carefully abstained from any act of hostility, and
+      were merely intended to cover their own frontiers. As the Spanish legions
+      ascended and descended the steep mountain crags, or while they crossed the
+      rapid Iser, or file by file wound through the narrow passes of the rocks,
+      a handful of men would have been sufficient to put an entire stop to their
+      march, and to drive them back into the mountains, where they would have
+      been irretrievably lost, since at each place of encampment supplies were
+      provided for no more than a single day, and for a third part only of the
+      whole force. But a supernatural awe and dread of the Spanish name appeared
+      to have blinded the eyes of the enemy so that they did not perceive their
+      advantage, or at least did not venture to profit by it. In order to give
+      them as little opportunity as possible of remembering it, the Spanish
+      general hastened through this dangerous pass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Convinced, too, that if his troops gave the slightest umbrage he was lost,
+      the strictest discipline was maintained during the march; not a single
+      peasant&rsquo;s hut, not a single field was injured; and never, perhaps, in the
+      memory of man was so numerous an army led so far in such excellent order.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Once only on entering Lorraine three horsemen ventured to drive
+   away a few sheep from a flock, of which circumstance the duke was
+   no sooner informed than he sent back to the owner what had been
+   taken from him and sentenced the offenders to be hung. This
+   sentence was, at the intercession of the Lorraine general, who had
+   come to the frontiers to pay his respects to the duke, executed on
+   only one of the three, upon whom the lot fell at the drum-head.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Destined as this army was for vengeance and murder, a malignant and
+      baleful star seemed to conduct it safe through all dangers; and it would
+      be difficult to decide whether the prudence of its general or the
+      blindness of its enemies is most to be wondered at.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Franche Comte, four squadrons of Burgundian cavalry, newly-raised,
+      joined the main army, which, at Luxembourg, was also reinforced by three
+      regiments of German infantry under the command of Counts Eberstein,
+      Schaumburg, and Lodrona. From Thionville, where he halted a few days, Alva
+      sent his salutations to the regent by Francis of Ibarra, who was, at the
+      same time, directed to consult her on the quartering of the troops. On her
+      part, Noircarmes and Barlairnont were despatched to the Spanish camp to
+      congratulate the duke on his arrival, and to show him the customary marks
+      of honor. At the same time they were directed to ask him to produce the
+      powers entrusted to him by the king, of which, however, he only showed a
+      part. The envoys of the regent were followed by swarms of the Flemish
+      nobility, who thought they could not hasten soon enough to conciliate the
+      favor of the new viceroy, or by a timely submission avert the vengeance
+      which was preparing. Among them was Count Egmont. As he came forward the
+      duke pointed him out to the bystanders. &ldquo;Here comes an arch-heretic,&rdquo; he
+      exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by Egmont himself, who, surprised at
+      these words, stopped and changed color. But when the duke, in order to
+      repair his imprudence, went up to him with a serene countenance, and
+      greeted him with a friendly embrace, the Fleming was ashamed of his fears,
+      and made light of this warning, by putting some frivolous interpretation
+      upon it. Egmont sealed this new friendship with a present of two valuable
+      chargers, which Alva accepted with a grave condescension.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon the assurance of the regent that the provinces were in the enjoyment
+      of perfect peace, and that no opposition was to be apprehended from any
+      quarter, the duke discharged some German regiments, which had hitherto
+      drawn their pay from the Netherlands. Three thousand six hundred men,
+      under the command of Lodrona, were quartered in Antwerp, from which town
+      the Walloon garrison, in which full reliance could not be placed, was
+      withdrawn; garrisons proportionably stronger were thrown into Ghent and
+      other important places; Alva himself marched with the Milan brigade
+      towards Brussels, whither he was accompanied by a splendid cortege of the
+      noblest in the land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, as in all the other towns of the Netherlands, fear and terror had
+      preceded him, and all who were conscious of any offences, and even those
+      who were sensible of none, alike awaited his approach with a dread similar
+      to that with which criminals see the coming of their day of trial. All who
+      could tear themselves from the ties of family, property, and country had
+      already fled, or now at last took to flight. The advance of the Spanish
+      army had already, according to the report of the regent, diminished the
+      population of the provinces by the loss of one hundred thousand citizens,
+      and this general flight still continued. But the arrival of the Spanish
+      general could not be more hateful to the people of the Netherlands than it
+      was distressing and dispiriting to the regent. At last, after so many
+      years of anxiety, she had begun to taste the sweets of repose, and that
+      absolute-authority, which had been the long-cherished object of eight
+      years of a troubled and difficult administration. This late fruit of so
+      much anxious industry, of so many cares and nightly vigils, was now to be
+      wrested from her by a stranger, who was to be placed at once in possession
+      of all the advantages which she had been forced to extract from adverse
+      circumstances, by a long and tedious course of intrigue and patient
+      endurance. Another was lightly to bear away the prize of promptitude, and
+      to triumph by more rapid success over her superior but less glittering
+      merits. Since the departure of the minister, Granvella, she had tasted to
+      the full the pleasures of independence. The flattering homage of the
+      nobility, which allowed her more fully to enjoy the shadow of power, the
+      more they deprived her of its substance, had, by degrees, fostered her
+      vanity to such an extent, that she at last estranged by her coldness even
+      the most upright of all her servants, the state counsellor Viglius, who
+      always addressed her in the language of truth. All at once a censor of her
+      actions was placed at her side, a partner of her power was associated with
+      her, if indeed it was not rather a master who was forced upon her, whose
+      proud, stubborn, and imperious spirit, which no courtesy could soften,
+      threatened the deadliest wounds to her self-love and vanity. To prevent
+      his arrival she had, in her representations to the king, vainly exhausted
+      every political argument. To no purpose had she urged that the utter ruin
+      of the commerce of the Netherlands would be the inevitable consequence of;
+      this introduction of the Spanish troops; in vain had she assured the king
+      that peace was universally restored, and reminded him of her own services
+      in procuring it, which deserved, she thought, a better guerdon than to see
+      all the fruits of her labors snatched from her and given to a foreigner,
+      and more than all, to behold all the good which she had effected destroyed
+      by a new and different line of conduct. Even when the duke had already
+      crossed Mount Cenis she made one more attempt, entreating him at least to
+      diminish his army; but that also failed, for the duke insisted upon acting
+      up to the powers entrusted to him. In poignant grief she now awaited his
+      approach, and with the tears she shed for her country were mingled those
+      of offended self-love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img alt="1pb262 (139K)" src="images/1pb262.jpg" style="width:100%;"   /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the 22d of August, 1567, the Duke of Alva appeared before the gates of
+      Brussels. His army immediately took up their quarters in the suburbs, and
+      he himself made it his first duty to pay his respects to the sister of his
+      king. She gave him a private audience on the plea of suffering from
+      sickness. Either the mortification she had undergone had in reality a
+      serious effect upon her health, or, what is not improbable, she had
+      recourse to this expedient to pain his haughty spirit, and in some degree
+      to lessen his triumph. He delivered to her letters from the king, and laid
+      before her a copy of his own appointment, by which the supreme command of
+      the whole military force of the Netherlands was committed to him, and from
+      which, therefore, it would appear, that the administration of civil
+      affairs remained, as heretofore, in the hands of the regent. But as soon
+      as he was alone with her he produced a new commission, which was totally
+      different from the former. According to this, the power was delegated to
+      him of making war at his discretion, of erecting fortifications, of
+      appointing and dismissing at pleasure the governors of provinces, the
+      commandants of towns, and other officers of the king; of instituting
+      inquiries into the past troubles, of punishing those who originated them,
+      and of rewarding the loyal. Powers of this extent, which placed him almost
+      on a level with a sovereign prince, and far surpassed those of the regent
+      herself, caused her the greatest consternation, and it was with difficulty
+      that she could conceal her emotion. She asked the duke whether he had not
+      even a third commission, or some special orders in reserve which went
+      still further, and were drawn up still more precisely, to which he replied
+      distinctly enough in the affirmative, but at the same time gave her to
+      understand that this commission might be too full to suit the present
+      occasion, and would be better brought into play hereafter with due regard
+      to time and circumstances. A few days after his arrival he caused a copy
+      of the first instructions to be laid before the several councils and the
+      states, and had them printed to insure their rapid circulation. As the
+      regent resided in the palace, he took up his quarters temporarily in
+      Kuilemberg house, the same in which the association of the Gueux had
+      received its name, and before which, through a wonderful vicissitude,
+      Spanish tyranny now planted its flag.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A dead silence reigned in Brussels, broken only at times by the unwonted
+      clang of arms. The duke had entered the town but a few hours when his
+      attendants, like bloodhounds that have been slipped, dispersed themselves
+      in all directions. Everywhere foreign faces were to be seen; the streets
+      were empty, all the houses carefully closed, all amusements suspended, all
+      public places deserted. The whole metropolis resembled a place visited by
+      the plague. Acquaintances hurried on without stopping for their usual
+      greeting; all hastened on the moment a Spaniard showed himself in the
+      streets. Every sound startled them, as if it were the knock of the
+      officials of justice at their doors; the nobility, in trembling anxiety,
+      kept to their houses; they shunned appearing in public lest their presence
+      should remind the new viceroy of some past offence. The two nations now
+      seemed to have exchanged characters. The Spaniard had become the talkative
+      man and the Brabanter taciturn; distrust and fear had scared away the
+      spirit of cheerfulness and mirth; a constrained gravity fettered even the
+      play of the features. Every moment the impending blow was looked for with
+      dread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This general straining of expectation warned the duke to hasten the
+      accomplishment of his plans before they should be anticipated by the
+      timely flight of his victims. His first object was to secure the suspected
+      nobles, in order, at once and forever, to deprive the faction of its
+      leaders, and the nation, whose freedom was to be crushed, of all its
+      supporters. By a pretended affability he had succeeded in lulling their
+      first alarm, and in restoring Count Egmont in particular to his former
+      perfect confidence, for which purpose he artfully employed his sons,
+      Ferdinand and Friedrich of Toledo, whose companionableness and youth
+      assimilated more easily with the Flemish character. By this skilful advice
+      he succeeded also in enticing Count Horn to Brussels, who had hitherto
+      thought it advisable to watch the first measures of the duke from a
+      distance, but now suffered himself to be seduced by the good fortune of
+      his friend. Some of the nobility, and Count Egmont at the head of them,
+      even resumed their former gay style of living. But they themselves did not
+      do so with their whole hearts, and they had not many imitators. Kuilemberg
+      house was incessantly besieged by a numerous crowd, who thronged around
+      the person of the new viceroy, and exhibited an affected gayety on their
+      countenances, while their hearts were wrung with distress and fear. Egmont
+      in particular assumed the appearance of a light heart, entertaining the
+      duke&rsquo;s sons, and being feted by them in return. Meanwhile, the duke was
+      fearful lest so fair an opportunity for the accomplishment of his plans
+      might not last long, and lest some act of imprudence might destroy the
+      feeling of security which had tempted both his victims voluntarily to put
+      themselves into his power; he only waited for a third; Hogstraten also was
+      to be taken in the same net. Under a plausible pretext of business he
+      therefore summoned him to the metropolis. At the same time that he
+      purposed to secure the three counts in Brussels, Colonel Lodrona was to
+      arrest the burgomaster, Strahlen, in Antwerp, an intimate friend of the
+      Prince of Orange, and suspected of having favored the Calvinists; another
+      officer was to seize the private secretary of Count Egmont, whose name was
+      John Cassembrot von Beckerzeel, as also some secretaries of Count Horn,
+      and was to possess themselves of their papers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the day arrived which had been fixed upon for the execution of this
+      plan, the duke summoned all the counsellors and knights before him to
+      confer with them upon matters of state. On this occasion the Duke of
+      Arschot, the Counts Mansfeld, Barlaimont, and Aremberg attended on the
+      part of the Netherlands, and on the part of the Spaniards besides the
+      duke&rsquo;s sons, Vitelli, Serbellon, and Ibarra. The young Count Mansfeld, who
+      likewise appeared at the meeting, received a sign from his father to
+      withdraw with all speed, and by a hasty flight avoid the fate which was
+      impending over him as a former member of the Geusen league. The duke
+      purposely prolonged the consultation to give time before he acted for the
+      arrival of the couriers from Antwerp, who were to bring him the tidings of
+      the arrest of the other parties. To avoid exciting any suspicion, the
+      engineer, Pacotto, was required to attend the meeting to lay before it the
+      plans for some fortifications. At last intelligence was brought him that
+      Lodrona had successfully executed his commission. Upon this the duke
+      dexterously broke off the debate and dismissed the council. And now, as
+      Count Egmont was about to repair to the apartment of Don Ferdinand, to
+      finish a game that he had commenced with him, the captain of the duke&rsquo;s
+      body guard, Sancho D&rsquo;Avila, stopped him, and demanded his sword in the
+      king&rsquo;s name. At the same time he was surrounded by a number of Spanish
+      soldiers, who, as had been preconcerted, suddenly advanced from their
+      concealment. So unexpected a blow deprived Egmont for some moments of all
+      powers of utterance and recollection; after a while, however, he collected
+      himself, and taking his sword from his side with dignified composure,
+      said, as he delivered it into the hands of the Spaniard, &ldquo;This sword has
+      before this on more than one occasion successfully defended the king&rsquo;s
+      cause.&rdquo; Another Spanish officer arrested Count Horn as he was returning to
+      his house without the least suspicion of danger. Horn&rsquo;s first inquiry was
+      after Egmont. On being told that the same fate had just happened to his
+      friend he surrendered himself without resistance. &ldquo;I have suffered myself
+      to be guided by him,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;it is fair that I should share his
+      destiny.&rdquo; The two counts were placed in confinement in separate
+      apartments. While this was going on in the interior of Kuilemberg house
+      the whole garrison were drawn out under arms in front of it. No one knew
+      what had taken place inside, a mysterious terror diffused itself
+      throughout Brussels until rumor spread the news of this fatal event. Each
+      felt as if he himself were the sufferer; with many indignation at Egmont&rsquo;s
+      blind infatuation preponderated over sympathy for his fate; all rejoiced
+      that Orange had escaped. The first question of the Cardinal Granvella,
+      too, when these tidings reached him in Rome, is said to have been, whether
+      they had taken the Silent One also. On being answered in the negative he
+      shook his head &ldquo;then as they have let him escape they have got nothing.&rdquo;
+       Fate ordained better for the Count of Hogstraten. Compelled by ill-health
+      to travel slowly, he was met by the report of this event while he was yet
+      on his way. He hastily turned back, and fortunately escaped destruction.
+      Immediately after Egmont&rsquo;s seizure a writing was extorted from him,
+      addressed to the commandant of the citadel of Ghent, ordering that officer
+      to deliver the fortress to the Spanish Colonel Alphonso d&rsquo;Ulloa. Upon this
+      the two counts were then (after they had been for some weeks confined in
+      Brussels) conveyed under a guard of three thousand Spaniards to Ghent,
+      where they remained imprisoned till late in the following year. In the
+      meantime all their papers had been seized. Many of the first nobility who,
+      by the pretended kindness of the Duke of Alva, had allowed themselves to
+      be cajoled into remaining experienced the same fate. Capital punishment
+      was also, without further delay, inflicted on all who before the duke&rsquo;s
+      arrival had been taken with arms in their hands. Upon the news of Egmont&rsquo;s
+      arrest a second body of about twenty thousand inhabitants took up the
+      wanderer&rsquo;s staff, besides the one hundred thousand who, prudently
+      declining to await the arrival of the Spanish general, had already placed
+      themselves in safety.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [A great part of these fugitives helped to strengthen the army of
+   the Huguenots, who had taken occasion, from the passage of the
+   Spanish army through Lorraine, to assemble their forces, and now
+   pressed Charles IX. hard. On these grounds the French court
+   thought it had a right to demand aid from the regent of the
+   Netherlands. It asserted that the Huguenots had looked upon the
+   march of the Spanish army as the result of a preconcerted plan
+   which had been formed against them by the two courts at Bayonne and
+   that this had roused them from their slumber. That consequently it
+   behooved the Spanish court to assist in extricating the French king
+   from difficulties into which the latter had been brought simply by
+   the march of the Spanish troops. Alva actually sent the Count of
+   Aremberg with a considerable force to join the army of the Queen
+   Mother in France, and even offered to command these subsidiaries in
+   person, which, however, was declined. Strada, 206. Thuan, 541.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      After so noble a life had been assailed no one counted himself safe any
+      longer; but many found cause to repent that they had so long deferred this
+      salutary step; for every day flight was rendered more difficult, for the
+      duke ordered all the ports to be closed, and punished the attempt at
+      emigration with death. The beggars were now esteemed fortunate, who had
+      abandoned country and property in order to preserve at least their liberty
+      and their lives.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   ALVA&rsquo;S FIRST MEASURES, AND DEPARTURE OF THE DUCHESS OF PARMA.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Alva&rsquo;s first step, after securing the most suspected of the nobles, was to
+      restore the Inquisition to its former authority, to put the decrees of
+      Trent again in force, abolish the &ldquo;moderation,&rdquo; and promulgate anew the
+      edicts against heretics in all their original severity. The court of
+      Inquisition in Spain had pronounced the whole nation of the Netherlands
+      guilty of treason in the highest degree, Catholics and heterodox,
+      loyalists and rebels, without distinction; the latter as having offended
+      by overt acts, the former as having incurred equal guilt by their
+      supineness. From this sweeping condemnation a very few were excepted,
+      whose names, however, were purposely reserved, while the general sentence
+      was publicly confirmed by the king. Philip declared himself absolved from
+      all his promises, and released from all engagements which the regent in
+      his name had entered into with the people of the Netherlands, and all the
+      justice which they had in future to expect from him must depend on his own
+      good-will and pleasure. All who had aided in the expulsion of the
+      minister, Granvella, who had taken part in the petition of the confederate
+      nobles, or had but even spoken in favor of it; all who had presented a
+      petition against the decrees of Trent, against the edicts relating to
+      religion, or against the installation of the bishops; all who had
+      permitted the public preachings, or had only feebly resisted them; all who
+      had worn the insignia of the Gueux, had sung Geusen songs, or who in any
+      way whatsoever had manifested their joy at the establishment of the
+      league; all who had sheltered or concealed the reforming preachers,
+      attended Calvinistic funerals, or had even merely known of their secret
+      meetings, and not given information of them; all who had appealed to the
+      national privileges; all, in fine, who had expressed an opinion that they
+      ought to obey God rather than man; all these indiscriminately were
+      declared liable to the penalties which the law imposed upon any violation
+      of the royal prerogative, and upon high treason; and these penalties were,
+      according to the instruction which Alva had received, to be executed on
+      the guilty persons without forbearance or favor; without regard to rank,
+      sex, or age, as an example to posterity, and for a terror to all future
+      times. According to this declaration there was no longer an innocent
+      person to be found in the whole Netherlands, and the new viceroy had it in
+      his power to make a fearful choice of victims. Property and life were
+      alike at his command, and whoever should have the good fortune to preserve
+      one or both must receive them as the gift of his generosity and humanity.
+      By this stroke of policy, as refined as it was detestable, the nation was
+      disarmed, and unanimity rendered impossible. As it absolutely depended on
+      the duke&rsquo;s arbitrary will upon whom the sentence should be carried in
+      force which had been passed without exception upon all, each individual
+      kept himself quiet, in order to escape, if possible, the notice of the
+      viceroy, and to avoid drawing the fatal choice upon himself. Every one, on
+      the other hand, in whose favor he was pleased to make an exception stood
+      in a degree indebted to him, and was personally under an obligation which
+      must be measured by the value he set upon his life and property. As,
+      however, this penalty could only be executed on the smaller portion of the
+      nation, the duke naturally secured the greater by the strongest ties of
+      fear and gratitude, and for one whom he sought out as a victim he gained
+      ten others whom he passed over. As long as he continued true to this
+      policy he remained in quiet possession of his rule, even amid the streams
+      of blood which he caused to flow, and did not forfeit this advantage till
+      the want of money compelled him to impose a burden upon the nation which
+      oppressed all indiscriminately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to be equal to this bloody occupation, the details of which were
+      fast accumulating, and to be certain of not losing a single victim through
+      the want of instruments; and, on the other hand, to render his proceedings
+      independent of the states, with whose privileges they were so much at
+      variance, and who, indeed, were far too humane for him, he instituted an
+      extraordinary court of justice. This court consisted of twelve criminal
+      judges, who, according to their instructions, to the very letter of which
+      they must adhere, were to try and pronounce sentence upon those implicated
+      in the past disturbances. The mere institution of such a board was a
+      violation of the liberties of the country, which expressly stipulated that
+      no citizen should be tried out of his own province; but the duke filled up
+      the measure of his injustice when, contrary to the most sacred privileges
+      of the nation, he proceeded to give seats and votes in that court to
+      Spaniards, the open and avowed enemies of Belgian liberty. He himself was
+      the president of this court, and after him a certain licentiate, Vargas, a
+      Spaniard by birth, of whose iniquitous character the historians of both
+      parties are unanimous; cast out like a plague-spot from his own country,
+      where he had violated one of his wards, he was a shameless, hardened
+      villain, in whose mind avarice, lust, and the thirst for blood struggled
+      for ascendancy. The principal members were Count Aremberg, Philip of
+      Noircarmes, and Charles of Barlaimont, who, however, never sat in it;
+      Hadrian Nicolai, chancellor of Gueldres; Jacob Mertens and Peter Asset,
+      presidents of Artois and Flanders; Jacob Hesselts and John de la Porte,
+      counsellors of Ghent; Louis del Roi, doctor of theology, and by birth a
+      Spaniard; John du Bois, king&rsquo;s advocate; and De la&rsquo;Torre, secretary of the
+      court. In compliance with the representations of Viglius the privy council
+      was spared any part in this tribunal; nor was any one introduced into it
+      from the great council at Malines. The votes of the members were only
+      recommendatory, not conclusive, the final sentence being reserved by the
+      duke to himself. No particular time was fixed for the sitting of the
+      court; the members, however, assembled at noon, as often as the duke
+      thought good. But after the expiration of the third month Alva began to be
+      less frequent in his attendance, and at last resigned his place entirely
+      to his favorite, Vargas, who filled it with such odious fitness that in a
+      short time all the members, with the exception merely of the Spanish
+      doctor, Del Rio, and the secretary, De la Torre, weary of the atrocities
+      of which they were compelled to be both eyewitnesses and accomplices,
+      remained away from the assembly.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The sentences passed upon the most eminent persons (for example,
+   the sentence of death passed upon Strahlen, the burgomaster of
+   Antwerp), were signed only by Vargas, Del Rio, and De la Torre.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It is revolting to the feelings to think how the lives of the noblest and
+      best were thus placed at the mercy of Spanish vagabonds, and how even the
+      sanctuaries of the nation, its deeds and charters, were unscrupulously
+      ransacked, the seals broken, and the most secret contracts between the
+      sovereign and the state profaned and exposed.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [For an example of the unfeeling levity with which the most
+   important matters, even decisions in cases of life and death, were
+   treated in this sanguinary council, it may serve to relate what is
+   told of the Counsellor Hesselts. He was generally asleep during
+   the meeting, and when his turn came to vote on a sentence of death
+   he used to cry out, still half asleep: &ldquo;Ad patibulum! Ad
+   patibulum!&rdquo; so glibly did his tongue utter this word. It is
+   further to be remarked of this Hesselts, that his wife, a daughter
+   of the President Viglius, had expressly stipulated in the marriage-
+   contract that he should resign the dismal office of attorney for
+   the king, which made him detested by the whole nation. Vigl. ad
+   Hopp. lxvii., L.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      From the council of twelve (which, from the object of its institution, was
+      called the council for disturbances, but on account of its proceedings is
+      more generally known under the appellation of the council of blood, a name
+      which the nation in their exasperation bestowed upon it), no appeal was
+      allowed. Its proceedings could not be revised. Its verdicts were
+      irrevocable and independent of all other authority. No other tribunal in
+      the country could take cognizance of cases which related to the late
+      insurrection, so that in all the other courts justice was nearly at a
+      standstill. The great council at Malines was as good as abolished; the
+      authority of the council of state entirely ceased, insomuch that its
+      sittings were discontinued. On some rare occasions the duke conferred with
+      a few members of the late assembly, but even when this did occur the
+      conference was held in his cabinet, and was no more than a private
+      consultation, without any of the proper forms being observed. No
+      privilege, no charter of immunity, however carefully protected, had any
+      weight with the council for disturbances.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Vargas, in a few words of barbarous Latin, demolished at once the
+   boasted liberties of the Netherlands. &ldquo;Non curamus vestros
+   privilegios,&rdquo; he replied to one who wished to plead the immunities
+   of the University of Louvain.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It compelled all deeds and contracts to be laid before it, and often
+      forced upon them the most strained interpetations and alterations. If the
+      duke caused a sentence to be drawn out which there was reason to fear
+      might be opposed by the states of Brabant, it was legalized without the
+      Brabant seal. The most sacred rights of individuals were assailed, and a
+      tyranny without example forced its arbitrary will even into the circle of
+      domestic life. As the Protestants and rebels had hitherto contrived to
+      strengthen their party so much by marriages with the first families in the
+      country, the duke issued an edict forbidding all Netherlanders, whatever
+      might be their rank or office, under pain of death and confiscation of
+      property, to conclude a marriage without previously obtaining his
+      permission.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All whom the council for disturbances thought proper to summon before it
+      were compelled to appear, clergy as well as laity; the most venerable
+      heads of the senate, as well as the reprobate rabble of the Iconoclasts.
+      Whoever did not present himself, as indeed scarcely anybody did, was
+      declared an outlaw, and his property was confiscated; but those who were
+      rash or foolish enough to appear, or who were so unfortunate as to be
+      seized, were lost without redemption. Twenty, forty, often fifty were
+      summoned at the same time and from the same town, and the richest were
+      always the first on whom the thunderbolt descended. The meaner citizens,
+      who possessed nothing that could render their country and their homes dear
+      to them, were taken unawares and arrested without any previous citation.
+      Many eminent merchants, who had at their disposal fortunes of from sixty
+      thousand to one hundred thousand florins, were seen with their hands tied
+      behind their backs, dragged like common vagabonds at the horse&rsquo;s tail to
+      execution, and in Valenciennes fifty-five persons were decapitated at one
+      time. All the prisons&mdash;and the duke immediately on commencing his
+      administration had built a great number of them&mdash;were crammed full
+      with the accused; hanging, beheading, quartering, burning were the
+      prevailing and ordinary occupations of the day; the punishment of the
+      galleys and banishment were more rarely heard of, for there was scarcely
+      any offence which was reckoned too trival to be punished with death.
+      Immense sums were thus brought into the treasury, which, however, served
+      rather to stimulate the new viceroy&rsquo;s and his colleagues&rsquo; thirst for gold
+      than to quench it. It seemed to be his insane purpose to make beggars of
+      the whole people, and to throw all their riches into the hands of the king
+      and his servants. The yearly income derived from these confiscations was
+      computed to equal the revenues of the first kingdoms of Europe; it is said
+      to have been estimated, in a report furnished to the king, at the
+      incredible amount of twenty million of dollars. But these proceedings were
+      the more inhuman, as they often bore hardest precisely upon the very
+      persons who were the most peaceful subjects, and most orthodox Roman
+      Catholics, whom they could not want to injure. Whenever an estate was
+      confiscated all the creditors who had claims upon it were defrauded. The
+      hospitals, too, and public institutions, which such properties had
+      contributed to support, were now ruined, and the poor, who had formerly
+      drawn a pittance from this source, were compelled to see their only spring
+      of comfort dried up. Whoever ventured to urge their well-grounded claims
+      on the forfeited property before the council of twelve (for no other
+      tribunal dared to interfere with these inquiries), consumed their
+      substance in tedious and expensive proceedings, and were reduced to
+      beggary before they saw the end of them. The histories of civilized states
+      furnish but one instance of a similar perversion of justice, of such
+      violation of the rights of property, and of such waste of human life; but
+      Cinna, Sylla, and Marius entered vanquished Rome as incensed victors, and
+      practised without disguise what the viceroy of the Netherlands performed
+      under the venerable veil of the laws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up to the end of the year 1567 the king&rsquo;s arrival had been confidently
+      expected, and the well-disposed of the people had placed all their last
+      hopes on this event. The vessels, which Philip had caused to be equipped
+      expressly for the purpose of meeting him, still lay in the harbor of
+      Flushing, ready to sail at the first signal; and the town of Brussels had
+      consented to receive a Spanish garrison, simply because the king, it was
+      pretended, was to reside within its walls. But this hope gradually
+      vanished, as he put off the journey from one season to the next, and the
+      new viceroy very soon began to exhibit powers which announced him less as
+      a precursor of royalty than as an absolute minister, whose presence made
+      that of the monarch entirely superfluous. To compete the distress of the
+      provinces their last good angel was now to leave them in the person of the
+      regent. From the moment when the production of the duke&rsquo;s extensive powers
+      left no doubt remaining as to the practical termination of her own rule,
+      Margaret had formed the resolution of relinquishing the name also of
+      regent. To see a successor in the actual possession of a dignity which a
+      nine years&rsquo; enjoyment had made indispensable to her; to see the authority,
+      the glory, the splendor, the adoration, and all the marks of respect,
+      which are the usual concomitants of supreme power, pass over to another;
+      and to feel that she had lost that which she could never forget she had
+      once held, was more than a woman&rsquo;s mind could endure; moreover, the Duke
+      of Alva was of all men the least calculated to make her feel her privation
+      the less painful by a forbearing use of his newly-acquired dignity. The
+      tranquillity of the country, too, which was put in jeopardy by this
+      divided rule, seemed to impose upon the duchess the necessity of
+      abdicating. Many governors of provinces refused, without an express order
+      from the court, to receive commands from the duke and to recognize him as
+      co-regent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rapid change of their point of attraction could not be met by the
+      courtiers so composedly and imperturbably but that the duchess observed
+      the alteration, and bitterly felt it. Even the few who, like State
+      Counsellor Viglius, still firmly adhered to her, did so less from
+      attachment to her person than from vexation at being displaced by novices
+      and foreigners, and from being too proud to serve a fresh apprenticeship
+      under a new viceroy. But far the greater number, with all their endeavors
+      to keep an exact mean, could not help making a difference between the
+      homage they paid to the rising sun and that which they bestowed on the
+      setting luminary. The royal palace in Brussels became more and more
+      deserted, while the throng at Kuilemberg house daily increased. But what
+      wounded the sensitiveness of the duchess most acutely was the arrest of
+      Horn and Egmont, which was planned and executed by the duke without her
+      knowledge or consent, just as if there had been no such person as herself
+      in existence. Alva did, indeed, after the act was done, endeavor to
+      appease her by declaring that the design had been purposely kept secret
+      from her in order to spare her name from being mixed up in so odious a
+      transaction; but no such considerations of delicacy could close the wound
+      which had been inflicted on her pride. In order at once to escape all risk
+      of similar insults, of which the present was probably only a forerunner,
+      she despatched her private secretary, Macchiavell, to the court of her
+      brother, there to solicit earnestly for permission to resign the regency.
+      The request was granted without difficulty by the king, who accompanied
+      his consent with every mark of his highest esteem. He would put aside (so
+      the king expressed himself) his own advantage and that of the provinces in
+      order to oblige his sister. He sent a present of thirty thousand dollars,
+      and allotted to her a yearly pension of twenty thousand.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Which, however, does not appear to have been very punctually paid,
+   if a pamphlet maybe trusted which was printed during her lifetime.
+   (It bears the title: Discours sur la Blessure de Monseigneur Prince
+   d&rsquo;Orange, 1582, without notice of the place where it was printed,
+   and is to be found in the Elector&rsquo;s library at Dresden.) She
+   languished, it is there stated, at Namur in poverty, and so ill-
+   supported by her son (the then governor of the Netherlands), that
+   her own secretary, Aldrobandin, called her sojourn there an exile.
+   But the writer goes on to ask what better treatment could she
+   expect from a son who, when still very young, being on a visit to
+   her at Brussels, snapped his fingers at her behind her back.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      At the same time a diploma was forwarded to the Duke of Alva, constituting
+      him, in her stead, viceroy of all the Netherlands, with unlimited powers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gladly would Margaret have learned that she was permitted to resign the
+      regency before a solemn assembly of the states, a wish which she had not
+      very obscurely hinted to the king. But she was not gratified. She was
+      particularly fond of solemnity, and the example of the Emperor, her
+      father, who had exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of his abdication of
+      the crown in this very city, seemed to have great attractions for her. As
+      she was compelled to part with supreme power, she could scarcely be blamed
+      for wishing to do so with as much splendor as possible. Moreover, she had
+      not failed to observe how much the general hatred of the duke had effected
+      in her own favor, and she looked, therefore, the more wistfully forward to
+      a scene, which promised to be at once so flattering to her and so
+      affecting. She would have been glad to mingle her own tears with those
+      which she hoped to see shed by the Netherlanders for their good regent.
+      Thus the bitterness of her descent from the throne would have been
+      alleviated by the expression of general sympathy. Little as she had done
+      to merit the general esteem during the nine years of her administration,
+      while fortune smiled upon her, and the approbation of her sovereign was
+      the limit to all her wishes, yet now the sympathy of the nation had
+      acquired a value in her eyes as the only thing which could in some degree
+      compensate to her for the disappointment of all her other hopes. Fain
+      would she have persuaded herself that she had become a voluntary sacrifice
+      to her goodness of heart and her too humane feelings towards the
+      Netherlanders. As, however, the king was very far from being disposed to
+      incur any danger by calling a general assembly of the states, in order to
+      gratify a mere caprice of his sister, she was obliged to content herself
+      with a farewell letter to them. In this document she went over her whole
+      administration, recounted, not without ostentation, the difficulties with
+      which she had had to struggle, the evils which, by her dexterity, she had
+      prevented, and wound up at last by saying that she left a finished work,
+      and had to transfer to her successor nothing but the punishment of
+      offenders. The king, too, was repeatedly compelled to hear the same
+      statement, and she left nothing undone to arrogate to herself the glory of
+      any future advantages which it might be the good fortune of the duke to
+      realize. Her own merits, as something which did not admit of a doubt, but
+      was at the same time a burden oppressive to her modesty, she laid at the
+      feet of the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dispassionate posterity may, nevertheless; hesitate to subscribe
+      unreservedly to this favorable opinion. Even though the united voice of
+      her contemporaries, and the testimony of the Netherlands themselves vouch
+      for it, a third party will not be denied the right to examine her claims
+      with stricter scrutiny. The popular mind, easily affected, is but too
+      ready to count the absence of a vice as an additional virtue, and, under
+      the pressure of existing evil, to give excess of praise for past benefits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Netherlander seems to have concentrated all his hatred upon the
+      Spanish name. To lay the blame of the national evils on the regent would
+      tend to remove from the king and his minister the curses which he would
+      rather shower upon them alone and undividedly; and the Duke of Alva&rsquo;s
+      government of the Netherlands was, perhaps, not the proper point of view
+      from which to test the merits of his predecessor. It was undoubtedly no
+      light task to meet the king&rsquo;s expectations without infringing the rights
+      of the people and the duties of humanity; but in struggling to effect
+      these two contradictory objects Margaret had accomplished neither. She had
+      deeply injured the nation, while comparatively she had done little service
+      to the king. It is true that she at last crushed the Protestant faction,
+      but the accidental outbreak of the Iconoclasts assisted her in this more
+      than all her dexterity. She certainly succeeded by her intrigues in
+      dissolving the league of the nobles, but not until the first blow had been
+      struck at its roots by internal dissensions. The object, to secure which
+      she had for many years vainly exhausted her whole policy, was effected at
+      last by a single enlistment of troops, for which, however, the orders were
+      issued from Madrid. She delivered to the duke, no doubt, a tranquillized
+      country; but it cannot be denied that the dread of his approach had the
+      chief share in tranquillizing it. By her reports she led the council in
+      Spain astray; because she never informed it of the disease, but only of
+      the occasional symptoms; never of the universal feeling and voice of the
+      nation, but only of the misconduct of factions. Her faulty administration,
+      moreover, drew the people into the crime, because she exasperated without
+      sufficiently awing them. She it was that brought the murderous Alva into
+      the country by leading the king to believe that the disturbances in the
+      provinces were to be ascribed, not so much to the severity of the royal
+      ordinances, as to the unworthiness of those who were charged with their
+      execution. Margaret possessed natural capacity and intellect; and an
+      acquired political tact enabled her to meet any ordinary case; but she
+      wanted that creative genius which, for new and extraordinary emergencies,
+      invents new maxims, or wisely oversteps old ones. In a country where
+      honesty was the best policy, she adopted the unfortunate plan of
+      practising her insidious Italian policy, and thereby sowed the seeds of a
+      fatal distrust in the minds of the people. The indulgence which has been
+      so liberally imputed to her as a merit was, in truth, extorted from her
+      weakness and timidity by the courageous opposition of the nation; she had
+      never departed from the strict letter of the royal commands by her own
+      spontaneous resolution; never did the gentle feelings of innate humanity
+      lead her to misinterpret the cruel purport of her instructions. Even the
+      few concessions to which necessity compelled her were granted with an
+      uncertain and shrinking hand, as if fearing to give too much; and she lost
+      the fruit of her benefactions because she mutilated them by a sordid
+      closeness. What in all the other relations of her life she was too little,
+      she was on the throne too much&mdash;a woman! She had it in her power,
+      after Granvella&rsquo;s expulsion, to become the benefactress of the Belgian
+      nation, but she did not. Her supreme good was the approbation of her king,
+      her greatest misfortune his displeasure; with all the eminent qualities of
+      her mind she remained an ordinary character because her heart was
+      destitute of native nobility. She used a melancholy power with much
+      moderation, and stained her government with no deed of arbitrary cruelty;
+      nay, if it had depended on her, she would have always acted humanely.
+      Years afterwards, when her idol, Philip II., had long forgotten her, the
+      Netherlanders still honored her memory; but she was far from deserving the
+      glory which her successor&rsquo;s inhumanity reflected upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She left Brussels about the end of December, 1567. The duke escorted her
+      as far as the frontiers of Brabant, and there left her under the
+      protection of Count Mansfeld in order to hasten back to the metropolis and
+      show himself to the Netherlanders as sole regent.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF COUNTS EGMONT AND HORN.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The two counts were a few weeks after their arrest conveyed to Ghent under
+      an escort of three thousand Spaniards, where they were confined in the
+      citadel for more than eight months. Their trial commenced in due form
+      before the council of twelve, and the solicitor-general, John Du Bois,
+      conducted the proceedings. The indictment against Egmont consisted of
+      ninety counts, and that against Horn of sixty. It would occupy too much
+      space to introduce them here. Every action, however innocent, every
+      omission of duty, was interpreted on the principle which had been laid
+      down in the opening of the indictment, &ldquo;that the two counts, in
+      conjunction with the Prince of Orange, had planned the overthrow of the
+      royal authority in the Netherlands, and the usurpation of the government
+      of the country;&rdquo; the expulsion of Granvella; the embassy of Egmont to
+      Madrid; the confederacy of the Gueux; the concessions which they made to
+      the Protestants in the provinces under their government&mdash;all were
+      made to have a connection with, and reference to, this deliberate design.
+      Thus importance was attached to the most insignificant occurrences, and
+      one action made to darken and discolor another. By taking care to treat
+      each of the charges as in itself a treasonable offence it was the more
+      easy to justify a sentence of high treason by the whole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The accusations were sent to each of the prisoners, who were required to
+      reply to them within five days. After doing so they were allowed to employ
+      solicitors and advocates, who were permitted free access to them; but as
+      they were accused of treason their friends were prohibited from visiting
+      them. Count Egmont employed for his solicitor Von Landas, and made choice
+      of a few eminent advocates from Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first step was to demur against the tribunal which was to try them,
+      since by the privilege of their order they, as Knights of the Golden
+      Fleece, were amenable only to the king himself, the grand master. But this
+      demurrer was overruled, and they were required to produce their witnesses,
+      in default of which they were to be proceeded against <i>in contumaciam.</i>
+      Egmont had satisfactorily answered to eighty-two counts, while Count Horn
+      had refuted the charges against him, article by article. The accusation
+      and the defence are still extant; on that defence every impartial tribunal
+      would have acquitted them both. The Procurator Fiscal pressed for the
+      production of their evidence, and the Duke of Alva issued his repeated
+      commands to use despatch. They delayed, however, from week to week, while
+      they renewed their protests against the illegality of the court. At last
+      the duke assigned them nine days to produce their proofs; on the lapse of
+      that period they were to be declared guilty, and as having forfeited all
+      right of defence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the progress of the trial the relations and friends of the two
+      counts were not idle. Egmont&rsquo;s wife, by birth a duchess of Bavaria,
+      addressed petitions to the princes of the German empire, to the Emperor,
+      and to the King of Spain. The Countess Horn, mother of the imprisoned
+      count, who was connected by the ties of friendship or of blood with the
+      principal royal families of Germany, did the same. All alike protested
+      loudly against this illegal proceeding, and appealed to the liberty of the
+      German empire, on which Horn, as a count of the empire, had special
+      claims; the liberty of the Netherlands and the privileges of the Order of
+      the Golden Fleece were likewise insisted upon. The Countess Egmont
+      succeeded in obtaining the intercession of almost every German court in
+      behalf of her husband. The King of Spain and his viceroy were besieged by
+      applications in behalf of the accused, which were referred from one to the
+      other, and made light of by both. Countess Horn collected certificates
+      from all the Knights of the Golden Fleece in Spain, Germany, and Italy to
+      prove the privileges of the order. Alva rejected them with a declaration
+      that they had no force in such a case as the present. &ldquo;The crimes of which
+      the counts are accused relate to the affairs of the Belgian provinces, and
+      he, the duke, was appointed by the king sole judge of all matters
+      connected with those countries.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Four months had been allowed to the solicitor-general to draw up the
+      indictment, and five were granted to the two counts to prepare for their
+      defence. But instead of losing their time and trouble in adducing their
+      evidence, which, perhaps, would have profited then but little, they
+      preferred wasting it in protests against the judges, which availed them
+      still less. By the former course they would probably have delayed the
+      final sentence, and in the time thus gained the powerful intercession of
+      their friends might perhaps have not been ineffectual. By obstinately
+      persisting in denying the competency of the tribunal which was to try
+      them, they furnished the duke with an excuse for cutting short the
+      proceedings. After the last assigned period had expired, on the 1st of
+      June, 1658, the council of twelve declared them guilty, and on the 4th of
+      that month sentence of death was pronounced against them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The execution of twenty-five noble Netherlanders, who were beheaded in
+      three successive days in the marketplace at Brussels, was the terrible
+      prelude to the fate of the two counts. John Casembrot von Beckerzeel,
+      secretary to Count Egmont, was one of the unfortunates, who was thus
+      rewarded for his fidelity to his master, which he steadfastly maintained
+      even upon the rack, and for his zeal in the service of the king, which he
+      had manifested against the Iconoclasts. The others had either been taken
+      prisoners, with arms in their hands, in the insurrection of the &ldquo;Gueux,&rdquo;
+       or apprehended and condemned as traitors on account of having taken a part
+      in the petition of the nobles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The duke had reason to hasten the execution of the sentence. Count Louis
+      of Nassau had given battle to the Count of Aremberg, near the monastery of
+      Heiligerlee, in Groningen, and had the good fortune to defeat him.
+      Immediately after his victory he had advanced against Groningen, and laid
+      siege to it. The success of his arms had raised the courage of his
+      faction; and the Prince of Orange, his brother, was close at hand with an
+      army to support him. These circumstances made the duke&rsquo;s presence
+      necessary in those distant provinces; but he could not venture to leave
+      Brussels before the fate of two such important prisoners was decided. The
+      whole nation loved them, which was not a little increased by their unhappy
+      fate. Even the strict papists disapproved of the execution of these
+      eminent nobles. The slightest advantage which the arms of the rebels might
+      gain over the duke, or even the report of a defeat, would cause a
+      revolution in Brussels, which would immediately set the two counts at
+      liberty. Moreover, the petitions and intercessions which came to the
+      viceroy, as well as to the King of Spain, from the German princes,
+      increased daily; nay, the Emperor, Maximilian II., himself caused the
+      countess to be assured &ldquo;that she had nothing to fear for the life of her
+      spouse.&rdquo; These powerful applications might at last turn the king&rsquo;s heart
+      in favor of the prisoners. The king might, perhaps, in reliance on his
+      viceroy&rsquo;s usual dispatch, put on the appearance of yielding to the
+      representations of so many sovereigns, and rescind the sentence of death
+      under the conviction that his mercy would come too late. These
+      considerations moved the duke not to delay the execution of the sentence
+      as soon as it was pronounced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day after the sentence was passed the two counts were brought,
+      under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, from Ghent to Brussels, and
+      placed in confinement in the Brodhause, in the great market-place. The
+      next morning the council of twelve were assembled; the duke, contrary to
+      his custom, attended in person, and both the sentences, in sealed
+      envelopes, were opened and publicly read by Secretary Pranz. The two
+      counts were declared guilty of treason, as having favored and promoted the
+      abominable conspiracy of the Prince of Orange, protected the confederated
+      nobles, and been convicted of various misdemeanors against their king and
+      the church in their governments and other appointments. Both were
+      sentenced to be publicly beheaded, and their heads were to be fixed upon
+      pikes and not taken down without the duke&rsquo;s express command. All their
+      possessions, fiefs, and rights escheated to the royal treasury. The
+      sentence was signed only by the duke and the secretary, Pranz, without
+      asking or caring for the consent of the other members of the council.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the night between the 4th and 5th of June the sentences were
+      brought to the prisoners, after they had already gone to rest. The duke
+      gave them to the Bishop of Ypres, Martin Rithov, whom he had expressly
+      summoned to Brussels to prepare the prisoners for death. When the bishop
+      received this commission he threw himself at the feet of the duke, and
+      supplicated him with tears in his eyes for mercy, at least for respite for
+      the prisoners; but he was answered in a rough and angry voice that he had
+      been sent for from Ypres, not to oppose the sentence, but by his spiritual
+      consolation to reconcile the unhappy noblemen to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Egmont was the first to whom the bishop communicated the sentence of
+      death. &ldquo;That is indeed a severe sentence,&rdquo; exclaimed the count, turning
+      pale, and with a faltering voice. &ldquo;I did not think that I had offended his
+      majesty so deeply as to deserve such treatment. If, however, it must be so
+      I submit to my fate with resignation. May this death atone for my offence,
+      and save my wife and children from suffering. This at least I think I may
+      claim for my past services. As for death, I will meet it with composure,
+      since it so pleases God and my king.&rdquo; He then pressed the bishop to tell
+      him seriously and candidly if there was no hope of pardon. Being answered
+      in the negative, he confessed and received the sacrament from the priest,
+      repeating after him the mass with great devoutness. He asked what prayer
+      was the best and most effective to recommend him to God in his last hour.
+      On being told that no prayer could be more effectual than the one which
+      Christ himself had taught, he prepared immediately to repeat the Lord&rsquo;s
+      prayer. The thoughts of his family interrupted him; he called for pen and
+      ink, and wrote two letters, one to his wife, the other to the king. The
+      latter was as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sire,&mdash;This morning I have heard the sentence which your majesty has
+      been pleased to pass upon me. Far as I have ever been from attempting
+      anything against the person or service of your majesty, or against the
+      true, old, and Catholic religion, I yet submit myself with patience to the
+      fate which it has pleased God to ordain should suffer. If, during the past
+      disturbances, I have omitted, advised, or done anything that seems at
+      variance with my duty, it was most assuredly performed with the best
+      intentions, or was forced upon me by the pressure of circumstances. I
+      therefore pray your majesty to forgive me, and, in consideration of my
+      past services, show mercy to my unhappy wife, my poor children, and
+      servants. In a firm hope of this, I commend myself&mdash;to the infinite
+      mercy of God.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your majesty&rsquo;s most faithful vassal and servant,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;LAMORAL COUNT EGMONT.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;BRUSSELS, June 5, 1568, near my last moments.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter he placed in the hands of the bishop, with the strongest
+      injunctions for its safe delivery; and for greater security he sent a
+      duplicate in his own handwriting to State Counsellor Viglius, the most
+      upright man in the senate, by whom, there is no doubt, it was actually
+      delivered to the king. The family of the count were subsequently
+      reinstated in all his property, fiefs, and rights, which, by virtue of the
+      sentence, had escheated to the royal treasury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile a scaffold had been erected in the marketplace, before the town
+      hall, on which two poles were fixed with iron spikes, and the whole
+      covered with black cloth. Two-and-twenty companies of the Spanish garrison
+      surrounded the scaffold, a precaution which was by no means superfluous.
+      Between ten and eleven o&rsquo;clock the Spanish guard appeared in the apartment
+      of the count; they were provided with cords to tie his hands according to
+      custom. He begged that this might be spared him, and declared that he was
+      willing and ready to die. He himself cut off the collar from his doublet
+      to facilitate the executioner&rsquo;s duty. He wore a robe of red damask, and
+      over that a black Spanish cloak trimmed with gold lace. In this dress he
+      appeared on the scaffold, and was attended by Don Julian Romero,
+      maitre-de-camp; Salinas, a Spanish captain; and the Bishop of Ypres. The
+      grand provost of the court, with a red wand in his hand, sat on horseback
+      at the foot of the scaffold; the executioner was concealed beneath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Egmont had at first shown a desire to address the people from the
+      scaffold. He desisted, however, on the bishop&rsquo;s representing to him that
+      either he would not be heard, or that if he were, he might&mdash;such at
+      present was the dangerous disposition of the people&mdash;excite them to
+      acts of violence, which would only plunge his friends into destruction.
+      For a few moments he paced the scaffold with noble dignity, and lamented
+      that it had not been permitted him to die a more honorable death for his
+      king and his country. Up to the last he seemed unable to persuade himself
+      that the king was in earnest, and that his severity would be carried any
+      further than the mere terror of execution. When the decisive period
+      approached, and he was to receive the extreme unction, he looked wistfully
+      round, and when there still appeared no prospect of a reprieve, he turned
+      to Julian Romero, and asked him once more if there was no hope of pardon
+      for him. Julian Romero shrugged his shoulders, looked on the ground, and
+      was silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then closely clenched his teeth, threw off his mantle and robe, knelt
+      upon the cushion, and prepared himself for the last prayer. The bishop
+      presented him the crucifix to kiss, and administered to him extreme
+      unction, upon which the count made him a sign to leave him. He drew a silk
+      cap over his eyes, and awaited the stroke. Over the corpse and the
+      streaming blood a black cloth was immediately thrown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All Brussels thronged around the scaffold, and the fatal blow seemed to
+      fall on every heart. Loud sobs alone broke the appalling silence. The duke
+      himself, who watched the execution from a window of the townhouse, wiped
+      his eyes as his victim died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shortly afterwards Count Horn advanced on the scaffold. Of a more violent
+      temperament than his friend, and stimulated by stronger reasons for hatred
+      against the king, he had received the sentence with less composure,
+      although in his case, perhaps, it was less unjust. He burst forth in
+      bitter reproaches against the king, and the bishop with difficulty
+      prevailed upon him to make a better use of his last moments than to abuse
+      them in imprecations on his enemies. At last, however, he became more
+      collected, and made his confession to the bishop, which at first he was
+      disposed to refuse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He mounted the scaffold with the same attendants as his friend. In passing
+      he saluted many of his acquaintances; his hands were, like Egmont&rsquo;s, free,
+      and he was dressed in a black doublet and cloak, with a Milan cap of the
+      same color upon his head. When he had ascended, he cast his eyes upon the
+      corpse, which lay under the cloth, and asked one of the bystanders if it
+      was the body of his friend. On being answered in the affirmative, he said
+      some words in Spanish, threw his cloak from him, and knelt upon the
+      cushion. All shrieked aloud as he received the fatal blow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The heads of both were fixed upon the poles which were set up on the
+      scaffold, where they remained until past three in the afternoon, when they
+      were taken down, and, with the two bodies, placed in leaden coffins and
+      deposited in a vault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of the number of spies and executioners who surrounded the
+      scaffold, the citizens of Brussels would not be prevented from dipping
+      their handkerchiefs in the streaming blood, and carrying home with them
+      these precious memorials.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  SIEGE OF ANTWERP BY THE PRINCE OF PARMA, IN THE YEARS 1584 AND 1585.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It is an interesting spectacle to observe the struggle of man&rsquo;s inventive
+      genius in conflict with powerful opposing elements, and to see the
+      difficulties which are insurmountable to ordinary capacities overcome by
+      prudence, resolution, and a determined will. Less attractive, but only the
+      more instructive, perhaps, is the contrary spectacle, where the absence of
+      those qualities renders all efforts of genius vain, throws away all the
+      favors of fortune, and where inability to improve such advantages renders
+      hopeless a success which otherwise seemed sure and inevitable. Examples of
+      both kinds are afforded by the celebrated siege of Antwerp by the
+      Spaniards towards the close of the sixteenth century, by which that
+      flourishing city was forever deprived of its commercial prosperity, but
+      which, on the other hand, conferred immortal fame on the general who
+      undertook and accomplished it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Twelve years had the war continued which the northern provinces of Belgium
+      had commenced at first in vindication simply of their religious freedom,
+      and the privileges of their states, from the encroachments of the Spanish
+      viceroy, but maintained latterly in the hope of establishing their
+      independence of the Spanish crown. Never completely victors, but never
+      entirely vanquished, they wearied out the Spanish valor by tedious
+      operations on an unfavorable soil, and exhausted the wealth of the
+      sovereign of both the Indies while they themselves were called beggars,
+      and in a degree actually were so. The league of Ghent, which had united
+      the whole Netherlands, Roman Catholic and Protestant, in a common and
+      (could such a confederation have lasted) invincible body, was indeed
+      dissolved; but in place of this uncertain and unnatural combination the
+      northern provinces had, in the year 1579, formed among themselves the
+      closer union of Utrecht, which promised to be more lasting, inasmuch as it
+      was linked and held together by common political and religious interests.
+      What the new republic had lost in extent through this separation from the
+      Roman Catholic provinces it was fully compensated for by the closeness of
+      alliance, the unity of enterprise, and energy of execution; and perhaps it
+      was fortunate in thus timely losing what no exertion probably would ever
+      have enabled it to retain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The greater part of the Walloon provinces had, in the year 1584, partly by
+      voluntary submission and partly by force of arms, been again reduced under
+      the Spanish yoke. The northern districts alone had been able at all
+      successfully to oppose it. A considerable portion of Brabant and Flanders
+      still obstinately held out against the arms of the Duke Alexander of
+      Parma, who at that time administered the civil government of the
+      provinces, and the supreme command of the army, with equal energy and
+      prudence, and by a series of splendid victories had revived the military
+      reputation of Spain. The peculiar formation of the country, which by its
+      numerous rivers and canals facilitated the connection of the towns with
+      one another and with the sea, baffled all attempts effectually to subdue
+      it, and the possession of one place could only be maintained by the
+      occupation of another. So long as this communication was kept up Holland
+      and Zealand could with little difficulty assist their allies, and supply
+      them abundantly by water as well as by land with all necessaries, so that
+      valor was of no use, and the strength of the king&rsquo;s troops was fruitlessly
+      wasted on tedious sieges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of all the towns in Brabant Antwerp was the most important, as well from,
+      its wealth, its population, and its military force, as by its position on
+      the mouth of the Scheldt. This great and populous town, which at this date
+      contained more than eighty thousand inhabitants, was one of the most
+      active members of the national league, and had in the course of the war
+      distinguished itself above all the towns of Belgium by an untamable spirit
+      of liberty. As it fostered within its bosom all the three Christian
+      churches, and owed much of its prosperity to this unrestricted religious
+      liberty, it had the more cause to dread the Spanish rule, which threatened
+      to abolish this toleration, and by the terror of the Inquisition to drive
+      all the Protestant merchants from its markets. Moreover it had had but too
+      terrible experience of the brutality of the Spanish garrisons, and it was
+      quite evident that if it once more suffered this insupportable yoke to be
+      imposed upon it it would never again during the whole course of the war be
+      able to throw it off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But powerful as were the motives which stimulated Antwerp to resistance,
+      equally strong were the reasons which determined the Spanish general to
+      make himself master of the place at any cost. On the possession of this
+      town depended in a great measure that of the whole province of Brabant,
+      which by this channel chiefly derived its supplies of corn from Zealand,
+      while the capture of this place would secure to the victor the command of
+      the Scheldt. It would also deprive the league of Brabant, which held its
+      meetings in the town, of its principal support; the whole faction of its
+      dangerous influence, of its example, its counsels, and its money, while
+      the treasures of its inhabitants would open plentiful supplies for the
+      military exigencies of the king. Its fall would sooner or later
+      necessarily draw after it that of all Brabant, and the preponderance of
+      power in that quarter would decide the whole dispute in favor of the king.
+      Determined by these grave considerations, the Duke of Parma drew his
+      forces together in July, 1584, and advanced from his position at Dornick
+      to the neighborhood of Antwerp, with the intention of investing it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But both the natural position and fortifications of the town appeared to
+      defy attacks. Surrounded on the side of Brabant with insurmountable works
+      and moats, and towards Flanders covered by the broad and rapid stream of
+      the Scheldt, it could not be carried by storm; and to blockade a town of
+      such extent seemed to require a land force three times larger than that
+      which the duke had, and moreover a fleet, of which he was utterly
+      destitute. Not only did the river yield the town all necessary supplies
+      from Ghent, it also opened an easy communication with the bordering
+      province of Zealand. For, as the tide of the North Sea extends far up the
+      Scheldt, and ebbs and flows regularly, Antwerp enjoys the peculiar
+      advantage that the same tide flows past it at different times in two
+      opposite directions. Besides, the adjacent towns of Brussels, Malines,
+      Ghent, Dendermonde, and others, were all at this time in the hands of the
+      league, and could aid the place from the land side also. To blockade,
+      therefore, the town by land, and to cut off its communication with
+      Flanders and Brabant, required two different armies, one on each bank of
+      the river. A sufficient fleet was likewise needed to guard the passage of
+      the Scheldt, and to prevent all attempts at relief, which would most
+      certainly be made from Zealand. But by the war which he had still to carry
+      on in other quarters, and by the numerous garrisons which he was obliged
+      to leave in the towns and fortified places, the army of the duke was
+      reduced to ten thousand infantry and seventeen hundred horse, a force very
+      inadequate for an undertaking of such magnitude. Moreover, these troops
+      were deficient in the most necessary supplies, and the long arrears of pay
+      had excited them to subdued murmurs, which hourly threatened to break out
+      into open mutiny. If, notwithstanding these difficulties, he should still
+      attempt the siege, there would be much occasion to fear from the
+      strongholds of the enemy, which were left in the rear, and from which it
+      would be easy, by vigorous sallies, to annoy an army distributed over so
+      many places, and to expose it to want by cutting off its supplies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these considerations were brought forward by the council of war,
+      before which the Duke of Parrna now laid his scheme. However great the
+      confidence which they placed in themselves, and in the proved abilities of
+      such a leader, nevertheless the most experienced generals did not disguise
+      their despair of a fortunate result. Two only were exceptions, Capizucchi
+      and Mondragone, whose ardent courage placed them above all apprehensions;
+      the rest concurred in dissuading the duke from attempting so hazardous an
+      enterprise, by which they ran the risk of forfeiting the fruit of all
+      their former victories and tarnishing the glory they had already earned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But objections, which he had already made to himself and refuted, could
+      not shake the Duke of Parma in his purpose. Not in ignorance of its
+      inseparable dangers, not from thoughtless overvaluing his forces had he
+      taken this bold resolve. But that instinctive genius which leads great men
+      by paths which inferior minds either never enter upon or never finish,
+      raised him above the influence of the doubts which a cold and narrow
+      prudence would oppose to his views; and, without being able to convince
+      his generals, he felt the correctness of his calculations in a conviction
+      indistinct, indeed, but not on that account less indubitable. A succession
+      of fortunate results had raised his confidence, and the sight of his army,
+      unequalled in Europe for discipline, experience, and valor, and commanded
+      by a chosen body of the most distinguished officers, did not permit him to
+      entertain fear for a moment. To those who objected to the small number of
+      his troops, he answered, that however long the pike, it is only the point
+      that kills; and that in military enterprise, the moving power was of more
+      importance than the mass to be moved. He was aware, indeed, of the
+      discontent of his troops, but he knew also their obedience; and he
+      thought, moreover, that the best means to stifle their murmurs was by
+      keeping them employed in some important undertaking, by stimulating their
+      desire of glory by the splendor of the enterprise, and their rapacity by
+      hopes of the rich booty which the capture of so wealthy a town would hold
+      out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the plan which he now formed for the conduct of the siege he endeavored
+      to meet all these difficulties. Famine was the only instrument by which he
+      could hope to subdue the town; but effectually to use this formidable
+      weapon, it would be expedient to cut off all its land and water
+      communications. With this view, the first object was to stop, or at least
+      to impede, the arrival of supplies from Zealand. It was, therefore,
+      requisite not only to carry all the outworks, which the people of Antwerp
+      had built on both shores of the Scheldt for the protection of their
+      shipping; but also, wherever feasible, to throw up new batteries which
+      should command the whole course of the river; and to prevent the place
+      from drawing supplies from the land side, while efforts were being made to
+      intercept their transmission by sea, all the adjacent towns of Brabant and
+      Flanders were comprehended in the plan of the siege, and the fall of
+      Antwerp was based on the destruction of all those places. A bold and,
+      considering the duke&rsquo;s scanty force, an almost extravagant project, which
+      was, however, justified by the genius of its author, and crowned by
+      fortune with a brilliant result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As, however, time was required to accomplish a plan of this magnitude, the
+      Prince of Parma was content, for the present, with the erection of
+      numerous forts on the canals and rivers which connected Antwerp with
+      Dendermonde, Ghent, Malines, Brussels, and other places. Spanish garrisons
+      were quartered in the vicinity, and almost at the very gates of those
+      towns, which laid waste the open country, and by their incursions kept the
+      surrounding territory in alarm. Thus, round Ghent alone were encamped
+      about three thousand men, and proportionate numbers round the other towns.
+      In this way, and by means of the secret understanding which he maintained
+      with the Roman Catholic inhabitants of those towns, the duke hoped,
+      without weakening his own forces, gradually to exhaust their strength, and
+      by the harassing operations of a petty but incessant warfare, even without
+      any formal siege, to reduce them at last to capitulate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime the main force was directed against Antwerp, which he now
+      closely invested. He fixed his headquarters at Bevern in Flanders, a few
+      miles from Antwerp, where he found a fortified camp. The protection of the
+      Flemish bank of the Scheldt was entrusted to the Margrave of Rysburg,
+      general of cavalry; the Brabant bank to the Count Peter Ernest Von
+      Mansfeld, who was joined by another Spanish leader, Mondragone. Both the
+      latter succeeded in crossing the Scheldt upon pontoons, notwithstanding
+      the Flemish admiral&rsquo;s ship was sent to oppose them, and, passing Antwerp,
+      took up their position at Stabroek in Bergen. Detached corps dispersed
+      themselves along the whole Brabant side, partly to secure the dykes and
+      the roads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some miles below Antwerp the Scheldt was guarded by two strong forts, of
+      which one was situated at Liefkenshoek on the island Doel, in Flanders,
+      the other at Lillo, exactly opposite the coast of Brabant. The last had
+      been erected by Mondragone himself, by order of the Duke of Alvaa, when
+      the latter was still master of Antwerp, and for this very reason the Duke
+      of Parma now entrusted to him the attack upon it. On the possession of
+      these two forts the success of the siege seemed wholly to depend, since
+      all the vessels sailing from Zealand to Antwerp must pass under their
+      guns. Both forts had a short time before been strengthened by the
+      besieged, and the former was scarcely finished when the Margrave of
+      Rysburg attacked it. The celerity with which he went to work surprised the
+      enemy before they were sufficiently prepared for defence, and a brisk
+      assault quickly placed Liefkenshoek in the hands of the Spaniards. The
+      confederates sustained this loss on the same fatal day that the Prince of
+      Orange fell at Delft by the hands of an assassin. The other batteries,
+      erected on the island of Doel, were partly abandoned by their defenders,
+      partly taken by surprise, so that in a short time the whole Flemish side
+      was cleared of the enemy. But the fort at Lillo, on the Brabant shore,
+      offered a more vigorous resistance, since the people of Antwerp had had
+      time to strengthen its fortifications and to provide it with a strong
+      garrison. Furious sallies of the besieged, led by Odets von Teligny,
+      supported by the cannon of the fort, destroyed all the works of the
+      Spaniards, and an inundation, which was effected by opening the sluices,
+      finally drove them away from the place after a three weeks&rsquo; siege, and
+      with the loss of nearly two thousand killed. They now retired into their
+      fortified camp at Stabroek, and contented themselves with taking
+      possession of the dams which run across the lowlands of Bergen, and oppose
+      a breastwork to the encroachments of the East Scheldt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The failure of his attempt upon the fort of Lillo compelled the Prince of
+      Parma to change his measures. As he could not succeed in stopping the
+      passage of the Scheldt by his original plan, on which the success of the
+      siege entirely depended, he determined to effect his purpose by throwing a
+      bridge across the whole breadth of the river. The thought was bold, and
+      there were many who held it to be rash. Both the breadth of the stream,
+      which at this part exceeds twelve hundred paces, as well as its violence,
+      which is still further augmented by the tides of the neighboring sea,
+      appeared to render every attempt of this kind impracticable. Moreover, he
+      had to contend with a deficiency of timber, vessels, and workmen, as well
+      as with the dangerous position between the fleets of Antwerp and of
+      Zealand, to which it would necessarily be an easy task, in combination
+      with a boisterous element, to interrupt so tedious a work. But the Prince
+      of Parma knew his power, and his settled resolution would yield to nothing
+      short of absolute impossibility. After he had caused the breadth as well
+      as the depth of the river to be measured, and had consulted with two of
+      his most skilful engineers, Barocci and Plato, it was settled that the
+      bridge should be constructed between Calloo in Flanders and Ordain in
+      Brabant. This spot was selected because the river is here narrowest, and
+      bends a little to the right, and so detains vessels a while by compelling
+      them to tack. To cover the bridge strong bastions were erected at both
+      ends, of which the one on the Flanders side was named Fort St. Maria, the
+      other, on the Brabant side, Fort St. Philip, in honor of the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While active preparations were making in the Spanish camp for the
+      execution of this scheme, and the whole attention of the enemy was
+      directed to it, the duke made an unexpected attack upon Dendermonde, a
+      strong town between Ghent and Antwerp, at the confluence of the Dender and
+      the Scheldt. As long as this important place was in the hands of the enemy
+      the towns of Ghent and Antwerp could mutually support each other, and by
+      the facility of their communication frustrate all the efforts of the
+      besiegers. Its capture would leave the prince free to act against both
+      towns, and might decide the fate of his undertaking. The rapidity of his
+      attack left the besieged no time to open their sluices and lay the country
+      under water. A hot cannonade was opened upon the chief bastion of the town
+      before the Brussels gate, but was answered by the fire of the besieged,
+      which made great havoc amongst the Spaniards. It increased, however,
+      rather than discouraged their ardor, and the insults of the garrison, who
+      mutilated the statue of a saint before their eyes, and after treating it
+      with the most contumelious indignity, hurled it down from the rampart,
+      raised their fury to the highest pitch. Clamorously they demanded to be
+      led against the bastion before their fire had made a sufficient breach in
+      it, and the prince, to avail himself of the first ardor of their
+      impetuosity, gave the signal for the assault. After a sanguinary contest
+      of two hours the rampart was mounted, and those who were not sacrificed to
+      the first fury of the Spaniards threw themselves into the town. The latter
+      was indeed now more exposed, a fire being directed upon it from the works
+      which had been carried; but its strong walls and the broad moat which
+      surrounded it gave reason to expect a protracted resistance. The inventive
+      resources of the Prince of Parma soon overcame this obstacle also. While
+      the bombardment was carried on night and day, the troops were incessantly
+      employed in diverting the course of the Dender, which supplied the fosse
+      with water, and the besieged were seized with despair as they saw the
+      water of the trenches, the last defence of the town, gradually disappear.
+      They hastened to capitulate, and in August, 1584, received a Spanish
+      garrison. Thus, in the space of eleven days, the Prince of Parrna
+      accomplished an undertaking which, in the opinion of competent judges,
+      would require as many weeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The town of Ghent, now cut off from Antwerp and the sea, and hard pressed
+      by the troops of the king, which were encamped in its vicinity, and
+      without hope of immediate succor, began to despair, as famine, with all
+      its dreadful train, advanced upon them with rapid steps. The inhabitants
+      therefore despatched deputies to the Spanish camp at Bevern, to tender its
+      submission to the king upon the same terms as the prince had a short time
+      previously offered. The deputies were informed that the time for treaties
+      was past, and that an unconditional submission alone could appease the
+      just anger of the monarch whom they had offended by their rebellion. Nay,
+      they were even given to understand that it would be only through his great
+      mercy if the same humiliation were not exacted from them as their
+      rebellious ancestors were forced to undergo under Charles V., namely, to
+      implore pardon half-naked, and with a cord round their necks. The deputies
+      returned to Ghent in despair, but three days afterwards a new deputation
+      was sent to the Spanish camp, which at last, by the intercession of one of
+      the prince&rsquo;s friends, who was a prisoner in Ghent, obtained peace upon
+      moderate terms. The town was to pay a fine of two hundred thousand
+      florins, recall the banished papists, and expel the Protestant
+      inhabitants, who, however, were to be allowed two years for the settlement
+      of their affairs. All the inhabitants except six, who were reserved for
+      capital punishment (but afterwards pardoned), were included in a general
+      amnesty, and the garrison, which amounted to two thousand men, was allowed
+      to evacuate the place with the honors of war. This treaty was concluded in
+      September of the same year, at the headquarters at Bevern, and immediately
+      three thousand Spaniards marched into the town as a garrison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was more by the terror of his name and the dread of famine than by the
+      force of arms that the Prince of Parma had succeeded in reducing this city
+      to submission, the largest and strongest in the Netherlands, which was
+      little inferior to Paris within the barriers of its inner town, consisted
+      of thirty-seven thousand houses, and was built on twenty islands,
+      connected by ninety-eight stone bridges. The important privileges which in
+      the course of several centuries this city had contrived to extort from its
+      rulers fostered in its inhabitants a spirit of independence, which not
+      unfrequently degenerated into riot and license, and naturally brought it
+      in collision with the Austrian-Spanish government. And it was exactly this
+      bold spirit of liberty which procured for the Reformation the rapid and
+      extensive success it met with in this town, and the combined incentives of
+      civil and religious freedom produced all those scenes of violence by
+      which, during the rebellion, it had unfortunately distinguished itself.
+      Besides the fine levied, the prince found within the walls a large store
+      of artillery, carriages, ships, and building materials of all kinds, with
+      numerous workmen and sailors, who materially aided him in his plans
+      against Antwerp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Ghent surrendered to the king Vilvorden and Herentals had fallen
+      into the hands of the Spaniards, and the capture of the block-houses near
+      the village of Willebrock had cut off Antwerp from Brussels and Malines.
+      The loss of these places within so short a period deprived Antwerp of all
+      hope of succor from Brabant and Flanders, and limited all their
+      expectations to the assistance which might be looked for from Zealand. But
+      to deprive them also of this the Prince of Parma was now making the most
+      energetic preparations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The citizens of Antwerp had beheld the first operations of the enemy
+      against their town with the proud security with which the sight of their
+      invincible river inspired them. This confidence was also in a degree
+      justified by the opinion of the Prince of Orange, who, upon the first
+      intelligence of the design, had said that the Spanish army would
+      inevitably perish before the walls of Antwerp. That nothing, however,
+      might be neglected, he sent, a short time before his assassination, for
+      the burgomaster of Antwerp, Philip Marnix of St. Aldegonde, his intimate
+      friend, to Delft, where he consulted with him as to the means of
+      maintaining defensive operations. It was agreed between then that it would
+      be advisable to demolish forthwith the great dam between Sanvliet and
+      Lillo called the Blaaugarendyk, so as to allow the waters of the East
+      Scheldt to inundate, if necessary, the lowlands of Bergen, and thus, in
+      the event of the Scheldt being closed, to open a passage for the Zealand
+      vessels to the town across the inundated country. Aldegonde had, after his
+      return, actually persuaded the magistrate and the majority of the citizens
+      to agree to this proposal, when it was resisted by the guild of butchers,
+      who claimed that they would be ruined by such a measure; for the plain
+      which it was wished to lay under water was a vast tract of pasture land,
+      upon which about twelve thousand oxen&mdash;were annually put to graze.
+      The objection of the butchers was successful, and they managed to prevent
+      the execution of this salutary scheme until the enemy had got possession
+      of the dams as well as the pasture land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the suggestion of the burgomaster St. Aldegonde, who, himself a member
+      of the states of Brabant, was possessed of great authority in that
+      council, the fortifications on both sides the Scheldt had, a short time
+      before the arrival of the Spaniards, been placed in repair, and many new
+      redoubts erected round the town. The dams had been cut through at
+      Saftingen, and the water of the West Scheldt let out over nearly the whole
+      country of Waes. In the adjacent Marquisate of Bergen troops had been
+      enlisted by the Count of Hohenlohe, and a Scotch regiment, under the
+      command of Colonel Morgan, was already in the pay of the republic, while
+      fresh reinforcements were daily expected from England and France. Above
+      all, the states of Holland and Zealand were called upon to hasten their
+      supplies. But after the enemy had taken strong positions on both sides of
+      the river, and the fire of their batteries made the navigation dangerous,
+      when place after place in Brabant fell into their hands, and their cavalry
+      had cut off all communication on the land side, the inhabitants of Antwerp
+      began at last to entertain serious apprehensions for the future. The town
+      then contained eighty-five thousand souls, and according to calculation
+      three hundred thousand quarters of corn were annually required for their
+      support. At the beginning of the siege neither the supply nor the money
+      was wanting for the laying in of such a store; for in spite of the enemy&rsquo;s
+      fire the Zealand victualling ships, taking advantage of the rising tide,
+      contrived to make their way to the town. All that was requisite was to
+      prevent any of the richer citizens from buying up these supplies, and, in
+      case of scarcity, raising the price. To secure his object, one Gianibelli
+      from Mantua, who had rendered important services in the course of the
+      siege, proposed a property tax of one penny in every hundred, and the
+      appointment of a board of respectable persons to purchase corn with this
+      money, and distribute it weekly. And until the returns of this tax should
+      be available the richer classes should advance the required sum, holding
+      the corn purchased, as a deposit, in their own magazines; and were also to
+      share in the profit. But this plan was unwelcome to the wealthier
+      citizens, who had resolved to profit by the general distress. They
+      recommended that every individual should be required to provide himself
+      with a sufficient supply for two years; a proposition which, however it
+      might suit their own circumstances, was very unreasonable in regard to the
+      poorer inhabitants, who, even before the siege, could scarcely find means
+      to supply themselves for so many months. They obtained indeed their
+      object, which was to reduce the poor to the necessity of either quitting
+      the place or becoming entirely their dependents. But when they afterwards
+      reflected that in the time of need the rights of property would not be
+      respected, they found it advisable not to be over-hasty in making their
+      own purchases.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The magistrate, in order to avert an evil that would have pressed upon
+      individuals only, had recourse to an expedient which endangered the safety
+      of all. Some enterprising persons in Zealand had freighted a large fleet
+      with provisions, which succeeded in passing the guns of the enemy, and
+      discharged its cargo at Antwerp. The hope of a large profit had tempted
+      the merchants to enter upon this hazardous speculation; in this, however,
+      they were disappointed, as the magistrate of Antwerp had, just before
+      their arrival, issued an edict regulating the price of all the necessaries
+      of life. At the same time to prevent individuals from buying up the whole
+      cargo and storing it in their magazines with a view of disposing of it
+      afterwards at a dearer rate, he ordered that the whole should be publicly
+      sold in any quantities from the vessels. The speculators, cheated of their
+      hopes of profit by these precautions, set sail again, and left Antwerp
+      with the greater part of their cargo, which would have sufficed for the
+      support of the town for several months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This neglect of the most essential and natural means of preservation can
+      only be explained by the supposition that the inhabitants considered it
+      absolutely impossible ever to close the Scheldt completely, and
+      consequently had not the least apprehension that things would come to
+      extremity. When the intelligence arrived in Antwerp that the prince
+      intended to throw a bridge over the Scheldt the idea was universally
+      ridiculed as chimerical. An arrogant comparison was drawn between the
+      republic and the stream, and it was said that the one would bear the
+      Spanish yoke as little as the other. &ldquo;A river which is twenty-four hundred
+      feet broad, and, with its own waters alone, above sixty feet deep, but
+      which with the tide rose twelve feet more&mdash;would such a stream,&rdquo; it
+      was asked, &ldquo;submit to be spanned by a miserable piece of paling? Where
+      were beams to be found high enough to reach to the bottom and project
+      above the surface? and how was a work of this kind to stand in winter,
+      when whole islands and mountains of ice, which stone walls could hardly
+      resist, would be driven by the flood against its weak timbers, and
+      splinter them to pieces like glass? Or, perhaps, the prince purposed to
+      construct a bridge of boats; if so, where would he procure the latter, and
+      how bring them into his intrenchments? They must necessarily be brought
+      past Antwerp, where a fleet was ready to capture or sink them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But while they were trying to prove the absurdity of the Prince of Parma&rsquo;s
+      undertaking he had already completed it. As soon as the forts St. Maria
+      and St. Philip were erected, and protected the workmen and the work by
+      their fire, a pier was built out into the stream from both banks, for
+      which purpose the masts of the largest vessels were employed; by a skilful
+      arrangement of the timbers they contrived to give the whole such solidity
+      that, as the result proved, it was able to resist the violent pressure of
+      the ice. These timbers, which rested firmly and securely on the bottom of
+      the river, and projected a considerable height above it, being covered
+      with planks, afforded a commodious roadway. It was wide enough to allow
+      eight men to cross abreast, and a balustrade that ran along it on both
+      sides, protected them from the fire of small-arms from the enemy&rsquo;s
+      vessels. This &ldquo;stacade,&rdquo; as it was called, ran from the two opposite
+      shores as far as the increasing depth and force of the stream allowed. It
+      reduced the breadth of the river to about eleven hundred feet; as,
+      however, the middle and proper current would not admit of such a barrier,
+      there remained, therefore, between the two stacades a space of more than
+      six hundred paces through which a whole fleet of transports could sail
+      with ease. This intervening space the prince designed to close by a bridge
+      of boats, for which purpose the craft must be procured from Dunkirk. But,
+      besides that they could not be obtained in any number at that place, it
+      would be difficult to bring them past Antwerp without great loss. He was,
+      therefore, obliged to content himself for the time with having narrowed
+      the stream one-half, and rendered the passage of the enemy&rsquo;s vessels so
+      much the more difficult. Where the stacades terminated in the middle of
+      the stream they spread out into parallelograms, which were mounted with
+      heavy guns, and served as a kind of battery on the water. From these a
+      heavy fire was opened on every vessel that attempted to pass through this
+      narrow channel. Whole fleets, however, and single vessels still attempted
+      and succeeded in passing this dangerous strait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Ghent surrendered, and this unexpected success at once rescued
+      the prince from his dilemma. He found in this town everything necessary to
+      complete his bridge of boats; and the only difficulty now was its safe
+      transport, which was furnished by the enemy themselves. By cutting the
+      dams at Saftingen a great part of the country of Waes, as far as the
+      village of Borcht, had been laid under water, so that it was not difficult
+      to cross it with flat-bottomed boats. The prince, therefore, ordered his
+      vessels to run out from Ghent, and after passing Dendermonde and
+      Rupelmonde to pass through the left dyke of the Scheldt, leaving Antwerp
+      to the right, and sail over the inundated fields in the direction of
+      Borcht. To protect this passage a fort was erected at the latter village,
+      which would keep the enemy in check. All succeeded to his wishes, though
+      not without a sharp action with the enemy&rsquo;s flotilla, which was sent out
+      to intercept this convoy. After breaking through a few more dams on their
+      route, they reached the Spanish quarters at Calloo, and successfully
+      entered the Scheldt again. The exultation of the army was greater when
+      they discovered the extent of the danger the vessels had so narrowly
+      escaped. Scarcely had they got quit of the enemy&rsquo;s vessels when a strong
+      reinforcement from Antwerp got under weigh, commanded by the valiant
+      defender of Lillo, Odets von Teligny. When this officer saw that the
+      affair was over, and that the enemy had escaped, he took possession of the
+      dam through which their fleet had passed, and threw up a fort on the spot
+      in order to stop the passage of any vessels from Ghent which might attempt
+      to follow them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this step the prince was again thrown into embarrassment. He was far
+      from having as yet a sufficient number of vessels, either for the
+      construction of the bridge or for its defence, and the passage by which
+      the former convoy had arrived was now closed by the fort erected by
+      Teligny. While he was reconnoitring the country to discover a new way for
+      his, fleets an idea occurred to him which not only put an end to his
+      present dilemma, but greatly accelerated the success of his whole plan.
+      Not far from the village of Stecken, in Waes, which is within some five
+      thousand paces of the commencement of the inundation, flows a small stream
+      called the Moer, which falls into the Scheldt near Ghent. From this river
+      he caused a canal to be dug to the spot where the inundations began, and
+      as the water of these was not everywhere deep enough for the transit of
+      his boats, the canal between Bevern and Verrebroek was continued to
+      Calloo, where it was met by the Scheldt. At this work five hundred
+      pioneers labored without intermission, and in order to cheer the toil of
+      the soldiers the prince himself took part in it. In this way did he
+      imitate the example of the two celebrated Romans, Drusus and Corbulo, who
+      by similar works had united the Rhine with the Zuyder Zee, and the Maes
+      with the Rhine?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This canal, which the army in honor of its projector called the canal of
+      Parma, was fourteen thousand paces in length, and was of proportion able
+      depth and breadth, so as to be navigable for ships of a considerable
+      burden. It afforded to the vessels from Ghent not only a more secure, but
+      also a much shorter course to the Spanish quarters, because it was no
+      longer necessary to follow the many windings of the Scheldt, but entering
+      the Moer at once near Ghent, and from thence passing close to Stecken,
+      they could proceed through the canal and across the inundated country as
+      far as Calloo. As the produce of all Flanders was brought to the town of
+      Ghent, this canal placed the Spanish camp in communication with the whole
+      province. Abundance poured into the camp from all quarters, so that during
+      the whole course of the siege the Spaniards suffered no scarcity of any
+      kind. But the greatest benefit which the prince derived from this work was
+      an adequate supply of flat-bottomed vessels to complete his bridge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These preparations were overtaken by the arrival of winter, which, as the
+      Scheldt was filled with drift-ice, occasioned a considerable delay in the
+      building of the bridge. The prince had contemplated with anxiety the
+      approach of this season, lest it should prove highly destructive to the
+      work he had undertaken, and afford the enemy a favorable opportunity for
+      making a serious attack upon it. But the skill of his engineers saved him
+      from the one danger, and the strange inaction of the enemy freed him from
+      the other. It frequently happened, indeed, that at flood-time large pieces
+      of ice were entangled in the timbers, and shook them violently, but they
+      stood the assault of the furious element, which only served to prove their
+      stability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Antwerp, meanwhile, important moments had been wasted in futile
+      deliberations; and in a struggle of factions the general welfare was
+      neglected. The government of the town was divided among too many heads,
+      and much too great a share in it was held by the riotous mob to allow room
+      for calmness of deliberation or firmness of action. Besides the municipal
+      magistracy itself, in which the burgomaster had only a single voice, there
+      were in the city a number of guilds, to whom were consigned the charge of
+      the internal and external defence, the provisioning of the town, its
+      fortifications, the marine, commerce, etc.; some of whom must be consulted
+      in every business of importance. By means of this crowd of speakers, who
+      intruded at pleasure into the council, and managed to carry by clamor and
+      the number of their adherents what they could not effect by their
+      arguments, the people obtained a dangerous influence in the public
+      debates, and the natural struggle of such discordant interests retarded
+      the execution of every salutary measure. A government so vacillating and
+      impotent could not command the respect of unruly sailors and a lawless
+      soldiery. The orders of the state consequently were but imperfectly
+      obeyed, and the decisive moment was more than once lost by the negligence,
+      not to say the open mutiny, both of the land and sea forces. The little
+      harmony in the selection of the means by which the enemy was to be opposed
+      would not, however, have proved so injurious had there but existed
+      unanimity as to the end. But on this very point the wealthy citizens and
+      poorer classes were divided; so the former, having everything to apprehend
+      from allowing matters to be carried to extremity, were strongly inclined
+      to treat with the Prince of Parma. This disposition they did not even
+      attempt to conceal after the fort of Liefkenshoek had fallen into the
+      enemy&rsquo;s hands, and serious fears were entertained for the navigation of
+      the Scheldt. Some of them, indeed, withdrew entirely from the danger, and
+      left to its fate the town, whose prosperity they had been ready enough to
+      share, but in whose adversity they were unwilling to bear a part. From
+      sixty to seventy of those who remained memorialized the council, advising
+      that terms should be made with the king. No sooner, however, had the
+      populace got intelligence of it than their indignation broke out in a
+      violent uproar, which was with difficulty appeased by the imprisonment and
+      fining of the petitioners. Tranquillity could only be fully restored by
+      publication of an edict, which imposed the penalty of death on all who
+      either publicly or privately should countenance proposals for peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince of Parma did not fail to take advantage of these disturbances;
+      for nothing that transpired within the city escaped his notice, being well
+      served by the agents with whom he maintained a secret understanding with
+      Antwerp, as well as the other towns of Brabant and Flanders. Although he
+      had already made considerable progress in his measures for distressing the
+      town, still he had many steps to take before he could actually make
+      himself master of it; and one unlucky moment might destroy the work of
+      many months. Without, therefore, neglecting any of his warlike
+      preparations, he determined to make one more serious attempt to get
+      possession by fair means. With this object he despatched a letter in
+      November to the great council of Antwerp, in which he skilfully made use
+      of every topic likely to induce the citizens to come to terms, or at least
+      to increase their existing dissensions. He treated them in this letter in
+      the light of persons who had been led astray, and threw the whole blame of
+      their revolt and refractory conduct hitherto upon the intriguing spirit of
+      the Prince of Orange, from whose artifices the retributive justice of
+      heaven had so lately liberated them. &ldquo;It was,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;now in their
+      power to awake from their long infatuation and return to their allegiance
+      to a monarch who was ready and anxious to be reconciled to his subjects.
+      For this end he gladly offered himself as mediator, as he had never ceased
+      to love a country in which he had been born, and where he had spent the
+      happiest days of his youth. He therefore exhorted them to send
+      plenipotentiaries with whom he could arrange the conditions of peace, and
+      gave them hopes of obtaining reasonable terms if they made a timely
+      submission, but also threatened them with the severest treatment if they
+      pushed matters to extremity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter, in which we are glad to recognize a language very different
+      from that which the Duke of Alva held ten years before on a similar
+      occasion, was answered by the townspeople in a respectful and dignified
+      tone. While they did full justice to the personal character of the prince,
+      and acknowledged his favorable intentions towards them with gratitude,
+      they lamented the hardness of the times, which placed it out of his power
+      to treat them in accordance with his character and disposition. They
+      declared that they would gladly place their fate in his hands if he were
+      absolute master of his actions, instead of being obliged to obey the will
+      of another, whose proceedings his own candor would not allow him to
+      approve of. The unalterable resolution of the King of Spain, as well as
+      the vow which he had made to the pope, were only too well known for them
+      to have any hopes in that quarter. They at the same time defended with a
+      noble warmth the memory of the Prince of Orange, their benefactor and
+      preserver, while they enumerated the true cases which had produced this
+      unhappy war, and had caused the provinces to revolt from the Spanish
+      crown. At the same time they did not disguise from him that they had hopes
+      of finding a new and a milder master in the King of France, and that, if
+      only for this reason, they could not enter into any treaty with the
+      Spanish king without incurring the charge of the most culpable fickleness
+      and ingratitude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The united provinces, in fact, dispirited by a succession of reverses, had
+      at last come to the determination of placing themselves under the
+      protection and sovereignty of France, and of preserving their existence
+      and their ancient privileges by the sacrifice of their independence. With
+      this view an embassy had some time before been despatched to Paris, and it
+      was the prospect of this powerful assistance which principally supported
+      the courage of the people of Antwerp. Henry III., King of France, was
+      personally disposed to accept this offer; but the troubles which the
+      intrigues of the Spaniards contrived to excite within his own kingdom
+      compelled him against his will to abandon it. The provinces now turned for
+      assistance to Queen Elizabeth of England, who sent them some supplies,
+      which, however, came too late to save Antwerp. While the people of this
+      city were awaiting the issue of these negotiations, and expecting aid from
+      foreign powers, they neglected, unfortunately, the most natural and
+      immediate means of defence; the whole winter was lost, and while the enemy
+      turned it to greater advantage the more complete was their indecision and
+      inactivity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The burgomaster of Antwerp, St. Aldegonde, had, indeed, repeatedly urged
+      the fleet of Zealand to attack the enemy&rsquo;s works, which should be
+      supported on the other side from Antwerp. The long and frequently stormy
+      nights would favor this attempt, and if at the same time a sally were made
+      by the garrison at Lillo, it seemed scarcely possible for the enemy to
+      resist this triple assault. But unfortunately misunderstandings had arisen
+      between the commander of the fleet, William von Blois von Treslong, and
+      the admiralty of Zealand, which caused the equipment of the fleet to be
+      most unaccountably delayed. In order to quicken their movements Teligny at
+      last resolved to go himself to Middleburg, were the states of Zealand were
+      assembled; but as the enemy were in possession of all the roads the
+      attempt cost him his freedom and the republic its most valiant defender.
+      However, there was no want of enterprising vessels, which, under the favor
+      of the night and the floodtide, passing through the still open bridge in
+      spite of the enemy&rsquo;s fire, threw provisions into the town and returned
+      with the ebb. But as many of these vessels fell into the hands of the
+      enemy the council gave orders that they should never risk the passage
+      unless they amounted to a certain number; and the result, unfortunately,
+      was that none attempted it because the required number could not be
+      collected at one time. Several attacks were also made from Antwerp on the
+      ships of the Spaniards, which were not entirely unsuccessful; some of the
+      latter were captured, others sunk, and all that was required was to
+      execute similar attempts on a grand scale. But however zealously St.
+      Aldegonde urged this, still not a captain was to be found who would
+      command a vessel for that purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amid these delays the winter expired, and scarcely had the ice begun to
+      disappear when the construction of the bridge of boats was actively
+      resumed by the besiegers. Between the two piers a space of more than six
+      hundred paces still remained to be filled up, which was effected in the
+      following manner: Thirty-two flat-bottomed vessels, each sixty-six feet
+      long and twenty broad, were fastened together with strong cables and iron
+      chains, but at a distance from each other of about twenty feet to allow a
+      free passage to the stream. Each boat, moreover, was moored with two
+      cables, both up and down the stream, but which, as the water rose with the
+      tide, or sunk with the ebb, could be slackened or tightened. Upon the
+      boats great masts were laid which reached from one to another, and, being
+      covered with planks, formed a regular road, which, like that along the
+      piers, was protected with a balustrade. This bridge of boats, of which the
+      two piers formed a continuation, had, including the latter, a length of
+      twenty-four thousand paces. This formidable work was so ingeniously
+      constructed, and so richly furnished with the instruments of destruction,
+      that it seemed almost capable, like a living creature, of defending itself
+      at the word of command, scattering death among all who approached. Besides
+      the two forts of St. Maria and St. Philip, which terminated the bridge on
+      either shore, and the two wooden bastions on the bridge itself, which were
+      filled with soldiers and mounted with guns on all sides, each of the
+      two-and-thirty vessels was manned with thirty soldiers and four sailors,
+      and showed the cannon&rsquo;s mouth to the enemy, whether he came up from
+      Zealand or down from Antwerp. There were in all ninety-seven cannon, which
+      were distributed beneath and above the bridge, and more than fifteen
+      hundred men who were posted, partly in the forts, partly in the vessels,
+      and, in case of necessity, could maintain a terrible fire of small-arms
+      upon the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But with all this the prince did not consider his work sufficiently
+      secure. It was to be expected that the enemy would leave nothing
+      unattempted to burst by the force of his machines the middle and weakest
+      part. To guard against this, he erected in a line with the bridge of
+      boats, but at some distance from it, another distinct defence, intended to
+      break the force of any attack that might be directed against the bridge
+      itself. This work consisted of thirty-three vessels of considerable
+      magnitude, which were moored in a row athwart the stream and fastened in
+      threes by masts, so that they formed eleven different groups. Each of
+      these, like a file of pikemen, presented fourteen long wooden poles with
+      iron heads to the approaching enemy. These vessels were loaded merely with
+      ballast, and were anchored each by a double but slack cable, so as to be
+      able to give to the rise and fall of the tide. As they were in constant
+      motion they got from the soldiers the name of &ldquo;swimmers.&rdquo; The whole bridge
+      of boats and also a part of the piers were covered by these swimmers,
+      which were stationed above as well as below the bridge. To all these
+      defensive preparations was added a fleet of forty men-of-war, which were
+      stationed on both coasts and served as a protection to the whole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This astonishing work was finished in March, 1585, the seventh month of
+      the siege, and the day on which it was completed was kept as a jubilee by
+      the troops. The great event was announced to the besieged by a grand <i>fete
+      de joie</i>, and the army, as if to enjoy ocular demonstration of its
+      triumph, extended itself along the whole platform to gaze upon the proud
+      stream, peacefully and obediently flowing under the yoke which had been
+      imposed upon it. All the toil they had undergone was forgotten in the
+      delightful spectacle, and every man who had had a hand in it, however
+      insignificant he might be, assumed to himself a portion of the honor which
+      the successful execution of so gigantic an enterprise conferred on its
+      illustrious projector. On the other hand, nothing could equal the
+      consternation which seized the citizens of Antwerp when intelligence was
+      brought them that the Scheldt was now actually closed, and all access from
+      Zealand cut off. To increase their dismay they learned the fall of
+      Brussels also, which had at last been compelled by famine to capitulate.
+      An attempt made by the Count of Hohenlohe about the same time on
+      Herzogenbusch, with a view to recapture the town, or at least form a
+      diversion, was equally unsuccessful; and thus the unfortunate city lost
+      all hope of assistance, both by sea and land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These evil tidings were brought them by some fugitives who had succeeded
+      in passing the Spanish videttes, and had made their way into the town; and
+      a spy, whom the burgomaster had sent out to reconnoitre the enemy&rsquo;s works,
+      increased the general alarm by his report. He had been seized and carried
+      before the Prince of Parma, who commanded him to be conducted over all the
+      works, and all the defences of the bridge to be pointed out to him. After
+      this had been done he was again brought before the general, who dismissed
+      him with these words: &ldquo;Go,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and report what you have seen to
+      those who sent you. And tell them, too, that it is my firm resolve to bury
+      myself under the ruins of this bridge or by means of it to pass into your
+      town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the certainty of danger now at last awakened the zeal of the
+      confederates, and it was no fault of theirs if the former half of the
+      prince&rsquo;s vow was not fulfilled. The latter had long viewed with
+      apprehension the preparations which were making in Zealand for the relief
+      of the town. He saw clearly that it was from this quarter that he had to
+      fear the most dangerous blow, and that with all his works he could not
+      make head against the combined fleets of Zealand and Antwerp if they were
+      to fall upon him at the same time and at the proper moment. For a while
+      the delays of the admiral of Zealand, which he had labored by all the
+      means in his power to prolong, had been his security, but now the urgent
+      necessity accelerated the expedition, and without waiting for the admiral
+      the states at Middleburg despatched the Count Justin of Nassau, with as
+      many ships as they could muster, to the assistance of the besieged. This
+      fleet took up a position before Liefkenshoek, which was in possession of
+      the Spaniards, and, supported by a few vessels from the opposite fort of
+      Lillo, cannonaded it with such success that the walls were in a short time
+      demolished, and the place carried by storm. The Walloons who formed the
+      garrison did not display the firmness which might have been expected from
+      soldiers of the Duke of Parma; they shamefully surrendered the fort to the
+      enemy, who in a short time were in possession of the whole island of Doel,
+      with all the redoubts situated upon it. The loss of these places, which
+      were, however, soon retaken, incensed the Duke of Parma so much that he
+      tried the officers by court-martial, and caused the most culpable among
+      them to be beheaded. Meanwhile this important conquest opened to the
+      Zealanders a free passage as far as the bridge, and after concerting with
+      the people of Antwerp the time was fixed for a combined attack on this
+      work. It was arranged that, while the bridge of boats was blown up by
+      machines already prepared in Antwerp, the Zealand fleet, with a sufficient
+      supply of provisions, should be in the vicinity, ready to sail to the town
+      through the opening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the Duke of Parma was engaged in constructing his bridge an engineer
+      within the walls was already preparing the materials for its destruction.
+      Friedrich Gianibelli was the name of the man whom fate had destined to be
+      the Archimedes of Antwerp, and to exhaust in its defence the same
+      ingenuity with the same want of success. He was born in Mantua, and had
+      formerly visited Madrid for the purpose, it was said, of offering his
+      services to King Philip in the Belgian war. But wearied with waiting the
+      offended engineer left the court with the intention of making the King of
+      Spain sensibly feel the value of talents which he had so little known how
+      to appreciate. He next sought the service of Queen Elizabeth of England,
+      the declared enemy of Spain, who, after witnessing a few specimens of his
+      skill, sent him to Antwerp. He took up his residence in that town, and in
+      the present extremity devoted to its defence his knowledge, his energy,
+      and his zeal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as this artist perceived that the project of erecting the bridge
+      was seriously intended, and that the work was fast approaching to
+      completion, he applied to the magistracy for three large vessels, from a
+      hundred and fifty to five hundred tons, in which he proposed to place
+      mines. He also demanded sixty boats, which, fastened together with cables
+      and chains, furnished with projecting grappling-irons, and put in motion
+      with the ebbing of the tide, were intended to second the operation of the
+      mine-ships by being directed in a wedgelike form against the bridge. But
+      he had to deal with men who were quite incapable of comprehending an idea
+      out of the common way, and even where the salvation of their country was
+      at stake could not forget the calculating habits of trade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His scheme was rejected as too expensive, and with difficulty he at last
+      obtained the grant of two smaller vessels, from seventy to eighty tons,
+      with a number of flat-bottomed boats. With these two vessels, one of which
+      he called the &ldquo;Fortune&rdquo; and the other the &ldquo;Hope,&rdquo; he proceeded in the
+      following manner: In the hold of each he built a hollow chamber of
+      freestone, five feet broad, three and a half high, and forty long. This
+      magazine he filled with sixty hundredweight of the finest priming powder
+      of his own compounding, and covered it with as heavy a weight of large
+      slabs and millstones as the vessels could carry. Over these he further
+      added a roof of similar stones, which ran up to a point and projected six
+      feet above the ship&rsquo;s side. The deck itself was crammed with iron chains
+      and hooks, knives, nails, and other destructive missiles; the remaining
+      space, which was not occupied by the magazine, was likewise filled up with
+      planks. Several small apertures were left in the chamber for the matches
+      which were to set fire to the mine. For greater certainty he had also
+      contrived a piece of mechanism which, after the lapse of a given time,
+      would strike out sparks, and even if the matches failed would set the ship
+      on fire. To delude the enemy into a belief that these machines were only
+      intended to set the bridge on fire, a composition of brimstone and pitch
+      was placed in the top, which could burn a whole hour. And still further to
+      divert the enemy&rsquo;s attention from the proper seat of danger, he also
+      prepared thirty-two flatbottomed boats, upon which there were only
+      fireworks burning, and whose sole object was to deceive the enemy. These
+      fire-ships were to be sent down upon the bridge in four separate
+      squadrons, at intervals of half an hour, and keep the enemy incessantly
+      engaged for two whole hours, so that, tired of firing and wearied by vain
+      expectation, they might at last relax their vigilance before the real
+      fire-ships came. In addition to all this he also despatched a few vessels
+      in which powder was concealed in order to blow up the floating work before
+      the bridge, and to clear a passage for the two principal ships. At the
+      same time he hoped by this preliminary attack to engage the enemy&rsquo;s
+      attention, to draw them out, and expose them to the full deadly effect of
+      the volcano.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night between the 4th and 5th of April was fixed for the execution of
+      this great undertaking. An obscure rumor of it had already diffused itself
+      through the Spanish camp, and particularly from the circumstance of many
+      divers from Antwerp having been detected endeavoring to cut the cables of
+      the vessels. They were prepared, therefore, for a serious attack; they
+      only mistook the real nature of it, and counted on having to fight rather
+      with man than the elements. In this expectation the duke caused the guards
+      along the whole bank to be doubled, and drew up the chief part of his
+      troops in the vicinity of the bridge, where he was present in person; thus
+      meeting the danger while endeavoring to avoid it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No sooner was it dark than three burning vessels were seen to float down
+      from the city towards the bridge, then three more, and directly after the
+      same number. They beat to arms throughout the Spanish camp, and the whole
+      length of the bridge was crowded with soldiers. Meantime the number of the
+      fire-ships increased, and they came in regular order down the stream,
+      sometimes two and sometimes three abreast, being at first steered by
+      sailors on board them. The admiral of the Antwerp fleet, Jacob Jacobson
+      (whether designedly or through carelessness is not known), had committed
+      the error of sending off the four squadrons of fire-ships too quickly one
+      after another, and caused the two large mine-ships also to follow them too
+      soon, and thus disturbed the intended order of attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The array of vessels kept approaching, and the darkness of night still
+      further heightened the extraordinary spectacle. As far as the eye could
+      follow the course of the stream all was fire; the fire-ships burning as
+      brilliantly as if they were themselves in the flames; the surface of the
+      water glittered with light; the dykes and the batteries along the shore,
+      the flags, arms, and accoutrements of the soldiers who lined the rivers as
+      well as the bridges were clearly distinguishable in the glare. With a
+      mingled sensation of awe and pleasure the soldiers watched the unusual
+      sight, which rather resembled a fete than a hostile preparation, but from
+      the very strangeness of the contrast filled the mind with a mysterious
+      awe. When the burning fleet had come within two thousand paces of the
+      bridge those who had the charge of it lighted the matches, impelled the
+      two mine-vessels into the middle of the stream, and leaving the others to
+      the guidance of the current of the waves, they hastily made their escape
+      in boats which had been kept in readiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their course, however, was irregular, and destitute of steersmen they
+      arrived singly and separately at the floating works, where they continued
+      hanging or were dashed off sidewise on the shore. The foremost
+      powder-ships, which were intended to set fire to the floating works, were
+      cast, by the force of a squall which arose at that instant, on the Flemish
+      coast. One of the two, the &ldquo;Fortune,&rdquo; grounded in its passage before it
+      reached the bridge, and killed by its explosion some Spanish soldiers who
+      were at work in a neighboring battery. The other and larger fire-ship,
+      called the &ldquo;Hope,&rdquo; narrowly escaped a similar fate. The current drove her
+      against the floating defences towards the Flemish bank, where it remained
+      hanging, and had it taken fire at that moment the greatest part of its
+      effect would have been lost. Deceived by the flames which this machine,
+      like the other vessels, emitted, the Spaniards took it for a common
+      fire-ship, intended to burn the bridge of boats. And as they had seen them
+      extinguished one after the other without further effect all fears were
+      dispelled, and the Spaniards began to ridicule the preparations of the
+      enemy, which had been ushered in with so much display and now had so
+      absurd an end. Some of the boldest threw themselves into the stream in
+      order to get a close view of the fire-ship and extinguish it, when by its
+      weight it suddenly broke through, burst the floating work which had
+      detained it, and drove with terrible force on the bridge of boats. All was
+      now in commotion on the bridge, and the prince called to the sailors to
+      keep the vessel off with poles, and to extinguish the flames before they
+      caught the timbers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this critical moment he was standing at the farthest end of the left
+      pier, where it formed a bastion in the water and joined the bridge of
+      boats. By his side stood the Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry and
+      governor of the province of Artois, who had formerly-served the states,
+      but from a protector of the republic had become its worst enemy; the Baron
+      of Billy, governor of Friesland and commander of the German regiments; the
+      Generals Cajetan and Guasto, with several of the principal officers; all
+      forgetful of their own danger and entirely occupied with averting the
+      general calamity. At this moment a Spanish ensign approached the Prince of
+      Parma and conjured him to remove from a place where his life was in
+      manifest and imminent peril. No attention being paid to his entreaty he
+      repeated it still more urgently, and at last fell at his feet and implored
+      him in this one instance to take advice from his servant. While he said
+      this he had laid hold of the duke&rsquo;s coat as though he wished forcibly to
+      draw him away from the spot, and the latter, surprised rather at the man&rsquo;s
+      boldness than persuaded by his arguments, retired at last to the shore,
+      attended by Cajetan and Guasto. He had scarcely time to reach the fort St.
+      Maria at the end of the bridge when an explosion took place behind him,
+      just as if the earth had burst or the vault of heaven given way. The duke
+      and his whole army fell to the ground as dead, and several minutes elapsed
+      before they recovered their consciousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But then what a sight presented itself! The waters of the Scheldt had been
+      divided to its lowest depth, and driven with a surge which rose like a
+      wall above the dam that confined it, so that all the fortifications on the
+      banks were several feet under water. The earth shook for three miles
+      round. Nearly the whole left pier, on which the fire-ship had been driven,
+      with a part of the bridge of boats, had been burst and shattered to atoms,
+      with all that was upon it; spars, cannon, and men blown into the air. Even
+      the enormous blocks of stone which had covered the mine had, by the force
+      of the explosion, been hurled into the neighboring fields, so that many of
+      them were afterwards dug out of the ground at a distance of a thousand
+      paces from the bridge. Six vessels were buried, several had gone to
+      pieces. But still more terrible was the carnage which the murderous
+      machine had dealt amongst the soldiers. Five hundred, according to other
+      reports even eight hundred, were sacrificed to its fury, without reckoning
+      those who escaped with mutilated or injured bodies. The most opposite
+      kinds of death were combined in this frightful moment. Some were consumed
+      by the flames of the explosion, others scalded to death by the boiling
+      water of the river, others stifled by the poisonous vapor of the
+      brimstone; some were drowned in the stream, some buried under the hail of
+      falling masses of rock, many cut to pieces by the knives and hooks, or
+      shattered by the balls which were poured from the bowels of the machine.
+      Some were found lifeless without any visible injury, having in all
+      probability been killed by the mere concussion of the air. The spectacle
+      which presented itself directly after the firing of the mine was fearful.
+      Men were seen wedged between the palisades of the bridge, or struggling to
+      release themselves from beneath ponderous masses of rock, or hanging in
+      the rigging of the ships; and from all places and quarters the most
+      heartrending cries for help arose, but as each was absorbed in his own
+      safety these could only be answered by helpless wailings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:60%;">
+      <img alt="1pb314 (142K)" src="images/1pb314.jpg" style="width:100%;"   /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many had escaped in the most wonderful manner. An officer named Tucci was
+      carried by the whirlwind like a feather high into the air, where he was
+      for a moment suspended, and then dropped into the river, where he saved
+      himself by swimming. Another was taken up by the force of the blast from
+      the Flanders shore and deposited on that of Brabant, incurring merely a
+      slight contusion on the shoulder; he felt, as he afterwards said, during
+      this rapid aerial transit, just as if he had been fired out of a cannon.
+      The Prince of Parma himself had never been so near death as at that
+      moment, when half a minute saved his life. He had scarcely set foot in the
+      fort of St. Maria when he was lifted off his feet as if by a hurricane,
+      and a beam which struck him on the head and shoulders stretched him
+      senseless on the earth. For a long time he was believed to be actually
+      killed, many remembering to have seen him on the bridge only a few minutes
+      before the fatal explosion. He was found at last between his attendants,
+      Cajetan and Guasto, raising himself up with his hand on his sword; and the
+      intelligence stirred the spirits of the whole army. But vain would be the
+      attempt to depict his feelings when he surveyed the devastation which a
+      single moment had caused in the work of so many months. The bridge of
+      boats, upon which all his hopes rested, was rent asunder; a great part of
+      his army was destroyed; another portion maimed and rendered ineffective
+      for many days; many of his best officers were killed; and, as if the
+      present calamity were not sufficient, he had now to learn the painful
+      intelligence that the Margrave of Rysburg, whom of all his officers he
+      prized the highest, was missing. And yet the worst was still to come, for
+      every moment the fleets of the enemy were to be expected from Antwerp and
+      Lillo, to which this fearful position of the army would disable him from
+      offering any effectual resistance. The bridge was entirely destroyed, and
+      nothing could prevent the fleet from Zealand passing through in full sail;
+      while the confusion of the troops in this first moment was so great and
+      general that it would have been impossible to give or obey orders, as many
+      corps had lost their commanding officers, and many commanders their corps;
+      and even the places where they had been stationed were no longer to be
+      recognized amid the general ruin. Add to this that all the batteries on
+      shore were under water, that several cannon were sunk, that the matches
+      were wet, and the ammunition damaged. What a moment for the enemy if they
+      had known how to avail themselves of it!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will scarcely be believed, however, that this success, which surpassed
+      all expectation, was lost to Antwerp, simply because nothing was known of
+      it. St. Aldegonde, indeed, as soon as the explosion of the mine was heard
+      in the town, had sent out several galleys in the direction of the bridge,
+      with orders to send up fire-balls and rockets the moment they had passed
+      it, and then to sail with the intelligence straight on to Lillo, in order
+      to bring up, without delay, the Zealand fleet, which had orders to
+      co-operate. At the same time the admiral of Antwerp was ordered, as soon
+      as the signal was given, to sail out with his vessels and attack the enemy
+      in their first consternation. But although a considerable reward was
+      promised to the boatmen sent to reconnoitre they did not venture near the
+      enemy, but returned without effecting their purpose, and reported that the
+      bridge of boats was uninjured, and the fire-ship had had no effect. Even
+      on the following day also no better measures were taken to learn the true
+      state of the bridge; and as the fleet at Lillo, in spite of the favorable
+      wind, was seen to remain inactive, the belief that the fire-ships had
+      accomplished nothing was confirmed. It did not seem to occur to any one
+      that this very inactivity of the confederates, which misled the people of
+      Antwerp, might also keep back the Zealanders at Lille, as in fact it did.
+      So signal an instance of neglect could only have occurred in a government,
+      which, without dignity of independence, was guided by the tumultuous
+      multitude it ought to have governed. The more supine, however, they were
+      themselves in opposing the enemy, the more violently did their rage boil
+      against Gianibelli, whom the frantic mob would have torn in pieces if they
+      could have caught him. For two days the engineer was in the most imminent
+      danger, until at last, on the third morning, a courier from Lillo, who had
+      swam under the bridge, brought authentic intelligence of its having been
+      destroyed, but at the same time announced that it had been repaired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This rapid restoration of the bridge was really a miraculous effort of the
+      Prince of Parma. Scarcely had he recovered from the shock, which seemed to
+      have overthrown all his plans, when he contrived, with wonderful presence
+      of mind, to prevent all its evil consequences. The absence of the enemy&rsquo;s
+      fleet at this decisive moment revived his hopes. The ruinous state of the
+      bridge appeared to be a secret to them, and though it was impossible to
+      repair in a few hours the work of so many months, yet a great point would
+      be gained if it could be done even in appearance. All his men were
+      immediately set to work to remove the ruins, to raise the timbers which
+      had been thrown down, to replace those which were demolished, and to fill
+      up the chasms with ships. The duke himself did not refuse to share in the
+      toil, and his example was followed by all his officers. Stimulated by this
+      popular behavior, the common soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost;
+      the work was carried on during the whole night under the constant sounding
+      of drums and trumpets, which were distributed along the bridge to drown
+      the noise of the work-people. With dawn of day few traces remained of the
+      night&rsquo;s havoc; and although the bridge was restored only in appearance, it
+      nevertheless deceived the spy, and consequently no attack was made upon
+      it. In the meantime the prince contrived to make the repairs solid, nay,
+      even to introduce some essential alterations in the structure. In order to
+      guard against similar accidents for the future, a part of the bridge of
+      boats was made movable, so that in case of necessity it could be taken
+      away and a passage opened to the fire-ships. His loss of men was supplied
+      from the garrisons of the adjoining places, and by a German regiment which
+      arrived very opportunely from Gueldres. He filled up the vacancies of the
+      officers who were killed, and in doing this he did not forget the Spanish
+      ensign who had saved his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people of Antwerp, after learning the success of their mine-ship, now
+      did homage to the inventor with as much extravagance as they had a short
+      time before mistrusted him, and they encouraged his genius to new
+      attempts. Gianibelli now actually obtained the number of flat-bottomed
+      vessels which he had at first demanded in vain, and these he equipped in
+      such a manner that they struck with irresistible force on the bridge, and
+      a second time also burst and separated it. But this time, the wind was
+      contrary to the Zealand fleet, so that they could not put out, and thus
+      the prince obtained once more the necessary respite to repair the damage.
+      The Archimedes of Antwerp was not deterred by any of these
+      disappointments. Anew he fitted out two large vessels which were armed
+      with iron hooks and similar instruments in order to tear asunder the
+      bridge. But when the moment came for these vessels to get under weigh no
+      one was found ready to embark in them. The engineer was therefore obliged
+      to think of a plan for giving to these machines such a self-impulse that,
+      without being guided by a steersman, they would keep the middle of the
+      stream, and not, like the former ones, be driven on the bank by the wind.
+      One of his workmen, a German, here hit upon a strange invention, if
+      Strada&rsquo;s description of it is to be credited. He affixed a sail under the
+      vessel, which was to be acted upon by the water, just as an ordinary sail
+      is by the wind, and could thus impel the ship with the whole force of the
+      current. The result proved the correctness of his calculation; for this
+      vessel, with the position of its sails reversed, not only kept the centre
+      of the stream, but also ran against the bridge with such impetuosity that
+      the enemy had not time to open it and was actually burst asunder. But all
+      these results were of no service to the town, because the attempts were
+      made at random and were supported by no adequate force. A new fire-ship,
+      equipped like the former, which had succeeded so well, and which
+      Gianibelli had filled with four thousand pounds of the finest powder was
+      not even used; for a new mode of attempting their deliverance had now
+      occurred to the people of Antwerp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Terrified by so many futile attempts from endeavoring to clear a passage
+      for vessels on the river by force, they at last came to the determination
+      of doing without the stream entirely. They remembered the example of the
+      town of Leyden, which, when besieged by the Spaniards ten years before,
+      had saved itself by opportunely inundating the surrounding country, and it
+      was resolved to imitate this example. Between Lillo and Stabroek, in the
+      district of Bergen, a wide and somewhat sloping plain extends as far as
+      Antwerp, being protected by numerous embankments and counter-embankments
+      against the irruptions of the East Scheldt. Nothing more was requisite
+      than to break these dams, when the whole plain would become a sea,
+      navigable by flat-bottomed vessels almost to the very walls of Antwerp. If
+      this attempt should succeed, the Duke of Parma might keep the Scheldt
+      guarded with his bridge of boats as long as he pleased; a new river would
+      be formed, which, in case of necessity, would be equally serviceable for
+      the time. This was the very plan which the Prince of Orange had at the
+      commencement of the siege recommended, and in which he had been
+      strenuously, but unsuccessfully, seconded by St. Aldegonde, because some
+      of the citizens could not be persuaded to sacrifice their own fields. In
+      the present emergency they reverted to this last resource, but
+      circumstances in the meantime had greatly changed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The plain in question is intersected by a broad and high dam, which takes
+      its name from the adjacent Castle of Cowenstein, and extends for three
+      miles from the village of Stabroek, in Bergen, as far as the Scheldt, with
+      the great dam of which it unites near Ordam. Beyond this dam no vessels
+      can proceed, however high the tide, and the sea would be vainly turned
+      into the fields as long as such an embankment remained in the way, which
+      would prevent the Zealand vessels from descending into the plain before
+      Antwerp. The fate of the town would therefore depend upon the demolition
+      of this Cowenstein dam; but, foreseeing this, the Prince of Parma had,
+      immediately on commencing the blockade, taken possession of it, and spared
+      no pains to render it tenable to the last. At the village of Stabroek,
+      Count Mansfeld was encamped with the greatest part of his army, and by
+      means of this very Cowenstein dam kept open the communication with the
+      bridge, the headquarters, and the Spanish magazines at Calloo. Thus the
+      army formed an uninterrupted line from Stabroek in Brabant, as far as
+      Bevern in Flanders, intersected indeed, but not broken by the Scheldt, and
+      which could not be cut off without a sanguinary conflict. On the dam
+      itself within proper distances five different batteries had been erected,
+      the command of which was given to the most valiant officers in the army.
+      Nay, as the Prince of Parma could not doubt that now the whole fury of the
+      war would be turned to this point, he entrusted the defence of the bridge
+      to Count Mansfeld, and resolved to defend this important post himself. The
+      war, therefore, now assumed a different aspect, and the theatre of it was
+      entirely changed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both above and below Lillo, the Netherlanders had in several places cut
+      through the dam, which follows the Brabant shore of the Scheldt; and where
+      a short time before had been green fields, a new element now presented
+      itself, studded with masts and boats. A Zealand fleet, commanded by Count
+      Hohenlohe, navigated the inundated fields, and made repeated movements
+      against the Cowenstein dam, without, however, attempting a serious attack
+      on it, while another fleet showed itself in the Scheldt, threatening the
+      two coasts alternately with a landing, and occasionally the bridge of
+      boats with an attack. For several days this manoeuvre was practised on the
+      enemy, who, uncertain of the quarter whence an attack was to be expected,
+      would, it was hoped, be exhausted by continual watching, and by degrees
+      lulled into security by so many false alarms. Antwerp had promised Count
+      Hohenlohe to support the attack on the dam by a flotilla from the town;
+      three beacons on the principal tower were to be the signal that this was
+      on the way. When, therefore, on a dark night the expected columns of fire
+      really ascended above Antwerp, Count Hohenlohe immediately caused five
+      hundred of his troops to scale the dam between two of the enemy&rsquo;s
+      redoubts, who surprised part of the Spanish garrison asleep, and cut down
+      the others who attempted to defend themselves. In a short time they had
+      gained a firm footing upon the dam, and were just on the point of
+      disembarking the remainder of their force, two thousand in number, when
+      the Spaniards in the adjoining redoubts marched out and, favored by the
+      narrowness of the ground, made a desperate attack on the crowded
+      Zealanders. The guns from the neighboring batteries opened upon the
+      approaching fleet, and thus rendered the landing of the remaining troops
+      impossible; and as there were no signs of co-operation on the part of the
+      city, the Zealanders were overpowered after a short conflict and again
+      driven down from the dam. The victorious Spaniards pursued them through
+      the water as far as their boats, sunk many of the latter, and compelled
+      the rest to retreat with heavy loss. Count Hohenlohe threw the blame of
+      this defeat upon the inhabitants of Antwerp, who had deceived him by a
+      false signal, and it certainly must be attributed to the bad arrangement
+      of both parties that the attempt failed of better success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But at last the allies determined to make a systematic assault on the
+      enemy with their combined force, and to put an end to the siege by a grand
+      attack as well on the dam as on the bridge. The 16th of May, 1585, was
+      fixed upon for the execution of this design, and both armies used their
+      utmost endeavors to make this day decisive. The force of the Hollanders
+      and Zealanders, united to that of Antwerp, exceeded two hundred ships, to
+      man which they had stripped their towns and citadels, and with this force
+      they purposed to attack the Cowenstein dam on both sides. The bridge over
+      the Scheldt was to be assailed with new machines of Gianibelli&rsquo;s
+      invention, and the Duke of Parma thereby hindered from assisting the
+      defence of the dam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Alexander, apprised of the danger which threatened him, spared nothing on
+      his side to meet it with energy. Immediately after getting possession of
+      the dam he had caused redoubts to be erected at five different, places,
+      and had given the command of them to the most experienced officers of the
+      army. The first of these, which was called the Cross battery, was erected
+      on the spot where the Cowenstein darn enters the great embankment of the
+      Scheldt, and makes with the latter the form of a cross; the Spaniard,
+      Mondragone, was appointed to the command of this battery. A thousand paces
+      farther on, near the castle of Cowenstein, was posted the battery of St.
+      James, which was entrusted to the command of Camillo di Monte. At an equal
+      distance from this lay the battery of St. George, and at a thousand paces
+      from the latter, the Pile battery, under the command of Gamboa, so called
+      from the pile-work on which it rested; at the farthest end of the darn,
+      near Stabroek, was the fifth redoubt, where Count Mansfeld, with
+      Capizuechi, an Italian, commanded. All these forts the prince now
+      strengthened with artillery and men; on both sides of the dam, and along
+      its whole extent, he caused piles to be driven, as well to render the main
+      embankment firmer, as to impede the labor of the pioneers, who were to dig
+      through it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early on the morning of the 16th of May the enemy&rsquo;s forces were in motion.
+      With the dusk of dawn there came floating down from Lillo, over the
+      inundated country, four burning vessels, which so alarmed the guards upon
+      the dams, who recollected the former terrible explosion, that they hastily
+      retreated to the next battery. This was exactly what the enemy desired. In
+      these vessels, which had merely the appearance of fire-ships, soldiers
+      were concealed, who now suddenly jumped ashore, and succeeded in mounting
+      the dam at the undefended spot, between the St. George and Pile batteries.
+      Immediately afterward the whole Zealand fleet showed itself, consisting of
+      numerous ships-of-war, transports, and a crowd of smaller craft, which
+      were laden with great sacks of earth, wool, fascines, gabions, and the
+      like, for throwing up breastworks wherever necessary, The ships-of-war
+      were furnished with powerful artillery, and numerously and bravely manned,
+      and a whole army of pioneers accompanied it in order to dig through the
+      dam as soon as it should be in their possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Zealanders had scarcely begun on their side to ascend the dam when the
+      fleet of Antwerp advanced from Osterweel and attacked it on the other. A
+      high breastwork was hastily thrown up between the two nearest hostile
+      batteries, so as at once to divide the two garrisons and to cover the
+      pioneers. The latter, several hundreds in number, now fell to work with
+      their spades on both sides of the dam, and dug with such energy that hopes
+      were entertained of soon seeing the two seas united. But meanwhile the
+      Spaniards also had gained time to hasten to the spot from the two nearest
+      redoubts, and make a spirited assault, while the guns from the battery of
+      St. George played incessantly on the enemy&rsquo;s fleet. A furious battle now
+      raged in the quarter where they were cutting through the dike and throwing
+      up the breastworks. The Zealanders had drawn a strong line of troops round
+      the pioneers to keep the enemy from interrupting their work, and in this
+      confusion of battle, in the midst of a storm of bullets from the enemy,
+      often up to the breast in water, among the dead and dying, the pioneers
+      pursued their work, under the incessant exhortations of the merchants, who
+      impatiently waited to see the dam opened and their vessels in safety. The
+      importance of the result, which it might be said depended entirely upon
+      their spades, appeared to animate even the common laborers with heroic
+      courage. Solely intent upon their task, they neither saw nor heard the
+      work of death which was going on around them, and as fast as the foremost
+      ranks fell those behind them pressed into their places. Their operations
+      were greatly impeded by the piles which had been driven in, but still more
+      by the attacks of the Spaniards, who burst with desperate courage through
+      the thickest of the enemy, stabbed the pioneers in the pits where they
+      were digging, and filled up again with dead bodies the cavities which the
+      living had made. At last, however, when most of their officers were killed
+      or wounded, and the number of the enemy constantly increasing, while fresh
+      laborers were supplying the place of those who had been slain, the courage
+      of these valiant troops began to give way, and they thought it advisable
+      to retreat to their batteries. Now, therefore, the confederates saw
+      themselves masters of the whole extent of the dam, from Fort St. George as
+      far as the Pile battery. As, however, it seemed too long to wait for the
+      thorough demolition of the dam, they hastily unloaded a Zealand transport,
+      and brought the cargo over the dam to a vessel of Antwerp, with which
+      Count Hohenlohe sailed in triumph to that city. The sight of the
+      provisions at once filled the inhabitants with joy, and as if the victory
+      was already won, they gave themselves up to the wildest exultation. The
+      bells were rung, the cannon discharged, and the inhabitants, transported
+      by their unexpected success, hurried to the Osterweel gate, to await the
+      store-ships which were supposed to be at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, fortune had never smiled so favorably on the besieged as at that
+      moment. The enemy, exhausted and dispirited, had thrown themselves into
+      their batteries, and, far from being able to struggle with the victors for
+      the post they had conquered, they found themselves rather besieged in the
+      places where they had taken refuge. Some companies of Scots, led by their
+      brave colonel, Balfour, attacked the battery of St. George, which,
+      however, was relieved, but not without severe loss, by Camillo di Monte,
+      who hastened thither from St. James&rsquo; battery. The Pile battery was in a
+      much worse condition, it being hotly cannonaded by the ships, and
+      threatened every moment to crumble to pieces. Gainboa, who commanded it,
+      lay wounded, and it was unfortunately deficient in artillery to keep the
+      enemy at a distance. The breastwork, too, which the Zealanders had thrown
+      up between this battery and that of St. George cut off all hope of
+      assistance from the Scheldt. If, therefore, the Belgians had only taken
+      advantage of this weakness and inactivity of the enemy to proceed with
+      zeal and perseverance in cutting through the dam, there is no doubt that a
+      passage might have been made, and thus put an end to the whole siege. But
+      here also the same want of consistent energy showed itself which had
+      marked the conduct of the people of Antwerp during the whole course of the
+      siege. The zeal with which the work had been commenced cooled in
+      proportion to the success which attended it. It was soon found too tedious
+      to dig through the dyke; it seemed far easier to transfer the cargoes from
+      the large store-ships into smaller ones, and carry these to the town with
+      the flood tide. St. Aldegonde and Hohenlohe, instead of remaining to
+      animate the industry of the workmen by their personal presence, left the
+      scene of action at the decisive moment, in order, by sailing to the town
+      with a corn vessel, to win encomiums on their wisdom and valor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While both parties were fighting on the dam with the most obstinate fury
+      the bridge over the Scheldt had been attacked from Antwerp with new
+      machines, in order to give employment to the prince in that quarter. But
+      the sound of the firing soon apprised him of what was going on at the
+      dyke, and as soon as he saw the bridge clear he hastened to support the
+      defence of the dyke. Followed by two hundred Spanish pikemen, he flew to
+      the place of attack, and arrived just in time to prevent the complete
+      defeat of his troops. He hastily posted some guns which he had brought
+      with him in the two nearest redoubts, and maintained from thence a heavy
+      fire upon the enemy&rsquo;s ships. He placed himself at the head of his men,
+      and, with his sword in one hand and shield in the other, led them against
+      the enemy. The news of his arrival, which quickly spread from one end of
+      the dyke to the other, revived the drooping spirits of his troops, and the
+      conflict recommenced with renewed violence, made still more murderous by
+      the nature of the ground where it was fought. Upon the narrow ridge of the
+      dam, which in many places was not more than nine paces broad, about five
+      thousand combatants were fighting; so confined was the spot upon which the
+      strength of both armies was assembled, and which was to decide the whole
+      issue of the siege. With the Antwerpers the last bulwark of their city was
+      at stake; with the Spaniards it was to determine the whole success of
+      their undertaking. Both parties fought with a courage which despair alone
+      could inspire. From both the extremities of the dam the tide of war rolled
+      itself towards the centre, where the Zealanders and Antwerpers had the
+      advantage, and where they had collected their whole strength. The Italians
+      and Spaniards, inflamed by a noble emulation, pressed on from Stabroek;
+      and from the Scheldt the Walloons and Spaniards advanced, with their
+      general at their head. While the former endeavored to relieve the Pile
+      battery, which was hotly pressed by the enemy, both by sea and land, the
+      latter threw themselves on the breastwork, between the St. George and the
+      Pile batteries, with a fury which carried everything before it. Here the
+      flower of the Belgian troops fought behind a well-fortified rampart, and
+      the guns of the two fleets covered this important post. The prince was
+      already pressing forward to attack this formidable defence with his small
+      army when he received intelligence that the Italians and Spaniards, under
+      Capizucchi and Aquila, had forced their way, sword in hand, into the Pile
+      battery, had got possession of it, and were now likewise advancing from
+      the other side against the enemy&rsquo;s breastwork. Before this intrenchment,
+      therefore, the whole force of both armies was now collected, and both
+      sides used their utmost efforts to carry and to defend this position. The
+      Netherlanders on board the fleet, loath to remain idle spectators of the
+      conflict, sprang ashore from their vessels. Alexander attacked the
+      breastwork on one side, Count Mansfeld on the other; five assaults were
+      made, and five times they were repulsed. The Netherlanders in this
+      decisive moment surpassed themselves; never in the whole course of the war
+      had they fought with such determination. But it was the Scotch and English
+      in particular who baffled the attempts of the enemy by their valiant
+      resistance. As no one would advance to the attack in the quarter where the
+      Scotch fought, the duke himself led on the troops, with a javelin in his
+      hand, and up to his breast in water. At last, after a protracted struggle,
+      the forces of Count Mansfeld succeeded with their halberds and pikes in
+      making a breach in the breastwork, and by raising themselves on one
+      another&rsquo;s shoulders scaled the parapet. Barthelemy Toralva, a Spanish
+      captain, was the first who showed himself on the top; and almost at the
+      same instant the Italian, Capizucchi, appeared upon the edge of it; and
+      thus the contest of valor was decided with equal glory for both nations.
+      It is worth while to notice here the manner in which the Prince of Parma,
+      who was made arbiter of this emulous strife, encouraged this delicate
+      sense of honor among his warriors. He embraced the Italian, Capizucchi, in
+      presence of the troops, and acknowledged aloud that it was principally to
+      the courage of this officer that he owed the capture of the breastwork. He
+      caused the Spanish captain, Toralva, who was dangerously wounded, to be
+      conveyed to his own quarters at Stabroek, laid on his own bed, and covered
+      with the cloak which he himself had worn the day before the battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the capture of the breastwork the victory no longer remained
+      doubtful. The Dutch and Zealand troops, who had disembarked to come to
+      close action with the enemy, at once lost their courage when they looked
+      about them and saw the vessels, which were their last refuge, putting off
+      from the shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the tide had begun to ebb, and the commanders of the fleet, from fear
+      of being stranded with their heavy transports, and, in case of an
+      unfortunate issue to the engagement, becoming the prey of the enemy,
+      retired from the dam, and made for deep water. No sooner did Alexander
+      perceive this than he pointed out to his troops the flying vessels, and
+      encouraged them to finish the action with an enemy who already despaired
+      of their safety. The Dutch auxiliaries were the first that gave way, and
+      their example was soon followed by the Zealanders. Hastily leaping from
+      the dam they endeavored to reach the vessels by wading or swimming; but
+      from their disorderly flight they impeded one another, and fell in heaps
+      under the swords of the pursuers. Many perished even in the boats, as each
+      strove to get on board before the other, and several vessels sank under
+      the weight of the numbers who rushed into them. The Antwerpers, who fought
+      for their liberty, their hearths, their faith, were the last who
+      retreated, but this very circumstance augmented their disaster. Many of
+      their vessels were outstripped by the ebb-tide, and grounded within reach
+      of the enemy&rsquo;s cannon, and were consequently destroyed with all on board.
+      Crowds of fugitives endeavored by swimming to gain the other transports,
+      which had got into deep water; but such was the rage and boldness of the
+      Spaniards that they swam after them with their swords between their teeth,
+      and dragged many even from the ships. The victory of the king&rsquo;s troops was
+      complete but bloody; for of the Spaniards about eight hundred, of the
+      Netherlanders some thousands (without reckoning those who were drowned),
+      were left on the field, and on both sides many of the principal nobility
+      perished. More than thirty vessels, with a large supply of provisions for
+      Antwerp, fell into the hands of the victors, with one hundred and fifty
+      cannon and other military stores. The dam, the possession of which had
+      been so dearly maintained, was pierced in thirteen different places, and
+      the bodies of those who had cut through it were now used to stop up the
+      openings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following day a transport of immense size and singular construction
+      fell into the hands of the royalists. It formed a floating castle, and had
+      been destined for the attack on the Cowenstein dam. The people of Antwerp
+      had built it at an immense expense at the very time when the engineer
+      Gianibelli&rsquo;s useful proposals had been rejected on account of the cost
+      they entailed, and this ridiculous monster was called by the proud title
+      of &ldquo;End of the War,&rdquo; which appellation was afterwards changed for the more
+      appropriate sobriquet of &ldquo;Money lost!&rdquo; When this vessel was launched it
+      turned out, as every sensible person had foretold, that on account of its
+      unwieldly size it was utterly impossible to steer it, and it could hardly
+      be floated by the highest tide. With great difficulty it was worked as far
+      as Ordain, where, deserted by the tide, it went aground, and fell a prey
+      to the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attack upon the Cowenstein dam was the last attempt which was made to
+      relieve Antwerp. From this time the courage of the besieged sank, and the
+      magistracy of the town vainly labored to inspirit with distant hopes the
+      lower orders, on whom the present distress weighed heaviest. Hitherto the
+      price of bread had been kept down to a tolerable rate, although the
+      quality of it continued to deteriorate; by degrees, however, provisions
+      became so scarce that a famine was evidently near at hand. Still hopes
+      were entertained of being able to hold out, at least until the corn
+      between the town and the farthest batteries, which was already in full
+      ear, could be reaped; but before that could be done the enemy had carried
+      the last outwork, and had appropriated the whole harvest to their use. At
+      last the neighboring and confederate town of Malines fell into the enemy&rsquo;s
+      hands, and with its fall vanished the only remaining hope of getting
+      supplies from Brabant. As there was, therefore, no longer any means of
+      increasing the stock of provisions nothing was left but to diminish the
+      consumers. All useless persons, all strangers, nay even the women and
+      children were to be sent away out of the town, but this proposal was too
+      revolting to humanity to be carried into execution. Another plan, that of
+      expelling the Catholic inhabitants, exasperated them so much that it had
+      almost ended in open mutiny. And thus St. Aldegonde at last saw himself
+      compelled to yield to the riotous clamors of the populace, and on the 17th
+      of August, 1585, to make overtures to the Duke of Parma for the surrender
+      of the town.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+by Frederich Schiller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+
+Author: Frederich Schiller
+
+Release Date: October 25, 2006 [EBook #6780]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REVOLT OF NETHERLANDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+                THE WORKS
+
+                  OF
+
+              FREDERICK SCHILLER
+
+
+
+            Translated from the German
+
+
+
+                Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE EDITION.
+
+
+
+The present is the best collected edition of the important works of
+Schiller which is accessible to readers in the English language.
+Detached poems or dramas have been translated at various times since
+the first publication of the original works; and in several instances
+these versions have been incorporated into this collection. Schiller
+was not less efficiently qualified by nature for an historian than for
+a dramatist. He was formed to excel in all departments of literature,
+and the admirable lucidity of style and soundness and impartiality of
+judgment displayed in his historical writings will not easily be
+surpassed, and will always recommend them as popular expositions of the
+periods of which they treat.
+
+Since the publication of the first English edition many corrections and
+improvements have been made, with a view to rendering it as acceptable
+as possible to English readers; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages
+of a translation, the publishers feel sure that Schiller will be
+heartily acceptable to English readers, and that the influence of his
+writings will continue to increase.
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS was translated by Lieut.
+E. B. Eastwick, and originally published abroad for students' use. But
+this translation was too strictly literal for general readers. It has
+been carefully revised, and some portions have been entirely rewritten
+by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, who also has so ably translated the
+HISTORY OF THE THIRTY YEARS WAR.
+
+THE CAMP OF WALLENSTEIN was translated by Mr. James Churchill, and first
+appeared in "Frazer's Magazine." It is an exceedingly happy version of
+what has always been deemed the most untranslatable of Schiller's works.
+
+THE PICCOLOMINI and DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN are the admirable version of
+S. T. Coleridge, completed by the addition of all those passages which
+he has omitted, and by a restoration of Schiller's own arrangement of
+the acts and scenes. It is said, in defence of the variations which
+exist between the German original and the version given by Coleridge,
+that he translated from a prompter's copy in manuscript, before the
+drama had been printed, and that Schiller himself subsequently altered
+it, by omitting some passages, adding others, and even engrafting
+several of Coleridge's adaptations.
+
+WILHELM TELL is translated by Theodore Martin, Esq., whose well-known
+position as a writer, and whose special acquaintance with German
+literature make any recommendation superfluous.
+
+DON CARLOS is translated by R. D. Boylan, Esq., and, in the opinion of
+competent judges, the version is eminently successful. Mr. Theodore
+Martin kindly gave some assistance, and, it is but justice to state,
+has enhanced the value of the work by his judicious suggestions.
+
+The translation of MARY STUART is that by the late Joseph Mellish,
+who appears to have been on terms of intimate friendship with Schiller.
+His version was made from the prompter's copy, before the play was
+published, and, like Coleridge's Wallenstein, contains many passages not
+found in the printed edition. These are distinguished by brackets. On
+the other hand, Mr. Mellish omitted many passages which now form part of
+the printed drama, all of which are now added. The translation, as a
+whole, stands out from similar works of the time (1800) in almost as
+marked a degree as Coleridge's Wallenstein, and some passages exhibit
+powers of a high order; a few, however, especially in the earlier
+scenes, seemed capable of improvement, and these have been revised,
+but, in deference to the translator, with a sparing hand.
+
+THE MAID OF ORLEANS is contributed by Miss Anna Swanwick, whose
+translation of Faust has since become well known. It has been.
+carefully revised, and is now, for the first time, published complete.
+
+THE BRIDE OF MESSINA, which has been regarded as the poetical
+masterpiece of Schiller, and, perhaps of all his works, presents the
+greatest difficulties to the translator, is rendered by A. Lodge, Esq.,
+M. A. This version, on its first publication in England, a few years
+ago, was received with deserved eulogy by distinguished critics. To the
+present edition has been prefixed Schiller's Essay on the Use of the
+Chorus in Tragedy, in which the author's favorite theory of the "Ideal
+of Art" is enforced with great ingenuity and eloquence.
+
+
+
+                  THE HISTORY
+
+                    OF THE
+
+            REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+BOOK I.----Earlier History of The Netherlands up to the Sixteenth Century
+
+BOOK II.---Cardinal Granvella
+
+BOOK III.--Conspiracy of the Nobles
+
+BOOK IV.---The Iconoclasts
+   Trial and Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn
+   Siege of Antwerp by the Prince of Parma, in the Years 1584 and 1585
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
+
+Many years ago, when I read the History of the Belgian Revolution in
+Watson's excellent work, I was seized with an enthusiasm which political
+events but rarely excite. On further reflection I felt that this
+enthusiastic feeling had arisen less from the book itself than from the
+ardent workings of my own imagination, which had imparted to the
+recorded materials the particular form that so fascinated me. These
+imaginations, therefore, I felt a wish to fix, to multiply, and to
+strengthen; these exalted sentiments I was anxious to extend by
+communicating them to others. This was my principal motive for
+commencing the present history, my only vocation to write it. The
+execution of this design carried me farther than in the beginning I had
+expected. A closer acquaintance with my materials enabled me to
+discover defects previously unnoticed, long waste tracts to be filled
+up, apparent contradictions to be reconciled, and isolated facts to be
+brought into connection with the rest of the subject. Not so much with
+the view of enriching my history with new facts as of seeking a key to
+old ones, I betook myself to the original sources, and thus what was
+originally intended to be only a general outline expanded under my hands
+into an elaborate history. The first part, which concludes with the
+Duchess of Parma's departure from the Netherlands, must be looked upon
+only as the introduction to the history of the Revolution itself, which
+did not come to an open outbreak till the government of her successor.
+I have bestowed the more care and attention upon this introductory
+period the more the generality of writers who had previously treated of
+it seemed to me deficient in these very qualities. Moreover, it is in
+my opinion the more important as being the root and source of all the
+subsequent events. If, then, the first volume should appear to any as
+barren in important incident, dwelling prolixly on trifles, or, rather,
+should seem at first sight profuse of reflections, and in general
+tediously minute, it must be remembered that it was precisely out of
+small beginnings that the Revolution was gradually developed; and that
+all the great results which follow sprang out of a countless number of
+trifling and little circumstances.
+
+A nation like the one before us invariably takes its first steps with
+doubts and uncertainty, to move afterwards only the more rapidly for its
+previous hesitation. I proposed, therefore, to follow the same method
+in describing this rebellion. The longer the reader delays on the
+introduction the more familiar he becomes with the actors in this
+history, and the scene in which they took a part, so much the more
+rapidly and unerringly shall I be able to lead him through the
+subsequent periods, where the accumulation of materials will forbid
+a slowness of step or minuteness of attention.
+
+As for the authorities of our history there is not so much cause to
+complain of their paucity as of their extreme abundance, since it is
+indispensable to read them all to obtain that clear view of the whole
+subject to which the perusal of a part, however large, is always
+prejudicial. From the unequal, partial, and often contradictory
+narratives of the same occurrences it is often extremely difficult to
+seize the truth, which in all is alike partly concealed and to be found
+complete in none. In this first volume, besides de Thou, Strada, Reyd,
+Grotius, Meteren, Burgundius, Meursius, Bentivoglio, and some moderns,
+the Memoirs of Counsellor Hopper, the life and correspondence of his
+friend Viglius, the records of the trials of the Counts of Hoorne and
+Egmont, the defence of the Prince of Orange, and some few others have
+been my guides. I must here acknowledge my obligations to a work
+compiled with much industry and critical acumen, and written with
+singular truthfulness and impartiality. I allude to the general history
+of the United Netherlands which was published in Holland during the
+present century. Besides many original documents which I could not
+otherwise have had access to, it has abstracted all that is valuable in
+the excellent works of Bos, Hooft, Brandt, Le Clerc, which either were
+impossible for me to procure or were not available to my use, as being
+written in Dutch, which I do not understand. An otherwise ordinary
+writer, Richard Dinoth, has also been of service to me by the many
+extracts he gives from the pamphlets of the day, which have been long
+lost. I have in vain endeavored to procure the correspondence of
+Cardinal Granvella, which also would no doubt have thrown much light
+upon the history of these times. The lately published work on the
+Spanish Inquisition by my excellent countryman, Professor Spittler of
+Gottingen, reached me too late for its sagacious and important contents
+to be available for my purpose.
+
+The more I am convinced of the importance of the French history, the
+more I lament that it was not in my power to study, as I could have
+wished, its copious annals in the original sources and contemporary
+documents, and to reproduce it abstracted of the form in which it was
+transmitted to me by the more intelligent of my predecessors, and
+thereby emancipate myself from the influence which every talented author
+exercises more or less upon his readers. But to effect this the work of
+a few years must have become the labor of a life. My aim in making this
+attempt will be more than attained if it should convince a portion of
+the reading public of the possibility of writing a history with historic
+truth without making a trial of patience to the reader; and if it should
+extort from another portion the confession that history can borrow from
+a cognate art without thereby, of necessity, becoming a romance.
+
+WEIMAR, Michaelmas Fair, 1788.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+Of those important political events which make the sixteenth century to
+take rank among the brightest of the world's epochs, the foundation of
+the freedom of the Netherlands appears to me one of the most remarkable.
+If the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious lust of power
+claim our admiration, how much more so should an event in which
+oppressed humanity struggled for its noblest rights, where with the good
+cause unwonted powers were united, and the resources of resolute despair
+triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts of tyranny.
+
+Great and encouraging is the reflection that there is a resource left us
+against the arrogant usurpations of despotic power; that its
+best-contrived plans against the liberty of mankind may be frustrated;
+that resolute opposition can weaken even the outstretched arm of tyranny;
+and that heroic perseverance can eventually exhaust its fearful
+resources. Never did this truth affect me so sensibly as in tracing the
+history of that memorable rebellion which forever severed the United
+Netherlands from the Spanish Crown. Therefore I thought it not unworth
+the while to attempt to exhibit to the world this grand memorial of
+social union, in the hope that it may awaken in the breast of my reader a
+spirit-stirring consciousness of his own powers, and give a new and
+irrefragible example of what in a good cause men may both dare and
+venture, and what by union they may accomplish. It is not the
+extraordinary or heroic features of this event that induce me to describe
+it. The annals of the world record perhaps many similar enterprises,
+which may have been even bolder in the conception and more brilliant in
+the execution. Some states have fallen after a nobler struggle; others
+have risen with more exalted strides. Nor are we here to look for eminent
+heroes, colossal talents, or those marvellous exploits which the history
+of past times presents in such rich abundance. Those times are gone; such
+men are no more. In the soft lap of refinement we have suffered the
+energetic powers to become enervate which those ages called into action
+and rendered indispensable. With admiring awe we wonder at these gigantic
+images of the past as a feeble old man gazes on the athletic sports of
+youth.
+
+Not so, however, in the history before us. The people here presented to
+our notice were the most peaceful in our quarter of the globe, and less
+capable than their neighbors of that heroic spirit which stamps a lofty
+character even on the most insignificant actions. The pressure of
+circumstances with its peculiar influence surprised them and forced a
+transitory greatness upon them, which they never could have possessed
+and perhaps will never possess again. It is, indeed, exactly this want
+of heroic grandeur which renders this event peculiarly instructive; and
+while others aim at showing the superiority of genius over chance, I
+shall here paint a scene where necessity creates genius and accident
+makes heroes.
+
+If in any case it be allowable to recognize the intervention of
+Providence in human affairs it is certainly so in the present history,
+its course appears so contradictory to reason and experience. Philip
+II., the most powerful sovereign of his line--whose dreaded supremacy
+menaced the independence of Europe--whose treasures surpassed the
+collective wealth of all the monarchs of Christendom besides--whose
+ambitious projects were backed by numerous and well-disciplined armies
+--whose troops, hardened by long and bloody wars, and confident in past
+victories and in the irresistible prowess of this nation, were eager for
+any enterprise that promised glory and spoil, and ready to second with
+prompt obedience the daring genius of their leaders--this dreaded
+potentate here appears before us obstinately pursuing one favorite
+project, devoting to it the untiring efforts of a long reign, and
+bringing all these terrible resources to bear upon it; but forced, in
+the evening of his reign, to abandon it--here we see the mighty Philip
+II. engaging in combat with a few weak and powerless adversaries, and
+retiring from it at last with disgrace.
+
+And with what adversaries? Here, a peaceful tribe of fishermen and
+shepherds, in an almost-forgotten corner of Europe, which with
+difficulty they had rescued from the ocean; the sea their profession,
+and at once their wealth and their plague; poverty with freedom their
+highest blessing, their glory, their virtue. There, a harmless, moral,
+commercial people, revelling in the abundant fruits of thriving
+industry, and jealous of the maintenance of laws which had proved their
+benefactors. In the happy leisure of affluence they forsake the narrow
+circle of immediate wants and learn to thirst after higher and nobler
+gratifications. The new views of truth, whose benignant dawn now broke
+over Europe, cast a fertilizing beam on this favored clime, and the free
+burgher admitted with joy the light which oppressed and miserable slaves
+shut out. A spirit of independence, which is the ordinary companion of
+prosperity and freedom, lured this people on to examine the authority of
+antiquated opinions and to break an ignominious chain. But the stern
+rod of despotism was held suspended over them; arbitrary power
+threatened to tear away the foundation of their happiness; the guardian
+of their laws became their tyrant. Simple in their statecraft no less
+than in their manners, they dared to appeal to ancient treaties and to
+remind the lord of both Indies of the rights of nature. A name decides
+the whole issue of things. In Madrid that was called rebellion which in
+Brussels was simply styled a lawful remonstrance. The complaints of
+Brabant required a prudent mediator; Philip II. sent an executioner.
+The signal for war was given. An unparalleled tyranny assailed both
+property and life. The despairing citizens, to whom the choice of
+deaths was all that was left, chose the nobler one on the battle-field.
+A wealthy and luxurious nation loves peace, but becomes warlike as soon
+as it becomes poor. Then it ceases to tremble for a life which is
+deprived of everything that had made it desirable. In an instant the
+contagion of rebellion seizes at once the most distant provinces; trade
+and commerce are at a standstill, the ships disappear from the harbors,
+the artisan abandons his workshop, the rustic his uncultivated fields.
+Thousands fled to distant lands, a thousand victims fell on the bloody
+field, and fresh thousands pressed on. Divine, indeed, must that
+doctrine be for which men could die so joyfully. All that was wanting
+was the last finishing hand, the enlightened, enterprising spirit, to
+seize on this great political crisis and to mould the offspring of
+chance into the ripe creation of wisdom. William the Silent, like a
+second Brutus, devoted himself to the great cause of liberty. Superior
+to all selfishness, he resigned honorable offices which entailed on him
+obectionable duties, and, magnanimously divesting himself of all his
+princely dignities, he descended to a state of voluntary poverty, and
+became but a citizen of the world. The cause of justice was staked upon
+the hazardous game of battle; but the newly-raised levies of mercenaries
+and peaceful husbandmen were unable to withstand the terrible onset of
+an experienced force. Twice did the brave William lead his dispirited
+troops against the tyrant. Twice was he abandoned by them, but not by
+his courage.
+
+Philip II. sent as many reinforcements as the dreadful importunity of
+his viceroy demanded. Fugitives, whom their country rejected, sought a
+new home on the ocean, and turned to the ships of their enemy to satisfy
+the cravings both of vengeance and of want. Naval heroes were now
+formed out of corsairs, and a marine collected out of piratical vessels;
+out of morasses arose a republic. Seven provinces threw off the yoke at
+the same time, to form a new, youthful state, powerful by its waters and
+its union and despair. A solemn decree of the whole nation deposed the
+tyrant, and the Spanish name was erased from all its laws.
+
+For such acts no forgiveness remained; the republic became formidable
+only because it was impossible for her to retrace her steps. But
+factions distracted her within; without, her terrible element, the sea
+itself, leaguing with her oppressors, threatened her very infancy with a
+premature grave. She felt herself succumb to the superior force of the
+enemy, and cast herself a suppliant before the most powerful thrones of
+Europe, begging them to accept a dominion which she herself could no
+longer protect. At last, but with difficulty--so despised at first was
+this state that even the rapacity of foreign monarchs spurned her
+opening bloom--a stranger deigned to accept their importunate offer of a
+dangerous crown. New hopes began to revive her sinking courage; but in
+this new father of his country destiny gave her a traitor, and in the
+critical emergency, when the foe was in full force before her very
+gates, Charles of Anjou invaded the liberties which he had been called
+to protect. In the midst of the tempest, too, the assassin's hand tore
+the steersman from the helm, and with William of Orange the career of
+the infant republic was seemingly at an end, and all her guardian angels
+fled. But the ship continued to scud along before the storm, and the
+swelling canvas carried her safe without the pilot's help.
+
+Philip II. missed the fruits of a deed which cost him his royal honor,
+and perhaps, also, his self-respect. Liberty struggled on still with
+despotism in obstinate and dubious contest; sanguinary battles were
+fought; a brilliant array of heroes succeeded each other on the field of
+glory, and Flanders and Brabant were the schools which educated generals
+for the coming century. A long, devastating war laid waste the open
+country; victor and vanquished alike waded through blood; while the
+rising republic of the waters gave a welcome to fugitive industry, and
+out of the ruins of despotism erected the noble edifice of its own
+greatness. For forty years lasted the war whose happy termination was
+not to bless the dying eye of Philip; which destroyed one paradise in
+Europe to form a new one out of its shattered fragments; which destroyed
+the choicest flower of military youth, and while it enriched more than a
+quarter of the globe impoverished the possessor of the golden Peru.
+This monarch, who could expend nine hundred tons of gold without
+oppressing his subjects, and by tyrannical measures extorted far more,
+heaped, moreover, on his exhausted people a debt of one hundred and
+forty millions of ducats. An implacable hatred of liberty swallowed up
+all these treasures, and consumed on the fruitless task the labor of a
+royal life. But the Reformation throve amidst the devastations of the
+sword, and over the blood of her citizens the banner of the new republic
+floated victorious.
+
+This improbable turn of affairs seems to border on a miracle; many
+circumstances, however, combined to break the power of Philip, and to
+favor the progress of the infant state. Had the whole weight of his
+power fallen on the United Provinces there had been no hope for their
+religion or their liberty. His own ambition, by tempting him to divide
+his strength, came to the aid of their weakness. The expensive policy
+of maintaining traitors in every cabinet of Europe; the support of the
+League in France; the revolt of the Moors in Granada; the conquest of
+Portugal, and the magnificent fabric of the Escurial, drained at last
+his apparently inexhaustible treasury, and prevented his acting in the
+field with spirit and energy. The German and Italian troops, whom the
+hope of gain alone allured to his banner, mutinied when he could no
+longer pay them, and faithlessly abandoned their leaders in the decisive
+moment of action. These terrible instruments of oppression now turned
+their dangerous power against their employer, and wreaked their
+vindictive rage on the provinces which remained faithful to him.
+The unfortunate armament against England, on which, like a desperate
+gamester, he had staked the whole strength of his kingdom, completed his
+ruin; with the armada sank the wealth of the two Indies, and the flower
+of Spanish chivalry.
+
+But in the very same proportion that the Spanish power declined the
+republic rose in fresh vigor. The ravages which the fanaticism of the
+new religion, the tyranny of the Inquisition, the furious rapacity of
+the soldiery, and the miseries of a long war unbroken by any interval of
+peace, made in the provinces of Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, at once
+the arsenals and the magazines of this expensive contest, naturally
+rendered it every year more difficult to support and recruit the royal
+armies. The Catholic Netherlands had already lost a million of
+citizens, and the trodden fields maintained their husbandmen no longer.
+Spain itself had but few more men to spare. That country, surprised by
+a sudden affluence which brought idleness with it, had lost much of its
+population, and could not long support the continual drafts of men which
+were required both for the New World and the Netherlands. Of these
+conscripts few ever saw their country again; and these few having left
+it as youths returned to it infirm and old. Gold, which had become more
+common, made soldiers proportionately dearer; the growing charm of
+effeminacy enhanced the price of the opposite virtues. Wholly different
+was the posture of affairs with the rebels. The thousands whom the
+cruelty of the viceroy expelled from the southern Netherlands, the
+Huguenots whom the wars of persecution drove from France, as well as
+every one whom constraint of conscience exiled from the other parts of
+Europe, all alike flocked to unite themselves with the Belgian
+insurgents. The whole Christian world was their recruiting ground.
+The fanaticism both of the persecutor and the persecuted worked in their
+behalf. The enthusiasm of a doctrine newly embraced, revenge, want, and
+hopeless misery drew to their standard adventurers from every part of
+Europe. All whom the new doctrine had won, all who had suffered, or had
+still cause of fear from despotism, linked their own fortunes with those
+of the new republic. Every injury inflicted by a tyrant gave a right of
+citizenship in Holland. Men pressed towards a country where liberty
+raised her spirit-stirring banner, where respect and security were
+insured to a fugitive religion, and even revenge on the oppressor. If
+we consider the conflux in the present day of people to Holland, seeking
+by their entrance upon her territory to be reinvested in their rights as
+men, what must it have been at a time when the rest of Europe groaned
+under a heavy bondage, when Amsterdam was nearly the only free port for
+all opinions? Many hundred families sought a refuge for their wealth in
+a land which the ocean and domestic concord powerfully combined to
+protect. The republican army maintained its full complement without the
+plough being stripped of hands to work it. Amid the clash of arms trade
+and industry flourished, and the peaceful citizen enjoyed in
+anticipation the fruits of liberty which foreign blood was to purchase
+for them. At the very time when the republic of Holland was struggling
+for existence she extended her dominions beyond the ocean, and was
+quietly occupied in erecting her East Indian Empire.
+
+Moreover, Spain maintained this expensive war with dead, unfructifying
+gold, that never returned into the hand which gave it away, while it
+raised to her the price of every necessary. The treasuries of the
+republic were industry and commerce. Time lessened the one whilst it
+multiplied the other, and exactly in the same proportion that the
+resources of the Spanish government became exhausted by the long
+continuance of the war the republic began to reap a richer harvest. Its
+field was sown sparingly with the choice seed which bore fruit, though
+late, yet a hundredfold; but the tree from which Philip gathered fruit
+was a fallen trunk which never again became verdant.
+
+Philip's adverse destiny decreed that all the treasures which he
+lavished for the oppression of the Provinces should contribute to enrich
+them. The continual outlay of Spanish gold had diffused riches and
+luxury throughout Europe; but the increasing wants of Europe were
+supplied chiefly by the Netherlanders, who were masters of the commerce
+of the known world, and who by their dealings fixed the price of all
+merchandise. Even during the war Philip could not prohibit his own
+subjects from trading with the republic; nay, he could not even desire
+it. He himself furnished the rebels with the means of defraying the
+expenses of their own defence; for the very war which was to ruin them
+increased the sale of their goods. The enormous suns expended on his
+fleets and armies flowed for the most part into the exchequer of the
+republic, which was more or less connected with the commercial places of
+Flanders and Brabant. Whatever Philip attempted against the rebels
+operated indirectly to their advantage.
+
+The sluggish progress of this war did the king as much injury as it
+benefited the rebels. His army was composed for the most part of the
+remains of those victorious troops which had gathered their laurels
+under Charles V. Old and long services entitled them to repose; many of
+them, whom the war had enriched, impatiently longed for their homes,
+where they might end in ease a life of hardship. Their former zeal,
+their heroic spirit, and their discipline relaxed in the same proportion
+as they thought they had fully satisfied their honor and their duty, and
+as they began to reap at last the reward of so many battles. Besides,
+the troops which had been accustomed by their irresistible impetuosity
+to vanquish all opponents were necessarily wearied out by a war which
+was carried on not so much against men as against the elements; which
+exercised their patience more than it gratified their love of glory; and
+where there was less of danger than of difficulty and want to contend
+with. Neither personal courage nor long military experience was of
+avail in a country whose peculiar features gave the most dastardly the
+advantage. Lastly, a single discomfiture on foreign ground did them
+more injury than any victories gained over an enemy at home could profit
+them. With the rebels the case was exactly the reverse. In so
+protracted a war, in which no decisive battle took place, the weaker
+party must naturally learn at last the art of defence from the stronger;
+slight defeats accustomed him to danger; slight victories animated his
+confidence.
+
+At the beginning of the war the republican army scarcely dared to show
+itself in the field; the long continuance of the struggle practised and
+hardened it. As the royal armies grew wearied of victory, the
+confidence of the rebels rose with their improved discipline and
+experience. At last, at the end of half a century, master and pupil
+separated, unsubdued, and equal in the fight.
+
+Again, throughout the war the rebels acted with more concord and
+unanimity than the royalists. Before the former had lost their first
+leader the government of the Netherlands had passed through as many as
+five hands. The Duchess of Parma's indecision soon imparted itself to
+the cabinet of Madrid, which in a short time tried in succession almost
+every system of policy. Duke Alva's inflexible sternness, the mildness
+of his successor Requescens, Don John of Austria's insidious cunning,
+and the active and imperious mind of the Prince of Parma gave as many
+opposite directions to the war, while the plan of rebellion remained the
+same in a single head, who, as he saw it clearly, pursued it with vigor.
+The king's greatest misfortune was that right principles of action
+generally missed the right moment of application. In the commencement
+of the troubles, when the advantage was as yet clearly on the king's
+side, when prompt resolution and manly firmness might have crushed the
+rebellion in the cradle, the reigns of government were allowed to hang
+loose in the hands of a woman. After the outbreak had come to an open
+revolt, and when the strength of the factious and the power of the king
+stood more equally balanced, and when a skilful flexible prudence could
+alone have averted the impending civil war, the government devolved on a
+man who was eminently deficient in this necessary qualification. So
+watchful an observer as William the Silent failed not to improve every
+advantage which the faulty policy of his adversary presented, and with
+quiet silent industry he slowly but surely pushed on the great
+enterprise to its accomplishment.
+
+But why did not Philip II. himself appear in the Netherlands? Why did
+he prefer to employ every other means, however improbable, rather than
+make trial of the only remedy which could insure success? To curb the
+overgrown power and insolence of the nobility there was no expedient
+more natural than the presence of their master. Before royalty itself
+all secondary dignities must necessarily have sunk in the shade, all
+other splendor be dimmed. Instead of the truth being left to flow
+slowly and obscurely through impure channels to the distant throne, so
+that procrastinated measures of redress gave time to ripen ebullitions
+of the moment into acts of deliberation, his own penetrating glance
+would at once have been able to separate truth from error; and cold
+policy alone, not to speak of his humanity, would have saved the land a
+million citizens. The nearer to their source the more weighty would his
+edicts have been; the thicker they fell on their objects the weaker and
+the more dispirited would have become the efforts of the rebels. It
+costs infinitely more to do an evil to an enemy in his presence than in
+his absence. At first the rebellion appeared to tremble at its own
+name, and long sheltered itself under the ingenious pretext of defending
+the cause of its sovereign against the arbitrary assumptions of his own
+viceroy. Philip's appearance in Brussels would have put an end at once
+to this juggling. In that case, the rebels would have been compelled to
+act up to their pretence, or to cast aside the mask, and so, by
+appearing in their true shape, condemn themselves. And what a relief
+for the Netherlands if the king's presence had only spared them those
+evils which were inflicted upon them without his knowledge, and contrary
+to his will. [1] What gain, too, even if it had only enabled him to
+watch over the expenditure of the vast sums which, illegally raised on
+the plea of meeting the exigencies of the war, disappeared in the
+plundering hands of his deputies.
+
+What the latter were compelled to extort by the unnatural expedient of
+terror, the nation would have been disposed to grant to the sovereign
+majesty. That which made his ministers detested would have rendered the
+monarch feared; for the abuse of hereditary power is less painfully
+oppressive than the abuse of delegated authority. His presence would
+have saved his exchequer thousands had he been nothing more than an
+economical despot; and even had he been less, the awe of his person
+would have preserved a territory which was lost through hatred and
+contempt for his instruments.
+
+In the same manner, as the oppression of the people of the Netherlands
+excited the sympathy of all who valued their own rights, it might have
+been expected that their disobedience and defection would have been a
+call to all princes to maintain their own prerogatives in the case of
+their neighbors. But jealousy of Spain got the better of political
+sympathies, and the first powers of Europe arranged themselves more or
+less openly on the side of freedom.
+
+Although bound to the house of Spain by the ties of relationship, the
+Emperor Maximilian II. gave it just cause for its charge against him
+of secretly favoring the rebels. By the offer of his mediation he
+implicitly acknowledged the partial justice of their complaints, and
+thereby encouraged them to a resolute perseverance in their demands.
+Under an emperor sincerely devoted to the interests of the Spanish
+house, William of Orange could scarcely have drawn so many troops and so
+much money from Germany. France, without openly and formally breaking
+the peace, placed a prince of the blood at the head of the Netherlandish
+rebels; and it was with French gold and French troops that the
+operations of the latter were chiefly conducted. [2] Elizabeth of
+England, too, did but exercise a just retaliation and revenge in
+protecting the rebels against their legitimate sovereign; and although
+her meagre and sparing aid availed no farther than to ward off utter
+ruin from the republic, still even this was infinitely valuable at a
+moment when nothing but hope could have supported their exhausted
+courage. With both these powers Philip at the time was at peace, but
+both betrayed him. Between the weak and the strong honesty often ceases
+to appear a virtue; the delicate ties which bind equals are seldom
+observed towards him whom all men fear. Philip had banished truth from
+political intercourse; he himself had dissolved all morality between
+kings, and had made artifice the divinity of cabinets. Without once
+enjoying the advantages of his preponderating greatness, he had,
+throughout life, to contend with the jealousy which it awakened in
+others. Europe made him atone for the possible abuses of a power of
+which in fact he never had the full possession.
+
+If against the disparity between the two combatants, which, at first
+sight, is so astounding, we weigh all the incidental circumstances which
+were adverse to Spain, but favorable to the Netherlands, that which is
+supernatural in this event will disappear, while that which is
+extraordinary will still remain--and a just standard will be furnished
+by which to estimate the real merit of these republicans in working out
+their freedom. It must not, however, be thought that so accurate a
+calculation of the opposing forces could have preceded the undertaking
+itself, or that, on entering this unknown sea, they already knew the
+shore on which they would ultimately be landed. The work did not
+present itself to the mind of its originator in the exact form which it
+assumed when completed, any more than the mind of Luther foresaw the
+eternal separation of creeds when he began to oppose the sale of
+indulgences. What a difference between the modest procession of those
+suitors in Brussels, who prayed for a more humane treatment as a favor,
+and the dreaded majesty of a free state, which treated with kings as
+equals, and in less than a century disposed of the throne of its former
+tyrant. The unseen hand of fate gave to the discharged arrow a higher
+flight, and quite a different direction from that which it first
+received from the bowstring. In the womb of happy Brabant that liberty
+had its birth which, torn from its mother in its earliest infancy, was
+to gladden the so despised Holland. But the enterprise must not be less
+thought of because its issue differed from the first design. Man works
+up, smooths, and fashions the rough stone which the times bring to him;
+the moment and the instant may belong to him, but accident develops the
+history of the world. If the passions which co-operated actively in
+bringing about this event were only not unworthy of the great work to
+which they were unconsciously subservient--if only the powers which
+aided in its accomplishment were intrinsically noble, if only the single
+actions out of whose great concatenation it wonderfully arose were
+beautiful then is the event grand, interesting, and fruitful for us, and
+we are at liberty to wonder at the bold offspring of chance, or rather
+offer up our admiration to a higher intelligence.
+
+The history of the world, like the laws of nature, is consistent with
+itself, and simple as the soul of man. Like conditions produce like
+phenomena. On the same soil where now the Netherlanders were to resist
+their Spanish tyrants, their forefathers, the Batavi and Belgee, fifteen
+centuries before, combated against their Roman oppressors. Like the
+former, submitting reluctantly to a haughty master, and misgoverned by
+rapacious satraps, they broke off their chain with like resolution, and
+tried their fortune in a similar unequal combat. The same pride of
+conquest, the same national grandeur, marked the Spaniard of the
+sixteenth century and the Roman of the first; the same valor and
+discipline distinguished the armies of both, their battle array inspired
+the same terror. There as here we see stratagem in combat with superior
+force, and firmness, strengthened by unanimity, wearying out a mighty
+power weakened by division; then as now private hatred armed a whole
+nation; a single man, born for his times, revealed to his fellow-slaves
+the dangerous Secret of their power, and brought their mute grief to a
+bloody announcement. "Confess, Batavians," cries Claudius Civilis to
+his countrymen in the sacred grove, "we are no longer treated, as
+formerly, by these Romans as allies, but rather as slaves. We are
+handed over to their prefects and centurions, who, when satiated with
+our plunder and with our blood, make way for others, who, under
+different names, renew the same outrages. If even at last Rome deigns
+to send us a legate, he oppresses us with an ostentatious and costly
+retinue, and with still more intolerable pride. The levies are again at
+hand which tear forever children from their parents, brothers from
+brothers. Now, Batavians, is our time. Never did Rome lie so prostrate
+as now. Let not their names of legions terrify you. There is nothing
+in their camps but old men and plunder. Our infantry and horsemen are
+strong; Germany is allied to us by blood, and Gaul is ready to throw off
+its yoke. Let Syria serve them, and Asia and the East, who are used to
+bow before kings; many still live who were born among us before tribute
+was paid to the Romans. The gods are ever with the brave." Solemn
+religious rites hallowed this conspiracy, like the League of the Gueux;
+like that, it craftily wrapped itself in the veil of submissiveness, in
+the majesty of a great name. The cohorts of Civilis swear allegiance on
+the Rhine to Vespasian in Syria, as the League did to Philip II. The
+same arena furnished the same plan of defence, the same refuge to
+despair. Both confided their wavering fortunes to a friendly element;
+in the same distress Civilis preserves his island, as fifteen centuries
+after him William of Orange did the town of Leyden--through an
+artificial inundation. The valor of the Batavi disclosed the impotency
+of the world's ruler, as the noble courage of their descendants revealed
+to the whole of Europe the decay of Spanish greatness. The same
+fecundity of genius in the generals of both times gave to the war a
+similarly obstinate continuance, and nearly as doubtful an issue; one
+difference, nevertheless, distinguishes them: the Romans and Batavians
+fought humanely, for they did not fight for religion.
+
+[1] More modern historians, with access to the records of the Spanish
+Inquisition and the private communications between Phillip II. and his
+various appointees to power in the Netherlands, rebut Shiller's kind but
+naive thought. To the contrary, Phillip II. was most critical of his
+envoys lack of severity. See in particular the "Rise of the Dutch
+Republic" and the other works of John Motley on the history of the
+Netherlands all of which are available at Project Gutenberg.--D.W.
+
+[2] A few French generals who were by and large ineffective; and many
+promises of gold which were undelivered.--D.W.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                BOOK I.
+
+  EARLIER HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS UP TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+Before we consider the immediate history of this great revolution, it
+will be advisable to go a few steps back into the ancient records of the
+country, and to trace the origin of that constitution which we find it
+possessed of at the time of this remarkable change.
+
+The first appearance of this people in the history of the world is the
+moment of its fall; their conquerors first gave them a political
+existence. The extensive region which is bounded by Germany on the
+east, on the south by France, on the north and northwest by the North
+Sea, and which we comprehend under the general name of the Netherlands,
+was, at the time when the Romans invaded Gaul, divided amongst three
+principal nations, all originally of German descent, German
+institutions, and German spirit. The Rhine formed its boundaries. On
+the left of the river dwelt the Belgae, on its right the Frisii, and the
+Batavi on the island which its two arms then formed with the ocean. All
+these several nations were sooner or later reduced into subjection by
+the Romans, but the conquerors themselves give us the most glorious
+testimony to their valor. The Belgae, writes Caesar, were the only
+people amongst the Gauls who repulsed the invasion of the Teutones and
+Cimbri. The Batavi, Tacitus tells us, surpassed all the tribes on the
+Rhine in bravery. This fierce nation paid its tribute in soldiers, and
+was reserved by its conquerors, like arrow and sword, only for battle.
+The Romans themselves acknowledged the Batavian horsemen to be their
+best cavalry. Like the Swiss at this day, they formed for a long time
+the body-guard of the Roman Emperor; their wild courage terrified the
+Dacians, as they saw them, in full armor, swimming across the Danube.
+The Batavi accompanied Agricola in his expedition against Britain, and
+helped him to conquer that island. The Frieses were, of all, the last
+subdued, and the first to regain their liberty. The morasses among
+which they dwelt attracted the conquerors later, and enhanced the price
+of conquest. The Roman Drusus, who made war in these regions, had a
+canal cut from the Rhine into the Flevo, the present Zuyder Zee, through
+which the Roman fleet penetrated into the North Sea, and from thence,
+entering the mouths of the Ems and the Weser, found an easy passage into
+the interior of Germany.
+
+Through four centuries we find Batavian troops in the Roman armies, but
+after the time of Honorius their name disappears from history.
+Presently we discover their island overrun by the Franks, who again lost
+themselves in the adjoining country of Belgium. The Frieses threw off
+the yoke of their distant and powerless rulers, and again appearad as a
+free, and even a conquering people, who governed themselves by their own
+customs and a remnant of Roman laws, and extended their limits beyond
+the left bank of the Rhine. Of all the provinces of the Netherlands,
+Friesland especially had suffered the least from the irruptions of
+strange tribes and foreign customs, and for centuries retained traces of
+its original institutions, of its national spirit and manners, which
+have not, even at the present day, entirely disappeared.
+
+The epoch of the immigration of nations destroyed the original form of
+most of these tribes; other mixed races arose in their place, with other
+constitutions. In the general irruption the towns and encampments of
+the Romans disappeared, and with them the memorials of their wise
+government, which they had employed the natives to execute. The
+neglected dikes once more yielded to the violence of the streams and to
+the encroachments of the ocean. Those wonders of labor, and creations
+of human skill, the canals, dried up, the rivers changed their course,
+the continent and the sea confounded their olden limits, and the nature
+of the soil changed with its inhabitants. So, too, the connection of
+the two eras seems effaced, and with a new race a new history commences.
+
+The monarchy of the Franks, which arose out of the ruins of Roman Gaul,
+had, in the sixth and seventh centuries, seized all the provinces of the
+Netherlands, and planted there the Christian faith. After an obstinate
+war Charles Martel subdued to the French crown Friesland, the last of
+all the free provinces, and by his victories paved a way for the gospel.
+Charlemagne united all these countries, and formed of them one division
+of the mighty empire which he had constructed out of Germany, France,
+and Lombardy. As under his descendants this vast dominion was again
+torn into fragments, so the Netherlands became at times German, at
+others French, or then again Lotheringian Provinces; and at last we find
+them under both the names of Friesland and Lower Lotheringia.
+
+With the Franks the feudal system, the offspring of the North, also came
+into these lands, and here, too, as in all other countries, it
+degenerated. The more powerful vassals gradually made themselves
+independent of the crown, and the royal governors usurped the countries
+they were appointed to govern. But the rebellions vassals could not
+maintain their usurpations without the aid of their own dependants,
+whose assistance they were compelled to purchase by new concessions.
+At the same time the church became powerful through pious usurpations
+and donations, and its abbey lands and episcopal sees acquired an
+independent existence. Thus were the Netherlands in the tenth,
+eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries split up into several small
+sovereignties, whose possessors did homage at one time to the German
+Emperor, at another to the kings of France. By purchase, marriages,
+legacies, and also by conquest, several of these provinces were often
+united under one suzerain, and thus in the fifteenth century we see the
+house of Burgundy in possession of the chief part of the Netherlands.
+With more or less right Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had united
+as many as eleven provinces under his authority, and to these his son,
+Charles the Bold, added two others, acquired by force of arms. Thus
+imperceptibly a new state arose in Europe, which wanted nothing but the
+name to be the most flourishing kingdom in this quarter of the globe.
+These extensive possessions made the Dukes of Burgundy formidable
+neighbors to France, and tempted the restless spirit of Charles the Bold
+to devise a scheme of conquest, embracing the whole line of country from
+the Zuyder Zee and the mouth of the Rhine down to Alsace. The almost
+inexhaustible resources of this prince justify in some measure this bold
+project. A formidable army threatened to carry it into execution.
+Already Switzerland trembled for her liberty; but deceitful fortune
+abandoned him in three terrible battles, and the infatuated hero was
+lost in the melee of the living and the dead.
+
+   [A page who had seen him fall a few days after the battle conducted
+   the victors to the spot, and saved his remains from an ignominious
+   oblivion. His body was dragged from out of a pool, in which it was
+   fast frozen, naked, and so disfigured with wounds that with great
+   difficulty he was recognized, by the well-known deficiency of some
+   of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger-nails. But that,
+   notwithstanding the marks, there were still incredulous people who
+   doubted his death, and looked for his reappearance, is proved by
+   the missive in which Louis XI. called upon the Burgundian States to
+   return to their allegiance to the Crown of France. "If," the
+   passage runs, "Duke Charles should still be living, you shall be
+   released from your oath to me." Comines, t. iii., Preuves des
+   Memoires, 495, 497.]
+
+The sole heiress of Charles the Bold, Maria, at once the richest
+princess and the unhappy Helen of that time, whose wooing brought misery
+on her inheritance, was now the centre of attraction to the whole known
+world. Among her suitors appeared two great princes, King Louis XI. of
+France, for his son, the young Dauphin, and Maximilian of Austria, son
+of the Emperor Frederic III. The successful suitor was to become the
+most powerful prince in Europe; and now, for the first time, this
+quarter of the globe began to fear for its balance of power. Louis, the
+more powerful of the two, was ready to back his suit by force of arms;
+but the people of the Netherlands, who disposed of the hand of their
+princess, passed by this dreaded neighbor, and decided in favor of
+Maximilian, whose more remote territories and more limited power seemed
+less to threaten the liberty of their country. A deceitful, unfortunate
+policy, which, through a strange dispensation of heaven, only
+accelerated the melancholy fate which it was intended to prevent.
+
+To Philip the Fair, the son of Maria and Maximilian, a Spanish bride
+brought as her portion that extensive kingmdom which Ferdinand and
+Isabella had recently founded; and Charles of Austria, his son, was born
+lord of the kingdoms of Spain, of the two Sicilies, of the New World,
+and of the Netherlands. In the latter country the commonalty
+emancipated themselves much earlier than in other; feudal states, and
+quickly attained to an independent political existence. The favorable
+situation of the country on the North Sea and on great navigable rivers
+early awakened the spirit of commerce, which rapidly peopled the towns,
+encouraged industry and the arts, attracted foreigners, and diffused
+prosperity and affluence among them. However contemptuously the warlike
+policy of those times looked down upon every peaceful and useful
+occupation, the rulers of the country could not fail altogether to
+perceive the essential advantages they derived from such pursuits. The
+increasing population of their territories, the different imposts which
+they extorted from natives and foreigners under the various titles of
+tolls, customs, highway rates, escort money, bridge tolls, market fees,
+escheats, and so forth, were too valuable considerations to allow them
+to remain indifferent to the sources from which they were derived..
+Their own rapacity made them promoters of trade, and, as often happens,
+barbarism itself rudely nursed it, until at last a healthier policy
+assumed its place. In the course of time they invited the Lombard
+merchants to settle among them, and accorded to the towns some valuable
+privileges and an independent jurisdiction, by which the latter acquired
+uncommon extraordinary credit and influence. The numerous wars which
+the counts and dukes carried on with one another, or with their
+neighbors, made them in some measure dependent on the good-will of the
+towns, who by their wealth obtained weight and consideration, and for
+the subsidies which they afforded failed not to extort important
+privileges in return. These privileges of the commonalties increased as
+the crusades with their expensive equipment augumented the necessities
+of the nobles; as a new road to Europe was opened for the productions of
+the East, and as wide-spreading luxury created new wants to their
+princes. Thus as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find in
+these lands a mixed form of governmeut, in which the prerogative of the
+sovereign is greatly limited by the privileges of the estates; that is
+to say, of the nobility, the clergy, and the municipalities.
+
+These, under the name of States, assembled as often as the wants of the
+province required it. Without their consent no new laws were valid, no
+war could be carried on, and no taxes levied, no change made in the
+coinage, and no foreigner admitted to any office of government. All the
+provinces enjoyed these privileges in common; others were peculiar to
+the various districts. The supreme government was hereditary, but the
+son did not enter on the rights of his father before he had solemnly
+sworn to maintain the existing constitution.
+
+Necessity is the first lawgiver; all the wants which had to be met by
+this constitution were originally of a commercial nature. Thus the
+whole constitution was founded on commerce, and the laws of the nation
+were adapted to its pursuits. The last clause, which excluded
+foreigners from all offices of trust, was a natural consequence of the
+preceding articles. So complicated and artificial a relation between
+the sovereign and his people, which in many provinces was further
+modified according to the peculiar wants of each, and frequently of some
+single city, required for its maintenance the liveliest zeal for the
+liberties of the country, combined with an intimate acquaintance with
+them. From a foreigner neither could well be expected. This law,
+besides, was enforced reciprocally in each particular province; so that
+in Brabant no Fleming, in Zealand no Hollander, could hold office; and
+it continued in force even after all these provinces were united under
+one government.
+
+Above all others, Brabant enjoyed the highest degree of freedom. Its
+privileges were esteemed so valuable that many mothers from the adjacent
+provinces removed thither about the time of their accouchment, in order
+to entitle their children to participate, by birth, in all the
+immunities of that favored country; just as, says Strada, one improves
+the plants of a rude climate by removing them to the soil of a milder.
+
+After the House of Burgundy had united several provinces under its
+dominion, the separate provincial assemblies which, up to that time, had
+been independent tribunals, were made subject to a supreme court at
+Malines, which incorporated the various judicatures into one body, and
+decided in the last resort all civil and criminal appeals. The separate
+independence of the provinces was thus abolished, and the supreme power
+vested in the senate at Malines.
+
+After the death of Charles the Bold the states did not neglect to avail
+themselves of the embarassment of their duchess, who, threatened by
+France, was consequently in their power. Holland and Zealand compelled
+her to sign a great charter, which secured to them the most important
+sovereign rights. The people of Ghent carried their insolence to such a
+pitch that they arbitrarily dragged the favorites of Maria, who had the
+misfortune to displease them, before their own tribunals, and beheaded
+them before the eyes of that princess. During the short government of
+the Duchess Maria, from her father's death to her marriage, the commons
+obtained powers which few free states enjoyed. After her death her
+husband, Maximilian, illegally assumed the government as guardian of his
+son. Offended by this invasion of their rights, the estates refused to
+acknowledge his authority, and could only be brought to receive him as a
+viceroy for a stated period, and under conditions ratified by oath.
+
+Maximilian, after he became Roman Emperor, fancied that he might safely
+venture to violate the constitution. He imposed extraordinary taxes on
+the provinces, gave official appointments to Burgundians and Germans,
+and introduced foreign troops into the provinces. But the jealousy of
+these republicans kept pace with the power of their regent. As he
+entered Bruges with a large retinue of foreigners, the people flew to
+arms, made themselves masters of his person, and placed him in
+confinement in the castle. In spite of the intercession of the Imperial
+and Roman courts, he did not again obtain his freedom until security had
+been given to the people on all the disputed points.
+
+The security of life and property arising from mild laws, and, an equal
+administration of justice, had encouraged activity and industry. In
+continual contest with the ocean and rapid rivers, which poured their
+violence on the neighboring lowlands, and whose force it was requisite
+to break by embankments and canals, this people had early learned to
+observe the natural objects around them; by industry and perseverance to
+defy an element of superior power; and like the Egyptian, instructed by
+his Nile, to exercise their inventive genius and acuteness in
+self-defence. The natural fertility of their soil, which favored
+agriculture and the breeding of cattle, tended at the same time to
+increase the population. Their happy position on the sea and the great
+navigable rivers of Germany and France, many of which debouched on their
+coasts; the numerous artificial canals which intersected the land in all
+directions, imparted life to navigation; and the facility of internal
+communication between the provinces, soon created and fostered a
+commercial spirit among these people.
+
+The neighboring coasts, Denmark and Britain, were the first visited by
+their vessels. The English wool which they brought back employed
+thousands of industrious hands in Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp; and as
+early as the middle of the twelfth century cloths of Flanders were
+extensively worn in France and Germany. In the eleventh century we find
+ships of Friesland in the Belt, and even in the Levant. This
+enterprising people ventured, without a compass, to steer under the
+North Pole round to the most northerly point of Russia. From the
+Wendish towns the Netherlands received a share in the Levant trade,
+which, at that time, still passed from the Black Sea through the Russian
+territories to the Baltic. When, in the thirteenth century, this trade
+began to decline, the Crusades having opened a new road through the
+Mediterranean for Indian merchandise, and after the Italian towns had
+usurped this lucrative branch of commerce, and the great Hanseatic
+League had been formed in Germany, the Netherlands became the most
+important emporium between the north and south. As yet the use of
+the compass was not general, and the merchantmen sailed slowly and
+laboriously along the coasts. The ports on the Baltic were, during the
+winter months, for the most part frozen and inaccessible. Ships,
+therefore, which could not well accomplish within the year the long
+voyage from the Mediterranean to the Belt, gladly availed themselves of
+harbors which lay half-way between the two.
+
+With an immense continent behind them with which navigable streams kept
+up their communication, and towards the west and north open to the ocean
+by commodious harbors, this country appeared to be expressly formed for
+a place of resort for different nations, and for a centre of commerce.
+The principal towns of the Netherlands were established marts.
+Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians, French, Britons, Germans, Danes, and
+Swedes thronged to them with the produce of every country in the world.
+Competition insured cheapness; industry was stimulated as it found a
+ready market for its productions. With the necessary exchange of money
+arose the commerce in bills, which opened a new and fruitful source of
+wealth. The princes of the country, acquainted at last with their true
+interest, encouraged the merchant by important immunities, and neglected
+not to protect their commerce by advantageous treaties with foreign
+powers. When, in the fifteenth century, several provinces were united
+under one rule, they discontinued their private wars, which had proved
+so injurious, and their separate interests were now more intimately
+connected by a common government. Their commerce and affluence
+prospered in the lap of a long peace, which the formidable power of
+their princes extorted from the neighboring monarchs. The Burgundian
+flag was feared in every sea, the dignity of their sovereign gave
+support to their undertakings, and the enterprise of a private
+individual became the affair of a powerful state. Such vigorous
+protection soon placed them in a position even to renounce the Hanseatic
+League, and to pursue this daring enemy through every sea. The
+Hanseatic merchants, against whom the coasts of Spain were closed,
+were compelled at last, however reluctantly, to visit the Flemish fairs,
+and purchase their Spanish goods in the markets of the Netherlands.
+
+Bruges, in Flanders, was, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the
+central point of the whole commerce of Europe, and the great market of
+all nations. In the year 1468 a hundred and fifty merchant vessels were
+counted entering the harbor of Sluys it one time. Besides the rich
+factories of the Hanseatic League, there were here fifteen trading
+companies, with their countinghouses, and many factories and merchants'
+families from every European country. Here was established the market
+of all northern products for the south, and of all southern and
+Levantine products for the north. These passed through the Sound, and
+up the Rhine, in Hanseatic vessels to Upper Germany, or were transported
+by landcarriage to Brunswick and Luneburg.
+
+As in the common course of human affairs, so here also a licentious
+luxury followed prosperity. The seductive example of Philip the Good
+could not but accelerate its approach. The court of the Burgundian
+dukes was the most voluptuous and magnificent in Europe, Italy itself
+not excepted. The costly dress of the higher classes, which afterwards
+served as patterns to the Spaniards, and eventually, with other
+Burgundian customs, passed over to the court of Austria, soon descended
+to the lower orders, and the meanest citizen nursed his person in velvet
+and silk.
+
+   [Philip the Good was too profuse a prince to amass treasures;
+   nevertheless Charles the Bold found accumulated among his effects,
+   a greater store of table services, jewels, carpets, and linen than
+   three rich princedoms of that time together possessed, and over and
+   above all a treasure of three hundred thousand dollars in ready
+   money. The riches of this prince, and of the Burgundian people,
+   lay exposed on the battle-fields of Granson, Murten and Nancy.
+   Here a Swiss soldier drew from the finger of Charles the Bold, that
+   celebrated diamond which was long esteemed the largest in Europe,
+   which even now sparkles in the crown of France as the second in
+   size, but which the unwitting finder sold for a florin. The Swiss
+   exchanged the silver they found for tin, and the gold for copper,
+   and tore into pieces the costly tents of cloth of gold. The value
+   of the spoil of silver, gold, and jewels which was taken has been
+   estimated at three millions. Charles and his army had advanced to
+   the combat, not like foes who purpose battle, but like conquerors
+   who adorn themselves after victory.]
+
+Comines, an author who travelled through the Netherlands about the
+middle of the fifteenth century, tells us that pride had already
+attended their prosperity. The pomp and vanity of dress was carried by
+both sexes to extravagance. The luxury of the table had never reached
+so great a height among any other people. The immoral assemblage of
+both sexes at bathing-places, and such other places of reunion for
+pleasure and enjoyment, had banished all shame--and we are not here
+speaking of the usual luxuriousness of the higher ranks; the females of
+the common class abandoned themselves to such extravagances without
+limit or measure.
+
+But how much more cheering to the philanthropist is this extravagance
+than the miserable frugality of want, and the barbarous virtues of
+ignorance, which at that time oppressed nearly the whole of Europe!
+The Burgundian era shines pleasingly forth from those dark ages, like
+a lovely spring day amid the showers of February. But this flourishing
+condition tempted the Flemish towns at last to their ruin; Ghent and
+Bruges, giddy with liberty and success, declared war against Philip the
+Good, the ruler of eleven provinces, which ended as unfortunately as it
+was presumptuously commenced. Ghent alone lost many thousand men in an
+engagement near Havre, and was compelled to appease the wrath of the
+victor by a contribution of four hundred thousand gold florins. All the
+municipal functionaries, and two thousand of the principal citizens,
+went, stripped to their shirts, barefooted, and with heads uncovered, a
+mile out of the town to meet the duke, and on their knees supplicated
+for pardon. On this occasion they were deprived of several valuable
+privileges, all irreparable loss for their future commerce. In the year
+1482 they engaged in a war, with no better success, against Maximilian
+of Austria, with a view to, deprive him of the guardianship of his son,
+which, in contravention of his charter, he had unjustly assumed. In
+1487 the town of Bruges placed the archduke himself in confinement, and
+put some of his most eminent ministers to death. To avenge his son the
+Emperor Frederic III. entered their territory with an army, and,
+blockading for ten years the harbor of Sluys, put a stop to their entire
+trade. On this occasion Amsterdam and Antwerp, whose jealousy had long
+been roused by the flourishing condition of the Flemish towns, lent him
+the most important assistance. The Italians began to bring their own
+silk-stuffs to Antwerp for sale, and the Flemish cloth-workers likewise,
+who had settled in England, sent their goods thither; and thus the town
+of Bruges lost two important branches of trade. The Hanseatic League
+had long been offended at their overweening pride; and it now left them
+and removed its factory to Antwerp. In the year 1516 all the foreign
+merchants left the town except only a few Spaniards; but its prosperity
+faded as slowly as it had bloomed.
+
+Antwerp received, in the sixteenth century, the trade which the
+luxuriousness of the Flemish towns had banished; and under the
+government of Charles V. Antwerp was the most stirring and splendid
+city in the Christian world. A stream like the Scheldt, whose broad
+mouth, in the immediate vicinity, shared with the North Sea the ebb and
+flow of the tide, and could carry vessels of the largest tonnage under
+the walls of Antwerp, made it the natural resort for all vessels which
+visited that coast. Its free fairs attracted men of business from all
+countries.
+
+   [Two such fairs lasted forty days, and all the goods sold there
+   were duty free.]
+
+The industry of the nation had, in the beginning of this century,
+reached its greatest height. The culture of grain, flax, the breeding
+of cattle, the chase, and fisheries, enriched the peasant; arts,
+manufactures, and trade gave wealth to the burghers. Flemish and
+Brabantine manufactures were long to be seen in Arabia, Persia, and
+India. Their ships covered the ocean, and in the Black Sea contended
+with the Genoese for supremacy. It was the distinctive characteristic
+of the seaman of the Netherlands that he made sail at all seasons of the
+year, and never laid up for the winter.
+
+When the new route by the Cape of Good Hope was discovered, and the East
+India trade of Portugal undermined that of the Levant, the Netherlands
+did not feel the blow which was inflicted on the Italian republics. The
+Portuguese established their mart in Brabant, and the spices of Calicut
+were displayed for sale in the markets of Antwerp. Hither poured the
+West Indian merchandise, with which the indolent pride of Spain repaid
+the industry of the Netherlands. The East Indian market attracted the
+most celebrated commercial houses from Florence, Lucca, and Genoa; and
+the Fuggers and Welsers from Augsburg. Here the Hanse towns brought the
+wares of the north, and here the English company had a factory. Here
+art and nature seemed to expose to view all their riches; it was a
+splendid exhibition of the works of the Creator and of the creature.
+
+Their renown soon diffused itself through the world. Even a company of
+Turkish merchants, towards the end of this century, solicited permission
+to settle here, and to supply the products of the East by way of Greece.
+With the trade in goods they held also the exchange of money. Their
+bills passed current in the farthest parts of the globe. Antwerp, it is
+asserted, then transacted more extensive and more important business in
+a single month than Venice, at its most flourishing period, in two whole
+years.
+
+In the year 1491 the Hanseatic League held its solemn meetings in this
+town, which had formerly assembled in Lubeck alone. In 1531 the
+exchange was erected, at that time the most splendid in all Europe, and
+which fulfilled its proud inscription. The town now reckoned one
+hundred thousand inhabitants. The tide of human beings, which
+incessantly poured into it, exceeds all belief. Between two hundred and
+two hundred and fifty ships were often seen loading at one time in its
+harbor; no day passed on which the boats entering inwards and outwards
+did not amount to more than five hundred; on market days the number
+amounted to eight or nine hundred. Daily more than two hundred
+carriages drove through its gates; above two thousand loaded wagons
+arrived every week from Germany, France, and Lorraine, without reckoning
+the farmers' carts and corn-vans, which were seldom less than ten
+thousand in number. Thirty thousand hands were employed by the English
+company alone. The market dues, tolls, and excise brought millions to
+the government annually. We can form some idea of the resources of the
+nation from the fact that the extraordinary taxes which they were
+obliged to pay to Charles V. towards his numerous wars were computed at
+forty millions of gold ducats.
+
+For this affluence the Netherlands were as much indebted to their
+liberty as to the natural advantages of their country. Uncertain laws
+and the despotic sway of a rapacious prince would quickly have blighted
+all the blessings which propitious nature had so abundantly lavished on
+them. The inviolable sanctity of the laws can alone secure to the
+citizen the fruits of his industry, and inspire him with that happy
+confidence which is the soul of all activity.
+
+The genius of this people, developed by the spirit of commerce, and by
+the intercourse with so many nations, shone in useful inventions; in the
+lap of abundance and liberty all the noble arts were carefully
+cultivated and carried to perfection. From Italy, to which Cosmo de
+Medici had lately restored its golden age, painting, architecture, and
+the arts of carving and of engraving on copper, were transplanted into
+the Netherlands, where, in a new soil, they flourished with fresh vigor.
+The Flemish school, a daughter of the Italian, soon vied with its mother
+for the prize; and, in common with it, gave laws to the whole of Europe
+in the fine arts. The manufactures and arts, on which the Netherlanders
+principally founded their prosperity, and still partly base it, require
+no particular enumeration. The weaving of tapestry, oil painting, the
+art of painting on glass, even pocketwatches and sun-dials were, as
+Guicciardini asserts, originally invented in the Netherlands. To them
+we are indebted for the improvement of the compass, the points of which
+are still known by Flemish names. About the year 1430 the invention of
+typography is ascribed to Laurence Koster, of Haarlem; and whether or
+not he is entitled to this honorable distinction, certain it is that the
+Dutch were among the first to engraft this useful art among them; and
+fate ordained that a century later it should reward its country with
+liberty. The people of the Netherlands united with the most fertile
+genius for inventions a happy talent for improving the discoveries of
+others; there are probably few mechanical arts and manufactures which
+they did not either produce or at least carry to a higher degree of
+perfection.
+
+Up to this time these provinces had formed the most enviable state in
+Europe. Not one of the Burgundian dukes had ventured to indulge a
+thought of overturning the constitution; it had remained sacred even to
+the daring spirit of Charles the Bold, while he was preparing fetters
+for foreign liberty. All these princes grew up with no higher hope than
+to be the heads of a republic, and none of their territories afforded
+them experience of a higher authority. Besides, these princes possessed
+nothing but what the Netherlands gave them; no armies but those which
+the nation sent into the field; no riches but what the estates granted
+to them. Now all was changed. The Netherlands had fallen to a master
+who had at his command other instruments and other resources, who could
+arm against them a foreign power.
+
+   [The unnatural union of two such different nations as the Belgians
+   and Spaniards could not possibly be prosperous. I cannot here
+   refrain from quoting the comparison which Grotius, in energetic
+   language, has drawn between the two. "With the neighboring
+   nations," says he, "the people of the Netherlands could easily
+   maintain a good understanding, for they were of a similar origin
+   with themselves, and had grown up in the same manner. But the
+   people of Spain and of the Netherlands differed in almost every
+   respect from one another, and therefore, when they were brought
+   together clashed the more violently. Both had for many centuries
+   been distinguished in war, only the latter had, in luxurious
+   repose, become disused to arms, while the former had been inured to
+   war in the Italian and African campaigns; the desire of gain made
+   the Belgians more inclined to peace, but not less sensitive of
+   offence. No people were more free from the lust of conquest, but
+   none defended its own more zealously. Hence the numerous towns,
+   closely pressed together in a confined tract of country; densely
+   crowded with a foreign and native population; fortified near the
+   sea and the great rivers. Hence for eight centuries after the
+   northern immigration foreign arms could not prevail against them.
+   Spain, on the contrary, often changed its masters; and when at last
+   it fell into the hands of the Goths, its character and its manners
+   had suffered more or less from each new conqueror. The people thus
+   formed at last out of these several admixtures is described as
+   patient in labor, imperturbable in danger, equally eager for riches
+   and honor, proud of itself even to contempt of others, devout and
+   grateful to strangers for any act of kindness, but also revengeful,
+   and of such ungovernable passions in victory as so regard neither
+   conscience nor honor in the case of an enemy. All this is foreign
+   to the character of the Belgian, who is astute but not insidious,
+   who, placed midway between France and Germany, combines in
+   moderation the faults and good qualities of both. He is not easily
+   to be imposed upon, nor is he to be insulted with impunity. In
+   veneration for the Deity, too, he does not yield to the Spaniard;
+   the arms of the Northmen could not make him apostatize from
+   Christianity when he had once professed it. No opinion which the
+   church condemns had, up to this time, empoisoned the purity of his
+   faith. Nay, his pious extravagance went so far that it became
+   requisite to curb by laws the rapacity of his clergy. In both
+   people loyalty to their rulers is equally innate, with this
+   difference, that the Belgian places the law above kings. Of all
+   the Spaniards the Castilians require to be, governed with the most
+   caution; but the liberties which they arrogate for themselves they
+   do not willingly accord to others. Hence the difficult task to
+   their common ruler, so to distribute his attention, and care
+   between the two nations that neither the preference shown to the
+   Castilian should offend the Belgian, nor the equal treatment of the
+   Belgian affront the haughty spirit of the Castilian."--Grotii
+   Annal. Belg. L. 1. 4. 5. seq.]
+
+Charles V. was an absolute monarch in his Spanish dominions; in the
+Netherlands he was no more than the first citizen. In the southern
+portion of his empire he might have learned contempt for the rights of
+individuals; here he was taught to respect them. The more he there
+tasted the pleasures of unlimited power, and the higher he raised his
+opinion of his own greatness, the more reluctant he must have felt to
+descend elsewhere to the ordinary level of humanity, and to tolerate any
+check upon his arbitrary authority. It requires, indeed, no ordinary
+degree of virtue to abstain from warring against the power which imposes
+a curb on our most cherished wishes.
+
+The superior power of Charles awakened at the same time in the
+Netherlands that distrust which always accompanies inferiority. Never
+were they so alive to their constitutional rights, never so jealous of
+the royal prerogative, or more observant in their proceedings. Under,
+his reign we see the most violent outbreaks of republican spirit, and
+the pretensions of the people carried to an excess which nothing but the
+increasing encroachments of the royal power could in the least justify.
+A Sovereign will always regard the freedom of the citizen as an
+alienated fief, which he is bound to recover. To the citizen the
+authority of a sovereign is a torrent, which, by its inundation,
+threatens to sweep away his rights. The Belgians sought to protect
+themselves against the ocean by embankments, and against their princes
+by constitutional enactments. The whole history of the world is a
+perpetually recurring struggle between liberty and the lust of power and
+possession; as the history of nature is nothing but the contest of the
+elements and organic bodies for space. The Netherlands soon found to
+their cost that they had become but a province of a great monarchy. So
+long as their former masters had no higher aim than to promote their
+prosperity, their condition resembled the tranquil happiness of a
+secluded family, whose head is its ruler. Charles V. introduced them
+upon the arena of the political world. They now formed a member of that
+gigantic body which the ambition of an individual employed as his
+instrument. They ceased to have their own good for their aim; the
+centre of their existence was transported to the soul of their ruler.
+As his whole government was but one tissue of plans and manoeuvres to
+advance his power, so it was, above all things, necessary that he should
+be completely master of the various limbs of his mighty empire in order
+to move them effectually and suddenly. It was impossible, therefore,
+for him to embarrass himself with the tiresome mechanism of their
+interior political organization, or to extend to their peculiar
+privileges the conscientious respect which their republican jealousy
+demanded. It was expedient for him to facilitate the exercise of their
+powers by concentration and unity. The tribunal at Malines had been
+under his predecessor an independent court of judicature; he subjected
+its decrees to the revision of a royal council, which he established in
+Brussels, and which was the mere organ of his will. He introduced
+foreigners into the most vital functions of their constitution, and
+confided to them the most important offices. These men, whose only
+support was the royal favor, would be but bad guardians of privileges
+which, moreover, were little known to them. The ever-increasing
+expenses of his warlike government compelled him as steadily to augment
+his resources. In disregard of their most sacred privileges he imposed
+new and strange taxes on the provinces. To preserve their olden
+consideration the estates were forced to grant what he had been so
+modest as not to extort; the whole history of the government of this
+monarch in the Netherlands is almost one continued list of imposts
+demanded, refused, and finally accorded. Contrary to the constitution,
+he introduced foreign troops into their territories, directed the
+recruiting of his armies in the provinces, and involved them in wars,
+which could not advance even if they did not injure their interest, and
+to which they had not given their consent. He punished the offences of
+a free state as a monarch; and the terrible chastisement of Ghent
+announced to the other provinces the great change which their
+constitution had already undergone.
+
+The welfare of the country was so far secured as was necessary to the
+political schemes of its master; the intelligent policy of Charles would
+certainly not violate the salutary regiment of the body whose energies
+he found himself necessitated to exert. Fortunately, the opposite
+pursuits of selfish ambition, and of disinterested philanthropy, often
+bring about the same end; and the well-being of a state, which a Marcus
+Aurelius might propose to himself as a rational object of pursuit, is
+occasionally promoted by an Augustus or a Louis.
+
+Charles V. was perfectly aware that commerce was the strength of the
+nation, and that the foundation of their commerce was liberty. He
+spared its liberty because he needed its strength. Of greater political
+wisdom, though not more just than his son, he adapted his principles to
+the exigencies of time and place, and recalled an ordinance in Antwerp
+and in Madrid which he would under other circumstances have enforced
+with all the terrors of his power. That which makes the reign of
+Charles V. particularly remarkable in regard to the Netherlands is the
+great religious revolution which occurred under it; and which, as the
+principal cause of the subsequent rebellion, demands a somewhat
+circumstantial notice. This it was that first brought arbitrary power
+into the innermost sanctuary of the constitution; taught it to give a
+dreadful specimen of its might; and, in a measure, legalized it, while
+it placed republican spirit on a dangerous eminence. And as the latter
+sank into anarchy and rebellion monarchical power rose to the height of
+despotism.
+
+Nothing is more natural than the transition from civil liberty to
+religious freedom. Individuals, as well as communities, who, favored by
+a happy political constitution, have become acquainted with the rights
+of man, and accustomed to examine, if not also to create, the law which
+is to govern them; whose minds have been enlightened by activity, and
+feelings expanded by the enjoyments of life; whose natural courage has
+been exalted by internal security and prosperity; such men will not
+easily surrender themselves to the blind domination of a dull arbitrary
+creed, and will be the first to emancipate themselves from its yoke.
+Another circumstance, however, must have greatly tended to diffuse the
+new religion in these countries. Italy, it might be objected, the seat
+of the greatest intellectual culture, formerly the scene of the most
+violent political factions, where a burning climate kindles the blood
+with the wildest passions--Italy, among all the European countries,
+remained the freest from this change. But to a romantic people, whom a
+warm and lovely sky, a luxurious, ever young and ever smiling nature,
+and the multifarious witcheries of art, rendered keenly susceptible of
+sensuous enjoyment, that form of religion must naturally have been
+better adapted, which by its splendid pomp captivates the senses, by its
+mysterious enigmas opens an unbounded range to the fancy; and which,
+through the most picturesque forms, labors to insinuate important
+doctrines into the soul. On the contrary, to a people whom the ordinary
+employments of civil life have drawn down to an unpoetical reality, who
+live more in plain notions than in images, and who cultivate their
+common sense at the expense of their imagination--to such a people that
+creed will best recommend itself which dreads not investigation, which
+lays less stress on mysticism than on morals, and which is rather to be
+understood then to be dwelt upon in meditation. In few words, the Roman
+Catholic religion will, on the whole, be found more adapted to a nation
+of artists, the Protestant more fitted to a nation of merchants.
+
+On this supposition the new doctrines which Luther diffused in Germany,
+and Calvin in Switzerland, must have found a congenial soil in the
+Netherlands. The first seeds of it were sown in the Netherlands by the
+Protestant merchants, who assembled at Amsterdam and Antwerp. The
+German and Swiss troops, which Charles introduced into these countries,
+and the crowd of French, German, and English fugitives who, under the
+protection of the liberties of Flanders, sought to escape the sword of
+persecution which threatened them at home, promoted their diffusion. A
+great portion of the Belgian nobility studied at that time at Geneva, as
+the University of Louvain was not yet in repute, and that of Douai not
+yet founded. The new tenets publicly taught there were transplanted by
+the students to their various countries. In an isolated people these
+first germs might easily have been crushed; but in the market-towns of
+Holland and Brabant, the resort of so many different nations, their
+first growth would escape the notice of government, and be accelerated
+under the veil of obscurity. A difference in opinion might easily
+spring up and gain ground amongst those who already were divided in
+national character, in manners, customs, and laws. Moreover, in a
+country where industry was the most lauded virtue, mendicity the most
+abhorred vice, a slothful body of men, like that of the monks, must have
+been an object of long and deep aversion. Hence, the new religion,
+which opposed these orders, derived an immense advantage from having the
+popular opinion on its side. Occasional pamphlets, full of bitterness
+and satire, to which the newly-discovered art of printing secured a
+rapid circulation, and several bands of strolling orators, called
+Rederiker, who at that time made the circuit of the provinces,
+ridiculing in theatrical representations or songs the abuses of their
+times, contributed not a little to diminish respect for the Romish
+Church, and to prepare the people for the reception of the new dogmas.
+
+The first conquests of this doctrine were astonishingly rapid. The
+number of those who in a short time avowed themselves its adherents,
+especially in the northern provinces, was prodigious; but among these
+the foreigners far outnumbered the natives. Charles V., who, in this
+hostile array of religious tenets, had taken the side which a despot
+could not fail to take, opposed to the increasing torrent of innovation
+the most effectual remedies. Unhappily for the reformed religion
+political justice was on the side of its persecutor. The dam which, for
+so many centuries, had repelled human understanding from truth was too
+suddenly torn away for the outbreaking torrent not to overflow its
+appointed channel. The reviving spirit of liberty and of inquiry, which
+ought to have remained within the limits of religious questions, began
+also to examine into the rights of kings. While in the commencement
+iron fetters were justly broken off, a desire was eventually shown to
+rend asunder the most legitimate and most indispensable of ties. Even
+the Holy Scriptures, which were now circulated everywhere, while they
+imparted light and nurture to the sincere inquirer after truth, were the
+source also whence an eccentric fanaticism contrived to extort the
+virulent poison. The good cause had been compelled to choose the evil
+road of rebellion, and the result was what in such cases it ever will be
+so long as men remain men. The bad cause, too, which had nothing in
+common with the good but the employment of illegal means, emboldened by
+this slight point of connection, appeared in the same company, and was
+mistaken for it. Luther had written against the invocation of saints;
+every audacious varlet who broke into the churches and cloisters, and
+plundered the altars, called himself Lutheran. Faction, rapine,
+fanaticism, licentiousness robed themselves in his colors; the most
+enormous offenders, when brought before the judges, avowed themselves
+his followers. The Reformation had drawn down the Roman prelate to a
+level with fallible humanity; an insane band, stimulated by hunger and
+want, sought to annihilate all distinction of ranks. It was natural
+that a doctrine, which to the state showed itself only in its most
+unfavorable aspect, should not have been able to reconcile a monarch who
+had already so many reasons to extirpate it; and it is no wonder,
+therefore, that be employed against it the arms it had itself forced
+upon him.
+
+Charles must already have looked upon himself as absolute in the
+Netherlands since he did not think it necessary to extend to these
+countries the religious liberty which he had accorded to Germany.
+While, compelled by the effectual resistance of the German princes, he
+assured to the former country a free exercise of the new religion, in
+the latter he published the most cruel edicts for its repression. By
+these the reading of the Evangelists and Apostles; all open or secret
+meetings to which religion gave its name in ever so slight a degree; all
+conversations on the subject, at home or at the table, were forbidden
+under severe penalties. In every province special courts of judicature
+were established to watch over the execution of the edicts. Whoever
+held these erroneous opinions was to forfeit his office without regard
+to his rank. Whoever should be convicted of diffusing heretical
+doctrines, or even of simply attending the secret meetings of the
+Reformers, was to be condemned to death, and if a male, to be executed
+by the sword, if a female, buried alive. Backsliding heretics were to
+be committed to the flames. Not even the recantation of the offender
+could annul these appalling sentences. Whoever abjured his errors
+gained nothing by his apostacy but at farthest a milder kind of death.
+
+The fiefs of the condemned were also confiscated, contrary to the
+privileges of the nation, which permitted the heir to redeem them for a
+trifling fine; and in defiance of an express and valuable privilege of
+the citizens of Holland, by which they were not to be tried out of their
+province, culprits were conveyed beyond the limits of the native
+judicature, and condemned by foreign tribunals. Thus did religion guide
+the hand of despotism to attack with its sacred weapon, and without
+danger or opposition, the liberties which were inviolable to the secular
+arm.
+
+Charles V., emboldened by the fortunate progress of his arms in Germany,
+thought that he might now venture on everything, and seriously meditated
+the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. But the
+terror of its very name alone reduced commerce in Antwerp to a
+standstill. The principal foreign merchants prepared to quit the city.
+All buying and selling ceased, the value of houses fell, the employment
+of artisans stopped. Money disappeared from the hands of the citizen.
+The ruin of that flourishing commercial city was inevitable had not
+Charles V. listened to the representations of the Duchess of Parma, and
+abandoned this perilous resolve. The tribunal, therefore, was ordered
+not to interfere with the foreign merchants, and the title of Inquisitor
+was changed unto the milder appellation of Spiritual Judge. But in the
+other provinces that tribunal proceeded to rage with the inhuman
+despotism which has ever been peculiar to it. It has been computed that
+during the reign of Charles V. fifty thousand persons perished by the
+hand of the executioner for religion alone.
+
+When we glance at the violent proceedings of this monarch we are quite
+at a loss to comprehend what it was that kept the rebellion within
+bounds during his reign, which broke out with so much violence under his
+successor. A closer investigation will clear up this seeming anomaly.
+Charles's dreaded supremacy in Europe had raised the commerce of the
+Netherlands to a height which it had never before attained. The majesty
+of his name opened all harbors, cleared all seas for their vessels, and
+obtained for them the most favorable commercial treaties with foreign
+powers. Through him, in particular, they destroyed the dominion of the
+Hanse towns in the Baltic. Through him, also, the New World, Spain,
+Italy, Germany, which now shared with them a common ruler, were, in a
+measure, to be considered as provinces of their own country, and opened
+new channels for their commerce. He had, moreover, united the remaining
+six provinces with the hereditary states of Burgundy, and thus given to
+them an extent and political importance which placed them by the side of
+the first kingdoms of Europe.
+
+   [He had, too, at one time the intention of raising it to a kingdom;
+   but the essential points of difference between the provinces, which
+   extended from constitution and manners to measures and weights,
+   soon made him abandon this design. More important was the service
+   which he designed them in the Burgundian treaty, which settled its
+   relation to the German empire. According to this treaty the
+   seventeen provinces were to contribute to the common wants of the
+   German empire twice as much as an electoral prince; in case of a
+   Turkish war three times as much; in return for which, however, they
+   were to enjoy the powerful protection of this empire, and not to be
+   injured in any of their various privileges. The revolution, which
+   under Charles' son altered the political constitution of the
+   provinces, again annulled this compact, which, on account of the
+   trifling advantage that it conferred, deserves no further notice.]
+
+By all this he flattered the national pride of this people. Moreover,
+by the incorporation of Gueldres, Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen with
+these provinces, he put an end to the private wars which had so long
+disturbed their commerce; an unbroken internal peace now allowed them to
+enjoy the full fruits of their industry. Charles was therefore a
+benefactor of this people. At the same time, the splendor of his
+victories dazzled their eyes; the glory of their sovereign, which was
+reflected upon them also, had bribed their republican vigilance; while
+the awe-inspiring halo of invincibility which encircled the conqueror of
+Germany, France, Italy, and Africa terrified the factious. And then,
+who knows not on how much may venture the man, be he a private
+individual or a prince, who has succeeded in enchaining the admiration
+of his fellow-creatures! His repeated personal visits to these lands,
+which he, according to his own confession, visited as often as ten
+different times, kept the disaffected within bounds; the constant
+exercise of severe and prompt justice maintained the awe of the royal
+power. Finally, Charles was born in the Netherlands, and loved the
+nation in whose lap he had grown up. Their manners pleased him, the
+simplicity of their character and social intercourse formed for him a
+pleasing recreation from the severe Spanish gravity. He spoke their
+language, and followed their customs in his private life. The
+burdensome ceremonies which form the unnatural barriers between king and
+people were banished from Brussels. No jealous foreigner debarred
+natives from access to their prince; their way to him was through their
+own countrymen, to whom he entrusted his person. He spoke much and
+courteously with them; his deportment was engaging, his discourse
+obliging. These simple artifices won for him their love, and while
+his armies trod down their cornfields, while his rapacious imposts
+diminished their property, while his governors oppressed, his
+executioners slaughtered, he secured their hearts by a friendly
+demeanor.
+
+Gladly would Charles have seen this affection of the nation for himself
+descend upon his son. On this account he sent for him in his youth from
+Spain, and showed him in Brussels to his future subjects. On the solemn
+day of his abdication he recommended to him these lands as the richest
+jewel in his crown, and earnestly exhorted him to respect their laws and
+privileges.
+
+Philip II. was in all the direct opposite of his father. As ambitious
+as Charles, but with less knowledge of men and of the rights of man, he
+had formed to himself a notion of royal authority which regarded men as
+simply the servile instruments of despotic will, and was outraged by
+every symptom of liberty. Born in Spain, and educated under the iron
+discipline of the monks, he demanded of others the same gloomy formality
+and reserve as marked his own character. The cheerful merriment of his
+Flemish subjects was as uncongenial to his disposition and temper as
+their privileges were offensive to his imperious will. He spoke no
+other language but the Spanish, endured none but Spaniards about his
+person, and obstinately adhered to all their customs. In vain did the
+loyal ingenuity of the Flemish towns through which he passed vie with
+each other in solemnizing his arrival with costly festivities.
+
+   [The town of Antwerp alone expended on an occasion of this kind two
+   hundred and sixty thousand gold florins.]
+
+Philip's eye remained dark; all the profusion of magnificence, all the
+loud and hearty effusions of the sincerest joy could not win from him
+one approving smile.
+
+Charles entirely missed his aim by presenting his son to the Flemings.
+They might eventually have endured his yoke with less impatience if he
+had never set his foot in their land. But his look forewarned them what
+they had to expect; his entry into Brussels lost him all hearts. The
+Emperor's gracious affability with his people only served to throw a
+darker shade on the haughty gravity of his son. They read in his
+countenance the destructive purpose against their liberties which, even
+then, he already revolved in his breast. Forewarned to find in him a
+tyrant they were forearmed to resist him.
+
+The throne of the Netherlands was the first which Charles V. abdicated.
+Before a solemn convention in Brussels he absolved the States-General of
+their oath, and transferred their allegiance to King Philip, his son.
+"If my death," addressing the latter, as he concluded, "had placed you
+in possession of these countries, even in that case so valuable a
+bequest would have given me great claims on your gratitude. But now
+that of my free will I transfer them to you, now that I die in order to
+hasten your enjoyment of them, I only require of you to pay to the
+people the increased obligation which the voluntary surrender of my
+dignity lays upon you. Other princes esteem it a peculiar felicity to
+bequeath to their children the crown which death is already ravishing
+from then. This happiness I am anxious to enjoy during my life. I wish
+to be a spectator of your reign. Few will follow my example, as few
+have preceded me in it. But this my deed will be praised if your future
+life should justify my expectations, if you continue to be guided by
+that wisdom which you have hitherto evinced, if you remain inviolably
+attached to the pure faith which is the main pillar of your throne. One
+thing more I have to add: may Heaven grant you also a son, to whom you
+may transmit your power by choice, and not by necessity."
+
+After the Emperor had concluded his address Philip kneeled down before
+him, kissed his hand, and received his paternal blessing. His eyes for
+the last time were moistened with a tear. All present wept. It was an
+hour never to be forgotten.
+
+This affecting farce was soon followed by another. Philip received the
+homage of the assembled states. He took the oath administered in the
+following words: "I, Philip, by the grace of God, Prince of Spain, of
+the two Sicilies, etc., do vow and swear that I will be a good and just
+lord in these countries, counties, and duchies, etc.; that I will well
+and truly hold, and cause to be held, the privileges and liberties of
+all the nobles, towns, commons, and subjects which have been conferred
+upon them by my predecessors, and also the customs, usages and rights
+which they now have and enjoy, jointly and severally, and, moreover,
+that I will do all that by law and right pertains to a good and just
+prince and lord, so help me God and all His Saints."
+
+The alarm which the arbitrary government of the Emperor had inspired,
+and the distrust of his son, are already visible in the formula of this
+oath, which was drawn up in far more guarded and explicit terms than
+that which had been administered to Charles V. himself and all the Dukes
+in Burgundy. Philip, for instance, was compelled to swear to the
+maintenance of their customs and usages, what before his time had never
+been required. In the oath which the states took to him no other
+obedience was promised than such as should be consistent with the
+privileges of the country. His officers then were only to reckon on
+submission and support so long as they legally discharged the duties
+entrusted to them. Lastly, in this oath of allegiance, Philip is simply
+styled the natural, the hereditary prince, and not, as the Emperor had
+desired, sovereign or lord; proof enough how little confidence was
+placed in the justice and liberality of the new sovereign.
+
+
+
+
+         PHILIP II., RULER OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+Philip II. received the lordship of the Netherlands in the brightest
+period of their prosperity. He was the first of their princes who
+united them all under his authority. They now consisted of seventeen
+provinces; the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and Gueldres,
+the seven counties of Artois, Hainault, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen,
+Holland, and Zealand, the margravate of Antwerp, and the five lordships
+of Friesland, Mechlin (Malines), Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen,
+which, collectively, formed a great and powerful state able to contend
+with monarchies. Higher than it then stood their commerce could not
+rise. The sources of their wealth were above the earth's surface, but
+they were more valuable and inexhaustible and richer than all the mines
+in America. These seventeen provinces which, taken together, scarcely
+comprised the fifth part of Italy, and do not extend beyond three
+hundred Flemish miles, yielded an annual revenue to their lord, not much
+inferior to that which Britain formerly paid to its kings before the
+latter had annexed so many of the ecclesiastical domains to their crown.
+Three hundred and fifty cities, alive with industry and pleasure, many
+of them fortified by their natural position and secure without bulwarks
+or walls; six thousand three hundred market towns of a larger size;
+smaller villages, farms, and castles innumerable, imparted to this
+territory the aspect of one unbroken flourishing landscape. The nation
+had now reached the meridian of its splendor; industry and abundance had
+exalted the genius of the citizen, enlightened his ideas, ennobled his
+affections; every flower of the intellect had opened with the
+flourishing condition of the country. A happy temperament under a
+severe climate cooled the ardor of their blood, and moderated the rage
+of their passions; equanimity, moderation, and enduring patience, the
+gifts of a northern clime; integrity, justice, and faith, the necessary
+virtues of their profession; and the delightful fruits of liberty,
+truth, benevolence, and a patriotic pride were blended in their
+character, with a slight admixture of human frailties. No people on
+earth was more easily governed by a prudent prince, and none with more
+difficulty by a charlatan or a tyrant. Nowhere was the popular voice so
+infallible a test of good government as here. True statesmanship could
+be tried in no nobler school, and a sickly artificial policy had none
+worse to fear.
+
+A state constituted like this could act and endure with gigantic energy
+whenever pressing emergencies called forth its powers and a skilful and
+provident administration elicited its resources. Charles V. bequeathed
+to his successor an authority in these provinces little inferior to that
+of a limited monarchy. The prerogative of the crown had gained a
+visible ascendancy over the republican spirit, and that complicated
+machine could now be set in motion, almost as certainly and rapidly as
+the most absolutely governed nation. The numerous nobility, formerly so
+powerful, cheerfully accompanied their sovereign in his wars, or, on the
+civil changes of the state, courted the approving smile of royality.
+The crafty policy of the crown had created a new and imaginary good, of
+which it was the exclusive dispenser. New passions and new ideas of
+happiness supplanted at last the rude simplicity of republican virtue.
+Pride gave place to vanity, true liberty to titles of Honor, a needy
+independence to a luxurious servitude. To oppress or to plunder their
+native land as the absolute satraps of an absolute lord was a more
+powerful allurement for the avarice and ambition of the great, than in
+the general assembly of the state to share with the monarch a hundredth
+part of the supreme power. A large portion, moreover, of the nobility
+were deeply sunk in poverty and debt. Charles V. had crippled all the
+most dangerous vassals of the crown by expensive embassies to foreign
+courts, under the specious pretext of honorary distinctions. Thus,
+William of Orange was despatched to Germany with the imperial crown, and
+Count Egmont to conclude the marriage contract between Philip and Queen
+Mary. Both also afterwards accompanied the Duke of Alva to France to
+negotiate the peace between the two crowns, and the new alliance of
+their sovereign with Madame Elizabeth. The expenses of these journeys
+amounted to three hundred thousand florins, towards which the king did
+not contribute a single penny. When the Prince of Orange was appointed
+generalissimo in the place of the Duke of Savoy he was obliged to defray
+all the necessary expenses of his office. When foreign ambassadors or
+princes came to Brussels it was made incumbent on the nobles to maintain
+the honor of their king, who himself always dined alone, and never kept
+open table. Spanish policy had devised a still more ingenious
+contrivance gradually to impoverish the richest families of the land.
+Every year one of the Castilian nobles made his appearance in Brussels,
+where he displayed a lavish magnificence. In Brussels it was accounted
+an indelible disgrace to be distanced by a stranger in such munificence.
+All vied to surpass him, and exhausted their fortunes in this costly
+emulation, while the Spaniard made a timely retreat to his native
+country, and by the frugality of four years repaired the extravagance of
+one year. It was the foible of the Netherlandish nobility to contest
+with every stranger the credit of superior wealth, and of this weakness
+the government studiously availed itself. Certainly these arts did not
+in the sequel produce the exact result that had been calculated on; for
+these pecuniary burdens only made the nobility the more disposed for
+innovation, since he who has lost all can only be a gainer in the
+general ruin.
+
+The Roman Church had ever been a main support of the royal power, and it
+was only natural that it should be so. Its golden time was the bondage
+of the human intellect, and, like royalty, it had gained by the
+ignorance and weakness of men. Civil oppression made religion more
+necessary and more dear; submission to tyrannical power prepares the
+mind for a blind, convenient faith, and the hierarchy repaid with usury
+the services of despotism. In the provinces the bishops and prelates
+were zealous supporters of royalty, and ever ready to sacrifice the
+welfare of the citizen to the temporal advancement of the church and the
+political interests of the sovereign.
+
+Numerous and brave garrisons also held the cities in awe, which were
+at the same time divided by religious squabbles and factions, and
+consequently deprived of their strongest support--union among
+themselves. How little, therefore, did it require to insure this
+preponderance of Philip's power, and how fatal must have been the folly
+by which it was lost.
+
+But Philip's authority in these provinces, however great, did not
+surpass the influence which the Spanish monarchy at that time enjoyed
+throughout Europe. No state ventured to enter the arena of contest with
+it. France, its most dangerous neighbor, weakened by a destructive war,
+and still more by internal factions, which boldly raised their heads
+during the feeble government of a child, was advancing rapidly to that
+unhappy condition which, for nearly half a century, made it a theatre of
+the most enormous crimes and the most fearful calamities. In England
+Elizabeth could with difficulty protect her still tottering throne
+against the furious storms of faction, and her new church establishment
+against the insidious arts of the Romanists. That country still awaited
+her mighty call before it could emerge from a humble obscurity, and had
+not yet been awakened by the faulty policy of her rival to that vigor
+and energy with which it finally overthrew him. The imperial family of
+Germany was united with that of Spain by the double ties of blood and
+political interest; and the victorious progress of Soliman drew its
+attention more to the east than to the west of Europe. Gratitude and
+fear secured to Philip the Italian princes, and his creatures ruled the
+Conclave. The monarchies of the North still lay in barbarous darkness
+and obscurity, or only just began to acquire form and strength, and were
+as yet unrecognized in the political system of Europe. The most skilful
+generals, numerous armies accustomed to victory, a formidable marine,
+and the golden tribute from the West Indies, which now first began to
+come in regularly and certainly--what terrible instruments were these in
+the firm and steady hand of a talented prince Under such auspicious
+stars did King Philip commence his reign.
+
+Before we see him act we must first look hastily into the deep recesses
+of his soul, and we shall there find a key to his political life. Joy
+and benevolence were wholly wanting in the composition of his character.
+His temperament, and the gloomy years of his early childhood, denied him
+the former; the latter could not be imparted to him by men who had
+renounced the sweetest and most powerful of the social ties. Two ideas,
+his own self and what was above that self, engrossed his narrow and
+contracted mind. Egotism and religion were the contents and the
+title-page of the history of his whole life. He was a king and a
+Christian, and was bad in both characters; he never was a man among men,
+because he never condescended but only ascended. His belief was dark and
+cruel; for his divinity was a being of terror, from whom he had nothing
+to hope but everything to fear. To the ordinary man the divinity appears
+as a comforter, as a Saviour; before his mind it was set up as an image
+of fear, a painful, humiliating check to his human omnipotence. His
+veneration for this being was so much the more profound and deeply rooted
+the less it extended to other objects. He trembled servilely before God
+because God was the only being before whom he had to tremble. Charles V.
+was zealous for religion because religion promoted his objects. Philip
+was so because he had real faith in it. The former let loose the fire and
+the sword upon thousands for the sake of a dogma, while he himself, in
+the person of the pope, his captive, derided the very doctrine for which
+he had sacrificed so much human blood. It was only with repugnance and
+scruples of conscience that Philip resolved on the most just war against
+the pope, and resigned all the fruits of his victory as a penitent
+malefactor surrenders his booty. The Emperor was cruel from calculation,
+his son from impulse. The first possessed a strong and enlightened
+spirit, and was, perhaps, so much the worse as a man; the second was
+narrow-minded and weak, but the more upright.
+
+Both, however, as it appears to me, might have been better men than they
+actually were, and still, on the whole, have acted on the very same
+principles. What we lay to the charge of personal character of an
+individual is very often the infirmity, the necessary imperfection of
+universal human nature. A monarchy so great and so powerful was too
+great a trial for human pride, and too mighty a charge for human power.
+To combine universal happiness with the highest liberty of the
+individual is the sole prerogative of infinite intelligence, which
+diffuses itself omnipresently over all. But what resource has man
+when placed in the position of omnipotence? Man can only aid his
+circumscribed powers by classification; like the naturalist, he
+establishes certain marks and rules by which to facilitate his own
+feeble survey of the whole, to which all individualities must conform.
+All this is accomplished for him by religion. She finds hope and fear
+planted in every human breast; by making herself mistress of these
+emotions, and directing their affections to a single object, she
+virtually transforms millions of independent beings into one uniform
+abstract. The endless diversity of the human will no longer embarrasses
+its ruler--now there exists one universal good, one universal evil,
+which he can bring forward or withdraw at pleasure, and which works in
+unison with himself even when absent. Now a boundary is established
+before which liberty must halt; a venerable, hallowed line, towards
+which all the various conflicting inclinations of the will must finally
+converge. The common aim of despotism and of priestcraft is uniformity,
+and uniformity is a necessary expedient of human poverty and
+imperfection. Philip became a greater despot than his father because
+his mind was more contracted, or, in other words, he was forced to
+adhere the more scrupulously to general rules the less capable he was of
+descending to special and individual exceptions. What conclusion could
+we draw from these principles but that Philip II. could not possibly
+have any higher object of his solicitude than uniformity, both in
+religion and in laws, because without these he could not reign?
+
+And yet he would have shown more mildness and forbearance in his
+government if he had entered upon it earlier. In the judgment which is
+usually formed of this prince one circumstance does not appear to be
+sufficiently considered in the history of his mind and heart, which,
+however, in all fairness, ought to be duly weighed. Philip counted
+nearly thirty years when he ascended the Spanish throne, and the early
+maturity of his understanding had anticipated the period of his
+majority. A mind like his, conscious of its powers, and only too early
+acquainted with his high expectations, could not brook the yoke of
+childish subjection in which he stood; the superior genius of the
+father, and the absolute authority of the autocrat, must have weighed
+heavily on the self-satisfied pride of such a son. The share which the
+former allowed him in the government of the empire was just important
+enough to disengage his mind from petty passions and to confirm the
+austere gravity of his character, but also meagre enough to kindle a
+fiercer longing for unlimited power. When he actually became possessed
+of uncontrolled authority it had lost the charm of novelty. The sweet
+intoxication of a young monarch in the sudden and early possession of
+supreme power; that joyous tumult of emotions which opens the soul to
+every softer sentiment, and to which humanity has owed so many of the
+most valuable and the most prized of its institutions; this pleasing
+moment had for him long passed by, or had never existed. His character
+was already hardened when fortune put him to this severe test, and his
+settled principles withstood the collision of occasional emotion. He had
+had time, during fifteen years, to prepare himself for the change; and
+instead of youthful dallying with the external symbols of his new
+station, or of losing the morning of his government in the intoxication
+of an idle vanity, he remained composed and serious enough to enter at
+once on the full possession of his power so as to revenge himself
+through the most extensive employment of it for its having been so long
+withheld from him.
+
+
+
+
+           THE TRIBUNAL OF THE INQUISITION
+
+Philip II. no sooner saw himself, through the peace of Chateau-Cambray,
+in undisturbed enjoyment of his immense territory than he turned his
+whole attention to the great work of purifying religion, and verified
+the fears of his Netherlandish subjects. The ordinances which his
+father had caused to be promulgated against heretics were renewed in all
+their rigor, and terrible tribunals, to whom nothing but the name of
+inquisition was wanting, were appointed to watch over their execution.
+But his plan appeared to him scarcely more than half-fulfilled so long
+as he could not transplant into these countries the Spanish Inquisition
+in its perfect form--a design in which the Emperor had already suffered
+shipwreck.
+
+The Spanish Inquisition is an institution of a new and peculiar kind,
+which finds no prototype in the whole course of time, and admits of
+comparison with no ecclesiastical or civil tribunal. Inquisition had
+existed from the time when reason meddled with what is holy, and from
+the very commencement of scepticism and innovation; but it was in the
+middle of the thirteenth century, after some examples of apostasy had
+alarmed the hierarchy, that Innocent III. first erected for it a
+peculiar tribunal, and separated, in an unnatural manner, ecclesiastical
+superintendence and instruction from its judicial and retributive
+office. In order to be the more sure that no human sensibilities or
+natural tenderness should thwart the stern severity of its statutes, he
+took it out of the hands of the bishops and secular clergy, who, by the
+ties of civil life, were still too much attached to humanity for his
+purpose, and consigned it to those of the monks, a half-denaturalized
+race of beings who had abjured the sacred feelings, of nature, and were
+the servile tools of the Roman See. The Inquisition was received in
+Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France; a Franciscan monk sat as
+judge in the terrible court, which passed sentence on the Templars. A
+few states succeeded either in totally excluding or else in subjecting
+it to civil authority. The Netherlands had remained free from it until
+the government of Charles V.; their bishops exercised the spiritual
+censorship, and in extraordinary cases reference was made to foreign
+courts of inquisition; by the French provinces to that of Paris, by the
+Germans to that of Cologne.
+
+But the Inquisition which we are here speaking of came from the west of
+Europe, and was of a different origin and form. The last Moorish throne
+in Granada had fallen in the fifteenth century, and the false faith of
+the Saracens had finally succumbed before the fortunes of Christianity.
+But the gospel was still new, and but imperfectly established in this
+youngest of Christian kingdoms, and in the confused mixture of
+heterogeneous laws and manners the religions had become mixed. It is
+true the sword of persecution had driven many thousand families to
+Africa, but a far larger portion, detained by the love of climate and
+home, purchased remission from this dreadful necessity by a show of
+conversion, and continued at Christian altars to serve Mohammed and
+Moses. So long as prayers were offered towards Mecca, Granada was not
+subdued; so long as the new Christian, in the retirement of his house,
+became again a Jew or a Moslem, he was as little secured to the throne
+as to the Romish See. It was no longer deemed sufficient to compel a
+perverse people to adopt the exterior forms of a new faith, or to wed it
+to the victorious church by the weak bands of ceremonials; the object
+now was to extirpate the roots of an old religion, and to subdue an
+obstinate bias which, by the slow operation of centuries, had been
+implanted in their manners, their language, and their laws, and by the
+enduring influence of a paternal soil and sky was still maintained in
+its full extent and vigor.
+
+If the church wished to triumph completely over the opposing worship,
+and to secure her new conquest beyond all chance of relapse, it was
+indispensable that she should undermine the foundation itself on which
+the old religion was built. It was necessary to break to pieces the
+entire form of moral character to which it was so closely and intimately
+attached. It was requisite to loosen its secret roots from the hold
+they had taken in. the innermost depths of the soul; to extinguish all
+traces of it, both in domestic life and in the civil world; to cause all
+recollection of it to perish; and, if possible, to destroy the very
+susceptibility for its impressions. Country and family, conscience and
+honor, the sacred feelings of society and of nature, are ever the first
+and immediate ties to which religion attaches itself; from these it
+derives while it imparts strength. This connection was now to be
+dissolved; the old religion was violently to be dissevered from the holy
+feelings of nature, even at the expense of the sanctity itself of these
+emotions. Thus arose that Inquisition which, to distinguish it from the
+more humane tribunals of the same name, we usually call the Spanish.
+Its founder was Cardinal Ximenes, a Dominican monk. Torquemada was the
+first who ascended its bloody throne, who established its statutes, and
+forever cursed his order with this bequest. Sworn to the degradation of
+the understanding and the murder of intellect, the instruments it
+employed were terror and infamy. Every evil passion was in its pay; its
+snare was set in every joy of life. Solitude itself was not safe from
+it; the fear of its omnipresence fettered the freedom of the soul in its
+inmost and deepest recesses. It prostrated all the instincts of human
+nature before it yielded all the ties which otherwise man held most
+sacred. A heretic forfeited all claims upon his race; the most trivial
+infidelity to his mother church divested him of the rights of his
+nature. A modest doubt in the infallibility of the pope met with the
+punishment of parricide and the infamy of sodomy; its sentences
+resembled the frightful corruption of the plague, which turns the most
+healthy body into rapid putrefaction. Even the inanimate things
+belonging to a heretic were accursed. No destiny could snatch the
+victim of the Inquisition from its sentence. Its decrees were carried
+in force on corpses and on pictures, and the grave itself was no asylum
+from its tremendous arm. The presumptuous arrogance of its decrees
+could only be surpassed by the inhumanity which executed them. By
+coupling the ludicrous with the terrible, and by amusing the eye with
+the strangeness of its processions, it weakened compassion by the
+gratification of another feeling; it drowned sympathy in derision and
+contempt. The delinquent was conducted with solemn pomp to the place of
+execution, a blood-red flag was displayed before him, the universal
+clang of all the bells accompanied the procession. First came the
+priests, in the robes of the Mass and singing a sacred hymn; next
+followed the condemned sinner, clothed in a yellow vest, covered with
+figures of black devils. On his head he wore a paper cap, surmounted by
+a human figure, around which played lambent flames of fire, and ghastly
+demons flitted. The image of the crucified Saviour was carried before,
+but turned away from the eternally condemned sinner, for whom salvation
+was no longer available. His mortal body belonged to the material fire,
+his immortal soul to the flames of bell. A gag closed his mouth, and
+prevented him from alleviating his pain by lamentations, from awakening
+compassion by his affecting tale, and from divulging the secrets of the
+holy tribunal. He was followed by the clergy in festive robes, by the
+magistrates, and the nobility; the fathers who had been his judges
+closed the awful procession. It seemed like a solemn funeral
+procession, but on looking for the corpse on its way to the grave,
+behold! it was a living body whose groans are now to afford such
+shuddering entertainment to the people. The executions were generally
+held on the high festivals, for which a number of such unfortunate
+sufferers were reserved in the prisons of the holy house, in order to
+enhance the rejoicing by the multitude of the victims, and on these
+occasions the king himself was usually present. He sat with uncovered
+head, on a lower chair than that of the Grand Inquisitor, to whom, on
+such occasions, he yielded precedence; who, then, would not tremble
+before a tribunal at which majesty must humble itself?
+
+The great revolution in the church accomplished by Luther and Calvin
+renewed the causes to which this tribunal owed its first origin; and
+that which, at its commencement, was invented to clear the petty kingdom
+of Granada from the feeble remnant of Saracens and Jews was now required
+for the whole of Christendom. All the Inquisitions in Portugal, Italy,
+Germany, and France adopted the form of the Spanish; it followed
+Europeans to the Indies, and established in Goa a fearful tribunal,
+whose inhuman proceedings make us shudder even at the bare recital.
+Wherever it planted its foot devastation followed; but in no part of the
+world did it rage so violently as in Spain. The victims are forgotten
+whom it immolated; the human race renews itself, and the lands, too,
+flourish again which it has devastated and depopulated by its fury; but
+centuries will elapse before its traces disappear from the Spanish
+character. A generous and enlightened nation has been stopped by it on
+its road to perfection; it has banished genius from a region where it
+was indigenous, and a stillness like that which hangs over the grave has
+been left in the mind of a people who, beyond most others of our world,
+were framed for happiness and enjoyment.
+
+The first Inquisitor in Brabant was appointed by Charles V. in the year
+1522. Some priests were associated with him as coadjutors; but he
+himself was a layman. After the death of Adrian VI., his successor,
+Clement VII., appointed three Inquisitors for all the Netherlands; and
+Paul III. again reduced them to two, which number continued until the
+commencement of the troubles. In the year 1530, with the aid and
+approbation of the states, the edicts against heretics were promulgated,
+which formed the foundation of all that followed, and in which, also,
+express mention is made of the Inquisition. In the year 1550, in
+consequence of the rapid increase of sects, Charles V. was under the
+necessity of reviving and enforcing these edicts, and it was on this
+occasion that the town of Antwerp opposed the establishment of the
+Inquisition, and obtained an exemption from its jurisdiction. But the
+spirit of the Inquisition in the Netherlands, in accordance with the
+genius of the country, was more humane than in Spain, and as yet had
+never been administered by a foreigner, much less by a Dominican. The
+edicts which were known to everybody served it as the rule of its
+decisions. On this very account it was less obnoxious; because, however
+severe its sentence, it did not appear a tool of arbitrary power, and it
+did not, like the Spanish Inquisition, veil itself in secrecy.
+
+Philip, however, was desirous of introducing the latter tribunal into
+the Netherlands, since it appeared to him the instrument best adapted to
+destroy the spirit of this people, and to prepare them for a despotic
+government. He began, therefore, by increasing the rigor of the
+religious ordinances of his father; by gradually extending the power of
+the inquisitors; by making the proceedings more arbitrary, and more
+independent of the civil jurisdiction. The tribunal soon wanted little
+more than the name and the Dominicans to resemble in every point the
+Spanish Inquisition. Bare suspicion was enough to snatch a citizen from
+the bosom of public tranquillity, and from his domestic circle; and the
+weakest evidence was a sufficient justification for the use of the rack.
+Whoever fell into its abyss returned no more to the world. All the
+benefits of the laws ceased for him; the maternal care of justice no
+longer noticed him; beyond the pale of his former world malice and
+stupidity judged him according to laws which were never intended for
+man. The delinquent never knew his accuser, and very seldom his crime,
+--a flagitious, devilish artifice which constrained the unhappy victim
+to guess at his error, and in the delirium of the rack, or in the
+weariness of a long living interment, to acknowledge transgressions
+which, perhaps, had never been committed, or at least had never come
+to the knowledge of his judges. The goods of the condemned were
+confiscated, and the informer encouraged by letters of grace and
+rewards. No privilege, no civil jurisdiction was valid against the holy
+power; the secular arm lost forever all whom that power had once
+touched. Its only share in the judicial duties of the latter was to
+execute its sentences with humble submissiveness. The consequences of
+such an institution were, of necessity, unnatural and horrible; the
+whole temporal happiness, the life itself, of an innocent man was at
+the mercy of any worthless fellow. Every secret enemy, every envious
+person, had now the perilous temptation of an unseen and unfailing
+revenge. The security of property, the sincerity of intercourse were
+gone; all the ties of interest were dissolved; all of blood and of
+affection were irreparably broken. An infectious distrust envenomed
+social life; the dreaded presence of a spy terrified the eye from
+seeing, and choked the voice in the midst of utterance. No one believed
+in the existence of an honest man, or passed for one himself. Good
+name, the ties of country, brotherhood, even oaths, and all that man
+holds sacred, were fallen in estimation. Such was the destiny to which
+a great and flourishing commercial town was subjected, where one hundred
+thousand industrious men had been brought together by the single tie of
+mutual confidence,--every one indispensable to his neighbor, yet every
+one distrusted and distrustful,--all attracted by the spirit of gain,
+and repelled from each other by fear,--all the props of society torn
+away, where social union was the basis of all life and all existence.
+
+
+
+
+    OTHER ENCROACHMENTS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+No wonder if so unnatural a tribunal, which had proved intolerable even
+to the more submissive spirit of the Spaniard, drove a free state to
+rebellion. But the terror which it inspired was increased by the
+Spanish troops, which, even after the restoration of peace, were kept in
+the country, and, in violation of the constitution, garrisoned border
+towns. Charles V. had been forgiven for this introduction of foreign
+troops so long as the necessity of it was evident, and his good
+intentions were less distrusted. But now men saw in these troops only
+the alarming preparations of oppression and the instruments of a
+detested hierarchy. Moreover, a considerable body of cavalry, composed
+of natives, and fully adequate for the protection of the country, made
+these foreigners superfluous. The licentiousness and rapacity, too,
+of the Spaniards, whose pay was long in arrear, and who indemnified
+themselves at the expense of the citizens, completed the exasperation of
+the people, and drove the lower orders to despair. Subsequently, when
+the general murmur induced the government to move them from the
+frontiers and transport them into the islands of Zealand, where ships
+were prepared for their deportation, their excesses were carried to such
+a pitch that the inhabitants left off working at the embankments, and
+preferred to abandon their native country to the fury of the sea rather
+than to submit any longer to the wanton brutality of these lawless
+bands.
+
+Philip, indeed, would have wished to retain these Spaniards in the
+country, in order by their presence to give weight to his edicts,
+and to support the innovations which he had resolved to make in the
+constitution of the Netherlands. He regarded them as a guarantee for
+the submission of the nation and as a chain by which he held it captive.
+Accordingly, he left no expedient untried to evade the persevering
+importunity of the states, who demanded the withdrawal of these troops;
+and for this end he exhausted all the resources of chicanery and
+persuasion. At one time he pretended to dread a sudden invasion by
+France, although, torn by furious factions, that country could scarce
+support itself against a domestic enemy; at another time they were, he
+said, to receive his son, Don Carlos, on the frontiers; whom, however,
+he never intended should leave Castile. Their maintenance should not be
+a burden to the nation; he himself would disburse all their expenses
+from his private purse. In order to detain them with the more
+appearance of reason he purposely kept back from them their arrears of
+pay; for otherwise he would assuredly have preferred them to the troops
+of the country, whose demands he fully satisfied. To lull the fears of
+the nation, and to appease the general discontent, he offered the chief
+command of these troops to the two favorites of the people, the Prince
+of Orange and Count Egmont. Both, however, declined his offer, with the
+noble-minded declaration that they could never make up their minds to
+serve contrary to the laws of the country. The more desire the king
+showed to have his Spaniards in the country the more obstinately the
+states insisted on their removal. In the following Diet at Ghent he was
+compelled, in the very midst of his courtiers, to listen to republican
+truth. "Why are foreign hands needed for our defence?" demanded the
+Syndic of Ghent. "Is it that the rest of the world should consider us
+too stupid, or too cowardly, to protect ourselves? Why have we made
+peace if the burdens of war are still to oppress us? In war necessity
+enforced endurance; in peace our patience is exhausted by its burdens.
+Or shall we be able to keep in order these licentious bands which thine
+own presence could not restrain? Here, Cambray and Antwerp cry for
+redress; there, Thionville and Marienburg lie waste; and, surely, thou
+hast not bestowed upon us peace that our cities should become deserts,
+as they necessarily must if thou freest them not from these destroyers?
+Perhaps then art anxious to guard against surprise from our neighbors?
+This precaution is wise; but the report of their preparations will long
+outrun their hostilities. Why incur a heavy expense to engage
+foreigners who will not care for a country which they must leave
+to-morrow? Hast thou not still at thy command the same brave
+Netherlanders to whom thy father entrusted the republic in far more
+troubled times? Why shouldest thou now doubt their loyalty, which, to
+thy ancestors, they have preserved for so many centuries inviolate?
+Will not they be sufficient to sustain the war long enough to give time
+to thy confederates to join their banners, or to thyself to send succor
+from the neighboring country?" This language was too new to the king,
+and its truth too obvious for him to be able at once to reply to it.
+"I, also, am a foreigner," he at length exclaimed, "and they would like,
+I suppose, to expel me from the country!" At the same time he descended
+from the throne, and left the assembly; but the speaker was pardoned for
+his boldness. Two days afterwards he sent a message to the states that
+if he had been apprised earlier that these troops were a burden to them
+he would have immediately made preparation to remove them with himself
+to Spain. Now it was too late, for they would not depart unpaid; but he
+pledged them his most sacred promise that they should not be oppressed
+with this burden more than four months. Nevertheless, the troops
+remained in this country eighteen months instead of four; and would not,
+perhaps, even then have left it so soon if the exigencies of the state
+had not made their presence indispensable in another part of the world.
+
+The illegal appointment of foreigners to the most important offices of
+the country afforded further occasion of complaint against the
+government. Of all the privileges of the provinces none was so
+obnoxious to the Spaniards as that which excluded strangers from office,
+and none they had so zealously sought to abrogate. Italy, the two
+Indies, and all the provinces of this vast Empire, were indeed open to
+their rapacity and ambition; but from the richest of them all an
+inexorable fundamental law excluded them. They artfully persuaded their
+sovereign that his power in these countries would never be firmly
+established so long as he could not employ foreigners as his
+instruments. The Bishop of Arras, a Burgundian by birth, had already
+been illegally forced upon the Flemings; and now the Count of Feria, a
+Castilian, was to receive a seat and voice in the council of state. But
+this attempt met with a bolder resistance than the king's flatterers had
+led him to expect, and his despotic omnipotence was this time wrecked by
+the politic measures of William of Orange and the firmness of the
+states.
+
+
+
+
+          WILLIAM OF ORANGE AND COUNT EGMONT.
+
+By such measures, did Philip usher in his government of the Netherlands,
+and such were the grievances of the nation when he was preparing to
+leave them. He had long been impatient to quit a country where he was a
+stranger, where there was so much that opposed his secret wishes, and
+where his despotic mind found such undaunted monitors to remind him of
+the laws of freedom. The peace with France at last rendered a longer
+stay unnecessary; the armaments of Soliman required his presence in the
+south, and the Spaniards also began to miss their long-absent king. The
+choice of a supreme Stadtholder for the Netherlands was the principal
+matter which still detained him. Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, had
+filled this place since the resignation of Mary, Queen of Hungary,
+which, however, so long as the king himself was present, conferred more
+honor than real influence. His absence would make it the most important
+office in the monarchy, and the most splendid aim for the ambition of a
+subject. It had now become vacant through the departure of the duke,
+whom the peace of Chateau-Cambray had restored to his dominions. The
+almost unlimited power with which the supreme Statholder would be
+entrusted, the capacity and experience which so extensive and delicate
+an appointment required, but, especially, the daring designs which the
+government had in contemplation against the freedom of the country, the
+execution of which would devolve on him, necessarily embarrassed the
+choice. The law, which excluded all foreigners from office, made an
+exception in the case of the supreme Stadtholder. As he could not be at
+the same time a native of all the provinces, it was allowable for him
+not to belong to any one of them; for the jealousy of the man of Brabant
+would concede no greater right to a Fleming, whose home was half a mile
+from his frontier, than to a Sicilian, who lived in another soil and
+under a different sky. But here the interests of the crown itself
+seemed to favor the appointment of a native. A Brabanter, for instance,
+who enjoyed the full confidence of his countrymen if he were a traitor
+would have half accomplished his treason before a foreign governor could
+have overcome the mistrust with which his most insignificant measures
+would be watched. If the government should succeed in carrying through
+its designs in one province, the opposition of the rest would then be a
+temerity, which it would be justified in punishing in the severest
+manner. In the common whole which the provinces now formed their
+individual constitutions were, in a measure, destroyed; the obedience of
+one would be a law for all, and the privilege, which one knew not how to
+preserve, was lost for the rest.
+
+Among the Flemish nobles who could lay claim to the Chief
+Stadtholdership, the expectations and wishes of the nation were divided
+between Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange, who were alike qualified
+for this high dignity by illustrious birth and personal merits, and by
+an equal share in the affections of the people. Their high rank placed
+them both near to the throne, and if the choice of the monarch was to
+rest on the worthiest it must necessarily fall upon one of these two.
+As, in the course of our history, we shall often have occasion to
+mention both names, the reader cannot be too early made acquainted with
+their characters.
+
+William I., Prince of Orange, was descended from the princely German
+house of Nassau, which had already flourished eight centuries, had long
+disputed the preeminence with Austria, and had given one Emperor to
+Germany. Besides several extensive domains in the Netherlands, which
+made him a citizen of this republic and a vassal of the Spanish
+monarchy, he possessed also in France the independent princedom of
+Orange. William was born in the year 1533, at Dillenburg, in the
+country of Nassau, of a Countess Stolberg. His father, the Count of
+Nassau, of the same name, had embraced the Protestant religion, and
+caused his son also to be educated in it; but Charles V., who early
+formed an attachment for the boy, took him when quite young to his
+court, and had him brought up in the Romish church. This monarch, who
+already in the child discovered the future greatness of the man, kept
+him nine years about his person, thought him worthy of his personal
+instruction in the affairs of government, and honored him with a
+confidence beyond his years. He alone was permitted to remain in the
+Emperor's presence when he gave audience to foreign ambassadors--a proof
+that, even as a boy, he had already begun to merit the surname of the
+Silent. The Emperor was not ashamed even to confess openly, on one
+occasion, that this young man had often made suggestions which would
+have escaped his own sagacity. What expectations might not be formed of
+the intellect of a man who was disciplined in such a school.
+
+William was twenty-three years old when Charles abdicated the
+government, and had already received from the latter two public marks of
+the highest esteem. The Emperor had entrusted to him, in preference to
+all the nobles of his court, the honorable office of conveying to his
+brother Ferdinand the imperial crown. When the Duke of Savoy, who
+commanded the imperial army in the Netherlands, was called away to Italy
+by the exigency of his domestic affairs, the Emperor appointed him
+commander-in-chief against the united representations of his military
+council, who declared it altogether hazardous to oppose so young a tyro
+in arms to the experienced generals of France. Absent, and
+unrecommended by any, he was preferred by the monarch to the
+laurel-crowned band of his heroes, and the result gave him no cause
+to repent of his choice.
+
+The marked favor which the prince had enjoyed with the father was in
+itself a sufficient ground for his exclusion from the confidence of the
+son. Philip, it appears, had laid it down for himself as a rule to
+avenge the wrongs of the Spanish nobility for the preference which
+Charles V. had on all important occasions shown to his Flemish nobles.
+Still stronger, however, were the secret motives which alienated him
+from the prince. William of Orange was one of those lean and pale men
+who, according to Caesar's words, "sleep not at night, and think too
+much," and before whom the most fearless spirits quail.
+
+The calm tranquillity of a never-varying countenance concealed a busy,
+ardent soul, which never ruffled even the veil behind which it worked,
+and was alike inaccessible to artifice and love; a versatile,
+formidable, indefatigable mind, soft, and ductile enough to be
+instantaneously moulded into all forms; guarded enough to lose itself in
+none; and strong enough to endure every vicissitude of fortune. A
+greater master in reading and in winning men's hearts never existed than
+William. Not that, after the fashion of courts, his lips avowed a
+servility to which his proud heart gave the lie; but because he was
+neither too sparing nor too lavish of the marks of his esteem, and
+through a skilful economy of the favors which mostly bind men, he
+increased his real stock in them. The fruits of his meditation were as
+perfect as they were slowly formed; his resolves were as steadily and
+indomitably accomplished as they were long in maturing. No obstacles
+could defeat the plan which he had once adopted as the best; no
+accidents frustrated it, for they all had been foreseen before they
+actually occurred. High as his feelings were raised above terror and
+joy, they were, nevertheless, subject in the same degree to fear; but
+his fear was earlier than the danger, and he was calm in tumult because
+he had trembled in repose. William lavished his gold with a profuse
+hand, but he was a niggard of his movements. The hours of repast were
+the sole hours of relaxation, but these were exclusively devoted to his
+heart, his family, and his friends; this the modest deduction he allowed
+himself from the cares of his country. Here his brow was cleared with
+wine, seasoned by temperance and a cheerful disposition; and no serious
+cares were permitted to enter this recess of enjoyment. His household
+was magnificent; the splendor of a numerous retinue, the number and
+respectability of those who surrounded his person, made his habitation
+resemble the court of a sovereign prince. A sumptuous hospitality, that
+master-spell of demagogues, was the goddess of his palace. Foreign
+princes and ambassadors found here a fitting reception and
+entertainment, which surpassed all that luxurious Belgium could
+elsewhere offer. A humble submissiveness to the government bought off
+the blame and suspicion which this munificence might have thrown on his
+intentions. But this liberality secured for him the affections of the
+people, whom nothing gratified so much as to see the riches of their
+country displayed before admiring foreigners, and the high pinnacle of
+fortune on which he stood enhanced the value of the courtesy to which he
+condescended. No one, probably, was better fitted by nature for the
+leader of a conspiracy than William the Silent. A comprehensive and
+intuitive glance into the past, the present, and the future; the talent
+for improving every favorable opportunity; a commanding influence over
+the minds of men, vast schemes which only when viewed from a distance
+show form and symmetry; and bold calculations which were wound up in the
+long chain of futurity; all these faculties he possessed, and kept,
+moreover, under the control of that free and enlightened virtue which
+moves with firm step even on the very edge of the abyss.
+
+A man like this might at other times have remained unfathomed by his
+whole generation; but not so by the distrustful spirit of the age in
+which he lived. Philip II. saw quickly and deeply into a character
+which, among good ones, most resembled his own. If he had not seen
+through him so clearly his distrust of a man, in whom were united nearly
+all the qualities which he prized highest and could best appreciate,
+would be quite inexplicable. But William had another and still more
+important point of contact with Philip II. He had learned his policy
+from the same master, and had become, it was to be feared, a more apt
+scholar. Not by making Machiavelli's 'Prince' his study, but by having
+enjoyed the living instruction of a monarch who reduced the book to
+practice, had he become versed in the perilous arts by which thrones
+rise and fall. In him Philip had to deal with an antagonist who was
+armed against his policy, and who in a good cause could also command the
+resources of a bad one. And it was exactly this last circumstance which
+accounts for his having hated this man so implacably above all others of
+his day, and his having had so supernatural a dread of him.
+
+The suspicion which already attached to the prince was increased by the
+doubts which were entertained of his religious bias. So long as the
+Emperor, his benefactor, lived, William believed in the pope; but it was
+feared, with good ground, that the predilection for the reformed
+religion, which had been imparted into his young heart, had never
+entirely left it. Whatever church he may at certain periods of his life
+have preferred each might console itself with the reflection that none
+other possessed him more entirely. In later years he went over to
+Calvinism with almost as little scruple as in his early childhood he
+deserted the Lutheran profession for the Romish. He defended the rights
+of the Protestants rather than their opinions against Spanish
+oppression; not their faith, but their wrongs, had made him their
+brother.
+
+These general grounds for suspicion appeared to be justified by a
+discovery of his real intentions which accident had made. William had
+remained in France as hostage for the peace of Chateau-Cambray, in
+concluding which he had borne a part; and here, through the imprudence
+of Henry II., who imagined he spoke with a confidant of the King of
+Spain, he became acquainted with a secret plot which the French and
+Spanish courts had formed against Protestants of both kingdoms. The
+prince hastened to communicate this important discovery to his friends
+in Brussels, whom it so nearly concerned, and the letters which he
+exchanged on the subject fell, unfortunately, into the hands of the King
+of Spain. Philip was less surprised at this decisive disclosure of
+William's sentiments than incensed at the disappointment of his scheme;
+and the Spanish nobles, who had never forgiven the prince that moment,
+when in the last act of his life the greatest of Emperors leaned upon
+his shoulders, did not neglect this favorable opportunity of finally
+ruining, in the good opinion of their king, the betrayer of a state
+secret.
+
+Of a lineage no less noble than that of William was Lamoral, Count
+Egmont and Prince of Gavre, a descendant of the Dukes of Gueldres, whose
+martial courage had wearied out the arms of Austria. His family was
+highly distinguished in the annals of the country; one of his ancestors,
+had, under Maximilian, already filled the office of Stadtholder over
+Holland. Egmont's marriage with the Duchess Sabina of Bavaria reflected
+additional lustre on the splendor of his birth, and made him powerful
+through the greatness of this alliance. Charles V. had, in the year
+1516, conferred on him at Utrecht the order of the Golden Fleece; the
+wars of this Emperor were the school of his military genius, and the
+battle of St. Quentin and Gravelines made him the hero of his age.
+Every blessing of peace, for which a commercial people feel most
+grateful, brought to mind the remembrance of the victory by which it was
+accelerated, and Flemish pride, like a fond mother, exulted over the
+illustrious son of their country, who had filled all Europe with
+admiration. Nine children who grew up under the eyes of their
+fellow-citizens, multiplied and drew closer the ties between him and his
+fatherland, and the people's grateful affection for the father was kept
+alive by the sight of those who were dearest to him. Every appearance
+of Egmont in public was a triumphal procession; every eye which was
+fastened upon him recounted his history; his deeds lived in the plaudits
+of his companions-in-arms; at the games of chivalry mothers pointed him
+out to their children. Affability, a noble and courteous demeanor, the
+amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits. His liberal
+soul shone forth on his open brow; his frank-heartedness managed his
+secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a thought was
+no sooner his than it was the property of all. His religion was gentle
+and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its light from
+the heart and not from, his understanding. Egmont possessed more of
+conscience than of fixed principles; his head had not given him a code
+of its own, but had merely learnt it by rote; the mere name of any
+action, therefore, was often with him sufficient for its condemnation.
+In his judgment men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not
+something bad or something good; in this system of morals there was no
+middle term between vice and virtue; and consequently a single good
+trait often decided his opinion of men. Egmont united all the eminent
+qualities which form the hero; he was a better soldier than the Prince
+of Orange, but far inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the
+world as it really was; Egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an
+imagination that embellished all that it reflected. Men, whom fortune
+has surprised with a reward for which they can find no adequate ground
+in their actions, are, for the most part, very apt to forget the
+necessary connection between cause and effect, and to insert in the
+natural consequences of things a higher miraculous power to which, as
+Caesar to his fortune, they at last insanely trust. Such a character
+was Egmont. Intoxicated with the idea of his own merits, which the love
+and gratitude of his fellow-citizens had exaggerated, he staggered on in
+this sweet reverie as in a delightful world of dreams. He feared not,
+because he trusted to the deceitful pledge which destiny had given him
+of her favor, in the general love of the people; and he believed in its
+justice because he himself was prosperous. Even the most terrible
+experience of Spanish perfidy could not afterwards eradicate this
+confidence from his soul, and on the scaffold itself his latest feeling
+was hope. A tender fear for his family kept his patriotic courage
+fettered by lower duties. Because he trembled for property and life he
+could not venture much for the republic. William of Orange broke with
+the throne because its arbitrary power was offensive to his pride;
+Egmont was vain, and therefore valued the favors of the monarch. The
+former was a citizen of the world; Egmont had never been more than a
+Fleming.
+
+Philip II. still stood indebted to the hero of St. Quentin, and the
+supreme stadtholdership of the Netherlands appeared the only appropriate
+reward for such great services. Birth and high station, the voice of
+the nation and personal abilities, spoke as loudly for Egmont as for
+Orange; and if the latter was to be passed by it seemed that the former
+alone could supplant him.
+
+Two such competitors, so equal in merit, might have embarrassed Philip
+in his choice if he had ever seriously thought of selecting either of
+them for the appointment. But the pre-eminent qualities by which they
+supported their claim to this office were the very cause of their
+rejection; and it was precisely the ardent desire of the nation for
+their election to it that irrevocably annulled their title to the
+appointment. Philip's purpose would not be answered by a stadtholder in
+the Netherlands who could command the good-will and the energies of the
+people. Egmont's descent from the Duke of Gueldres made him an
+hereditary foe of the house of Spain, and it seemed impolitic to place
+the supreme power in the hands of a man to whom the idea might occur of
+revenging on the son of the oppressor the oppression of his ancestor.
+The slight put on their favorites could give no just offence either to
+the nation or to themselves, for it might be pretended that the king
+passed over both because he would not show a preference to either.
+
+The disappointment of his hopes of gaining the regency did not deprive
+the Prince of Orange of all expectation of establishing more firmly his
+influence in the Netherlands. Among the other candidates for this
+office was also Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and aunt of the king,
+who, as mediatrix of the peace of Chateau-Cambray, had rendered
+important service to the crown. William aimed at the hand of her
+daughter, and he hoped to promote his suit by actively interposing his
+good offices for the mother; but he did not reflect that through this
+very intercession he ruined her cause. The Duchess Christina was
+rejected, not so much for the reason alleged, namely, the dependence of
+her territories on France made her an object of suspicion to the Spanish
+court, as because she was acceptable to the people of the Netherlands
+and the Prince of Orange.
+
+
+
+
+        MARGARET OF PARMA REGENT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+While the general expectation was on the stretch as to whom the fature
+destines of the provinces would be committed, there appeared on the
+frontiers of the country the Duchess Margaret of Parma, having been
+summoned by the king from Italy to assume the government.
+
+Margaret was a natural daughter of Charles V. and of a noble Flemish
+lady named Vangeest, and born in 1522.
+
+Out of regard for the honor of her mother's house she was at first
+educated in obscurity; but her mother, who possessed more vanity than
+honor, was not very anxious to preserve the secret of her origin, and a
+princely education betrayed the daughter of the Emperor. While yet a
+child she was entrusted to the Regent Margaret, her great-aunt, to be
+brought up at Brussels under her eye. This guardian she lost in her
+eighth year, and the care of her education devolved on Queen Mary of
+Hungary, the successor of Margaret in the regency. Her father had
+already affianced her, while yet in her fourth year, to a Prince of
+Ferrara; but this alliance being subsequently dissolved, she was
+betrothed to Alexander de Medicis, the new Duke of Florence, which
+marriage was, after the victorious return of the Emperor from Africa,
+actually consummated in Naples. In the first year of this unfortunate
+union, a violent death removed from her a husband who could not love
+her, and for the third time her hand was disposed of to serve the policy
+of her father. Octavius Farnese, a prince of thirteen years of age and
+nephew of Paul III., obtained, with her person, the Duchies of Parma and
+Piacenza as her portion. Thus, by a strange destiny, Margaret at the
+age of maturity was contracted to a boy, as in the years of infancy she
+had been sold to a man. Her disposition, which was anything but
+feminine, made this last alliance still more unnatural, for her taste
+and inclinations were masculine, and the whole tenor of her life belied
+her sex. After the example of her instructress, the Queen of Hungary,
+and her great-aunt, the Duchess Mary of Burgundy, who met her death in
+this favorite sport, she was passionately fond of hunting, and had
+acquired in this pursuit such bodily vigor that few men were better able
+to undergo its hardships and fatigues.
+
+Her gait itself was so devoid of grace that one was far more tempted to
+take her for a disguised man than for a masculine woman; and Nature,
+whom she had derided by thus transgressing the limits of her sex,
+revenged itself finally upon her by a disease peculiar to men--the gout.
+
+These unusual qualities were crowned by a monkish superstition which was
+infused into her mind by Ignatius Loyola, her confessor and teacher.
+Among the charitable works and penances with which she mortified her
+vanity, one of the most remarkable was that, during Passion-Week she
+yearly washed, with her own hands, the feet of a number of poor men (who
+were most strictly forbidden to cleanse themselves beforehand), waited
+on them at table like a servant, and sent them away with rich presents.
+
+Nothing more is requisite than this last feature in her character to
+account for the preference which the king gave her over all her rivals;
+but his choice was at the same time justified by excellent reasons of
+state. Margaret was born and also educated in the Netherlands. She had
+spent her early youth among the people, and had acquired much of their
+national manners. Two regents (Duchess Margaret and Queen Mary of
+Hungary), under whose eyes she had grown up, had gradually initiated her
+into the maxims by which this peculiar people might be most easily
+governed; and they would also serve her as models. She did not want
+either in talents; and possessed, moreover, a particular turn for
+business, which she had acquired from her instructors, and had
+afterwards carried to greater perfection in the Italian school. The
+Netherlands had been for a number of years accustomed to female
+government; and Philip hoped, perhaps, that the sharp iron of tyranny
+which he was about to use against them would cut more gently if wielded
+by the hands of a woman. Some regard for his father, who at the time
+was still living, and was much attached to Margaret, may have in a
+measure, as it is asserted, influenced this choice; as it is also
+probable that the king wished to oblige the Duke of Parma, through this
+mark of attention to his wife, and thus to compensate for denying a
+request which he was just then compelled to refuse him. As the
+territories of the duchess were surrounded by Philip's Italian states,
+and at all times exposed to his arms, he could, with the less danger,
+entrust the supreme power into her hands. For his full security her
+son, Alexander Farnese, was to remain at his court as a pledge for her
+loyalty. All these reasons were alone sufficiently weighty to turn the
+king's decision in her favor; but they became irresistible when
+supported by the Bishop of Arras and the Duke of Alva. The latter, as
+it appears, because he hated or envied all the other competitors, the
+former, because even then, in all probability, he anticipated from the
+wavering disposition of this princess abundant gratification for his
+ambition.
+
+Philip received the new regent on the frontiers with a splendid cortege,
+and conducted her with magnificent pomp to Ghent, where the States
+General had been convoked. As he did not intend to return soon to the
+Netherlands, he desired, before he left them, to gratify the nation for
+once by holding a solemn Diet, and thus giving a solemn sanction and the
+force of law to his previous regulations. For the last time he showed
+himself to his Netherlandish people, whose destinies were from
+henceforth to be dispensed from a mysterious distance. To enhance the
+splendor of this solemn day, Philip invested eleven knights with the
+Order of the Golden Fleece, his sister being seated on a chair near
+himself, while he showed her to the nation as their future ruler. All
+the grievances of the people, touching the edicts, the Inquisition, the
+detention of the Spanish troops, the taxes, and the illegal introduction
+of foreigners into the offices and administration of the country were
+brought forward in this Diet, and were hotly discussed by both parties;
+some of them were skilfully evaded, or apparently removed, others
+arbitrarily repelled. As the king was unacquainted with the language of
+the country, he addressed the nation through the mouth of the Bishop of
+Arras, recounted to them with vain-glorious ostentation all the benefits
+of his government, assured them of his favor for the future, and once
+more recommended to the estates in the most earnest manner the
+preservation of the Catholic faith and the extirpation of heresy.
+The Spanish troops, he promised, should in a few months evacuate the
+Netherlands, if only they would allow him time to recover from the
+numerous burdens of the last war, in order that he might be enabled to
+collect the means for paying the arrears of these troops; the
+fundamental laws of the nation should remain inviolate, the imposts
+should not be grievously burdensome, and the Inquisition should
+administer its duties with justice and moderation. In the choice of a
+supreme Stadtholder, he added, he had especially consulted the wishes of
+the nation, and had decided for a native of the country, who had been
+brought up in their manners and customs, and was attached to them by a
+love to her native land. He exhorted them, therefore, to show their
+gratitude by honoring his choice, and obeying his sister, the duchess,
+as himself. Should, he concluded, unexpected obstacles oppose his
+return, he would send in his place his son, Prince Charles, who should
+reside in Brussels.
+
+A few members of this assembly, more courageous than the rest, once more
+ventured on a final effort for liberty of conscience. Every people,
+they argued, ought to be treated according to their natural character,
+as every individual must in accordance to his bodily constitution.
+Thus, for example, the south may be considered happy under a certain
+degree of constraint which would press intolerably on the north. Never,
+they added, would the Flemings consent to a yoke under which, perhaps,
+the Spaniards bowed with patience, and rather than submit to it would
+they undergo any extremity if it was sought to force such a yoke upon
+them. This remonstrance was supported by some of the king's
+counsellors, who strongly urged the policy of mitigating the rigor of
+religious edicts. But Philip remained inexorable. Better not reign at
+all, was his answer, than reign over heretics!
+
+According to an arrangement already made by Charles V., three councils
+or chambers were added to the regent, to assist her in the
+administration of state affairs. As long as Philip was himself present
+in the Netherlands these courts had lost much of their power, and the
+functions of the first of them, the state council, were almost entirely
+suspended. Now that he quitted the reins of government, they recovered
+their former importance. In the state council, which was to deliberate
+upon war and peace, and security against external foes, sat the Bishop
+of Arras, the Prince of Orange, Count Egmont, the President of the Privy
+Council, Viglius Van Zuichem Van Aytta, and the Count of Barlaimont,
+President of the Chamber of Finance. All knights of the Golden Fleece,
+all privy counsellors and counsellors of finance, as also the members of
+the great senate at Malines, which had been subjected by Charles V. to
+the Privy Council in Brussels, had a seat and vote in the Council of
+State, if expressly invited by the regent. The management of the royal
+revenues and crown lands was vested in the Chamber of Finance, and the
+Privy Council was occupied with the administration of justice, and the
+civil regulation of the country, and issued all letters of grace and
+pardon. The governments of the provinces which had fallen vacant were
+either filled up afresh or the former governors were confirmed. Count
+Egmont received Flanders and Artois; the Prince of Orange, Holland,
+Zealand, Utrecht, and West Friesland; the Count of Aremberg, East
+Friesland, Overyssel, and Groningen; the Count of Mansfeld, Luxemburg;
+Barlaimont, Namur; the Marquis of Bergen, Hainault, Chateau-Cambray, and
+Valenciennes; the Baron of Montigny, Tournay and its dependencies.
+Other provinces were given to some who have less claim to our attention.
+Philip of Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, who had been succeeded by the
+Count of Megen in the government of Gueldres and Ziitphen, was confirmed
+as admiral of the Belgian navy. Every governor of a province was at the
+same time a knight of the Golden Fleece and member of the Council of
+State. Each had, in the province over which he presided, the command of
+the military force which protected it, the superintendence of the civil
+administration and the judicature; the governor of Flanders alone
+excepted, who was not allowed to interfere with the administration of
+justice. Brabant alone was placed under the immediate jurisdiction of
+the regent, who, according to custom, chose Brussels for her constant
+residence. The induction of the Prince of Orange into his governments
+was, properly speaking, an infraction of the constitution, since he was
+a foreigner; but several estates which he either himself possessed in
+the provinces, or managed as guardian of his son, his long residence in
+the country, and above all the unlimited confidence the nation reposed
+in him, gave him substantial claims in default of a real title of
+citizenship.
+
+The military force of the Low Countries consisted, in its full
+complement, of three thousand horse. At present it did not much exceed
+two thousand, and was divided into fourteen squadrons, over which,
+besides the governors of the provinces, the Duke of Arschot, the Counts
+of Hoogstraten, Bossu, Roeux, and Brederode held the chief command.
+This cavalry, which was scattered through all the seventeen provinces,
+was only to be called out on sudden emergencies. Insufficient as it was
+for any great undertaking, it was, nevertheless, fully adequate for the
+maintenance of internal order. Its courage had been approved in former
+wars, and the fame of its valor was diffused through the whole of
+Europe. In addition to this cavalry it was also proposed to levy a body
+of infantry, but hitherto the states had refused their consent to it.
+Of foreign troops there were still some German regiments in the service,
+which were waiting for their pay. The four thousand Spaniards,
+respecting whom so many complaints had been made, were under two Spanish
+generals, Mendoza and Romero, and were in garrison in the frontier
+towns.
+
+Among the Belgian nobles whom the king especially distinguished in these
+new appointments, the names of Count Egmont and William of Orange stand
+conspicuous. However inveterate his hatred was of both, and
+particularly of the latter, Philip nevertheless gave them these public
+marks of his favor, because his scheme of vengeance was not yet fully
+ripe, and the people were enthusiastic in their devotion to them. The
+estates of both were declared exempt from taxes, the most lucrative
+governments were entrusted to them, and by offering them the command of
+the Spaniards whom he left behind in the country the king flattered them
+with a confidence which he was very far from really reposing in them.
+But at the very time when he obliged the prince with these public marks
+of his esteem he privately inflicted the most cruel injury on him.
+Apprehensive lest an alliance with the powerful house of Lorraine might
+encourage this suspected vassal to bolder measures, he thwarted the
+negotiation for a marriage between him and a princess of that family,
+and crushed his hopes on the very eve of their accomplishment,--an
+injury which the prince never forgave. Nay, his hatred to the prince on
+one occasion even got completely the better of his natural
+dissimulation, and seduced him into a step in which we entirely lose
+sight of Philip II. When he was about to embark at Flushing, and the
+nobles of the country attended him to the shore, he so far forgot
+himself as roughly to accost the prince, and openly to accuse him of
+being the author of the Flemish troubles. The prince answered
+temperately that what had happened had been done by the provinces of
+their own suggestion and on legitimate grounds. No, said Philip,
+seizing his hated, and shaking it violently, not the provinces, but You!
+You! You! The prince stood mute with astonishment, and without waiting
+for the king's embarkation, wished him a safe journey, and went back to
+the town.
+
+Thus the enmity which William had long harbored in his breast against
+the oppressor of a free people was now rendered irreconcilable by
+private hatred; and this double incentive accelerated the great
+enterprise which tore from the Spanish crown seven of its brightest
+jewels.
+
+Philip had greatly deviated from his true character in taking so
+gracious a leave of the Netherlands. The legal form of a diet, his
+promise to remove the Spaniards from the frontiers, the consideration of
+the popular wishes, which had led him to fill the most important offices
+of the country with the favorites of the people, and, finally, the
+sacrifice which he made to the constitution in withdrawing the Count of
+Feria from the council of state, were marks of condescension of which
+his magnanimity was never again guilty. But in fact he never stood in
+greater need of the good-will of the states, that with their aid he
+might, if possible, clear off the great burden of debt which was still
+attached to the Netherlands from the former war. He hoped, therefore,
+by propitiating them through smaller sacrifices to win approval of more
+important usurpations. He marked his departure with grace, for he knew
+in what hands he left them. The frightful scenes of death which he
+intended for this unhappy people were not to stain the splendor of
+majesty which, like the Godhead, marks its course only with beneficence;
+that terrible distinction was reserved for his representatives. The
+establishment of the council of state was, however, intended rather to
+flatter the vanity of the Belgian nobility than to impart to them any
+real influence. The historian Strada (who drew his information with
+regard to the regent from her own papers) has preserved a few articles
+of the secret instructions which the Spanish ministry gave her. Amongst
+other things it is there stated if she observed that the councils were
+divided by factions, or, what would be far worse, prepared by private
+conferences before the session, and in league with one another, then she
+was to prorogue all the chambers and dispose arbitrarily of the disputed
+articles in a more select council or committee. In this select
+committee, which was called the Consulta, sat the Archbishop of Arras,
+the President Viglius, and the Count of Barlaimont. She was to act in
+the same manner if emergent cases required a prompt decision. Had this
+arrangement not been the work of an arbitrary despotism it would perhaps
+have been justified by sound policy, and republican liberty itself might
+have tolerated it. In great assemblies where many private interests and
+passions co-operate, where a numerous audience presents so great a
+temptation to the vanity of the orator, and parties often assail one
+another with unmannerly warmth, a decree can seldom be passed with that
+sobriety and mature deliberation which, if the members are properly
+selected, a smaller body readily admits of. In a numerous body of men,
+too, there is, we must suppose, a greater number of limited than of
+enlightened intellects, who through their equal right of vote frequently
+turn the majority on the side of ignorance. A second maxim which the
+regent was especially to observe, was to select the very members of
+council who had voted against any decree to carry it into execution.
+By this means not only would the people be kept in ignorance of the
+originators of such a law, but the private quarrels also of the members
+would be restrained, and a greater freedom insured in voting in
+compliance with the wishes of the court.
+
+In spite of all these precautions Philip would never have been able to
+leave the Netherlands with a quiet mind so long as he knew that the
+chief power in the council of state, and the obedience of the provinces,
+were in the hands of the suspected nobles. In order, therefore, to
+appease his fears from this quarter, and also at the same time to assure
+himself of the fidelity of the regent, be subjected her, and through her
+all the affairs of the judicature, to the higher control of the Bishop
+of Arras. In this single individual he possessed an adequate
+counterpoise to the most dreaded cabal. To him, as to an infallible
+oracle of majesty, the duchess was referred, and in him there watched a
+stern supervisor of her administration. Among all his contemporaries
+Granvella was the only one whom Philip II. appears to have excepted from
+his universal distrust; as long as he knew that this man was in Brussels
+he could sleep calmly in Segovia. He left the Netherlands in September,
+1559, was saved from a storm which sank his fleet, and landed at Laredo
+in Biscay, and in his gloomy joy thanked the Deity who had preserved him
+by a detestable vow. In the hands of a priest and of a woman was placed
+the dangerous helm of the Netherlands; and the dastardly tyrant escaped
+in his oratory at Madrid the supplications, the complaints, and the
+curses of the people.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II.
+
+CARDINAL GRANVELLA.
+
+
+ANTHONY PERENOT, Bishop of Arras, subsequently Archbishop of Malines,
+and Metropolitan of all the Netherlands, who, under the name of Cardinal
+Granvella, has been immortalized by the hatred of his contemporaries,
+was born in the year 1516, at Besancon in Burgundy. His father,
+Nicolaus Perenot, the son of a blacksmith, had risen by his own merits
+to be the private secretary of Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, at that time
+regent of the Netherlands. In this post he was noticed for his habits
+of business by Charles V., who took him into his own service and
+employed him in several important negotiations. For twenty years he was
+a member of the Emperor's cabinet, and filled the offices of privy
+counsellor and keeper of the king's seal, and shared in all the state
+secrets of that monarch. He acquired a large fortune. His honors,
+his influence, and his political knowledge were inherited by his son,
+Anthony Perenot, who in his early years gave proofs of the great
+capacity which subsequently opened to him so distinguished a career.
+Anthony had cultivated at several colleges the talents with which nature
+had so lavishly endowed him, and in some respects had an advantage over
+his father. He soon showed that his own abilities were sufficient to
+maintain the advantageous position which the merits of another had
+procured him. He was twenty-four years old when the Emperor sent him as
+his plenipotentiary to the ecclesiastical council of Trent, where he
+delivered the first specimen of that eloquence which in the sequel gave
+him so complete an ascendancy over two kings. Charles employed him in
+several difficult embassies, the duties of which he fulfilled to the
+satisfaction of his sovereign, and when finally that Emperor resigned
+the sceptre to his son he made that costly present complete by giving
+him a minister who could help him to wield it.
+
+Granvella opened his new career at once with the greatest masterpiece of
+political genius, in passing so easily from the favor of such a father
+into equal consideration with such a son. And he soon proved himself
+deserving of it. At the secret negotiations of which the Duchess of
+Lorraine had, in 1558, been the medium between the French and Spanish
+ministers at Peronne, he planned, conjointly with the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, that conspiracy against the Protestants which was afterwards
+matured, but also betrayed, at Chateau-Cambray, where Perenot likewise
+assisted in effecting the so-called peace.
+
+A deeply penetrating, comprehensive intellect, an unusual facility in
+conducting great and intricate affairs, and the most extensive learning,
+were wonderfully united in this man with persevering industry and
+never-wearying patience, while his enterprising genius was associated
+with thoughtful mechanical regularity. Day and night the state found him
+vigilant and collected; the most important and the most insignificant
+things were alike weighed by him with scrupulous attention. Not
+unfrequently he employed five secretaries at one time, dictating to them
+in different languages, of which he is said to have spoken seven. What
+his penetrating mind had slowly matured acquired in his lips both force
+and grace, and truth, set forth by his persuasive eloquence, irresistibly
+carried away all hearers. He was tempted by none of the passions which
+make slaves of most men. His integrity was incorruptible. With shrewd
+penetration he saw through the disposition of his master, and could read
+in his features his whole train of thought, and, as it were, the
+approaching form in the shadow which outran it. With an artifice rich in
+resources he came to the aid of Philip's more inactive mind, formed into
+perfect thought his master's crude ideas while they yet hung on his lips,
+and liberally allowed him the glory of the invention. Granvella
+understood the difficult and useful art of depreciating his own talents;
+of making his own genius the seeming slave of another; thus he ruled
+while he concealed his sway. In this manner only could Philip II. be
+governed. Content with a silent but real power, Granvella did not grasp
+insatiably at new and outward marks of it, which with lesser minds are
+ever the most coveted objects; but every new distinction seemed to sit
+upon him as easily as the oldest. No wonder if such extraordinary
+endowments had alone gained him the favor of his master; but a large and
+valuable treasure of political secrets and experiences, which the active
+life of Charles V. had accumulated, and had deposited in the mind of this
+man, made him indispensable to his successor. Self-sufficient as the
+latter was, and accustomeded to confide in his own understanding, his
+timid and crouching policy was fain to lean on a superior mind, and to
+aid its own irresolution not only by precedent but also by the influence
+and example of another. No political matter which concerned the royal
+interest, even when Philip himself was in the Netherlands, was decided
+without the intervention of Granvella; and when the king embarked for
+Spain he made the new regent the same valuable present of the minister
+which he himself had received from the Emperor, his father.
+
+Common as it is for despotic princes to bestow unlimited confidence on
+the creatures whom they have raised from the dust, and of whose
+greatness they themselves are, in a measure, the creators, the present
+is no ordinary instance; pre-eminent must have been the qualities which
+could so far conquer the selfish reserve of such a character as Philip's
+as to gain his confidence, nay, even to win him into familiarity. The
+slightest ebullition of the most allowable self-respect, which might
+have tempted him to assert, however slightly, his claim to any idea
+which the king had once ennobled as his own, would have cost him his
+whole influence. He might gratify without restraint the lowest passions
+of voluptuousness, of rapacity, and of revenge, but the only one in
+which he really took delight, the sweet consciousness of his own
+superiority and power, he was constrained carefully to conceal from the
+suspicious glance of the despot. He voluntarily disclaimed all the
+eminent qualities, which were already his own, in order, as it were, to
+receive them a second time from the generosity of the king. His
+happiness seemed to flow from no other source, no other person could
+have a claim upon his gratitude. The purple, which was sent to him from
+Rome, was not assumed until the royal permission reached him from Spain;
+by laying it down on the steps of the throne he appeared, in a measure,
+to receive it first from the hands of majesty. Less politic, Alva
+erected a trophy in Antwerp, and inscribed his own name under the
+victory, which he had won as the servant of the crown--but Alva carried
+with him to the grave the displeasure of his master. He had invaded
+with audacious hand the royal prerogative by drawing immediately at the
+fountain of immortality.
+
+Three times Granvella changed his master, and three times he succeeded
+in rising to the highest favor. With the same facility with which he
+had guided the settled pride of an autocrat, and the sly egotism of a
+despot, he knew how to manage the delicate vanity of a woman. His
+business between himself and the regent, even when they were in the same
+house, was, for the most part, transacted by the medium of notes, a
+custom which draws its date from the times of Augustus and Tiberius.
+When the regent was in any perplexity these notes were interchanged from
+hour to hour. He probably adopted this expedient in the hope of eluding
+the watchful jealousy of the nobility, and concealing from them, in part
+at least, his influence over the regent. Perhaps, too, he also believed
+that by this means his advice would become more permanent; and, in case
+of need, this written testimony would be at hand to shield him from
+blame. But the vigilance of the nobles made this caution vain, and it
+was soon known in all the provinces that nothing was determined upon
+without the minister's advice.
+
+Granvella possessed all the qualities requisite for a perfect statesman
+in a monarchy governed by despotic principles, but was absolutely
+unqualified for republics which are governed by kings. Educated between
+the throne and the confessional, he knew of no other relation between
+man and man than that of rule and subjection; and the innate
+consciousness of his own superiority gave him a contempt for others.
+His policy wanted pliability, the only virtue which was here
+indispensable to its success. He was naturally overbearing and
+insolent, and the royal authority only gave arms to the natural
+impetuosity of his disposition and the imperiousness of his order. He
+veiled his own ambition beneath the interests of the crown, and made the
+breach between the nation and the king incurable, because it would
+render him indispensable to the latter. He revenged on the nobility the
+lowliness of his own origin; and, after the fashion of all those who
+have risen by their own merits, he valued the advantages of birth below
+those by which he had raised himself to distinction. The Protestants
+saw in him their most implacable foe; to his charge were laid all the
+burdens which oppressed the country, and they pressed the more heavily
+because they came from him. Nay, he was even accused of having brought
+back to severity the milder sentiments to which the urgent remonstrances
+of the provinces had at last disposed the monarch. The Netherlands
+execrated him as the most terrible enemy of their liberties, and the
+originator of all the misery which subsequently came upon them.
+
+
+1559. Philip had evidently left the provinces too soon. The new
+measures of the government were still strange to the people, and could
+receive sanction and authority from his presence alone; the new machines
+which he had brought into play required to be kept in motion by a
+dreaded and powerful hand, and to have their first movements watched and
+regulated. He now exposed his minister to all the angry passions of the
+people, who no longer felt restrained by the fetters of the royal
+presence; and he delegated to the weak arm of a subject the execution of
+projects in which majesty itself, with all its powerful supports, might
+have failed.
+
+The land, indeed, flourished; and a general prosperity appeared to
+testify to the blessings of the peace which had so lately been bestowed
+upon it. An external repose deceived the eye, for within raged all the
+elements of discord. If the foundations of religion totter in a country
+they totter not alone; the audacity which begins with things sacred ends
+with things profane. The successful attack upon the hierarchy had
+awakened a spirit of boldness, and a desire to assail authority in
+general, and to test laws as well as dogmas--duties as well as opinions.
+The fanatical boldness with which men had learned to discuss and decide
+upon the affairs of eternity might change its subject matter; the
+contempt for life and property which religious enthusiasm had taught
+could metamorphose timid citizens into foolhardy rebels. A female
+government of nearly forty years had given the nation room to assert
+their liberty; continual wars, of which the Netherlands had been the
+theatre, had introduced a license with them, and the right of the
+stronger had usurped the place of law and order. The provinces were
+filled with foreign adventurers and fugitives; generally men bound by no
+ties of country, family, or property, who had brought with them from
+their unhappy homes the seeds of insubordination and rebellion. The
+repeated spectacles of torture and of death had rudely burst the
+tenderer threads of moral feeling, and had given an unnatural harshness
+to the national character.
+
+Still the rebellion would have crouched timorously and silently on the
+ground if it had not found a support in the nobility. Charles V. had
+spoiled the Flemish nobles of the Netherlands by making them the
+participators of his glory, by fostering their national pride, by the
+marked preference he showed for them over the Castilian nobles, and by
+opening an arena to their ambition in every part of his empire. In the
+late war with France they had really deserved this preference from
+Philip; the advantages which the king reaped from the peace of
+Chateau-Cambray were for the most part the fruits of their valor, and
+they now sensibly missed the gratitude on which they had so confidently
+reckoned. Moreover, the separation of the German empire from the Spanish
+monarchy, and the less warlike spirit of the new government, had greatly
+narrowed their sphere of action, and, except in their own country, little
+remained for them to gain. And Philip now appointed his Spaniards where
+Charles V. had employed the Flemings. All the passions which the
+preceding government had raised and kept employed still survived in
+peace; and in default of a legitimate object these unruly feelings found,
+unfortunately, ample scope in the grievances of their country.
+Accordingly, the claims and wrongs which had been long supplanted by new
+passions were now drawn from oblivion. By his late appointments the king
+had satisfied no party; for those even who obtained offices were not much
+more content than those who were entirely passed over, because they had
+calculated on something better than they got. William of Orange had
+received four governments (not to reckon some smaller dependencies which,
+taken together, were equivalent to a fifth), but William had nourished
+hopes of Flanders and Brabant. He and Count Egmont forgot what had really
+fallen to their share, and only remembered that they had lost the
+regency. The majority of the nobles were either plunged into debt by
+their own extravagance, or had willingly enough been drawn into it by the
+government. Now that they were excluded from the prospect of lucrative
+appointments, they at once saw themselves exposed to poverty, which
+pained them the more sensibly when they contrasted the splendor of the
+affluent citizens with their own necessities. In the extremities to which
+they were reduced many would have readily assisted in the commission even
+of crimes; how then could they resist the seductive offers of the
+Calvinists, who liberally repaid them for their intercession and
+protection? Lastly, many whose estates were past redemption placed their
+last hope in a general devastation, and stood prepared at the first
+favorable moment to cast the torch of discord into the republic.
+
+This threatening aspect of the public mind was rendered still more
+alarming by the unfortunate vicinity of France. What Philip dreaded for
+the provinces was there already accomplished. The fate of that kingdom
+prefigured to him the destiny of his Netherlands, and the spirit of
+rebellion found there a seductive example. A similar state of things
+had under Francis I. and Henry II. scattered the seeds of innovation in
+that kingdom; a similar fury of persecution and a like spirit of faction
+had encouraged its growth. Now Huguenots and Catholics were struggling
+in a dubious contest; furious parties disorganized the whole monarchy,
+and were violently hurrying this once-powerful state to the brink of
+destruction. Here, as there, private interest, ambition, and party
+feeling might veil themselves under the names of religion and
+patriotism, and the passions of a few citizens drive the entire nation
+to take up arms. The frontiers of both countries merged in Walloon
+Flanders; the rebellion might, like an agitated sea, cast its waves as
+far as this: would a country be closed against it whose language,
+manners, and character wavered between those of France and Belgium? As
+yet the government had taken no census of its Protestant subjects in
+these countries, but the new sect, it was aware, was a vast, compact
+republic, which extended its roots through all the monarchies of
+Christendom, and the slighest disturbance in any of its most distant
+members vibrated to its centre. It was, as it were, a chain of
+threatening volcanoes, which, united by subterraneous passages, ignite
+at the same moment with alarming sympathy. The Netherlands were,
+necessarily, open to all nations, because they derived their support
+from all. Was it possible for Philip to close a commercial state as
+easily as he could Spain? If he wished to purify these provinces from
+heresy it was necessary for him to commence by extirpating it in France.
+
+It was in this state that Granvella found the Netherlands at the
+beginning of his administration (1560).
+
+To restore to these countries the uniformity of papistry, to break the
+co-ordinate power of the nobility and the states, and to exalt the royal
+authority on the ruins of republican freedom, was the great object of
+Spanish policy and the express commission of the new minister. But
+obstacles stood in the way of its accomplishment; to conquer these
+demanded the invention of new resources, the application of new
+machinery. The Inquisition, indeed, and the religious edicts appeared
+sufficient to check the contagion of heresy; but the latter required
+superintendence, and the former able instruments for its now extended
+jurisdiction. The church constitution continued the same as it had been
+in earlier times, when the provinces were less populous, when the church
+still enjoyed universal repose, and could be more easily overlooked and
+controlled. A succession of several centuries, which changed the whole
+interior form of the provinces, had left the form of the hierarchy
+unaltered, which, moreover, was protected from the arbitrary will of its
+ruler by the particular privileges of the provinces. All the seventeen
+provinces were parcelled out under four bishops, who had their seats at
+Arras, Tournay, Cambray, and Utrecht, and were subject to the primates
+of Rheims and Cologne. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had, indeed,
+meditated an increase in the number of bishops to meet the wants of the
+increasing population; but, unfortunately, in the excitement of a life
+of pleasure had abandoned the project. Ambition and lust of conquest
+withdrew the mind of Charles the Bold from the internal concerns of his
+kingdom, and Maximilian had already too many subjects of dispute with
+the states to venture to add to their number by proposing this change.
+A stormy reign prevented Charles V. from the execution of this extensive
+plan, which Philip II. now undertook as a bequest from all these
+princes. The moment had now arrived when the urgent necessities of the
+church would excuse the innovation, and the leisure of peace favored its
+accomplishment. With the prodigious crowd of people from all the
+countries of Europe who were crowded together in the towns of the
+Netherlands, a multitude of religious opinions had also grown up; and it
+was impossible that religion could any longer be effectually
+superintended by so few eyes as were formerly sufficient. While the
+number of bishops was so small their districts must, of necessity, have
+been proportionally extensive, and four men could not be adequate to
+maintain the purity of the faith through so wide a district.
+
+The jurisdiction which the Archbishops of Cologne and Rheims exercised
+over the Netherlands had long been a stumbling-block to the government,
+which could not look on this territory as really its own property so
+long as such an important branch of power was still wielded by foreign
+hands. To snatch this prerogative from the alien archbishops; by new
+and active agents to give fresh life and vigor to the superintendence of
+the faith, and at the same time to strengthen the number of the
+partisans of government at the diet, no more effectual means could be
+devised than to increase the number of bishops. Resolved upon doing
+this Philip II. ascended the throne; but he soon found that a change in
+the hierarchy would inevitably meet with warm opposition from the
+provinces, without whose consent, nevertheless, it would be vain to
+attempt it. Philip foresaw that the nobility would never approve of a
+measure which would so strongly augment the royal party, and take from
+the aristocracy the preponderance of power in the diet. The revenues,
+too, for the maintenance of these new bishops must be diverted from the
+abbots and monks, and these formed a considerable part of the states of
+the realm. He had, besides, to fear the opposition of the Protestants,
+who would not fail to act secretly in the diet against him. On these
+accounts the whole affair was discussed at Rome with the greatest
+possible secrecy. Instructed by, and as the agent of, Granvella,
+Francis Sonnoi, a priest of Louvain, came before Paul IV. to inform him
+how extensive the provinces were, how thriving and populous, how
+luxurious in their prosperity. But, he continued, in the immoderate
+enjoyment of liberty the true faith is neglected, and heretics prosper.
+To obviate this evil the Romish See must have recourse to extraordinary
+measures. It was not difficult to prevail on the Romish pontiff to make
+a change which would enlarge the sphere of his own jurisdiction.
+
+Paul IV. appointed a tribunal of seven cardinals to deliberate upon this
+important matter; but death called him away, and he left to his
+successor, Pius IV., the duty of carrying their advice into execution.
+The welcome tidings of the pope's determination reached the king in
+Zealand when he was just on the point of setting sail for Spain, and the
+minister was secretly charged with the dangerous reform. The new
+constitution of the hierarchy was published in 1560; in addition to the
+then existing four bishoprics thirteen new ones were established,
+according to the number of seventeen provinces, and four of them were
+raised into archbishoprics. Six of these episcopal sees, viz., in
+Antwerp, Herzogenbusch, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and Ruremonde, were placed
+under the Archbishopric of Malines; five others, Haarlem, Middelburg,
+Leuwarden, Deventer, and Groningen, under the Archbishopric of Utrecht;
+and the remaining four, Arras, Tournay, St. Omer, and Namur, which lie
+nearest to France, and have language, character, and manners in common
+with that country, under the Archbishopric of Cambray. Malines,
+situated in the middle of Brabant and in the centre of all the seventeen
+provinces, was made the primacy of all the rest, and was, with several
+rich abbeys, the reward of Granvella. The revenues of the new
+bishoprics were provided by an appropriation of the treasures of the
+cloisters and abbeys which had accumulated from pious benefactions
+during centuries. Some of the abbots were raised to the episcopal
+throne, and with the possession of their cloisters and prelacies
+retained also the vote at the diet which was attached to them. At the
+same time to every bishopric nine prebends were attached, and bestowed
+on the most learned juris-consultists and theologians, who were to
+support the Inquisition and the bishop in his spiritual office. Of
+these, the two who were most deserving by knowledge, experience, and
+unblemished life were to be constituted actual inquisitors, and to have
+the first voice in the Synods. To the Archbishop of Malines, as
+metropolitan of all the seventeen provinces, the full authority was
+given to appoint, or at discretion depose, archbishops and bishops; and
+the Romish See was only to give its ratification to his acts.
+
+At any other period the nation would have received with gratitude and
+approved of such a measure of church reform since it was fully called
+for by circumstances, was conducive to the interests of religion, and
+absolutely indispensable for the moral reformation of the monkhood. Now
+the temper of the times saw in it nothing but a hateful change.
+Universal was the indignation with which it was received. A cry was
+raised that the constitution was trampled under foot, the rights of the
+nation violated, and that the Inquisition was already at the door, and
+would soon open here, as in Spain, its bloody tribunal. The people
+beheld with dismay these new servants of arbitrary power and of
+persecution. The nobility saw in it nothing but a strengthening of the
+royal authority by the addition of fourteen votes in the states'
+assembly, and a withdrawal of the firmest prop of their freedom, the
+balance of the royal and the civil power. The old bishops complained of
+the diminution of their incomes and the circumscription of their sees;
+the abbots and monks had not only lost power and income, but had
+received in exchange rigid censors of their morals. Noble and simple,
+laity and clergy, united against the common foe, and while all singly
+struggled for some petty private interest, the cry appeared to come from
+the formidable voice of patriotism.
+
+Among all the provinces Brabant was loudest in its opposition. The
+inviolability of its church constitution was one of the important
+privileges which it had reserved in the remarkable charter of the
+"Joyful Entry,"--statutes which the sovereign could not violate without
+releasing the nation from its allegiance to him. In vain did the
+university of Louvain assert that in disturbed times of the church a
+privilege lost its power which had been granted in the period of its
+tranquillity. The introduction of the new bishoprics into the
+constitution was thought to shake the whole fabric of liberty. The
+prelacies, which were now transferred to the bishops, must henceforth
+serve another rule than the advantage of the province of whose states
+they had been members. The once free patriotic citizens were to be
+instruments of the Romish See and obedient tools of the archbishop, who
+again, as first prelate of Brabant, had the immediate control over them.
+The freedom of voting was gone, because the bishops, as servile spies of
+the crown, made every one fearful. "Who," it was asked, "will after
+this venture to raise his voice in parliament before such observers, or
+in their presence dare to protect the rights of the nation against the
+rapacious hands of the government? They will trace out the resources of
+the provinces, and betray to the crown the secrets of our freedom and
+our property. They will obstruct the way to all offices of honor; we
+shall soon see the courtiers of the king succeed the present men; the
+children of foreigners will, for the future, fill the parliament, and
+the private interest of their patron will guide their venal votes."
+"What an act of oppression," rejoined the monks, "to pervert to other
+objects the pious designs of our holy institutions, to contemn the
+inviolable wishes of the dead, and to take that which a devout charity
+had deposited in our chests for the relief of the unfortunate and make
+it subservient to the luxury of the bishops, thus inflating their
+arrogant pomp with the plunder of the poor?" Not only the abbots and
+monks, who really did suffer by this act of appropriation, but every
+family which could flatter itself with the slightest hope of enjoying,
+at some time or other, even in the most remote posterity, the benefit of
+this monastic foundation, felt this disappointment of their distant
+expectations as much as if they had suffered an actual injury, and the
+wrongs of a few abbot-prelates became the concern of a whole nation.
+
+Historians have not omitted to record the covert proceedings of William
+of Orange during this general commotion, who labored to conduct to one
+end these various and conflicting passions. At his instigation the
+people of Brabant petitioned the regent for an advocate and protector,
+since they alone, of all his Flemish subjects, had the misfortune to
+unite, in one and the same person, their counsel and their ruler. Had
+the demand been granted, their choice could fall on no other than the
+Prince of Orange. But Granvella, with his usual presence of mind, broke
+through the snare. "The man who receives this office," he declared in
+the state council, "will, I hope, see that he divides Brabant with the
+king!"  The long delay of the papal bull, which was kept back by a
+misunderstanding between the Romish and Spanish courts, gave the
+disaffected an opportunity to combine for a common object. In perfect
+secrecy the states of Brabant despatched an extraordinary messenger to
+Pins IV. to urge their wishes in Rome itself. The ambassador was
+provided with important letters of recommendation from the Prince of
+Orange, and carried with him considerable sums to pave his way to the
+father of the church. At the same time a public letter was forwarded
+from the city of Antwerp to the King of Spain containing the most urgent
+representations, and supplicating him to spare that flourishing
+commercial town from the threatened innovation. They knew, it was
+stated, that the intentions of the monarch were the best, and that the
+institution of the new bishops was likely to be highly conducive to the
+maintenance of true religion; but the foreigners could not be convinced
+of this, and on them depended the prosperity of their town. Among them
+the most groundless rumors would be as perilous as the most true. The
+first embassy was discovered in time, and its object disappointed by the
+prudence of the regent; by the second the town of Antwerp gained so far
+its point that it was to remain without a bishop, at least until the
+personal arrival of the king, which was talked of.
+
+The example and success of Antwerp gave the signal of opposition to all
+the other towns for which a new bishop was intended. It is a remarkable
+proof of the hatred to the Inquisition and the unanimity of the Flemish
+towns at this date that they preferred to renounce all the advantages
+which the residence of a bishop would necessarily bring to their local
+trade rather than by their consent promote that abhorred tribunal, and
+thus act in opposition to the interests of the whole nation. Deventer,
+Ruremond, and Leuwarden placed themselves in determined opposition, and
+(1561) successfully carried their point; in the other towns the bishops
+were, in spite of all remonstrances, forcibly inducted. Utrecht,
+Haarlem, St. Omer, and Middelburg were among the first which opened
+their gates to them; the remaining towns followed their example; but in
+Malines and Herzogenbusch the bishops were received with very little
+respect. When Granvella made his solemn entry into the former town not
+a single nobleman showed himself, and his triumph was wanting in
+everything that could make it real, because those remained away over
+whom it was meant to be celebrated.
+
+In the meantime, too, the period had elapsed within which the Spanish
+troops were to have left the country, and as yet there was no appearance
+of their being withdrawn. People perceived with terror the real cause
+of the delay, and suspicion lent it a fatal connection with the
+Inquisition. The detention of these troops, as it rendered the nation
+more vigilant and distrustful, made it more difficult for the minister
+to proceed with the other innovations, and yet he would fain not deprive
+himself of this powerful and apparently indispensable aid in a country
+where all hated him, and in the execution of a commission to which all
+were opposed. At last, however, the regent saw herself compelled by the
+universal murmurs of discontent, to urge most earnestly upon the king
+the necessity of the withdrawal of the troops. "The provinces," she
+writes to Madrid, "have unanimously declared that they would never again
+be induced to grant the extraordinary taxes required by the government
+as long as word was not kept with them in this matter. The danger of a
+revolt was far more imminent than that of an attack by the French
+Protestants, and if a rebellion was to take place in the Netherlands
+these forces would be too weak to repress it, and there was not
+sufficient money in the treasury to enlist new." By delaying his answer
+the king still sought at least to gain time, and the reiterated
+representations of the regent would still have remained ineffectual, if,
+fortunately for the provinces, a loss which he had lately suffered from
+the Turks had not compelled him to employ these troops in the
+Mediterranean. He, therefore, at last consented to their departure:
+they were embarked in 1561 in Zealand, and the exulting shouts of all
+the provinces accompanied their departure.
+
+Meanwhile Granvella ruled in the council of state almost uncontrolled.
+All offices, secular and spiritual, were given away through him; his
+opinion prevailed against the unanimous voice of the whole assembly.
+The regent herself was governed by him. He had contrived to manage so
+that her appointment was made out for two years only, and by this
+expedient he kept her always in his power. It seldom happened that any
+important affair was submitted to the other members, and if it really
+did occur it was only such as had been long before decided, to which it
+was only necessary for formality's sake to gain their sanction.
+Whenever a royal letter was read Viglius received instructions to omit
+all such passages as were underlined by the minister. It often happened
+that this correspondence with Spain laid open the weakness of the
+government, or the anxiety felt by the regent, with which it was not
+expedient to inform the members, whose loyalty was distrusted. If again
+it occurred that the opposition gained a majority over the minister, and
+insisted with determination on an article which he could not well put
+off any longer, he sent it to the ministry at Madrid for their decision,
+by which he at least gained time, and in any case was certain to find
+support.--With the exception of the Count of Barlaimont, the President
+Viglius, and a few others, all the other counsellors were but
+superfluous figures in the senate, and the minister's behavior to them
+marked the small value which he placed upon their friendship and
+adherence. No wonder that men whose pride had been so greatly indulged
+by the flattering attentions of sovereign princes, and to whom, as to
+the idols of their country, their fellow-citizens paid the most
+reverential submission, should be highly indignant at this arrogance of
+a plebeian. Many of them had been personally insulted by Granvella.
+
+The Prince of Orange was well aware that it was he who had prevented his
+marriage with the Princess of Lorraine, and that he had also endeavored
+to break off the negotiations for another alliance with the Princess of
+Savoy. He had deprived Count Horn of the government of Gueldres and
+Zutphen, and had kept for himself an abbey which Count Egmont had in
+vain exerted himself to obtain for a relation. Confident of his
+superior power, he did not even think it worth while to conceal from the
+nobility his contempt for them, and which, as a rule, marked his whole
+administration; William of Orange was the only one with whom he deemed
+it advisable to dissemble. Although he really believed himself to be
+raised far above all the laws of fear and decorum, still in this point,
+however, his confident arrogance misled him, and he erred no less
+against policy than he shined against propriety. In the existing
+posture of affairs the government could hardly have adopted a worse
+measure than that of throwing disrespect on the nobility. It had it in
+its power to flatter the prejudices and feelings of the aristocracy, and
+thus artfully and imperceptibly win them over to its plans, and through
+them subvert the edifice of national liberty. Now it admonished them,
+most inopportunely, of their duties, their dignity, and their power;
+calling upon them even to be patriots, and to devote to the cause of
+true greatness an ambition which hitherto it had inconsiderately
+repelled. To carry into effect the ordinances it required the active
+co-operation of the lieutenant-governors; no wonder, however, that the
+latter showed but little zeal to afford this assistance. On the
+contrary, it is highly probable that they silently labored to augment
+the difficulties of the minister, and to subvert his measures, and
+through his ill-success to diminish the king's confidence in him, and
+expose his administration to contempt. The rapid progress which in
+spite of those horrible edicts the Reformation made during Granvella's
+administration in the Netherlands, is evidently to be ascribed to the
+lukewarmness of the nobility in opposing it. If the minister had been
+sure of the nobles he might have despised the fury of the mob, which
+would have impotently dashed itself against the dreaded barriers of the
+throne. The sufferings of the citizens lingered long in tears and
+sighs, until the arts and the example of the nobility called forth a
+louder expression of them.
+
+Meanwhile the inquisitions into religion were carried on with renewed
+vigor by the crowd of new laborers (1561, 1562), and the edicts against
+heretics were enforced with fearful obedience. But the critical moment
+when this detestable remedy might have been applied was allowed to pass
+by; the nation had become too strong and vigorous for such rough
+treatment. The new religion could now be extirpated only by the death
+of all its professors. The present executions were but so many alluring
+exhibitions of its excellence, so many scenes of its triumphs and
+radiant virtue. The heroic greatness with which the victims died made
+converts to the opinions for which they perished. One martyr gained ten
+new proselytes. Not in towns only, or villages, but on the very
+highways, in the boats and public carriages disputes were held touching
+the dignity of the pope, the saints, purgatory, and indulgences, and
+sermons were preached and men converted. From the country and from the
+towns the common people rushed in crowds to rescue the prisoners of the
+Holy Tribunal from the hands of its satellites, and the municipal
+officers who ventured to support it with the civil forces were pelted
+with stones. Multitudes accompanied the Protestant preachers whom the
+Inquisition pursued, bore them on their shoulders to and from church,
+and at the risk of their lives concealed them from their persecutors.
+The first province which was seized with the fanatical spirit of
+rebellion was, as had been expected, Walloon Flanders. A French
+Calvinist, by name Lannoi, set himself up in Tournay as a worker of
+miracles, where he hired a few women to simulate diseases, and to
+pretend to be cured by him. He preached in the woods near the town,
+drew the people in great numbers after him, and scattered in their minds
+the seeds of rebellion. Similar teachers appeared in Lille and
+Valenciennes, but in the latter place the municipal functionaries
+succeeded in seizing the persons of these incendiaries; while, however,
+they delayed to execute them their followers increased so rapidly that
+they became sufficiently strong to break open the prisons and forcibly
+deprive justice of its victims. Troops at last were brought into the
+town and order restored. But this trifling occurrence had for a moment
+withdrawn the veil which had hitherto concealed the strength of the
+Protestant party, and allowed the minister to compute their prodigious
+numbers. In Tournay alone five thousand at one time had been seen
+attending the sermons, and not many less in Valenciennes. What might
+not be expected from the northern provinces, where liberty was greater,
+and the seat of government more remote, and where the vicinity of
+Germany and Denmark multiplied the sources of contagion? One slight
+provocation had sufficed to draw from its concealment so formidable a
+multitude. How much greater was, perhaps, the number of those who in
+their hearts acknowledged the new sect, and only waited for a favorable
+opportunity to publish their adhesion to it. This discovery greatly
+alarmed the regent. The scanty obedience paid to the edicts, the wants
+of the exhausted treasury, which compelled her to impose new taxes, and
+the suspicious movements of the Huguenots on the French frontiers still
+further increased her anxiety. At the same time she received a command
+from Madrid to send off two thousand Flemish cavalry to the army of the
+Queen Mother in France, who, in the distresses of the civil war, had
+recourse to Philip II. for assistance. Every affair of faith, in
+whatever land it might be, was made by Philip his own business. He felt
+it as keenly as any catastrophe which could befall his own house, and in
+such cases always stood ready to sacrifice his means to foreign
+necessities. If it were interested motives that here swayed him they
+were at least kingly and grand, and the bold support of his principles
+wins our admiration as much as their cruelty withholds our esteem.
+
+The regent laid before the council of state the royal will on the
+subject of these troops, but with a very warm opposition on the part of
+the nobility. Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange declared that the
+time was illchosen for stripping the Netherlands of troops, when the
+aspect of affairs rendered rather the enlistment of new levies
+advisable. The movements of the troops in France momentarily threatened
+a surprise, and the commotions within the provinces demanded, more than
+ever, the utmost vigilance on the part of the government. Hitherto,
+they said, the German Protestants had looked idly on during the
+struggles of their brethren in the faith; but will they continue to do
+so, especially when we are lending our aid to strengthen their enemy?
+By thus acting shall we not rouse their vengeance against us, and call
+their arms into the northern Netherlands? Nearly the whole council of
+state joined in this opinion; their representations were energetic and
+not to be gainsaid. The regent herself, as well as the minister, could
+not but feel their truth, and their own interests appeared to forbid
+obedience to the royal mandate. Would it not be impolitic to withdraw
+from the Inquisition its sole prop by removing the larger portion of the
+army, and in a rebellious country to leave themselves without defence,
+dependent on the arbitrary will of an arrogant aristocracy? While the
+regent, divided between the royal commands, the urgent importunity of
+her council, and her own fears, could not venture to come to a decision,
+William of Orange rose and proposed the assembling of the States
+General. But nothing could have inflicted a more fatal blow on the
+supremacy of the crown than by yielding to this advice to put the nation
+in mind of its power and its rights. No measure could be more hazardous
+at the present moment. The danger which was thus gathering over the
+minister did not escape him; a sign from him warned the regent to break
+off the consultation and adjourn the council. "The government," he
+writes to Madrid, "can do nothing more injurious to itself than to
+consent to the assembling of the states. Such a step is at all times
+perilous, because it tempts the nation to test and restrict the rights
+of the crown; but it is many times more objectionable at the present
+moment, when the spirit of rebellion is already widely spread amongst
+us; when the abbots, exasperated at the loss of their income, will
+neglect nothing to impair the dignity of the bishops; when the whole
+nobility and all the deputies from the towns are led by the arts of the
+Prince of Orange, and the disaffected can securely reckon on the
+assistance of the nation." This representation, which at least was not
+wanting in sound sense, did not fail in having the desired effect on the
+king's mind. The assembling of the states was rejected once and
+forever, the penal statutes against the heretics were renewed in all
+their rigor, and the regent was directed to hasten the despatch of the
+required auxiliaries.
+
+But to this the council of state would not consent. All that she
+obtained was, instead of the troops, a supply of money for the Queen
+Mother, which at this crisis was still more welcome to her. In place,
+however, of assembling the states, and in order to beguile the nation
+with, at least, the semblance of republican freedom, the regent summoned
+the governors of the provinces and the knights of the Golden Fleece to a
+special congress at Brussels, to consult on the present dangers and
+necessities of the state. When the President, Viglius, had laid before
+them the matters on which they were summoned to deliberate, three days
+were given to them for consideration. During this time the Prince of
+Orange assembled them in his palace, where he represented to them the
+necessity of coming to some unanimous resolution before the next
+sitting, and of agreeing on the measures which ought to be followed in
+the present dangerous state of affairs.
+
+The majority assented to the propriety of this course; only Barlaimont,
+with a few of the dependents of the cardinal, had the courage to plead
+for the interests of the crown and of the minister. "It did not behoove
+them," he said, "to interfere in the concerns of the government, and
+this previous agreement of votes was an illegal and culpable assumption,
+in the guilt of which he would not participate;"--a declaration which
+broke up the meeting without any conclusion being come to. The regent,
+apprised of it by the Count Barlaimont, artfully contrived to keep the
+knights so well employed during their stay in the town that they could
+find no time for coming to any further secret understanding; in this
+session, however, it was arranged, with their concurrence, that Florence
+of Montmorency, Lord of Montigny, should make a journey to Spain, in
+order to acquaint the king with the present posture of affairs. But the
+regent sent before him another messenger to Madrid, who previously
+informed the king of all that had been debated between the Prince of
+Orange and the knights at the secret conference.
+
+The Flemish ambassador was flattered in Madrid with empty protestations
+of the king's favor and paternal sentiments towards the Netherlands,
+while the regent was commanded to thwart, to the utmost of her power,
+the secret combinations of the nobility, and, if possible, to sow
+discord among their most eminent members. Jealousy, private interest,
+and religious differences had long divided many of the nobles; their
+share in the common neglect and contempt with which they were treated,
+and a general hatred of the minister had again united them. So long as
+Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange were suitors for the regency it
+could not fail but that at times their competing claims should have
+brought them into collision. Both had met each other on the road to
+glory and before the throne; both again met in the republic, where they
+strove for the same prize, the favor of their fellow-citizens. Such
+opposite characters soon became estranged, but the powerful sympathy of
+necessity as quickly reconciled them. Each was now indispensable to the
+other, and the emergency united these two men together with a bond which
+their hearts would never have furnished. But it was on this very
+uncongeniality of disposition that the regent based her plans; if she
+could fortunately succeed in separating them she would at the same time
+divide the whole Flemish nobility into two parties. Through the
+presents and small attentions by which she exclusively honored these
+two she also sought to excite against them the envy and distrust of the
+rest, and by appearing to give Count Egmont a preference over the Prince
+of Orange she hoped to make the latter suspicious of Egmont's good
+faith. It happened that at this very time she was obliged to send an
+extraordinary ambassador to Frankfort, to be present at the election of
+a Roman emperor. She chose for this office the Duke of Arschot, the
+avowed enemy of the prince, in order in some degree to show in his case
+how splendid was the reward which hatred against the latter might look
+for. The Orange faction, however, instead of suffering any diminution,
+had gained an important accession in Count Horn, who, as admiral of the
+Flemish marine, had convoyed the king to Biscay, and now again took his
+seat in the council of state. Horn's restless and republican spirit
+readily met the daring schemes of Orange and Egmont, and a dangerous
+Triumvirate was soon formed by these three friends, which shook the
+royal power in the Netherlands, but which terminated very differently
+for each of its members.
+
+
+(1562.) Meanwhile Montigny had returned from his embassy, and brought
+back to the council of state the most gracious assurance of the monarch.
+But the Prince of Orange had, through his own secret channels of
+intelligence, received more credible information from Madrid, which
+entirely contradicted this report. By these means be learnt all the ill
+services which Granvella had done him and his friends with the king, and
+the odious appellations which were there applied to the Flemish
+nobility. There was no help for them so long as the minister retained
+the helm of government, and to procure his dismissal was the scheme,
+however rash and adventurous it appeared, which wholly occupied the mind
+of the prince. It was agreed between him and Counts Horn and Egmont to
+despatch a joint letter to the king, and, in the name of the whole
+nobility, formally to accuse the minister, and press energetically for
+his removal. The Duke of Arschot, to whom this proposition was
+communicated by Count Egmont, refused to concur in it, haughtily
+declaring that he was not disposed to receive laws from Egmont and
+Orange; that he had no cause of complaint against Granvella, and that he
+thought it very presumptuous to prescribe to the king what ministers he
+ought to employ. Orange received a similar answer from the Count of
+Aremberg. Either the seeds of distrust which the regent had scattered
+amongst the nobility had already taken root, or the fear of the
+minister's power outweighed the abhorrence of his measures; at any rate,
+the whole nobility shrunk back timidly and irresolutely from the
+proposal. This disappointment did not, however, discourage them. The
+letter was written and subscribed by all three (1563).
+
+In it Granvella was represented as the prime cause of all the disorders
+in the Netherlands. So long as the highest power should be entrusted to
+him it would, they declared, be impossible for them to serve the nation
+and king effectually; on the other hand, all would revert to its former
+tranquillity, all opposition be discontinued, and the government regain
+the affections of the people as soon as his majesty should be pleased to
+remove this man from the helm of the state. In that case, they added,
+neither exertion nor zeal would be wanting on their part to maintain in
+these countries the dignity of the king and the purity of the faith,
+which was no less sacred to them than to the cardinal, Granvella.
+
+Secretly as this letter was prepared still the duchess was informed of
+it in sufficient time to anticipate it by another despatch, and to
+counteract the effect which it might have had on the king's mind. Some
+months passed ere an answer came from Madrid. It was mild, but vague.
+"The king," such was its import, "was not used to condemn his ministers
+unheard on the mere accusations of their enemies. Common justice alone
+required that the accusers of the cardinal should descend from general
+imputations to special proofs, and if they were not inclined to do this
+in writing, one of them might come to Spain, where he should be treated
+with all respect." Besides this letter, which was equally directed to
+all three, Count Egmont further received an autograph letter from the
+king, wherein his majesty expressed a wish to learn from him in
+particular what in the common letter had been only generally touched
+upon. The regent, also, was specially instructed how she was to answer
+the three collectively, and the count singly. The king knew his man.
+He felt it was easy to manage Count Egmont alone; for this reason he
+sought to entice him to Madrid, where he would be removed from the
+commanding guidance of a higher intellect. In distinguishing him above
+his two friends by so flattering a mark of his confidence, he made a
+difference in the relation in which they severally stood to the throne;
+how could they, then, unite with equal zeal for the same object when the
+inducements were no longer the same? This time, indeed, the vigilance
+of Orange frustrated the scheme; but the sequel of the history will show
+that the seed which was now scattered was not altogether lost.
+
+
+(1563.) The king's answer gave no satisfaction to the three
+confederates; they boldly determined to venture a second attempt. "It
+had," they wrote, "surprised them not a little, that his majesty had
+thought their representations so unworthy of attention. It was not as
+accusers of the minister, but as counsellors of his majesty, whose duty
+it was to inform their master of the condition of his states, that they
+had despatched that letter to him. They sought not the ruin of the
+minister, indeed it would gratify them to see him contented and happy in
+any other part of the world than here in the Netherlands. They were,
+however, fully persuaded of this, that his continued presence there was
+absolutely incompatible with the general tranquillity. The present
+dangerous condition of their native country would allow none of them to
+leave it, much less to take so long a journey as to Spain on Granvella's
+account. If, therefore, his majesty did not please to comply with their
+written request, they hoped to be excused for the future from attendance
+in the senate, where they were only exposed to the mortification of
+meeting the minister, and where they could be of no service either to
+the king or the state, but only appeared contemptible in their own
+sight. In conclusion, they begged his majesty would not take ill the
+plain simplicity of their language, since persons of their character set
+more value on acting well than on speaking finely." To the same purport
+was a separate letter from Count Egmont, in which he returned thanks for
+the royal autograph. This second address was followed by an answer to
+the effect that "their representations should be taken into
+consideration, meanwhile they were requested to attend the council of
+state as heretofore."
+
+It was evident that the monarch was far from intending to grant their
+request; they, therefore, from this tune forth absented themselves from
+the state council, and even left Brussels. Not having succeeded in
+removing the minister by lawful means they sought to accomplish this end
+by a new mode from which more might be expected. On every occasion they
+and their adherents openly showed the contempt which they felt for him,
+and contrived to throw ridicule on everything he undertook. By this
+contemptuous treatment they hoped to harass the haughty spirit of the
+priest, and to obtain through his mortified self-love what they had
+failed in by other means. In this, indeed, they did not succeed; but
+the expedient on which they had fallen led in the end to the ruin of the
+minister.
+
+The popular voice was raised more loudly against him so soon as it was
+perceived that he had forfeited the good opinion of the nobles, and that
+men whose sentiments they had been used blindly to echo preceded them in
+detestation of him. The contemptuous manner in which the nobility now
+treated him devoted him in a measure to the general scorn and emboldened
+calumny which never spares even what is holiest and purest, to lay its
+sacrilegious hand on his honor. The new constitution of the church,
+which was the great grievance of the nation, had been the basis of his
+fortunes. This was a crime that could not be forgiven. Every fresh
+execution--and with such spectacles the activity of the inquisitors was
+only too liberal--kept alive and furnished dreadful exercise to the
+bitter animosity against him, and at last custom and usage inscribed his
+name on every act of oppression. A stranger in a land into which he had
+been introduced against its will; alone among millions of enemies;
+uncertain of all his tools; supported only by the weak arm of distant
+royalty; maintaining his intercourse with the nation, which he had to
+gain, only by means of faithless instruments, all of whom made it their
+highest object to falsify his actions and misrepresent his motives;
+lastly, with a woman for his coadjutor who could not share with him the
+burden of the general execration--thus he stood exposed to the
+wantonness, the ingratitude, the faction, the envy, and all the evil
+passions of a licentious, insubordinate people. It is worthy of remark
+that the hatred which he had incurred far outran the demerits which
+could be laid to his charge; that it was difficult, nay impossible, for
+his accusers to substantiate by proof the general condemnation which
+fell upon him from all sides. Before and after him fanaticism dragged
+its victims to the altar; before and after him civil blood flowed, the
+rights of men were made a mock of, and men themselves rendered wretched.
+Under Charles V. tyranny ought to have pained more acutely through its
+novelty; under the Duke of Alva it was carried to far more unnatural
+lengths, insomuch that Granvella's administration, in comparison with
+that of his successor, was even merciful; and yet we do not find that
+his contemporaries ever evinced the same degree of personal exasperation
+and spite against the latter in which they indulged against his
+predecessor. To cloak the meanness of his birth in the splendor of high
+dignities, and by an exalted station to place him if possible above the
+malice of his enemies, the regent had made interest at Rome to procure
+for him the cardinal's hat; but this very honor, which connected him
+more closely with the papal court, made him so much the more an alien in
+the provinces. The purple was a new crime in Brussels, and an
+obnoxious, detested garb, which in a measure publicly held forth to view
+the principles on which his future conduct would be governed. Neither
+his honorable rank, which alone often consecrates the most infamous
+caitiff, nor his talents, which commanded esteem, nor even his terrible
+omnipotence, which daily revealed itself in so many bloody
+manifestations, could screen him from derision. Terror and scorn, the
+fearful and the ludicrous, were in his instance unnaturally blended.
+
+   [The nobility, at the suggestion of Count Egmont, caused their
+   servants to wear a common livery, on which was embroidered a fool's
+   cap. All Brussels interpreted it for the cardinal's hat, and every
+   appearance of such a servant renewed their laughter; this badge of
+   a fool's cap, which was offensive to the court, was subsequently
+   changed into a bundle of arrows--an accidental jest which took a
+   very serious end, and probably was the origin of the arms of the
+   republic. Vit. Vigl. T. II. 35 Thuan. 489. The respect for the
+   cardinal sunk at last so low that a caricature was publicly placed
+   in his own hand, in which he was represented seated on a heap of
+   eggs, out of which bishops were crawling. Over him hovered a devil
+   with the inscription--"This is my son, hear ye him!"]
+
+Odious rumors branded his honor; murderous attempts on the lives of
+Egmont and Orange were ascribed to him; the most incredible things found
+credence; the most monstrous, if they referred to him or were said to
+emanate from him, surprised no longer. The nation had already become
+uncivilized to that degree where the most contradictory sentiments
+prevail side by side, and the finer boundary lines of decorum and moral
+feeling are erased. This belief in extraordinary crimes is almost
+invariably their immediate precursor.
+
+But with this gloomy prospect the strange destiny of this man opens at
+the same time a grander view, which impresses the unprejudiced observer
+with pleasure and admiration. Here he beholds a nation dazzled by no
+splendor, and restrained by no fear, firmly, inexorably, and
+unpremeditatedly unanimous in punishing the crime which had been
+committed against its dignity by the violent introduction of a stranger
+into the heart of its political constitution. We see him ever aloof and
+ever isolated, like a foreign hostile body hovering over a surface which
+repels its contact. The strong hand itself of the monarch, who was.
+his friend and protector, could not support him against the antipathies
+of the nation which had once resolved to withhold from him all its
+sympathy. The voice of national hatred was all powerful, and was ready
+to forego even private interest, its certain gains; his alms even were
+shunned, like the fruit of an accursed tree. Like pestilential vapor,
+the infamy of universal reprobation hung over him. In his case
+gratitude believed itself absolved from its duties; his adherents
+shunned him; his friends were dumb in his behalf. So terribly did the
+people avenge the insulted majesty of their nobles and their nation on
+the greatest monarch of the earth.
+
+History has repeated this memorable example only once, in Cardinal
+Mazarin; but the instance differed according to the spirit of the two
+periods and nations. The highest power could not protect either from
+derision; but if France found vent for its indignation in laughing at
+its pantaloon, the Netherlands hurried from scorn to rebellion. The
+former, after a long bondage under the vigorous administration of
+Richelieu, saw itself placed suddenly in unwonted liberty; the latter
+had passed from ancient hereditary freedom into strange and unusual
+servitude; it was as natural that the Fronde should end again in
+subjection as that the Belgian troubles should issue in republican
+independence. The revolt of the Parisians was the offspring of poverty;
+unbridled, but not bold, arrogant, but without energy, base and
+plebeian, like the source from which it sprang. The murmur of the
+Netherlands was the proud and powerful voice of wealth. Licentiousness
+and hunger inspired the former; revenge, life, property, and religion
+were the animating motives of the latter. Rapacity was Mazarin's spring
+of action; Granvella's lust of power. The former was humane and mild;
+the latter harsh, imperious, cruel. The French minister sought in the
+favor of his queen an asylum from the hatred of the magnates and the
+fury of the people; the Netherlandish minister provoked the hatred of a
+whole nation in order to please one man. Against Mazarin were only a
+few factions and the mob they could arm; an entire and united nation
+against Granvella. Under the former parliament attempted to obtain,
+by stealth, a power which did not belong to them; under the latter it
+struggled for a lawful authority which he insidiously had endeavored to
+wrest from them. The former had to contend with the princes of the
+blood and the peers of the realm, as the latter had with the native
+nobility and the states, but instead of endeavoring, like the former, to
+overthrow the common enemy, in the hope of stepping themselves into his
+place, the latter wished to destroy the place itself, and to divide a
+power which no single man ought to possess entire.
+
+While these feelings were spreading among the people the influence of
+the minister at the court of the regent began to totter. The repeated
+complaints against the extent of his power must at last have made her
+sensible how little faith was placed in her own; perhaps, too, she began
+to fear that the universal abhorrence which attached to him would soon
+include herself also, or that his longer stay would inevitably provoke
+the menaced revolt. Long intercourse with him, his instruction and
+example, had qualified her to govern without him. His dignity began to
+be more oppressive to her as he became less necessary, and his faults,
+to which her friendship had hitherto lent a veil, became visible as it
+was withdrawn. She was now as much disposed to search out and enumerate
+these faults as she formerly had been to conceal them. In this
+unfavorable state of her feelings towards the cardinal the urgent and
+accumulated representations of the nobles began at last to find access
+to her mind, and the more easily, as they contrived to mix up her own
+fears with their own. "It was matter of great astonishment," said Count
+Egmont to her, "that to gratify a man who was not even a Fleming, and of
+whom, therefore, it must be well known that his happiness could not be
+dependent on the prosperity of this country, the king could be content
+to see all his Netherlandish subjects suffer, and this to please a
+foreigner, who if his birth made him a subject of the Emperor, the
+purple had made a creature of the court of Rome." "To the king alone,"
+added the count, "was Granvella indebted for his being still among the
+living; for the future, however, he would leave that care of him to the
+regent, and he hereby gave her warning." As the majority of the nobles,
+disgusted with the contemptuous treatment which they met with in the
+council of state, gradually withdrew from it, the arbitrary proceedings
+of the minister lost the last semblance of republican deliberation which
+had hitherto softened the odious aspect, and the empty desolation of
+the council chamber made his domineering rule appear in all its
+obnoxiousness. The regent now felt that she had a master over her,
+and from that moment the banishment of the minister was decided upon.
+
+With this object she despatched her private secretary, Thomas
+Armenteros, to Spain, to acquaint the king with the circumstances in
+which the cardinal was placed, to apprise him of the intimations she had
+received of the intentions of the nobles, and in this manner to cause
+the resolution for his recall to appear to emanate from the king
+himself. What she did not like to trust to a letter Armenteros was
+ordered ingeniously to interweave in the oral communication which the
+king would probably require from him. Armenteros fulfilled his
+commission with all the ability of a consummate courtier; but an
+audience of four hours could not overthrow the work of many years, nor
+destroy in Philip's mind his opinion of his minister, which was there
+unalterably established. Long did the monarch hold counsel with his
+policy and his interest, until Granvella himself came to the aid of his
+wavering resolution and voluntarily solicited a dismissal, which, he
+feared, could not much longer be deferred. What the detestation of all
+the Netherlands could not effect the contemptuous treatment of the
+nobility accomplished; he was at last weary of a power which was no
+longer feared, and exposed him less to envy than to infamy.
+
+Perhaps as some have believed he trembled for his life, which was
+certainly in more than imaginary danger; perhaps he wished to receive
+his dismissal from the king under the shape of a boon rather than of a
+sentence, and after the example of the Romans meet with dignity a fate
+which he could no longer avoid. Philip too, it would appear, preferred
+generously to accord to the nation a request rather than to yield at a
+later period to a demand, and hoped at least to merit their thanks by
+voluntarily conceding now what necessity would ere long extort. His
+fears prevailed over his obstinacy, and prudence overcame pride.
+
+Granvella doubted not for a moment what the decision of the king would
+be. A few days after the return of Armenteros he saw humility and
+flattery disappear from the few faces which had till then servilely
+smiled upon him; the last small crowd of base flatterers and eyeservants
+vanished from around his person; his threshold was forsaken; he
+perceived that the fructifying warmth of royal favor had left him.
+
+Detraction, which had assailed him during his whole administration, did
+not spare him even in the moment of resignation. People did not scruple
+to assert that a short time before he laid down his office he had
+expressed a wish to be reconciled to the Prince of Orange and Count
+Egmont, and even offered, if their forgiveness could be hoped for on no
+other terms, to ask pardon of them on his knees. It was base and
+contemptible to sully the memory of a great and extraordinary man with
+such a charge, but it is still more so to hand it down uncontradicted to
+posterity. Granvella submitted to the royal command with a dignified
+composure. Already had he written, a few months previously, to the Duke
+of Alva in Spain, to prepare him a place of refuge in Madrid, in case of
+his having to quit the Netherlands. The latter long bethought himself
+whether it was advisable to bring thither so dangerous a rival for the
+favor of his king, or to deny so important a friend such a valuable
+means of indulging his old hatred of the Flemish nobles. Revenge
+prevailed over fear, and he strenuously supported Granvella's request
+with the monarch. But his intercession was fruitless. Armenteros had
+persuaded the king that the minister's residence in Madrid would only
+revive, with increased violence, all the complaints of the Belgian
+nation, to which his ministry had been sacrificed; for then, he said, he
+would be suspected of poisoning the very source of that power, whose
+outlets only he had hitherto been charged with corrupting. He therefore
+sent him to Burgundy, his native place, for which a decent pretext
+fortunately presented itself. The cardinal gave to his departure from
+Brussels the appearance of an unimportant journey, from which he would
+return in a few days. At the same time, however, all the state
+counsellors, who, under his administration, had voluntarily excluded
+themselves from its sittings, received a command from the court to
+resume their seats in the senate at Brussels. Although the latter
+circumstance made his return not very credible, nevertheless the
+remotest possibility of it sobered the triumph which celebrated his
+departure. The regent herself appears to have been undecided what to
+think about the report; for, in a fresh letter to the king, she repeated
+all the representations and arguments which ought to restrain him from
+restoring this minister. Granvella himself, in his correspondence with
+Barlaimont and Viglius, endeavored to keep alive this rumor, and at
+least to alarm with fears, however unsubstantial, the enemies whom he
+could no longer punish by his presence. Indeed, the dread of the
+influence of this extraordinary man was so exceedingly great that, to
+appease it, he was at last driven even from his home and his country.
+
+After the death of Pius IV., Granvella went to Rome, to be present at
+the election of a new pope, and at the same time to discharge some
+commissions of his master, whose confidence in him remained unshaken.
+Soon after, Philip made him viceroy of Naples, where he succumbed to the
+seductions of the climate, and the spirit which no vicissitudes could
+bend voluptuousness overcame. He was sixty-two years old when the king
+allowed him to revisit Spain, where he continued with unlimited powers
+to administer the affairs of Italy. A gloomy old age, and the
+self-satisfied pride of a sexagenarian administration made him a harsh
+and rigid judge of the opinions of others, a slave of custom, and a
+tedious panegyrist of past times. But the policy of the closing century
+had ceased to be the policy of the opening one. A new and younger
+ministry were soon weary of so imperious a superintendent, and Philip
+himself began to shun the aged counsellor, who found nothing worthy of
+praise but the deeds of his father. Nevertheless, when the conquest of
+Portugal called Philip to Lisbon, he confided to the cardinal the care of
+his Spanish territories. Finally, on an Italian tour, in the town of
+Mantua, in the seventy-third year of his life, Granvella terminated his
+long existence in the full enjoyment of his glory, and after possessing
+for forty years the uninterrupted confidence of his king.
+
+
+(1564.) Immediately upon the departure of the minister, all the happy
+results which were promised from his withdrawal were fulfilled. The
+disaffected nobles resumed their seats in the council, and again devoted
+themselves to the affairs of the state with redoubled zeal, in order to
+give no room for regret for him whom they had driven away, and to prove,
+by the fortunate administration of the state, that his services were not
+indispensable. The crowd round the duchess was great. All vied with
+one another in readiness, in submission, and zeal in her service; the
+hours of night were not allowed to stop the transaction of pressing
+business of state; the greatest unanimity existed between the three
+councils, the best understanding between the court and the states. From
+the obliging temper of the Flemish nobility everything was to be had, as
+soon as their pride and self-will was flattered by confidence and
+obliging treatment. The regent took advantage of the first joy of the
+nation to beguile them into a vote of certain taxes, which, under the
+preceding administration, she could not have hoped to extort. In this,
+the great credit of the nobility effectually supported her, and she soon
+learned from this nation the secret, which had been so often verified in
+the German diet--that much must be demanded in order to get a little.
+
+With pleasure did the regent see herself emancipated from her long
+thraldom; the emulous industry of the nobility lightened for her the
+burden of business, and their insinuating humility allowed her to feel
+the full sweetness of power.
+
+
+(1564). Granvella had been overthrown, but his party still remained.
+His policy lived in his creatures, whom he left behind him in the privy
+council and in the chamber of finance. Hatred still smouldered amongst
+the factious long after the leader was banished, and the names of the
+Orange and Royalist parties, of the Patriots and Cardinalists still
+continued to divide the senate and to keep up the flames of discord.
+Viglius Van Zuichem Van Aytta, president of the privy council, state
+counsellor and keeper of the seal, was now looked upon as the most
+important person in the senate, and the most powerful prop of the crown
+and the tiara. This highly meritorious old man, whom we have to thank
+for some valuable contributions towards the history of the rebellion of
+the Low Countries, and whose confidential correspondence with his
+friends has generally been the guide of our narrative, was one of the
+greatest lawyers of his time, as well as a theologian and priest, and
+had already, under the Emperor, filled the most important offices.
+Familiar intercourse with the learned men who adorned the age, and at
+the head of whom stood Erasmus of Rotterdam, combined with frequent
+travels in the imperial service, had extended the sphere of his
+information and experience, and in many points raised him in his
+principles and opinions above his contemporaries. The fame of his
+erudition filled the whole century in which he lived, and has handed his
+name down to posterity. When, in the year 1548, the connection of the
+Netherlands with the German empire was to be settled at the Diet of
+Augsburg, Charles V. sent hither this statesman to manage the interests
+of the provinces; and his ability principally succeeded in turning the
+negotiations to the advantage of the Netherlands. After the death of
+the Emperor, Viglius was one of the many eminent ministers bequeathed to
+Philip by his father, and one of the few in whom he honored his memory.
+The fortune of the minister, Granvella, with whom he was united by the
+ties of an early acquaintance, raised him likewise to greatness; but he
+did not share the fall of his patron, because he had not participated in
+his lust of power; nor, consequently, the hatred which attached to him.
+A residence of twenty years in the provinces, where the most important
+affairs were entrusted to him, approved loyalty to his king, and zealous
+attachment to the Roman Catholic tenets, made him one of the most
+distinguished instruments of royalty in the Netherlands.
+
+Viglius was a man of learning, but no thinker; an experienced statesman,
+but without an enlightened mind; of an intellect not sufficiently
+powerful to break, like his friend Erasmus, the fetters of error, yet
+not sufficiently bad to employ it, like his predecessor, Granvella, in
+the service of his own passions. Too weak and timid to follow boldly
+the guidance of his reason, he preferred trusting to the more convenient
+path of conscience; a thing was just so soon as it became his duty; he
+belonged to those honest men who are indispensable to bad ones; fraud
+reckoned on his honesty. Half a century later he would have received
+his immortality from the freedom which he now helped to subvert.
+In the privy council at Brussels he was the servant of tyranny; in the
+parliament in London, or in the senate at Amsterdam, he would have died,
+perhaps, like Thomas More or Olden Barneveldt.
+
+In the Count Barlaimont, the president of the council of finance,
+the opposition had a no less formidable antagonist than in Viglius.
+Historians have transmitted but little information regarding the
+services and the opinions of this man. In the first part of his career
+the dazzling greatness of Cardinal Granvella seems to have cast a shade
+over him; after the latter had disappeared from the stage the
+superiority of the opposite party kept him down, but still the little
+that we do find respecting him throws a favorable light over his
+character. More than once the Prince of Orange exerted himself to
+detach him from the interests of the cardinal, and to join him to his
+own party--sufficient proof that he placed a value on the prize. All
+his efforts failed, which shows that he had to do with no vacillating
+character. More than once we see him alone, of all the members of the
+council, stepping forward to oppose the dominant faction, and protecting
+against universal opposition the interests of the crown, which were in
+momentary peril of being sacrificed. When the Prince of Orange had
+assembled the knights of the Golden Fleece in his own palace, with a
+view to induce them to come to a preparatory resolution for the
+abolition of the Inquisition, Barlaimont was the first to denounce the
+illegality of this proceeding and to inform the regent of it. Some time
+after the prince asked him if the regent knew of that assembly, and
+Barlaitnont hesitated not a moment to avow to him the truth. All the
+steps which have been ascribed to him bespeak a man whom neither
+influence nor fear could tempt, who, with a firm courage and indomitable
+constancy, remained faithful to the party which he had once chosen, but
+who, it must at the same time be confessed, entertained too proud and
+too despotic notions to have selected any other.
+
+Amongst the adherents of the royal party at Brussels, we have, further,
+the names of the Duke of Arschot, the Counts of Mansfeld, Megen, and
+Aremberg--all three native Netherlanders; and therefore, as it appeared,
+bound equally with the whole Netherlandish nobility to oppose the
+hierarchy and the royal power in their native country. So much the more
+surprised must we feel at their contrary behavior, and which is indeed
+the more remarkable, since we find them on terms of friendship with the
+most eminent members of the faction, and anything but insensible to the
+common grievances of their country.
+
+But they had not self-confidence or heroism enough to venture on an
+unequal contest with so superior an antagonist. With a cowardly
+prudence they made their just discontent submit to the stern law of
+necessity, and imposed a hard sacrifice on their pride because their
+pampered vanity was capable of nothing better. Too thrifty and too
+discreet to wish to extort from the justice or the fear of their
+sovereign the certain good which they already possessed from his
+voluntary generosity, or to resign a real happiness in order to preserve
+the shadow of another, they rather employed the propitious moment to
+drive a traffic with their constancy, which, from the general defection
+of the nobility, had now risen in value. Caring little for true glory,
+they allowed their ambition to decide which party they should take; for
+the ambition of base minds prefers to bow beneath the hard yoke of
+compulsion rather than submit to the gentle sway of a superior
+intellect. Small would have been the value of the favor conferred had
+they bestowed themselves on the Prince of Orange; but their connection
+with royalty made them so much the more formidable as opponents. There
+their names would have been lost among his numerous adherents and in the
+splendor of their rival. On the almost deserted side of the court their
+insignificant merit acquired lustre.
+
+The families of Nassau and Croi (to the latter belonged the Duke of
+Arschot) had for several reigns been competitors for influence and
+honor, and their rivalry had kept up an old feud between their families,
+which religious differences finally made irreconcilable. The house of
+Croi from time immemorial had been renowned for its devout and strict
+observance of papistic rites and ceremonies; the Counts of Nassau had
+gone over to the new sect--sufficient reasons why Philip of Croi, Duke
+of Arschot, should prefer a party which placed him the most decidedly in
+opposition to the Prince of Orange. The court did not fail to take
+advantage of this private feud, and to oppose so important an enemy to
+the increasing influence of the house of Nassau in the republic. The
+Counts Mansfeld and Megen had till lately been the confidential friends
+of Count Egmont. In common with him they had raised their voice against
+the minister, had joined him in resisting the Inquisition and the
+edicts, and had hitherto held with him as far as honor and duty would
+permit. But at these limits the three friends now separated. Egmont's
+unsuspecting virtue incessantly hurried him forwards on the road to
+ruin; Mansfeld and Megen, admonished of the danger, began in good time
+to think of a safe retreat. There still exist letters which were
+interchanged between the Counts Egmont and Mansfeld, and which, although
+written at a later period, give us a true picture of their former
+friendship. "If," replied Count Mansfeld to his friend, who in an
+amicable manner had reproved him for his defection to the king, "if
+formerly I was of opinion that the general good made the abolition of
+the Inquisition, the mitigation of the edicts, and the removal of the
+Cardinal Granvella necessary, the king has now acquiesced in this wish
+and removed the cause of complaint. We have already done too much
+against the majesty of the sovereign and the authority of the church; it
+is high time for us to turn, if we would wish to meet the king, when he
+comes, with open brow and without anxiety. As regards my own person, I
+do not dread his vengeance; with confident courage I would at his first
+summons present myself in Spain, and boldly abide my sentence from his
+justice and goodness. I do not say this as if I doubted whether Count
+Egmont can assert the same, but he will act prudently in looking more
+to his own safety, and in removing suspicion from his actions. If I
+hear," he says, in conclusion, "that he has allowed my admonitions to
+have their due weight, our friendship continues; if not, I feel myself
+in that case strong enough to sacrifice all human ties to my duty and to
+honor."
+
+The enlarged power of the nobility exposed the republic to almost a
+greater evil than that which it had just escaped by the removal of the
+minister. Impoverished by long habits of luxury, which at the same time
+had relaxed their morals, and to which they were now too much addicted
+to be able to renounce them, they yielded to the perilous opportunity of
+indulging their ruling inclination, and of again repairing the expiring
+lustre of their fortunes. Extravagance brought on the thirst for gain,
+and this introduced bribery. Secular and ecclesiastical offices were
+publicly put up to sale; posts of honor, privileges, and patents were
+sold to the highest bidder; even justice was made a trade. Whom the
+privy council had condemned was acquitted by the council of state, and
+what the former refused to grant was to be purchased from the latter.
+The council of state, indeed, subsequently retorted the charge on the
+two other councils, but it forgot that it was its own example that
+corrupted them. The shrewdness of rapacity opened new sources of gain.
+Life, liberty, and religion were insured for a certain sum, like landed
+estates; for gold, murderers and malefactors were free, and the nation
+was plundered by a lottery. The servants and creatures of the state,
+counsellors and governors of provinces, were, without regard to rank or
+merit, pushed into the most important posts; whoever had a petition to
+present at court had to make his way through the governors of provinces
+and their inferior servants. No artifice of seduction was spared to
+implicate in these excesses the private secretary of the duchess, Thomas
+Armenteros, a man up to this time of irreproachable character. By
+pretended professions of attachment and friendship a successful attempt
+was made to gain his confidence, and by luxurious entertainments to
+undermine his principles; the seductive example infected his morals, and
+new wants overcame his hitherto incorruptible integrity. He was now
+blind to abuses in which he was an accomplice, and drew a veil over the
+crimes of others in order at the same time to cloak his own. With his
+knowledge the royal exchequer was robbed, and the objects of the
+government were defeated through a corrupt administration of its
+revenues. Meanwhile the regent wandered on in a fond dream of power and
+activity, which the flattery of the nobles artfully knew how to foster.
+The ambition of the factious played with the foibles of a woman, and
+with empty signs and an humble show of submission purchased real power
+from her. She soon belonged entirely to the faction, and had
+imperceptibly changed her principles. Diametrically opposing all her
+former proceedings, even in direct violation of her duty, she now
+brought before the council of state, which was swayed by the faction,
+not only questions which belonged to the other councils, but also the
+suggestions which Viglius had made to her in private, in the same way as
+formerly, under Granvella's administration, she had improperly neglected
+to consult it at all. Nearly all business and all influence were now
+diverted to the governors of provinces. All petitions were directed to
+them, by them all lucrative appointments were bestowed. Their
+usurpations were indeed carried so far that law proceedings were
+withdrawn from the municipal authorities of the towns and brought before
+their own tribunals. The respectability of the provincial courts
+decreased as theirs extended, and with the respectability of the
+municipal functionaries the administration of justice and civil order
+declined. The smaller courts soon followed the example of the
+government of the country. The spirit which ruled the council of state
+at Brussels soon diffused itself through the provinces. Bribery,
+indulgences, robbery, venality of justice, were universal in the courts
+of judicature of the country; morals degenerated, and the new sects
+availed themselves of this all-pervading licentiousness to propagate
+their opinions. The religious indifference or toleration of the nobles,
+who, either themselves inclined to the side of the innovators, or, at
+least, detested the Inquisition as an instrument of despotism, had
+mitigated the rigor of the religious edicts, and through the letters of
+indemnity, which were bestowed on many Protestants, the holy office was
+deprived of its best victims. In no way could the nobility more
+agreeably announce to the nation its present share in the government of
+the country than by sacrificing to it the hated tribunal of the
+Inquisition--and to this inclination impelled them still more than the
+dictates of policy. The nation passed in a moment from the most
+oppressive constraint of intolerance into a state of freedom, to which,
+however, it had already become too unaccustomed to support it with
+moderation. The inquisitors, deprived of the support of the municipal
+authorities, found themselves an object of derision rather than of fear.
+In Bruges the town council caused even some of their own servants to be
+placed in confinement, and kept on bread and water, for attempting to
+lay hands upon a supposed heretic. About this very time the mob in
+Antwerp, having made a futile, attempt to rescue a person charged with
+heresy from the holy office, there was placarded in the public
+market-place an inscription, written in blood, to the effect that a
+number of persons had bound themselves by oath to avenge the death of
+that innocent person.
+
+From the corruption which pervaded the whole council of state, the privy
+council, and the chamber of finance, in which Viglius and Barlaimont
+were presidents, had as yet, for the most part, kept themselves pure.
+
+As the faction could not succeed in insinuating their adherents into
+those two councils the only course open to them was, if possible, to
+render both inefficient, and to transfer their business to the council
+of state. To carry out this design the Prince of Orange sought to
+secure the co-operation of the other state counsellors. "They were
+called, indeed, senators," he frequently declared to his adherents, "but
+others possessed the power. If gold was wanted to pay the troops, or
+when the question was how the spreading heresy was to be repressed, or
+the people kept in order, then they were consulted; although in fact
+they were the guardians neither of the treasury nor of the laws, but
+only the organs through which the other two councils operated on the
+state. And yet alone they were equal to the whole administration of the
+country, which had been uselessly portioned out amongst three separate
+chambers. If they would among themselves only agree to reunite to the
+council of state these two important branches of government, which had
+been dissevered from it, one soul might animate the whole body." A plan
+was preliminarily and secretly agreed on, in accordance with which
+twelve new Knights of the Fleece were to be added to the council of
+state, the administration of justice restored to the tribunal at
+Malines, to which it originally belonged, the granting of letters of
+grace, patents, and so forth, assigned to the president, Viglius, while
+the management of the finances should be committed to it. All the
+difficulties, indeed, which the distrust of the court and its jealousy
+of the increasing power of the nobility would oppose to this innovation
+were foreseen and provided against. In order to constrain the regent's
+assent, some of the principal officers of the army were put forward as a
+cloak, who were to annoy the court at Brussels with boisterous demands
+for their arrears of pay, and in case of refusal to threaten a
+rebellion. It was also contrived to have the regent assailed with
+numerous petitions and memorials complaining of the delays of justice,
+and exaggerating the danger which was to be apprehended from the daily
+growth of heresy. Nothing was omitted to darken the picture of the
+disorganized state of society, of the abuse of justice, and of the
+deficiency in the finances, which was made so alarming that she awoke
+with terror from the delusion of prosperity in which she had hitherto
+cradled herself. She called the three councils together to consult them
+on the means by which these disorders were to be remedied. The majority
+was in favor of sending an extraordinary ambassador to Spain, who by a
+circumstantial and vivid delineation should make the king acquainted
+with the true position of affairs, and if possible prevail on him to
+adopt efficient measures of reform. This proposition was opposed by
+Viglius, who, however, had not the slighest suspicion of the secret
+designs of the faction. "The evil complained of," he said, "is
+undoubtedly great, and one which can no longer be neglected with
+impunity, but it is not irremediable by ourselves. The administration
+of justice is certainly crippled, but the blame of this lies with the
+nobles themselves; by their contemptuous treatment they have thrown
+discredit on the municipal authorities, who, moreover, are very
+inadequately supported by the governors of provinces. If heresy is on
+the increase it is because the secular arm has deserted the spiritual
+judges, and because the lower orders, following the example of the
+nobles, have thrown off all respect for those in authority. The
+provinces are undoubtedly oppressed by a heavy debt, but it has not been
+accumulated, as alleged, by any malversation of the revenues, but by the
+expenses of former wars and the king's present exigences; still wise and
+prudent measures of finance might in a short time remove the burden. If
+the council of state would not be so profuse of its indulgences, its
+charters of immunity, and its exemptions; if it would commence the
+reformation of morals with itself, show greater respect to the laws, and
+do what lies in its power to restore to the municipal functionaries
+their former consideration; in short, if the councils and the governors
+of provinces would only fulfil their own duties the present grounds of
+complaint would soon be removed. Why, then, send an ambassador to
+Spain, when as yet nothing has occurred to justify so extraordinary an
+expedient? If, however, the council thinks otherwise, he would not
+oppose the general voice; only he must make it a condition of his
+concurrence that the principal instruction of the envoy should be to
+entreat the king to make them a speedy visit."
+
+There was but one voice as to the choice of an envoy. Of all the
+Flemish nobles Count Egmont was the only one whose appointment would
+give equal satisfaction to both parties. His hatred of the Inquisition,
+his patriotic and liberal sentiments, and the unblemished integrity of
+his character, gave to the republic sufficient surety for his conduct,
+while for the reasons already mentioned he could not fail to be welcome
+to the king. Moreover, Egmont's personal figure and demeanor were
+calculated on his first appearance to make that favorable impression
+which goes co far towards winning the hearts of princes; and his
+engaging carriage would come to the aid of his eloquence, and enforce
+his petition with those persuasive arts which are indispensable to the
+success of even the most trifling suits to royalty. Egmont himself,
+too, wished for the embassy, as it would afford him the opportunity of
+adjusting, personally, matters with his sovereign.
+
+About this time the Council, or rather synod, of Trent closed its
+sittings, and published its decrees to the whole of Christendom. But
+these canons, far from accomplishing the object for which the synod was
+originally convened, and satisfying the expectation of religious
+parties, had rather widened the breach between them, and made the schism
+irremediable and eternal.
+
+The labors of the synod instead of purifying the Romish Church from its
+corruptions had only reduced the latter to greater definiteness and
+precision, and invested them with the sanction of authority. All the
+subtilties of its teaching, all the arts and usurpations of the Roman
+See, which had hitherto rested more on arbitrary usage, were now passed
+into laws and raised into a system. The uses and abuses which during
+the barbarous times of ignorance and superstition had crept into
+Christianity were now declared essential parts of its worship, and
+anathemas were denounced upon all who should dare to contradict the
+dogmas or neglect the observances of the Romish communion. All were
+anathematized who should either presume to doubt the miraculous power of
+relics, and refuse to honor the bones of martyrs, or should be so bold
+as to doubt the availing efficacy of the intercession of saints. The
+power of granting indulgences, the first source of the defection from
+the See of Rome, was now propounded in an irrefragable article of faith;
+and the principle of monasticism sanctioned by an express decree of the
+synod, which allowed males to take the vows at sixteen and females at
+twelve. And while all the opinions of the Protestants were, without
+exception, condemned, no indulgence was shown to their errors or
+weaknesses, nor a single step taken to win them back by mildness to the
+bosom of the mother church. Amongst the Protestants the wearisome
+records of the subtle deliberations of the synod, and the absurdity of
+its decisions, increased, if possible, the hearty contempt which they
+had long entertained for popery, and laid open to their
+controversialists new and hitherto unnoticed points of attack. It was
+an ill-judged step to bring the mysteries of the church too close to the
+glaring torch of reason, and to fight with syllogisms for the tenets of
+a blind belief.
+
+Moreover, the decrees of the Council of Trent were not satisfactory even
+to all the powers in communion with Rome. France rejected them
+entirely, both because she did not wish to displease the Huguenots, and
+also because she was offended by the supremacy which the pope arrogated
+to himself over the council; some of the Roman Catholic princes of
+Germany likewise declared against it. Little, however, as Philip II.
+was pleased with many of its articles, which trenched too closely upon
+his own rights, for no monarch was ever more jealous of his prerogative;
+highly as the pope's assumption of control over the council, and its
+arbitrary, precipitate dissolution had offended him; just as was his
+indignation at the slight which the pope had put upon his ambassador; he
+nevertheless acknowledged the decrees of the synod, even in its present
+form, because it favored his darling object--the extirpation of heresy.
+Political considerations were all postponed to this one religious
+object, and he commanded the publication and enforcement of its canons
+throughout his dominions.
+
+The spirit of revolt, which was diffused through the Belgian provinces,
+scarcely required this new stimulus. There the minds of men were in a
+ferment, and the character of the Romish Church had sunk almost to the
+lowest point of contempt in the general opinion. Under such
+circumstances the imperious and frequently injudicious decrees of the
+council could not fail of being highly offensive; but Philip II. could
+not belie his religious character so far as to allow a different
+religion to a portion of his subjects, even though they might live on a
+different soil and under different laws from the rest. The regent was
+strictly enjoined to exact in the Netherlands the same obedience to the
+decrees of Trent which was yielded to them in Spain and Italy.
+
+They met, however, with the warmest opposition in the council of state
+at Brussels. "The nation," William of Orange declared, "neither would
+nor could acknowledge them, since they were, for the most part, opposed
+to the fundamental principles of their constitution; and, for similar
+reasons, they had even been rejected by several Roman Catholic princes."
+The whole council nearly was on the side of Orange; a decided majority
+were for entreating the king either to recall the decrees entirely or at
+least to publish them under certain limitations. This proposition was
+resisted by Viglius, who insisted on a strict and literal obedience to
+the royal commands. "The church," he said, "had in all ages maintained
+the purity of its doctrines and the strictness of its discipline by
+means of such general councils. No more efficacious remedy could be
+opposed to the errors of opinion which had so long distracted their
+country than these very decrees, the rejection of which is now urged by
+the council of state. Even if they are occasionally at variance with
+the constitutional rights of the citizens this is an evil which can
+easily be met by a judicious and temperate application of them. For the
+rest it redounds to the honor of our sovereign, the King of Spain, that
+he alone, of all the princes of his time, refuses to yield his better
+judgment to necessity, and will not, for any fear of consequences,
+reject measures which the welfare of the church demands, and which the
+happiness of his subjects makes a duty."
+
+But the decrees also contained several matters which affected the rights
+of the crown itself. Occasion was therefore taken of this fact to
+propose that these sections at least should be omitted from the
+proclamation. By this means the king might, it was argued, be relieved
+from these obnoxious and degrading articles by a happy expedient; the
+national liberties of the Netherlands might be advanced as the pretext
+for the omission, and the name of the republic lent to cover this
+encroachment on the authority of the synod. But the king had caused
+the decrees to be received and enforced in his other dominions
+unconditionally; and it was not to be expected that he would give the
+other Roman Catholic powers such an example of opposition, and himself
+undermine the edifice whose foundation he had been so assiduous in
+laying.
+
+
+
+
+             COUNT EGMONT IN SPAIN.
+
+Count Egmont was despatched to Spain to make a forcible representation
+to the king on the subject of these decrees; to persuade him, if
+possible, to adopt a milder policy towards his Protestant subjects, and
+to propose to him the incorporation of the three councils, was the
+commission he received from the malcontents. By the regent he was
+charged to apprise the monarch of the refractory spirit of the people;
+to convince him of the impossibility of enforcing these edicts of
+religion in their full severity; and lastly to acquaint him with the bad
+state of the military defences and the exhausted condition of the
+exchequer.
+
+The count's public instructions were drawn up by the President Viglius.
+They contained heavy complaints of the decay of justice, the growth of
+heresy, and the exhaustion of the treasury. He was also to press
+urgently a personal visit from the king to the Netherlands. The rest
+was left to the eloquence of the envoy, who received a hint from the
+regent not to let so fair an opportunity escape of establishing himself
+in the favor of his sovereign.
+
+The terms in which the count's instructions and the representations
+which he was to make to the king were drawn up appeared to the Prince of
+Orange far too vague and general. "The president's statement," he said,
+"of our grievances comes very far short of the truth. How can the king
+apply the suitable remedies if we conceal from him the full extent of
+the evil? Let us not represent the numbers of the heretics inferior to
+what it is in reality. Let us candidly acknowledge that they swarm in
+every province and in every hamlet, however small. Neither let us
+disguise from him the truth that they despise the penal statutes and
+entertain but little reverence for the government. What good can come
+of this concealment? Let us rather openly avow to the king that the
+republic cannot long continue in its present condition. The privy
+council indeed will perhaps pronounce differently, for to them the
+existing disorders are welcome. For what else is the source of the
+abuse of justice and the universal corruption of the courts of law but
+its insatiable rapacity? How otherwise can the pomp and scandalous
+luxury of its members, whom we have seen rise from the dust, be
+supported if not by bribery? Do not the people daily complain that no
+other key but gold can open an access to them; and do not even their
+quarrels prove how little they are swayed by a care for the common weal?
+Are they likely to consult the public good who are the slaves of their
+private passions? Do they think forsooth that we, the governors of the
+provinces are, with our soldiers, to stand ready at the beck and call of
+an infamous lictor? Let them set bounds to their indulgences and free
+pardons which they so lavishly bestow on the very persons to whom we
+think it just and expedient to deny them. No one can remit the
+punishment of a crime without sinning against the society and
+contributing to the increase of the general evil. To my mind, and I
+have no hesitation to avow it, the distribution amongst so many councils
+of the state secrets and the affairs of government has always appeared
+highly objectionable. The council of state is sufficient for all the
+duties of the administration; several patriots have already felt this in
+silence, and I now openly declare it. It is my decided conviction that
+the only sufficient remedy for all the evils complained of is to merge
+the other two chambers in the council of state. This is the point which
+we must endeavor to obtain from the king, or the present embassy, like
+all others, will be entirely useless and ineffectual." The prince now
+laid before the assembled senate the plan which we have already
+described. Viglius, against whom this new proposition was individually
+and mainly directed, and whose eyes were now suddenly opened, was
+overcome by the violence of his vexation. The agitation of his feelings
+was too much for his feeble body, and he was found, on the following
+morning, paralyzed by apoplexy, and in danger of his life.
+
+His place was supplied by Jaachim Hopper, a member of the privy council
+at Brussels, a man of old-fashioned morals and unblemished integrity,
+the president's most trusted and worthiest friend.
+
+
+   [Vita Vigl. 89. The person from whose memoirs I have already drawn
+   so many illustrations of the times of this epoch. His subsequent
+   journey to Spain gave rise to the correspondence between him and
+   the president, which is one of the most valuable documents for our
+   history.]
+
+To meet the wishes of the Orange party he made some additions to the
+instructions of the ambassador, relating chiefly to the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the incorporation of the three councils, not so much
+with the consent of the regent as in the absence of her prohibition.
+Upon Count Egmont taking leave of the president, who had recovered from
+his attack, the latter requested him to procure in Spain permission to
+resign his appointment. His day, he declared, was past; like the
+example of his friend and predecessor, Granvella, he wished to retire
+into the quiet of private life, and to anticipate the uncertainty of
+fortune. His genius warned him of impending storm, by which he could
+have no desire to be overtaken.
+
+Count Egmont embarked on his journey to Spain in January, 1565, and was
+received there with a kindness and respect which none of his rank had
+ever before experienced. The nobles of Castile, taught by the king's
+example to conquer their feelings, or rather, true to his policy, seemed
+to have laid aside their ancient grudge against the Flemish nobility,
+and vied with one another in winning his heart by their affability. All
+his private matters were immediately settled to his wishes by the king,
+nay, even his expectations exceeded; and during the whole period of his
+stay he had ample cause to boast of the hospitality of the monarch. The
+latter assured him in the strongest terms of his love for his Belgian
+subjects, and held out hopes of his acceding eventually to the general
+wish, and remitting somewhat of the severity of the religious edicts.
+At the same time, however, he appointed in Madrid a commission of
+theologians to whom he propounded the question, "Is it necessary to
+grant to the provinces the religious toleration they demand?" As the
+majority of them were of opinion that the peculiar constitution of the
+Netherlands, and the fear of a rebellion might well excuse a degree of
+forbearance in their case, the question was repeated more pointedly.
+"He did not seek to know," he said, "if he might do so, but if he must."
+When the latter question was answered in the negative, he rose from his
+seat, and kneeling down before a crucifix prayed in these words:
+"Almighty Majesty, suffer me not at any time to fall so low as to
+consent to reign over those who reject thee!" In perfect accordance
+with the spirit of this prayer were the measures which he resolved to
+adopt in the Netherlands. On the article of religion this monarch had
+taken his resolution once forever; urgent necessity might, perhaps, have
+constrained him temporarily to suspend the execution of the penal
+statutes, but never, formally, to repeal them entirely, or even to
+modify them. In vain did Egmont represent to him that the public
+execution of the heretics daily augmented the number of their followers,
+while the courage and even joy with which they met their death filled
+the spectators with the deepest admiration, and awakened in them high
+opinions of a doctrine which could make such heroes of its disciples.
+This representation was not indeed lost upon the king, but it had a very
+different effect from what it was intended to produce. In order to
+prevent these seductive scenes, without, however, compromising the
+severity of the edicts, he fell upon an expedient, and ordered that in
+future the executions should take place in private. The answer of the
+king on the subject of the embassy was given to the count in writing,
+and addressed to the regent. The king, when he granted him an audience
+to take leave, did not omit to call him to account for his behavior to
+Granvella, and alluded particularly to the livery invented in derision
+of the cardinal. Egmont protested that the whole affair had originated
+in a convivial joke, and nothing was further from their meaning than to
+derogate in the least from the respect that was due to royalty. "If he
+knew," he said, "that any individual among them had entertained such
+disloyal thoughts be himself would challenge him to answer for it with
+his life."
+
+At his departure the monarch made him a present of fifty thousand
+florins, and engaged, moreover, to furnish a portion for his daughter on
+her marriage. He also consigned to his care the young Farnese of Parma,
+whom, to gratify the regent, his mother, he was sending to Brussels.
+The king's pretended mildness, and his professions of regard for the
+Belgian nation, deceived the open-hearted Fleming. Happy in the idea of
+being the bearer of so much felicity to his native country, when in fact
+it was more remote than ever, he quitted Madrid satisfied beyond measure
+to think of the joy with which the provinces would welcome the message
+of their good king; but the opening of the royal answer in the council
+of state at Brussels disappointed all these pleasing hopes. "Although
+in regard to the religious edicts," this was its tenor, "his resolve was
+firm and immovable, and he would rather lose a thousand lives than
+consent to alter a single letter of it, still, moved by the
+representations of Count Egmont, he was, on the other hand, equally
+determined not to leave any gentle means untried to guard the people
+against the delusions of heresy, and so to avert from them that
+punishment which must otherwise infallibly overtake them. As he had now
+learned from the count that the principal source of the existing errors
+in the faith was in the moral depravity of the clergy, the bad
+instruction and the neglected education of the young, he hereby
+empowered the regent to appoint a special commission of three bishops,
+and a convenient number of learned theologians, whose business it should
+be to consult about the necessary reforms, in order that the people
+might no longer be led astray through scandal, nor plunge into error
+through ignorance. As, moreover, he had been informed that the public
+executions of the heretics did but afford them an opportunity of
+boastfully displaying a foolhardy courage, and of deluding the common
+herd by an affectation of the glory of martyrdom, the commission was to
+devise means for putting in force the final sentence of the Inquisition
+with greater privacy, and thereby depriving condemned heretics of the
+honor of their obduracy." In order, however, to provide against the
+commission going beyond its prescribed limits Philip expressly required
+that the Bishop of Ypres, a man whom he could rely on as a determined
+zealot for the Romish faith, should be one of the body. Their
+deliberaations were to be conducted, if possible, in secrecy, while the
+object publicly assigned to them should be the introduction of the
+Tridentine decrees. For this his motive seems to have been twofold; on
+the one hand, not to alarm the court of Rome by the assembling of a
+private council; nor, on the other, to afford any encouragement to the
+spirit of rebellion in the provinces. At its sessions the duchess was
+to preside, assisted by some of the more loyally disposed of her
+counsellors, and regularly transmit to Philip a written account of its
+transactions. To meet her most pressing wants he sent her a small
+supply in money. He also gave her hopes of a visit from himself; first,
+however, it was necessary that the war with the Turks, who were then
+expected in hostile force before Malta, should be terminated. As to the
+proposed augmentation of the council of state, and its union with the
+privy council and chamber of finance, it was passed over in perfect
+silence. The Duke of Arschot, however, who is already known to us as a
+zealous royalist, obtained a voice and seat in the latter. Viglius,
+indeed, was allowed to retire from the presidency of the privy council,
+but he was obliged, nevertheless, to continue to discharge its duties
+for four more years, because his successor, Carl Tyssenaque, of the
+council for Netherlandish affairs in Madrid, could not sooner be spared.
+
+
+
+
+   SEVERER RELIGIOUS EDICTS--UNIVERSAL OPPOSITION OF THE NATION.
+
+Scarcely was Egmont returned when severer edicts against heretics,
+which, as it were, pursued him from Spain, contradicted the joyful
+tidings which he had brought of a happy change in the sentiments of the
+monarch. They were at the same time accompanied with a transcript of
+the decrees of Trent, as they were acknowledged in Spain, and were now
+to be proclaimed in the Netherlands also; with it came likewise the
+death warrants of some Anabaptists and other kinds of heretics.
+"The count has been beguiled," William the Silent was now heard to say,
+"and deluded by Spanish cunning. Self-love and vanity have blinded his
+penetration; for his own advantage he has forgotten the general
+welfare." The treachery of the Spanish ministry was now exposed, and
+this dishonest proceeding roused the indignation of the noblest in the
+land. But no one felt it more acutely than Count Egmont, who now
+perceived himself to have been the tool of Spanish duplicity, and to
+have become unwittingly the betrayer of his own country. "These
+specious favors then," he exclaimed, loudly and bitterly, "were nothing
+but an artifice to expose me to the ridicule of my fellow-citizens, and
+to destroy my good name. If this is the fashion after which the king
+purposes to keep the promises which he made to me in Spain, let who will
+take Flanders; for my part, I will prove by my retirement from public
+business that I have no share in this breach of faith." In fact, the
+Spanish ministry could not have adopted a surer method of breaking the
+credit of so important a man--than by exhibiting him to his fellow
+citizens, who adored him, as one whom they had succeeded in deluding.
+
+Meanwhile the commission had been appointed, and had unanimously come
+to the following decision: "Whether for the moral reformation of the
+clergy, or for the religious instruction of the people, or for the
+education of youth, such abundant provision had already been made in the
+decrees of Trent that nothing now was requisite but to put these decrees
+in force as speedily as possible. The imperial edicts against the
+heretics already ought on no account to be recalled or modified; the
+courts of justice, however, might be secretly instructed to punish with
+death none but obstinate heretics or preachers, to make a difference
+between the different sects, and to show consideration to the age, rank,
+sex, or disposition of the accused. If it were really the case that
+public executions did but inflame fanaticism, then, perhaps, the
+unheroic, less observed, but still equally severe punishment of the
+galleys, would be well-adapted to bring down all high notions of
+martyrdom. As to the delinquencies which might have arisen out of mere
+levity, curiosity, and thoughtlessness it would perhaps be sufficient to
+punish them by fines, exile, or even corporal chastisement."
+
+During these deliberations, which, moreover, it was requisite to submit
+to the king at Madrid, and to wait for the notification of his approval
+of them, the time passed away unprofitably, the proceedings against the
+sectaries being either suspended, or at least conducted very supinely.
+Since the recall of Granvella the disunion which prevailed in the higher
+councils, and from thence had extended to the provincial courts of
+justice, combined with the mild feelings generally of the nobles on the
+subject of religion, had raised the courage of the sects, and allowed
+free scope to the proselytizing mania of their apostles. The
+inquisitors, too, had fallen into contempt in consequence of the secular
+arm withdrawing its support, and in many places even openly taking their
+victims under its protection. The Roman Catholic part of the nation.
+had formed great expectations from the decrees of the synod of Trent, as
+well as from Egmont's embassy to Spain; but in the latter case their
+hopes had scarcely been justified by the joyous tidings which the count
+had brought back, and, in the integrity of his heart, left nothing
+undone to make known as widely as possible. The more disused the nation
+had become to severity in matters pertaining to religion the more
+acutely was it likely to feel the sudden adoption of even still more
+rigorous measures. In this position of affairs the royal rescript
+arrived from Spain in answer to the proposition of the bishops and the
+last despatches of the regent. "Whatever interpretation (such was its
+tenor) Count Egmont may have given to the king's verbal communications,
+it had never in the remotest manner entered his mind to think of
+altering in the slightest degree the penal statutes which the Emperor,
+his father, had five-and-thirty years ago published in the provinces.
+These edicts he therefore commanded should henceforth be carried rigidly
+into effect, the Inquisition should receive the most active support from
+the secular arm, and the decrees of the council of Trent be irrevocably
+and unconditionally acknowledged in all the provinces of his
+Netherlands. He acquiesced fully in the opinion of the bishops and
+canonists as to the sufficiency of the Tridentine decrees as guides in
+all points of reformation of the clergy or instruction of the people;
+but he could not concur with them as to the mitigation of punishment
+which they proposed in consideration either of the age, sex, or
+character of individuals, since he was of opinion that his edicts were
+in no degree wanting in moderation. To nothing but want of zeal and
+disloyalty on the part of judges could he ascribe the progress which
+heresy had already made in the country. In future, therefore, whoever
+among them should be thus wanting in zeal must be removed from his
+office and make room for a more honest judge. The Inquisition ought to
+pursue its appointed path firmly, fearlessly, and dispassionately,
+without regard to or consideration of human feelings, and was to look
+neither before nor behind. He would always be ready to approve of all
+its measures however extreme if it only avoided public scandal."
+
+This letter of the king, to which the Orange party have ascribed all
+the subsequent troubles of the Netherlands, caused the most violent
+excitement amongst the state counsellors, and the expressions which in
+society they either accidentally or intentionally let fall from them
+with regard to it spread terror and alarm amongst the people. The dread
+of the Spanish Inquisition returned with new force, and with it came
+fresh apprehensions of the subversion of their liberties. Already the
+people fancied they could hear prisons building, chains and fetters
+forging, and see piles of fagots collecting. Society was occupied with
+this one theme of conversation, and fear kept no longer within bounds.
+Placards were affixed to houses of the nobles in which they were called
+upon, as formerly Rome called on her Brutus, to come forward and save
+expiring freedom. Biting pasquinades were published against the new
+bishops--tormentors as they were called; the clergy were ridiculed in
+comedies, and abuse spared the throne as little as the Romish see.
+
+Terrified by the rumors which were afloat, the regent called together
+all the counsellors of state to consult them on the course she ought to
+adopt in this perilous crisis. Opinion varied and disputes were
+violent. Undecided between fear and duty they hesitated to come to a
+conclusion, until at last the aged senator, Viglius, rose and surprised
+the whole assembly by his opinion. "It would," he said, "be the height
+of folly in us to think of promulgating the royal edict at the present
+moment; the king must be informed of the reception which, in all
+probability, it will now meet. In the meantime the inquisitors must
+be enjoined to use their power with moderation, and to abstain from
+severity." But if these words of the aged president surprised the whole
+assembly, still greater was the astonishment when the Prince of Orange
+stood up and opposed his advice. "The royal will," he said, "is too
+clearly and too precisely stated; it is the result of too long and too
+mature deliberation for us to venture to delay its execution without
+bringing on ourselves the reproach of the most culpable obstinacy."
+"That I take on myself," interrupted Viglius; "I oppose myself to, his
+displeasure. If by this delay we purchase for him the peace of the
+Netherlands our opposition will eventually secure for us the lasting
+gratitude of the king." The regent already began to incline to the
+advice of Viglius, when the prince vehemently interposing, "What," he
+demanded, "what have the many representations which we have already made
+effected? of what avail was the embassy we so lately despatched?
+Nothing! And what then do we wait for more? Shall we, his state
+counsellors, bring upon ourselves the whole weight of his displeasure by
+determining, at our own peril, to render him a service for which he will
+never thank us?" Undecided and uncertain the whole assembly remained
+silent; but no one had courage enough to assent to or reply to him. But
+the prince had appealed to the fears of the regent, and these left her
+no choice. The consequences of her unfortunate obedience to the king's
+command will soon appear. But, on the other hand, if by a wise
+disobedience she had avoided these fatal consequences, is it clear that
+the result would not have been the same? However she had adopted the
+most fatal of the two counsels: happen what would the royal ordinance
+was to be promulgated. This time, therefore, faction prevailed, and the
+advice of the only true friend of the government, who, to serve his
+monarch, was ready to incur his displeasure, was disregarded. With this
+session terminated the peace of the regent: from this day the
+Netherlands dated all the trouble which uninterruptedly visited their
+country. As the counsellors separated the Prince of Orange said to one
+who stood nearest to him, "Now will soon be acted a great tragedy."
+
+   [The conduct of the Prince of Orange in this meeting of the council
+   has been appealed to by historians of the Spanish party as a proof
+   of his dishonesty, and they have availed themselves over and over
+   again to blacken his character. "He," say they, "who had,
+   invariably up to this period, both by word and deed, opposed the
+   measures of the court so long as he had any ground to fear that the
+   king's measures could be successfully carried out, supported them
+   now for the first time when he was convinced that a scrupulous
+   obedience to the royal orders would inevitably prejudice him. In
+   order to convince the king of his folly in disregarding his
+   warnings; in order to be able to boast, 'this I foresaw,' and 'I
+   foretold that,' he was willing to risk the welfare of his nation,
+   for which alone he had hitherto professed to struggle. The whole
+   tenor of his previous conduct proved that he held the enforcement
+   of the edicts to be an evil; nevertheless, he at once becomes false
+   to his own convictions and follows an opposite course; although, so
+   far as the nation was concerned, the same grounds existed as had
+   dictated his former measures; and he changed his conduct simply
+   that the result might be different to the king." "It is clear,
+   therefore," continue his adversaries, "that the welfare of the
+   nation had less weight with him than his animosity to his
+   sovereign. In order to gratify his hatred to the latter he does
+   not hesitate to sacrifice the former." But is it then true that by
+   calling for the promulgation of these edicts he sacrificed the
+   nation? or, to speak more correctly, did he carry the edicts into
+   effect by insisting on their promulgation? Can it not, on the
+   contrary, be shown with far more probability that this was really
+   the only way effectually to frustrate them? The nation was in a
+   ferment, and the indignant people would (there was reason to
+   expect, and as Viglius himself seems to have apprehended) show so
+   decided a spirit of opposition as must compel the king to yield.
+   "Now," says Orange, "my country feels all the impulse necessary for
+   it to contend successfully with tyranny! If I neglect the present
+   moment the tyrant will, by secret negotiation and intrigue, find
+   means to obtain by stealth what by open force he could not. The
+   some object will be steadily pursued, only with greater caution and
+   forbearance; but extremity alone can combine the people to unity of
+   purpose, and move them to bold measures." It is clear, therefore,
+   that with regard to the king the prince did but change his language
+   only; but that as far as the people was concerned his conduct was
+   perfectly consistent. And what duties did he owe the king apart
+   from those he owed the republic? Was he to oppose an arbitrary act
+   in the very moment when it was about to entail a just retribution
+   on its author? Would he have done his duty to his country if he
+   had deterred its oppressor from a precipitate step which alone
+   could save it from its otherwise unavoidable misery?]
+
+An edict, therefore, was issued to all the governors of provinces,
+commanding them rigorously to enforce the mandates of the Emperor
+against heretics, as well as those which had been passed under the
+present government, the decrees of the council of Trent, and those of
+the episcopal commission, which had lately sat to give all the aid of
+the civil force to the Inquisition, and also to enjoin a similar line of
+conduct on the officers of government under them. More effectually to
+secure their object, every governor was to select from his own council
+an efficient officer who should frequently make the circuit of the
+province and institute strict inquiries into the obedience shown by the
+inferior officers to these commands, and then transmit quarterly, to the
+capital an exact report of their visitation. A copy of the Tridentine
+decrees, according to the Spanish original, was also sent to the
+archbishops and bishops, with an intimation that in case of their
+needing the assistance of the secular power, the governors of their
+diocese, with their troops, were placed at their disposal. Against
+these decrees no privilege was to avail; however, the king willed and
+commanded that the particular territorial rights of the provinces and
+towns should in no case be infringed.
+
+These commands, which were publicly read in every town by a herald,
+produced an effect on the people which in the fullest manner verified
+the fears of the President Viglius and the hopes of the Prince of
+Orange.
+
+Nearly all the governors of provinces refused compliance with them, and
+threatened to throw up their appointments if the attempt should be made
+to compel their obedience. "The ordinance," they wrote back, "was based
+on a statement of the numbers of the sectaries, which was altogether
+false."
+
+   [The number of the heretics was very unequally computed by the two
+   parties according as the interests and passions of either made its
+   increase or diminution desirable, and the same party often
+   contradicted itself when its interest changed. If the question
+   related to new measures of oppression, to the introduction of the
+   inquisitional tribunals, etc., the numbers of the Protestants were
+   countless and interminable. If, on the other hand, the question
+   was of lenity towards them, of ordinances to their advantage, they
+   were now reduced to such an insignificant number that it would not
+   repay the trouble of making an innovation for this small body of
+   ill-minded people.]
+
+"Justice was appalled at the prodigious crowd of victims which daily
+accumulated under its hands; to destroy by the flames fifty thousand or
+sixty thousand persons from their districts was no commission for them."
+The inferior clergy too, in particular, were loud in their outcries
+against the decrees of Trent, which cruelly assailed their ignorance and
+corruption, and which moreover threatened them with a reform they so
+much detested. Sacrificing, therefore, the highest interests of their
+church to their own private advantage, they bitterly reviled the decrees
+and the whole council, and with liberal hand scattered the seeds of
+revolt in the minds of the people. The same outcry was now revived
+which the monks had formerly raised against the new bishops. The
+Archbishop of Cambray succeeded at last, but not without great
+opposition, in causing the decrees to be proclaimed. It cost more labor
+to effect this in Malines and Utrect, where the archbishops were at
+strife with their clergy, who, as they were accused, preferred to
+involve the whole church in ruin rather than submit to a reformation of
+morals.
+
+Of all the provinces Brabant raised its voice the loudest. The states
+of this province appealed to their great privilege, which protected
+their members from being brought before a foreign court of justice.
+They spoke loudly of the oath by which the king had bound himself to
+observe all their statutes, and of the conditions under which they alone
+had sworn allegiance to him. Louvain, Antwerp, Brussels, and
+Herzogenbusch solemnly protested against the decrees, and transmitted
+their protests in distinct memorials to the regent. The latter, always
+hesitating and wavering, too timid to obey the king, and far more afraid
+to disobey him, again summoned her council, again listened to the
+arguments for and against the question, and at last again gave her
+assent to the opinion which of all others was the most perilous for her
+to adopt. A new reference to the king in Spain was proposed; the next
+moment it was asserted that so urgent a crisis did not admit of so
+dilatory a remedy; it was necessary for the regent to act on her own
+responsibility, and either defy the threatening aspect of despair, or to
+yield to it by modifying or retracting the royal ordinance. She finally
+caused the annals of Brabant to be examined in order to discover if
+possible a precedent for the present case in the instructions of the
+first inquisitor whom Charles V. had appointed to the province. These
+instructions indeed did not exactly correspond with those now given; but
+had not the king declared that he introduced no innovation? This was
+precedent enough, and it was declared that the new edicts must also be
+interpreted in accordance with the old and existing statutes of the
+province. This explanation gave indeed no satisfaction to the states
+of Brabant, who had loudly demanded the entire abolition of the
+inquisition, but it was an encouragement to the other provinces to make
+similar protests and an equally bold opposition. Without giving the
+duchess time to decide upon their remonstrances they, on their own
+authority, ceased to obey the inquisition, and withdrew their aid from
+it. The inquisitors, who had so recently been expressly urged to a more
+rigid execution of their duties now saw themselves suddenly deserted by
+the secular arm, and robbed of all authority, while in answer to their
+application for assistance the court could give them only empty
+promises. The regent by thus endeavoring to satisfy all parties had
+displeased all.
+
+During these negotiations between the court, the councils, and the
+states a universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation. Men
+began to investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the
+prerogative of kings. "The Netherlanders were not so stupid," many were
+heard to say with very little attempt at secrecy, "as not to know right
+well what was due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king
+to the subject; and that perhaps means would yet be found to repel force
+with force, although at present there might be no appearance of it."
+In Antwerp a placard was set up in several places calling upon the town
+council to accuse the King of Spain before the supreme court at Spires
+of having broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country,
+for, Brabant being a portion of the Burgundian circle, was included in
+the religious peace of Passau and Augsburg. About this time too the
+Calvinists published their confession of faith, and in a preamble
+addressed to the king, declared that they, although a hundred thousand
+strong, kept themselves nevertheless quiet, and like the rest of his
+subjects, contributed to all the taxes of the country; from which it was
+evident, they added, that of themselves they entertained no ideas of
+insurrection. Bold and incendiary writings were publicly disseminated,
+which depicted the Spanish tyranny in the most odious colors, and
+reminded the nation of its privileges, and occasionally also of its
+powers.
+
+   [The regent mentioned to the king a number (three thousand) of
+   these writings. Strada 117. It is remarkable how important a part
+   printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of the
+   Netherlands. Through this organ one restless spirit spoke to
+   millions. Besides the lampoons, which for the most part were
+   composed with all the low scurrility and brutality which was the
+   distinguishing character of most of the Protestant polemical
+   writings of the time, works were occasionally published which
+   defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word.]
+
+The warlike preparations of Philip against the Porte, as well as those
+which, for no intelligible reason, Eric, Duke of Brunswick, about this
+time made in the vicinity, contributed to strengthen the general
+suspicion that the Inquisition was to be forcibly imposed on the
+Netherlands. Many of the most eminent merchants already spoke of
+quitting their houses and business to seek in some other part of the
+world the liberty of which they were here deprived; others looked about
+for a leader, and let fall hints of forcible resistance and of foreign
+aid.
+
+That in this distressing position of affairs the regent might be left
+entirely without an adviser and without support, she was now deserted by
+the only person who was at the present moment indispensable to her, and
+who had contributed to plunge her into this embarrassment. "Without
+kindling a civil war," wrote to her William of Orange, "it was
+absolutely impossible to comply now with the orders of the king.
+If, however, obedience was to be insisted upon, he must beg that his
+place might be supplied by another who would better answer the
+expectations of his majesty, and have more power than he had over the
+minds of the nation. The zeal which on every other occasion he had
+shown in the service of the crown, would, he hoped, secure his present
+proceeding from misconstruction; for, as the case now stood, he had no
+alternative between disobeying the king and injuring his country and
+himself." From this time forth William of Orange retired from the
+council of state to his town of Breda, where in observant but scarcely
+inactive repose he watched the course of affairs. Count Horn followed
+his example. Egmont, ever vacillating between the republic and the
+throne, ever wearying himself in the vain attempt to unite the good
+citizen with the obedient subject--Egmont, who was less able than the
+rest to dispense with the favor of the monarch, and to whom, therefore,
+it was less an object of indifference, could not bring himself to
+abandon the bright prospects which were now opening for him at the court
+of the regent. The Prince of Orange had, by his superior intellect,
+gained an influence over the regent--which great minds cannot fail to
+command from inferior spirits. His retirement had opened a void in her
+confidence which Count Egmont was now to fill by virtue of that sympathy
+which so naturally subsists between timidity, weakness, and good-nature.
+As she was as much afraid of exasperating the people by an exclusive
+confidence in the adherents to the crown, as she was fearful of
+displeasing the king by too close an understanding with the declared
+leaders of the faction, a better object for her confidence could now
+hardly be presented than this very Count Egmont, of whom it could not be
+said that he belonged to either of the two conflicting parties.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                BOOK III.
+
+            CONSPIRACY OF THE NOBLES
+
+1565. Up to this point the general peace had it appears been the
+sincere wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and
+their friends. They had pursued the true interests of their sovereign
+as much as the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions
+had been as little at variance with the former as with the latter.
+Nothing bad as yet occurred to make their motives suspected, or to
+manifest in them a rebellious spirit. What they had done they had done
+in discharge of their bounden duty as members of a free state, as the
+representatives of the nation, as advisers of the king, as men of
+integrity and honor. The only weapons they had used to oppose the
+encroachments of the court had been remonstrances, modest complaints,
+petitions. They had never allowed themselves to be so far carried away
+by a just zeal for their good cause as to transgress the limits of
+prudence and moderation which on many occasions are so easily
+overstepped by party spirit. But all the nobles of the republic did not
+now listen to the voice of that prudence; all did not abide within the
+bounds of moderation.
+
+While in the council of state the great question was discussed whether
+the nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies summoned
+to their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity, and while
+the middle-classes and the people contented themselves with empty
+complaints, menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of all
+seemed least called upon, and on whose support least reliance had been
+placed, began to take more active measures. We have already described a
+class of the nobility whose services and wants Philip at his accession
+had not considered it necessary to remember. Of these by far the
+greater number had asked for promotion from a much more urgent reason
+than a love of the mere honor. Many of them were deeply sunk in debt,
+from which by their own resources they could not hope to emancipate
+themselves. When then, in filling up appointments, Philip passed them
+over he wounded them in a point far more sensitive than their pride.
+In these suitors he had by his neglect raised up so many idle spies and
+merciless judges of his actions, so many collectors and propagators of
+malicious rumor. As their pride did not quit them with their
+prosperity, so now, driven by necessity, they trafficked with the sole
+capital which they could not alienate--their nobility and the political
+influence of their names; and brought into circulation a coin which only
+in such a period could have found currency--their protection. With a
+self-pride to which they gave the more scope as it was all they could
+now call their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong intermediate
+power between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed themselves
+called upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state, which looked
+imploringly to them for succor. This idea was ludicrous only so far as
+their self-conceit was concerned in it; the advantages which they
+contrived to draw from it were substantial enough. The Protestant
+merchants, who held in their hands the chief part of the wealth of the
+Netherlands, and who believed they could not at any price purchase too
+dearly the undisturbed exercise of their religion, did not fail to make
+use of this class of people who stood idle in the market and ready to be
+hired. These very men whom at any other time the merchants, in the
+pride of riches, would most probably have looked down upon, now appeared
+likely to do them good service through their numbers, their courage,
+their credit with the populace, their enmity to the government, nay,
+through their beggarly pride itself and their despair. On these grounds
+they zealously endeavored to form a close union with them, and
+diligently fostered the disposition for rebellion, while they also used
+every means to keep alive their high opinions of themselves, and, what
+was most important, lured their poverty by well-applied pecuniary
+assistance and glittering promises. Few of them were so utterly
+insignificant as not to possess some influence, if not personally, yet
+at least by their relationship with higher and more powerful nobles; and
+if united they would be able to raise a formidable voice against the
+crown. Many of them had either already joined the new sect or were
+secretly inclined to it; and even those who were zealous Roman Catholics
+had political or private grounds enough to set them against the decrees
+of Trent and the Inquisition. All, in fine, felt the call of vanity
+sufficiently powerful not to allow the only moment to escape them in
+which they might possibly make some figure in the republic.
+
+But much as might be expected from the co-operation of these men in
+a body it would have been futile and ridiculous to build any hopes on
+any one of them singly; and the great difficulty was to effect a union
+among them. Even to bring them together some unusual occurrence was
+necessary, and fortunately such an incident presented itself. The
+nuptials of Baron Montigny, one of the Belgian nobles, as also those of
+the Prince Alexander of Parma, which took place about this time in
+Brussels, assembled in that town a great number of the Belgian nobles.
+On this occasion relations met relations; new friendships were formed
+and old renewed; and while the distress of the country was the topic of
+conversation wine and mirth unlocked lips and hearts, hints were dropped
+of union among themselves, and of an alliance with foreign powers.
+These accidental meetings soon led to concealed ones, and public
+discussions gave rise to secret consultations. Two German barons,
+moreover, a Count of Holle and a Count of Schwarzenberg, who at this
+time were on a visit to the Netherlands, omitted nothing to awaken
+expectations of assistance from their neighbors. Count Louis of Nassau,
+too, had also a short time before visited several German courts to
+ascertain their sentiments.
+
+   [It was not without cause that the Prince of Orange suddenly
+   disappeared from Brussels in order to be present at the election of
+   a king of Rome in Frankfort. An assembly of so many German princes
+   must have greatly favored a negotiation.]
+
+It has even been asserted that secret emissaries of the Admiral Coligny
+were seen at this time in Brabant, but this, however, may be reasonably
+doubted.
+
+If ever a political crisis was favorable to an attempt at revolution it
+was the present. A woman at the helm of government; the governors of
+provinces disaffected themselves and disposed to wink at insubordination
+in others; most of the state counsellors quite inefficient; no army to
+fall back upon; the few troops there were long since discontented on
+account of the outstanding arrears of pay, and already too often
+deceived by false promises to be enticed by new; commanded, moreover, by
+officers who despised the Inquisition from their hearts, and would have
+blushed to draw a sword in its behalf; and, lastly, no money in the
+treasury to enlist new troops or to hire foreigners. The court at
+Brussels, as well as the three councils, not only divided by internal
+dissensions, but in the highest degree--venal and corrupt; the regent
+without full powers to act on the spot, and the king at a distance; his
+adherents in the provinces few, uncertain, and dispirited; the faction
+numerous and powerful; two-thirds of the people irritated against popery
+and desirous of a change--such was the unfortunate weakness of the
+government, and the more unfortunate still that this weakness was so
+well known to its enemies!
+
+In order to unite so many minds in the prosecution of a common object a
+leader was still wanting, and a few influential names to give political
+weight to their enterprise. The two were supplied by Count Louis of
+Nassau and Henry Count Brederode, both members of the most illustrious
+houses of the Belgian nobility, who voluntarily placed themselves at the
+head of the undertaking. Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of
+Orange, united many splendid qualities which made him worthy of
+appearing on so noble and important a stage. In Geneva, where he
+studied, he had imbibed at once a hatred to the hierarchy and a love to
+the new religion, and on his return to his native country had not failed
+to enlist proselytes to his opinions. The republican bias which his
+mind had received in that school kindled in him a bitter hatred of the
+Spanish name, which animated his whole conduct and only left him with
+his latest breath. Popery and Spanish rule were in his mind identical--
+as indeed they were in reality--and the abhorrence which he entertained
+for the one helped to strengthen his dislike for the other. Closely as
+the brothers agreed in their inclinations and aversions the ways by
+which each sought to gratify them were widely dissimilar. Youth and an
+ardent temperament did not allow the younger brother to follow the
+tortuous course through which the elder wound himself to his object.
+A cold, calm circumspection carried the latter slowly but surely to his
+aim, and with a pliable subtilty he made all things subserve his
+purpose; with a foolhardy impetuosity which overthrew all obstacles,
+the other at times compelled success, but oftener accelerated disaster.
+For this reason William was a general and Louis never more than an
+adventurer; a sure and powerful arm if only it were directed by a wise
+head. Louis' pledge once given was good forever; his alliances survived
+every vicissitude, for they were mostly formed in the pressing moment of
+necessity, and misfortune binds more firmly than thoughtless joy. He
+loved his brother as dearly as he did his cause, and for the latter he
+died.
+
+Henry of Brederode, Baron of Viane and Burgrave of Utrecht, was
+descended from the old Dutch counts who formerly ruled that province as
+sovereign princes. So ancient a title endeared him to the people, among
+whom the memory of their former lords still survived, and was the more
+treasured the less they felt they had gained by the change. This
+hereditary splendor increased the self-conceit of a man upon whose
+tongue the glory of his ancestors continually hung, and who dwelt the
+more on former greatness, even amidst its ruins, the more unpromising
+the aspect of his own condition became. Excluded from the honors and
+employments to which, in his opinion, his own merits and his noble
+ancestry fully entitled him (a squadron of light cavalry being all which
+was entrusted to him), he hated the government, and did not scruple
+boldly to canvass and to rail at its measures. By these means he won
+the hearts of the people. He also favored in secret the evangelical
+belief; less, however, as a conviction of his better reason than as an
+opposition to the government. With more loquacity than eloquence, and
+more audacity than courage, he was brave rather from not believing in
+danger than from being superior to it. Louis of Nassau burned for the
+cause which he defended, Brederode for the glory of being its defender;
+the former was satisfied in acting for his party, the latter
+discontented if he did not stand at its head. No one was more fit to
+lead off the dance in a rebellion, but it could hardly have a worse
+ballet-master. Contemptible as his threatened designs really were, the
+illusion of the multitude might have imparted to them weight and terror
+if it had occurred to them to set up a pretender in his person. His
+claim to the possessions of his ancestors was an empty name; but even a
+name was now sufficient for the general disaffection to rally round. A
+pamphlet which was at the time disseminated amongst the people openly
+called him the heir of Holland; and his engraved portrait, which was
+publicly exhibited, bore the boastful inscription:--
+
+        Sum Brederodus ego, Batavae non infima gentis
+        Gloria, virtutem non unica pagina claudit.
+
+
+(1565.) Besides these two, there were others also from among the most
+illustrious of the Flemish nobles the young Count Charles of Mansfeld,
+a son of that nobleman whom we have found among the most zealous
+royalists; the Count Kinlemburg; two Counts of Bergen and of Battenburg;
+John of Marnix, Baron of Toulouse; Philip of Marnix, Baron of St.
+Aldegonde; with several others who joined the league, which, about the
+middle of November, in the year 1565, was formed at the house of Von
+Hanimes, king at arms of the Golden Fleece. Here it was that six men
+decided the destiny of their country as formerly a few confederates
+consummated the liberty of Switzerland, kindled the torch of a forty
+years' war, and laid the basis of a freedom which they themselves were
+never to enjoy. The objects of the league were set forth in the
+following declaration, to which Philip of Marnix was the first to
+subscribe his name: "Whereas certain ill-disposed persons, under the
+mask of a pious zeal, but in reality under the impulse of avarice and
+ambition, have by their evil counsels persuaded our most gracious
+sovereign the king to introduce into these countries the abominable
+tribunal of the Inquisition, a tribunal diametrically opposed to all
+laws, human and divine, and in cruelty far surpassing the barbarous
+institutions of heathenism; which raises the inquisitors above every
+other power, and debases man to a perpetual bondage, and by its snares
+exposes the honest citizen to a constant fear of death, inasmuch as any
+one (priest, it may be, or a faithless friend, a Spaniard or a
+reprobate), has it in his power at any moment to cause whom he will to
+be dragged before that tribunal, to be placed in confinement, condemned,
+and executed without the accused ever being allowed to face his accuser,
+or to adduce proof of his innocence; we, therefore, the undersigned,
+have bound ourselves to watch over the safety of our families, our
+estates, and our own persons. To this we hereby pledge ourselves, and
+to this end bind ourselves as a sacred fraternity, and vow with a solemn
+oath to oppose to the best of our power the introduction of this
+tribunal into these countries, whether it be attempted openly or
+secretly, and under whatever name it may be disguised. We at the same
+time declare that we are far from intending anything unlawful against
+the king our sovereign; rather is it our unalterable purpose to support
+and defend the royal prerogative, and to maintain peace, and, as far as
+lies in our power, to put down all rebellion. In accordance with this
+purpose we have sworn, and now again swear, to hold sacred the
+government, and to respect it both in word and deed, which witness
+Almighty God!
+
+"Further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all
+times and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles
+which are set forth in this covenant. We hereby bind ourselves that no
+accusation of any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed,
+whether rebellion, sedition, or otherwise, shall avail to annul our oath
+towards the accused, or absolve us from our obligation towards him. No
+act which is directed against the Inquisition can deserve the name of a
+rebellion. Whoever, therefore, shall be placed in arrest on any such
+charge, we here pledge ourselves to assist him to the utmost of our
+ability, and to endeavor by every allowable means to effect his
+liberation. In this, however, as in all matters, but especially in the
+conduct of all measures against the tribunal of the Inquisition, we
+submit ourselves to the general regulations of the league, or to the
+decision of those whom we may unanimously appoint our counsellors and
+leaders.
+
+"In witness hereof, and in confirmation of this our common league and
+covenant, we call upon the holy name of the living God, maker of heaven
+and earth, and of all that are therein, who searches the hearts, the
+consciences, and the thoughts, and knows the purity of ours. We implore
+the aid of the Holy Spirit, that success and honor may crown our
+undertaking, to the glory of His name, and to the peace and blessing of
+our country!"
+
+This covenant was immediately translated into several languages, and
+quickly disseminated through the provinces. To swell the league as
+speedily as possible each of the confederates assembled all his friends,
+relations, adherents, and retainers. Great banquets were held, which
+lasted whole days--irresistible temptations for a sensual, luxurious
+people, in whom the deepest wretchedness could not stifle the propensity
+for voluptuous living. Whoever repaired to these banquets--and every
+one was welcome--was plied with officious assurances of friendship, and,
+when heated with wine, carried away by the example of numbers, and
+overcome by the fire of a wild eloquence. The hands of many were guided
+while they subscribed their signatures; the hesitating were derided, the
+pusillanimous threatened, the scruples of loyalty clamored down; some
+even were quite ignorant what they were signing, and were ashamed
+afterwards to inquire. To many whom mere levity brought to the
+entertainment the general enthusiasm left no choice, while the splendor
+of the confederacy allured the mean, and its numbers encouraged the
+timorous. The abettors of the league had not scrupled at the artifice
+of counterfeiting the signature and seals of the Prince of Orange,
+Counts Egmont, Horn, Mcgen, and others, a trick which won them hundreds
+of adherents. This was done especially with a view of influencing the
+officers of the army, in order to be safe in this quarter, if matters
+should come at last to violence. The device succeeded with many,
+especially with subalterns, and Count Brederode even drew his sword upon
+an ensign who wished time for consideration. Men of all classes and
+conditions signed it. Religion made no difference. Roman Catholic
+priests even were associates of the league. The motives were not the
+same with all, but the pretext was similar. The Roman Catholics desired
+simply the abolition of the Inquisition, and a mitigation of the edicts;
+the Protestants aimed at unlimited freedom of conscience. A few daring
+spirits only entertained so bold a project as the overthrow of the
+present government, while the needy and indigent based the vilest hopes
+on a general anarchy. A farewell entertainment, which about this time
+was given to the Counts Schwarzenberg and Holle in Breda, and another
+shortly afterwards in Hogstraten, drew many of the principal nobility to
+these two places, and of these several had already signed the covenant.
+The Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, and Megen were present at the
+latter banquet, but without any concert or design, and without having
+themselves any share in the league, although one of Egmont's own
+secretaries and some of the servants of the other three noblemen had
+openly joined it. At this entertainment three hundred persons gave in
+their adhesion to the covenant, and the question was mooted whether the
+whole body should present themselves before the regent armed or unarmed,
+with a declaration or with a petition? Horn and Orange (Egmont would
+not countenance the business in any way) were called in as arbiters upon
+this point, and they decided in favor of the more moderate and
+submissive procedure. By taking this office upon them they exposed
+themselves to the charge of having in no very covert manner lent their
+sanction to the enterprise of the confederates. In compliance,
+therefore, with their advice, it was determined to present their address
+unarmed, and in the form of a petition, and a day was appointed on which
+they should assemble in Brussels.
+
+The first intimation the regent received of this conspiracy of the
+nobles was given by the Count of Megen soon after his return to the
+capital. "There was," he said, "an enterprise on foot; no less than
+three hundred of the nobles were implicated in it; it referred to
+religion; the members of it had bound themselves together by an oath;
+they reckoned much on foreign aid; she would soon know more about it."
+Though urgently pressed, he would give her no further information.
+"A nobleman," he said, "had confided it to him under the seal of
+secrecy, and he had pledged his word of honor to him." What really
+withheld him from giving her any further explanation was, in all
+probability, not so much any delicacy about his honor, as his hatred
+of the Inquisition, which he would not willingly do anything to advance.
+Soon after him, Count Egmont delivered to the regent a copy of the
+covenant, and also gave her the names of the conspirators, with some few
+exceptions. Nearly about the same time the Prince of Orange wrote to
+her: "There was, as he had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred
+officers were already named, and twenty thousand men would presently
+appear in arms." Thus the rumor was intentionally exaggerated, and the
+danger was multiplied in every mouth.
+
+The regent, petrified with alarm at the first announcement of these
+tidings, and guided solely by her fears, hastily called together all the
+members of the council of state who happened to be then in Brussels, and
+at the same time sent a pressing summons to the Prince of Orange and
+Count Horn, inviting them to resume their seats in the senate. Before
+the latter could arrive she consulted with Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont
+what course was to be adopted in the present dangerous posture of
+affairs. The question debated was whether it would be better to have
+recourse to arms or to yield to the emergency and grant the demands of
+the confederates; or whether they should be put off with promises, and
+an appearance of compliance, in order to gain time for procuring
+instructions from Spain, and obtaining money and troops? For the first
+plan the requisite supplies were wanting, and, what was equally
+requisite, confidence in the army, of which there seemed reason to doubt
+whether it had not been already gained by the conspirators. The second
+expedient would it was quite clear never be sanctioned by the king;
+besides it would serve rather to raise than depress the courage of the
+confederates; while, on the other hand, a compliance with their
+reasonable demands and a ready unconditional pardon of the past would in
+all probability stifle the rebellion in the cradle. The last opinion
+was supported by Megen and Egmont but opposed by Barlaimont. "Rumor,"
+said the latter, "had exaggerated the matter; it is impossible that so
+formidable an armament could have been prepared so secretly and, so
+rapidly. It was but a band of a few outcasts and desperadoes,
+instigated by two or three enthusiasts, nothing more. All will be quiet
+after a few heads have been struck off." The regent determined to await
+the opinion of the council of state, which was shortly to assemble; in
+the meanwhile, however, she was not inactive. The fortifications in the
+most important places were inspected and the necessary repairs speedily
+executed; her ambassadors at foreign courts received orders to redouble
+their vigilance; expresses were sent off to Spain. At the same time she
+caused the report to be revived of the near advent of the king, and in
+her external deportment put on a show of that imperturbable firmness
+which awaits attack without intending easily to yield to it. At the end
+of March (four whole months consequently from the framing of the
+covenant), the whole state council assembled in Brussels. There were
+present the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Arschot, Counts Egmont,
+Bergen, Megen, Aremberg, Horn, Hosstraten, Barlaimont, and others; the
+Barons Montigny and Hachicourt, all the knights of the Golden Fleece,
+with the President Viglius, State Counsellor Bruxelles, and the other
+assessors of the privy council. Several letters were produced which
+gave a clearer insight into the nature and objects of the conspiracy.
+The extremity to which the regent was reduced gave the disaffected a
+power which on the present occasion they did not neglect to use.
+Venting their long suppressed indignation, they indulged in bitter
+complaints against the court and against the government. "But lately,"
+said the Prince of Orange, "the king sent forty thousand gold florins
+to the Queen of Scotland to support her in her undertakings against
+England, and he allows his Netherlands to be burdened with debt.
+Not to mention the unseasonableness of this subsidy and its fruitless
+expenditure, why should he bring upon us the resentment of a queen, who
+is both so important to us as a friend and as an enemy so much to be
+dreaded?" The prince did not even refrain on the present occasion from
+glancing at the concealed hatred which the king was suspected of
+cherishing against the family of Nassau and against him in particular.
+"It is well known," he said, "that he has plotted with the hereditary
+enemies of my house to take away my life, and that he waits with
+impatience only for a suitable opportunity." His example opened the
+lips of Count Horn also, and of many others besides, who with passionate
+vehemence descanted on their own merits and the ingratitude of the king.
+With difficulty did the regent succeed in silencing the tumult and in
+recalling attention to the proper subject of the debate. The question
+was whether the confederates, of whom it was now known that they
+intended to appear at court with a petition, should be admitted or not?
+The Duke of Arschot, Counts Aremberg, Megen, and Barlaimont gave their
+negative to the proposition. "What need of five hundred persons," said
+the latter, "to deliver a small memorial? This paradox of humility and
+defiance implies no good. Let them send to us one respectable man from
+among their number without pomp, without assumption, and so submit their
+application to us. Otherwise, shut the gates upon them, or if some
+insist on their admission let them be closely watched, and let the first
+act of insolence which any one of them shall be guilty of be punished
+with death." In this advice concurred Count Mansfeld, whose own son was
+among the conspirators; he had even threatened to disinherit his son if
+he did not quickly abandon the league.
+
+Counts Megen, also, and Aremberg hesitated to receive the petition; the
+Prince of Orange, however, Counts Egmont, Horn, Hogstraten, and others
+voted emphatically for it. "The confederates," they declared, "were
+known to them as men of integrity and honor; a great part of them were
+connected with themselves by friendship and relationship, and they dared
+vouch for their behavior. Every subject was allowed to petition; a
+right which was enjoyed by the meanest individual in the state could not
+without injustice be denied to so respectable a body of men." It was
+therefore resolved by a majority of votes to admit the confederates on
+the condition that they should appear unarmed and conduct themselves
+temperately. The squabbles of the members of council had occupied the
+greater part of the sitting, so that it was necessary to adjourn the
+discussion to the following day. In order that the principal matter in
+debate might not again be lost sight of in useless complaints the regent
+at once hastened to the point: "Brederode, we are informed," she said,
+"is coming to us, with an address in the name of the league, demanding
+the abolition of the Inquisition and a mitigation of the edicts. The
+advice of my senate is to guide me in my answer to him; but before you
+give your opinions on this point permit me to premise a few words. I am
+told that there are many even amongst yourselves who load the religious
+edicts of the Emperor, my father, with open reproaches, and describe
+them to the people as inhuman and barbarous. Now I ask you, lords and
+gentlemen, knights of the Fleece, counsellors of his majesty and of the
+state, whether you did not yourselves vote for these edicts, whether the
+states of the realm have not recognized them as lawful? Why is that now
+blamed, which was formerly declared right? Is it because they have now
+become even more necessary than they then were? Since when is the
+Inquisition a new thing in the Netherlands? Is it not full sixteen
+years ago since the Emperor established it? And wherein is it more
+cruel than the edicts? If it be allowed that the latter were the work
+of wisdom, if the universal consent of the states has sanctioned them--
+why this opposition to the former, which is nevertheless far more humane
+than the edicts, if they are to be observed to the letter? Speak now
+freely; I am not desirous of fettering your decision; but it is your
+business to see that it is not misled by passion and prejudice." The
+council of state was again, as it always had been, divided between two
+opinions; but the few who spoke for the Inquisition and the literal
+execution of the edicts were outvoted by the opposite party with the
+Prince of Orange at its head. "Would to heaven," he began,--"that my
+representations had been then thought worthy of attention, when as yet
+the grounds of apprehension were remote; things would in that case never
+have been carried so far as to make recourse to extreme measures
+indispensable, nor would men have been plunged deeper in error by the
+very means which were intended to beguile them from their delusion. We
+are all unanimous on the one main point. We all wish to see the
+Catholic religion safe; if this end can be secured without the aid of
+the Inquisition, it is well, and we offer our wealth and our blood to
+its service; but on this very point it is that our opinions are divided.
+
+"There are two kinds of inquisition: the see of Rome lays claim to one,
+the other has, from time immemorial, been exercised by the bishops. The
+force of prejudice and of custom has made the latter light and
+supportable to us. It will find little opposition in the Netherlands,
+and the augmented numbers of the bishops will make it effective. To
+what purpose then insist on the former, the mere name of which is
+revolting to all the feelings of our minds? When so many nations exist
+without it why should it be imposed on us? Before Luther appeared it
+was never heard of; but the troubles with Luther happened at a time when
+there was an inadequate number of spiritual overseers, and when the few
+bishops were, moreover, indolent, and the licentiousness of the clergy
+excluded them from the office of judges. Now all is changed; we now
+count as many bishops as there are provinces. Why should not the policy
+of the government adjust itself to the altered circumstances of the
+times? We want leniency, not severity. The repugnance of the people is
+manifest--this we must seek to appease if we would not have it burst out
+into rebellion. With the death of Pius IV. the full powers of the
+inquisitors have expired; the new pope has as yet sent no ratification
+of their authority, without which no one formerly ventured to exercise
+his office. Now, therefore, is the time when it can be suspended
+without infringing the rights of any party.
+
+"What I have stated with regard to the Inquisition holds equally good in
+respect to the edicts also. The exigency of the times called them
+forth, but are not those times passed? So long an experience of them
+ought at last to have taught us that against hersey no means are less
+successful than the fagot and sword. What incredible progress has not
+the new religion made during only the last few years in the provinces;
+and if we investigate the cause of this increase we shall find it
+principally in the glorious constancy of those who have fallen
+sacrifices to the truth of their opinions. Carried away by sympathy and
+admiration, men begin to weigh in silence whether what is maintained
+with such invincible courage may not really be the truth. In France and
+in England the same severities may have been inflicted on the
+Protestants, but have they been attended with any better success there
+than here? The very earliest Christians boasted that the blood of the
+martyrs was the seed of the church. The Emperor Julian, the most
+terrible enemy that Christianity ever experienced, was fully persuaded
+of this. Convinced that persecution did but kindle enthusiasm he betook
+himself to ridicule and derision, and found these weapons far more
+effective than force. In the Greek empire different teachers of heresy
+have arisen at different times. Arius under Constantine, Aetius under
+Constantius, Nestorius under Theodosius. But even against these
+arch-heretics and their disciples such cruel measures were never resorted
+to as are thought necessary against our unfortunate country--and yet
+where are all those sects now which once a whole world, I had almost
+said, could not contain? This is the natural course of heresy. If it is
+treated with contempt it crumbles into insignificance. It is as iron,
+which, if it lies idle, corrodes, and only becomes sharp by use. Let no
+notice be paid to it, and it loses its most powerful attraction, the
+magic of what is new and what is forbidden. Why will we not content
+ourselves with the measures which have been approved of by the wisdom of
+such great rulers? Example is ever the safest guide.
+
+"But what need to go to pagan antiquity for guidance and example when we
+have near at hand the glorious precedent of Charles V., the greatest of
+kings, who taught at last by experience, abandoned the bloody path of
+persecution, and for many years before his abdication adopted milder
+measures. And Philip himself, our most gracious sovereign, seemed at
+first strongly inclined to leniency until the counsels of Granvella and
+of others like him changed these views; but with what right or wisdom
+they may settle between themselves. To me, however, it has always
+appeared indispensable that legislation to be wise and successful must
+adjust itself to the manners and maxims of the times. In conclusion,
+I would beg to remind you of the close understanding which subsists
+between the Huguenots and the Flemish Protestants. Let us beware of
+exasperating them any further. Let us not act the part of French
+Catholics towards them, lest they should play the Huguenots against us,
+and, like the latter, plunge their country into the horrors of a civil
+war."
+
+   [No one need wonder, says Burgundias (a vehement stickler for the
+   Roman Catholic religion and the Spanish party), that the speech of
+   this prince evinced so much acquaintance with philosophy; he had
+   acquired it in his intercourse with Balduin. 180. Barry, 174-178.
+   Hopper, 72. Strada, 123,124.]
+
+It was, perhaps, not so much the irresistible truth of his arguments,
+which, moreover, were supported by a decisive majority in the senate, as
+rather the ruinous state of the military resources, and the exhaustion
+of the treasury, that prevented the adoption of the opposite opinion
+which recommended an appeal to the force of arms that the Prince of
+Orange had chiefly to thank for the attention which now at last was paid
+to his representations. In order to avert at first the violence of the
+storm, and to gain time, which was so necessary to place the government
+in a better sate of preparation, it was agreed that a portion of the
+demands should be accorded to the confederates. It was also resolved to
+mitigate the penal statutes of the Emperor, as he himself would
+certainly mitigate them, were he again to appear among them at that day
+--and as, indeed, he had once shown under circumstances very similar to
+the present that he did not think it derogatory to his high dignity to
+do. The Inquisition was not to be introduced in any place where it did
+not already exist, and where it had been it should adopt a milder
+system, or even be entirely suspended, especially since the inquisitors
+had not yet been confirmed in their office by the pope. The latter
+reason was put prominently forward, in order to deprive the Protestants
+of the gratification of ascribing the concessions to any fear of their
+own power, or to the justice of their demands. The privy council was
+commissioned to draw out this decree of the senate without delay. Thus
+prepared the confederates were awaited.
+
+
+
+                THE GUEUX.
+
+The members of the senate had not yet dispersed, when all Brussels
+resounded with the report that the confederates were approaching the
+town. They consisted of no more than two hundred horse, but rumor
+greatly exaggerated their numbers. Filled with consternation, the
+regent consulted with her ministers whether it was best to close the
+gates on the approaching party or to seek safety in flight? Both
+suggestions were rejected as dishonorable; and the peaceable entry of
+the nobles soon allayed all fears of violence. The first morning after
+their arrival they assembled at Kuilemberg house, where Brederode
+administered to them a second oath, binding them before all other duties
+to stand by one another, and even with arms if necessary. At this
+meeting a letter from Spain was produced, in which it was stated that a
+certain Protestant, whom, they all knew and valued, had been burned
+alive in that country by a slow fire. After these and similar
+preliminaries he called on them one after another by name to take the
+new oath and renew the old one in their own names and in those of the
+absent. The next day, the 5th of April, 1556, was fixed for the
+presentation of the petition. Their numbers now amounted to between
+three and four hundred. Amongst them were many retainers of the high
+nobility, as also several servants of the king himself and of the
+duchess.
+
+With the Counts of Nassau and Brederode at their head, and formed in
+ranks of four by four, they advanced in procession to the palace; all
+Brussels attended the unwonted spectacle in silent astonishment. Here
+were to be seen a body of men advancing with too much boldness and
+confidence to look like supplicants, and led by two men who were not
+wont to be petitioners; and, on the other hand, with so much order and
+stillness as do not usually accompany rebellion. The regent received
+the procession surrounded by all her counsellors and the Knights of the
+Fleece. "These noble Netherlanders," thus Brederode respectfully
+addressed her, "who here present themselves before your highness, wish
+in their own name, and of many others besides who are shortly to arrive,
+to present to you a petition of whose importance as well as of their own
+humility this solemn procession must convince you. I, as speaker of
+this body, entreat you to receive our petition, which contains nothing
+but what is in unison with the laws of our country and the honor of the
+king."
+
+"If this petition," replied Margaret, "really contains nothing which is
+at variance either with the good of the country, or with the authority
+of the king, there is no doubt that it will be favorably considered."
+"They had learnt," continued the spokesman, "with indignation and regret
+that suspicious objects had been imputed to their association, and that
+interested parties had endeavored to prejudice her highness against him;
+they therefore craved that she would name the authors of so grave an
+accusation, and compel them to bring their charges publicly, and in due
+form, in order that he who should be found guilty might suffer the
+punishment of his demerits." "Undoubtedly," replied the regent, "she
+had received unfavorable rumors of their designs and alliance. She
+could not be blamed, if in consequence she had thought it requisite to
+call the attention of the governors of the provinces to the matter; but,
+as to giving up the names of her informants to betray state secrets,"
+she added, with an appearance of displeasure, "that could not in justice
+be required of her." She then appointed the next day for answering
+their petition; and in the meantime she proceeded to consult the members
+of her council upon it.
+
+"Never" (so ran the petition which, according to some, was drawn up by
+the celebrated Balduin), "never had they failed in their loyalty to
+their king, and nothing now could be farther from their hearts; but they
+would rather run the risk of incurring the displeasure of their
+sovereign than allow him to remain longer in ignorance of the evils with
+which their native country was menaced, by the forcible introduction of
+the Inquisition and the continued enforcement of the edicts. They had
+long remained consoling themselves with the expectation that a general
+assembly of the states would be summoned to remedy these grievances; but
+now that even this hope was extinguished, they held it to be their duty
+to give timely warning to the regent. They, therefore, entreated her
+highness to send to Madrid an envoy, well disposed, and fully acquainted
+with the state and temper of the times, who should endeavor to persuade
+the king to comply with the demands of the whole nation, and abolish the
+Inquisition, to revoke the edicts, and in their stead cause new and more
+humane ones to be drawn up at a general assembly of the states. But, in
+the meanwhile, until they could learn the king's decision, they prayed
+that the edicts and the operations of the Inquisition be suspended."
+"If," they concluded, "no attention should be paid to their humble
+request, they took God, the king, the regent, and all her counsellors to
+witness that they had done their part, and were not responsible for any
+unfortunate result that might happen."
+
+The following day the confederates, marching in the same order of
+procession, but in still greater numbers (Counts Bergen and Kuilemberg
+having, in the interim, joined them with their adherents), appeared
+before the regent in order to receive her answer. It was written on the
+margin of the petition, and was to the effect, "that entirely to suspend
+the Inquisition and the edicts, even temporarily, was beyond her powers;
+but in compliance with the wishes of the confederates she was ready to
+despatch one of the nobles to the king in Spain, and also to support
+their petition with all her influence. In the meantime, she would
+recommend the inquisitors to administer their office with moderation;
+but in return she should expect on the part of the league that they
+should abstain from all acts of violence, and undertake nothing to the
+prejudice of the Catholic faith." Little as these vague and general
+promises satisfied the confederates, they were, nevertheless, as much as
+they could have reasonably expected to gain at first. The granting or
+refusing of the petition had nothing to do with the primary object of
+the league. Enough for them at present that it was once recognized,
+enough that it was now, as it were, an established body, which by its
+power and threats might, if necessary, overawe the government. The
+confederates, therefore, acted quite consistently with their designs,
+in contenting themselves with this answer, and referring the rest to
+the good pleasure of the king. As, indeed, the whole pantomime of
+petitioning had only been invented to cover the more daring plan of the
+league, until it should have strength enough to show itself in its true
+light, they felt that much more depended on their being able to continue
+this mask, and on the favorable reception of their petition, than on its
+speedily being granted. In a new memorial, which they delivered three
+days after, they pressed for an express testimonial from the regent that
+they had done no more than their duty, and been guided simply by their
+zeal for the service of the king. When the duchess evaded a
+declaration, they even sent a person to repeat this request in a private
+interview. "Time alone and their future behavior," she replied to this
+person, "would enable her to judge of their designs."
+
+The league had its origin in banquets, and a banquet gave it form and
+perfection. On the very day that the second petition was presented
+Brederode entertained the confederates in Kuilemberg house. About three
+hundred guests assembled; intoxication gave them courage, and their
+audacity rose with their numbers. During the conversation one of their
+number happened to remark that he had overheard the Count of Barlaimont
+whisper in French to the regent, who was seen to turn pale on the
+delivery of the petitions, that "she need not be afraid of a band of
+beggars (gueux);" (in fact, the majority of them had by their bad
+management of their incomes only too well deserved this appellation.)
+Now, as the very name for their fraternity was the very thing which had
+most perplexed them, an expression was eagerly caught up, which, while
+it cloaked the presumption of their enterprise in humility, was at the
+same time appropriate to them as petitioners. Immediately they drank to
+one another under this name, and the cry "long live the Gueux!" was
+accompanied with a general shout of applause. After the cloth had been
+removed Brederode appeared with a wallet over his shoulder similar to
+that which the vagrant pilgrims and mendicant monks of the time used to
+carry, and after returning thanks to all for their accession to the
+league, and boldly assuring them that he was ready to venture life and
+limb for every individual present, he drank to the health of the whole
+company out of a wooden beaker. The cup went round and every one
+uttered the same vow as be set it to his lips. Then one after the other
+they received the beggar's purse, and each hung it on a nail which he
+had appropriated to himself. The shouts and uproar attending this
+buffoonery attracted the Prince of Orange and Counts Egmont and Horn,
+who by chance were passing the spot at the very moment, and on entering
+the house were boisterously pressed by Brederode, as host, to remain and
+drink a glass with them.
+
+   ["But," Egmont asserted in his written defence "we drank only one
+   single small glass, and thereupon they cried 'long live the king
+   and the Gueux!' This was the first time that I heard that
+   appellation, and it certainly did not please me. But the times
+   were so bad that one was often compelled to share in much that was
+   against one's inclination, and I knew not but I was doing an
+   innocent thing." Proces criminels des Comtes d'Egmont, etc.. 7. 1.
+   Egmont's defence, Hopper, 94. Strada, 127-130. Burgund., 185,
+   187.]
+
+The entrance of three such influential personages renewed the mirth of
+the guests, and their festivities soon passed the bounds of moderation.
+Many were intoxicated; guests and attendants mingled together without
+distinction; the serious and the ludicrous, drunken fancies and affairs
+of state were blended one with another in a burlesque medley; and the
+discussions on the general distress of the country ended in the wild
+uproar of a bacchanalian revel. But it did not stop here; what they had
+resolved on in the moment of intoxication they attempted when sober to
+carry into execution. It was necessary to manifest to the people in
+some striking shape the existence of their protectors, and likewise to
+fan the zeal of the faction by a visible emblem; for this end nothing
+could be better than to adopt publicly this name of Gueux, and to borrow
+from it the tokens of the association. In a few days the town of
+Brussels swarmed with ash-gray garments such as were usually worn by
+mendicant friars and penitents. Every confederate put his whole family
+and domestics in this dress. Some carried wooden bowls thinly overlaid
+with plates of silver, cups of the same kind, and wooden knives; in
+short the whole paraphernalia of the beggar tribe, which they either
+fixed around their hats or suspended from their girdles: Round the neck
+they wore a golden or silver coin, afterwards called the Geusen penny,
+of which one side bore the effigy of the king, with the inscription,
+"True to the king;" on the other side were seen two hands folded
+together holding a wallet, with the words "as far as the beggar's
+scrip." Hence the origin of the name "Gueux," which was subsequently
+borne in the Netherlands by all who seceded from popery and took up arms
+against the king.
+
+Before the confederates separated and dispersed among the provinces they
+presented themselves once more before the duchess, in order to remind
+her of the necessity of leniency towards the heretics until the arrival
+of the king's answer from Spain, if she did not wish to drive the people
+to extremities. "If, however," they added, "a contrary behavior should
+give rise to any evils they at least must be regarded as having done
+their duty."
+
+To this the regent replied, "she hoped to be able to adopt such
+measures as would render it impossible for disorders to ensue; but if,
+nevertheless, they did occur, she could ascribe them to no one but the
+confederates. She therefore earnestly admonished them on their part to
+fulfil their engagements, but especially to receive no new members into
+the league, to hold no more private assemblies, and generally not to
+attempt any novel and unconstitutional measures." And in order to
+tranquillize their minds she commanded her private secretary, Berti, to
+show them the letters to the inquisitors and secular judges, wherein
+they were enjoined to observe moderation towards all those who had not
+aggravated their heretical offences by any civil crime. Before their
+departure from Brussels they named four presidents from among their
+number who were to take care of the affairs of the league, and also
+particular administrators for each province. A few were left behind in
+Brussels to keep a watchful eye on all the movements of the court.
+Brederode, Kuilemberg, and Bergen at last quitted the town, attended by
+five hundred and fifty horsemen, saluted it once more beyond the walls
+with a discharge of musketry, and then the three leaders parted,
+Brederode taking the road to Antwerp, and the two others to Guelders.
+The regent had sent off an express to Antwerp to warn the magistrate of
+that town against him. On his arrival more than a thousand persons
+thronged to the hotel where he had taken up his abode. Showing himself
+at a window, with a full wineglass in his hand, he thus addressed them:
+"Citizens of Antwerp! I am here at the hazard of my life and my
+property to relieve you from the oppressive burden of the Inquisition.
+If you are ready to share this enterprise with me, and to acknowledge me
+as your leader, accept the health which I here drink to you, and hold up
+your hands in testimony of your approbation." Hereupon he drank to
+their health, and all hands were raised amidst clamorous shouts of
+exultation. After this heroic deed he quitted Antwerp.
+
+Immediately after the delivery of the "petition of the nobles," the
+regent had caused a new form of the edicts to be drawn up in the privy
+council, which should keep the mean between the commands of the king and
+the demands of the confederates. But the next question that arose was
+to determine whether it would be advisable immediately to promulgate
+this mitigated form, or moderation, as it was commonly called, or to
+submit it first to the king for his ratification. The privy council who
+maintained that it would be presumptuous to take a step so important and
+so contrary to the declared sentiments of the monarch without having
+first obtained his sanction, opposed the vote of the Prince of Orange
+who supported the former proposition. Besides, they urged, there was
+cause to fear that it would not even content the nation.
+
+A "moderation" devised with the assent of the states was what they
+particularly insisted on. In order, therefore, to gain the consent of
+the states, or rather to obtain it from them by stealth, the regent
+artfully propounded the question to the provinces singly, and first of
+all to those which possessed the least freedom, such as Artois, Namur,
+and Luxemburg. Thus she not only prevented one province encouraging
+another in opposition, but also gained this advantage by it, that the
+freer provinces, such as Flanders and Brabant, which were prudently
+reserved to the last, allowed themselves to be carried away by the
+example of the others. By a very illegal procedure the representatives
+of the towns were taken by surprise, and their consent exacted before
+they could confer with their constituents, while complete silence was
+imposed upon them with regard to the whole transaction. By these means
+the regent obtained the unconditional consent of some of the provinces
+to the "moderation," and, with a few slight changes, that of other
+provinces. Luxemburg and Namur subscribed it without scruple. The
+states of Artois simply added the condition that false informers should
+be subjected to a retributive penalty; those of Hainault demanded that
+instead of confiscation of the estates, which directly militated against
+their privileges, another discretionary punishment should be introduced.
+Flanders called for the entire abolition of the Inquisition, and desired
+that the accused might be secured in right of appeal to their own
+province. The states of Brabant were outwitted by the intrigues of the
+court. Zealand, Holland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Friesland as being
+provinces which enjoyed the most important privileges, and which,
+moreover, watched over them with the greatest jealousy, were never asked
+for their opinion. The provincial courts of judicature had also been
+required to make a report on the projected amendment of the law, but we
+may well suppose that it was unfavorable, as it never reached Spain.
+From the principal cause of this "moderation," which, however, really
+deserved its name, we may form a judgment of the general character of
+the edicts themselves. "Sectarian writers," it ran, "the heads and
+teachers of sects, as also those who conceal heretical meetings, or
+cause any other public scandal, shall be punished with the gallows, and
+their estates, where the law of the province permit it, confiscated; but
+if they abjure their errors, their punishment shall be commuted into
+decapitation with the sword, and their effects shall be preserved to
+their families." A cruel snare for parental affection! Less grievous
+heretics, it was further enacted, shall, if penitent, be pardoned; and
+if impenitent shall be compelled to leave the country, without, however,
+forfeiting their estates, unless by continuing to lead others astray
+they deprive themselves of the benefit of this provision. The
+Anabaptists, however, were expressly excluded from benefiting by this
+clause; these, if they did not clear themselves by the most thorough
+repentance, were to forfeit their possessions; and if, on the other
+hand, they relapsed after penitence, that is, were backsliding heretics,
+they were to be put to death without mercy. The greater regard for life
+and property which is observable in this ordinance as compared with the
+edicts, and which we might be tempted to ascribe to a change of
+intention in the Spanish ministry, was nothing more than a compulsory
+step extorted by the determined opposition of the nobles. So little,
+too, were the people in the Netherlands satisfied by this "moderation,"
+which fundamentally did not remove a single abuse, that instead of
+"moderation" (mitigation), they indignantly called it "moorderation,"
+that is, murdering.
+
+After the consent of the states had in this manner been extorted from
+them, the "moderation" was submitted to the council of the state, and,
+after receiving their signatures, forwarded to the king in Spain in
+order to receive from his ratification the force of law.
+
+The embassy to Madrid, which had been agreed upon with the confederates,
+was at the outset entrusted to the Marquis of Bergen, who, however, from
+a distrust of the present disposition of the king, which was only too
+well grounded, and from reluctance to engage alone in so delicate a
+business, begged for a coadjutor.
+
+   [This Marquis of Bergen is to be distinguished from Count William
+   of Bergen, who was among the first who subscribed the covenant.
+   Vigi. ad Hopper, Letter VII.]
+
+He obtained one in the Baron of Montigny, who had previously been
+employed in a similar duty, and had discharged it with high credit.
+As, however, circumstances had since altered so much that he had just
+anxiety as to his present reception in Madrid for his greater safety,
+he stipulated with the duchess that she should write to the monarch
+previously; and that he, with his companion, should, in the meanwhile,
+travel slowly enough to give time for the king's answer reaching him en
+route. His good genius wished, as it appeared, to save him from the
+terrible fate which awaited him in Madrid, for his departure was delayed
+by an unexpected obstacle, the Marquis of Bergen being disabled from
+setting out immediately through a wound which he received from the blow
+of a tennis-ball. At last, however, yielding to the pressing
+importunities of the regent, who was anxious to expedite the business,
+he set out alone, not, as he hoped, to carry the cause of his nation,
+but to die for it.
+
+In the meantime the posture of affairs had changed so greatly in the
+Netherlands, the step which the nobles had recently taken had so nearly
+brought on a complete rupture with the government, that it seemed
+impossible for the Prince of Orange and his friends to maintain any
+longer the intermediate and delicate position which they had hitherto
+held between the country and the court, or to reconcile the
+contradictory duties to which it gave rise. Great must have been
+the restraint which, with their mode of thinking, they had to put on
+themselves not to take part in this contest; much, too, must their
+natural love of liberty, their patriotism, and their principles of
+toleration have suffered from the constraint which their official
+station imposed upon them. On the other hand, Philip's distrust, the
+little regard which now for a long time had been paid to their advice,
+and the marked slights which the duchess publicly put upon them, had
+greatly contributed to cool their zeal for the service, and to render
+irksome the longer continuance of a part which they played with so much
+repugnance and with so little thanks. This feeling was strengthened by
+several intimations they received from Spain which placed beyond doubt
+the great displeasure of the king at the petition of the nobles, and his
+little satisfaction with their own behavior on that occasion, while they
+were also led to expect that he was about to enter upon measures, to
+which, as favorable to the liberties of their country, and for the most
+part friends or blood relations of the confederates; they could never
+lend their countenance or support. On the name which should be applied
+in Spain to the confederacy of the nobles it principally depended what
+course they should follow for the future. If the petition should be
+called rebellion no alternative would be left them but either to come
+prematurely to a dangerous explanation with the court, or to aid it in
+treating as enemies those with whom they had both a fellow-feeling and a
+common interest. This perilous alternative could only be avoided by
+withdrawing entirely from public affairs; this plan they had once before
+practically adopted, and under present circumstances it was something
+more than a simple expedient. The whole nation had their eyes upon
+them. An unlimited confidence in their integrity, and the universal
+veneration for their persons, which closely bordered on idolatry, would
+ennoble the cause which they might make their own and ruin that which
+they should abandon. Their share in the administration of the state,
+though it were nothing more than nominal, kept the opposite party in
+check; while they attended the senate violent measures were avoided
+because their continued presence still favored some expectations of
+succeeding by gentle means. The withholding of their approbation, even
+if it did not proceed from their hearts, dispirited the faction, which,
+on the contrary, would exert its full strength so soon as it could
+reckon even distantly on obtaining so weighty a sanction. The very
+measures of the government which, if they came through their hands, were
+certain of a favorable reception and issue, would without them prove
+suspected and futile; even the royal concessions, if they were not
+obtained by the mediation of these friends of the people, would fail of
+the chief part of their efficacy. Besides, their retirement from public
+affairs would deprive the regent of the benefit of their advice at a
+time when counsel was most indispensable to her; it would, moreover,
+leave the preponderance with a party which, blindly dependent on the
+court, and ignorant of the peculiarities of republican character, would
+neglect nothing to aggravate the evil, and to drive to extremity the
+already exasperated mind of the public.
+
+All these motives (and it is open to every one, according to his good or
+bad opinion of the prince, to say which was the most influential) tended
+alike to move him to desert the regent, and to divest himself of all
+share in public affairs. An opportunity for putting this resolve into
+execution soon presented itself. The prince had voted for the immediate
+promulgation of the newly-revised edicts; but the regent, following the
+suggestion of her privy council, had determined to transmit them first
+to the king. "I now see clearly," he broke out with well-acted
+vehemence, "that all the advice which I give is distrusted. The king
+requires no servants whose loyalty he is determined to doubt; and far be
+it from me to thrust my services upon a sovereign who is unwilling to
+receive them. Better, therefore, for him and me that I withdraw from
+public affairs." Count Horn expressed himself nearly to the same
+effect. Egmont requested permission to visit the baths of
+Aix-la-Chapelle, the use of which had been prescribed to him by his
+physician, although (as it is stated in his accusation) he appeared
+health itself. The regent, terrified at the consequences which must
+inevitably follow this step, spoke sharply to the prince. "If neither my
+representations, nor the general welfare can prevail upon you, so far as
+to induce you to relinquish this intention, let me advise you to be more
+careful, at least, of your own reputation. Louis of Nassau is your
+brother; he and Count Brederode, the heads of the confederacy, have
+publicly been your guests. The petition is in substance identical with
+your own representations in the council of state. If you now suddenly
+desert the cause of your king will it not be universally said that you
+favor the conspiracy?" We do not find it anywhere stated whether the
+prince really withdrew at this time from the council of state; at all
+events, if he did, he must soon have altered his mind, for shortly after
+he appears again in public transactions. Egmont allowed himself to be
+overcome by the remonstrances of the regent; Horn alone actually withdrew
+himself to one of his estates,--[Where he remained three months
+inactive.]--with the resolution of never more serving either emperor or
+king. Meanwhile the Gueux had dispersed themselves through the provinces,
+and spread everywhere the most favorable reports of their success.
+According to their assertions, religious freedom was finally assured; and
+in order to confirm their statements they helped themselves, where the
+truth failed, with falsehood. For example, they produced a forged letter
+of the Knights of the Fleece, in which the latter were made solemnly to
+declare that for the future no one need fear imprisonment, or banishment,
+or death on account of religion, unless he also committed a political
+crime; and even in that case the confederates alone were to be his
+judges; and this regulation was to be in force until the king, with the
+consent and advice of the states of the realm, should otherwise dispose.
+Earnestly as the knights applied themselves upon the first information of
+the fraud to rescue the nation from their delusion, still it had already
+in this short interval done good service to the faction. If there are
+truths whose effect is limited to a single instant, then inventions which
+last so long can easily assume their place. Besides, the report, however
+false, was calculated both to awaken distrust between the regent and the
+knights, and to support the courage of the Protestants by fresh hopes,
+while it also furnished those who were meditating innovation an
+appearance of right, which, however unsubstantial they themselves knew it
+to be, served as a colorable pretext for their proceedings. Quickly as
+this delusion was dispelled, still, in the short space of time that it
+obtained belief, it had occasioned so many extravagances, had introduced
+so much irregularity and license, that a return to the former state of
+things became impossible, and continuance in the course already commenced
+was rendered necessary as well by habit as by despair. On the very first
+news of this happy result the fugitive Protestants had returned to their
+homes, which they had so unwillingly abandoned; those who had been in
+concealment came forth from their hiding-places; those who had hitherto
+paid homage to the new religion in their hearts alone, emboldened by
+these pretended acts of toleration, now gave in their adhesion to it
+publicly and decidedly. The name of the "Gueux" was extolled in all the
+provinces; they were called the pillars of religion and liberty; their
+party increased daily, and many of the merchants began to wear their
+insignia. The latter made an alteration in the "Gueux" penny, by
+introducing two travellers' staffs, laid crosswise, to intimate that they
+stood prepared and ready at any instant to forsake house and hearth for
+the sake of religion. The Gueux league, in short, had now given to things
+an entirely different form. The murmurs of the people, hitherto impotent
+and despised, as being the cries of individuals, had, now that they were
+concentrated, become formidable; and had gained power, direction, and
+firmness through union. Every one who was rebelliously disposed now
+looked on himself as the member of a venerable and powerful body, and
+believed that by carrying his own complaints to the general stock of
+discontent he secured the free expression of them. To be called an
+important acquisition to the league flattered the vain; to be lost,
+unnoticed, and irresponsible in the crowd was an inducement to the timid.
+The face which the confederacy showed to the nation was very unlike that
+which it had turned to the court. But had its objects been the purest,
+had it really been as well disposed towards the throne as it wished to
+appear, still the multitude would have regarded only what was illegal in
+its proceedings, and upon them its better intentions would have been
+entirely lost.
+
+
+
+              PUBLIC PREACHING.
+
+No moment could be more favorable to the Huguenots and the German
+Protestants than the present to seek a market for their dangerous
+commodity in the Netherlands. Accordingly, every considerable town now
+swarmed with suspicious arrivals, masked spies, and the apostles of
+every description of heresy. Of the religious parties, which had sprung
+up by secession from the ruling church, three chiefly had made
+considerable progress in the provinces. Friesland and the adjoining
+districts were overrun by the Anabaptists, who, however, as the most
+indigent, without organization and government, destitute of military
+resources, and moreover at strife amongst themselves, awakened the least
+apprehension. Of far more importance were the Calvanists, who prevailed
+in the southern provinces, and above all in Flanders, who were
+powerfully supported by their neighbors the Huguenots, the republic of
+Geneva, the Swiss Cantons, and part of Germany, and whose opinions, with
+the exception of a slight difference, were also held by the throne in
+England. They were also the most numerous party, especially among the
+merchants and common citizens. The Huguenots, expelled from France, had
+been the chief disseminators of the tenets of this party. The Lutherans
+were inferior both in numbers and wealth, but derived weight from having
+many adherents among the nobility. They occupied, for the most part,
+the eastern portion of the Netherlands, which borders on Germany, and
+were also to be found in some of the northern territories. Some of the
+most powerful princes of Germany were their allies; and the religious
+freedom of that empire, of which by the Burgundian treaty the
+Netherlands formed an integral part, was claimed by them with some
+appearance of right. These three religious denominations met together
+in Antwerp, where the crowded population concealed them, and the
+mingling of all nations favored liberty. They had nothing in common,
+except an equally inextinguishable hatred of popery, of the Inquisition
+in particular, and of the Spanish government, whose instrument it was;
+while, on the other hand, they watched each other with a jealousy which
+kept their zeal in exercise, and prevented the glowing ardor of
+fanaticism from waxing dull.
+
+The regent, in expectation that the projected "moderation" would be
+sanctioned by the king, had, in the meantime, to gratify the Gueux,
+recommended the governors and municipal officers of the provinces to be
+as moderate as possible in their proceedings against heretics;
+instructions which were eagerly followed, and interpreted in the widest
+sense by the majority, who had hitherto administered the painful duty of
+punishment with extreme repugnance. Most of the chief magistrates were
+in their hearts averse to the Inquisition and the Spanish tyranny, and
+many were even secretly attached to one or other of the religious
+parties; even the others were unwilling to inflict punishment on
+their countrymen to gratify their sworn enemies, the Spaniards.
+All, therefore, purposely misunderstood the regent, and allowed the
+Inquisition and the edicts to fall almost entirely into disuse.
+This forbearance of the government, combined with the brilliant
+representations of the Gueux, lured from their obscurity the
+Protestants, who, however, had now grown too powerful to be any longer
+concealed. Hitherto they had contented themselves with secret
+assemblies by night; now they thought themselves numerous and formidable
+enough to venture to these meetings openly and publicly. This license
+commenced somewhere between Oudenarde and Ghent, and soon spread through
+the rest of Flanders. A certain Herrnann Stricker, born at Overyssel,
+formerly a monk, a daring enthusiast of able mind, imposing figure, and
+ready tongue, was the first who collected the people for a sermon in the
+open air. The novelty of the thing gathered together a crowd of about
+seven thousand persons. A magistrate of the neighborhood, more
+courageous than wise, rushed amongst the crowd with his drawn sword, and
+attempted to seize the preacher, but was so roughly handled by the
+multitude, who for want of other weapons took up stones and felled him
+to the ground, that he was glad to beg for his life.
+
+   [The unheard-of foolhardiness of a single man rushing into the
+   midst of a fanatical crowd of seven thousand people to seize before
+   their eyes one whom they adored, proves, more than all that can be
+   said on the subject the insolent contempt with which the Roman
+   Catholics of the time looked down upon the so-called heretics as an
+   inferior race of beings.]
+
+This success of the first attempt inspired courage for a second. In the
+vicinity of Aalst they assembled again in still greater numbers; but on
+this occasion they provided themselves with rapiers, firearms, and
+halberds, placed sentries at all the approaches, which they also
+barricaded with carts and carriages. All passers-by were obliged,
+whether willing or otherwise, to take part in the religious service, and
+to enforce this object lookout parties were posted at certain distances
+round the place of meeting. At the entrance booksellers stationed
+themselves, offering for sale Protestant catechisms, religious tracts,
+and pasquinades on the bishops. The preacher, Hermann Stricker, held
+forth from a pulpit which was hastily constructed for the occasion out
+of carts and trunks of trees. A canvas awning drawn over it protected
+him from the sun and the rain; the preacher's position was in the
+quarter of the wind that the people might not lose any part of his
+sermon, which consisted principally of revilings against popery. Here
+the sacraments were administered after the Calvinistic fashion, and
+water was procured from the nearest river to baptize infants without
+further ceremony, after the practice, it was pretended, of the earliest
+times of Christianity. Couples were also united in wedlock, and the
+marriage ties dissolved between others. To be present at this meeting
+half the population of Ghent had left its gates; their example was soon
+followed in other parts, and ere long spread over the whole of East
+Flanders. In like manner Peter Dathen, another renegade monk, from
+Poperingen, stirred up West Flanders; as many as fifteen thousand
+persons at a time attended his preaching from the villages and hamlets;
+their number made them bold, and they broke into the prisons, where some
+Anabaptists were reserved for martyrdom. In Tournay the Protestants
+were excited to a similar pitch of daring by Ambrosius Ville, a French
+Calvinist. They demanded the release of the prisoners of their sect,
+and repeatedly threatened if their demands were not complied with to
+deliver up the town to the French. It was entirely destitute of a
+garrison, for the commandant, from fear of treason, had withdrawn it
+into the castle, and the soldiers, moreover, refused to act against
+their fellow-citizens. The sectarians carried their audacity to such
+great lengths as to require one of the churches within the town to be
+assigned to them; and when this was refused they entered into a league
+with Valenciennes and Antwerp to obtain a legal recognition of their
+worship, after the example of the other towns, by open force. These
+three towns maintained a close connection with each other, and the
+Protestant party was equally powerful in all. While, however, no one
+would venture singly to commence the disturbance, they agreed
+simultaneously to make a beginning with public preaching. Brederode's
+appearance in Antwerp at last gave them courage. Six thousand persons,
+men and women, poured forth from the town on an appointed day, on which
+the same thing happened in Tournay and Valenciennes. The place of
+meeting was closed in with a line of vehicles, firmly fastened together,
+and behind them armed men were secretly posted, with a view to protect
+the service from any surprise. Of the preachers, most of whom were men
+of the very lowest class--some were Germans, some were Huguenots--and
+spoke in the Walloon dialect; some even of the citizens felt themselves
+called upon to take a part in this sacred work, now that no fears of the
+officers of justice alarmed them. Many were drawn to the spot by mere
+curiosity to hear what kind of new and unheard-of doctrines these
+foreign teachers, whose arrival had caused so much talk, would set
+forth. Others were attracted by the melody of the psalms, which were
+sung in a French version, after the custom in Geneva. A great number
+came to hear these sermons as so many amusing comedies such was the
+buffoonery with which the pope, the fathers of the ecclesiastical
+council of Trent, purgatory, and other dogmas of the ruling church were
+abused in them. And, in fact, the more extravagant was this abuse and
+ridicule the more it tickled the ears of the lower orders; and a
+universal clapping of hands, as in a theatre, rewarded the speaker who
+had surpassed others in the wildness of his jokes and denunciations.
+But the ridicule which was thus cast upon the ruling church was,
+nevertheless, not entirely lost on the minds of the hearers, as neither
+were the few grains of truth or reason which occasionally slipped in
+among it; and many a one, who had sought from these sermons anything but
+conviction, unconsciously carried away a little also of it.
+
+These assemblies were several times repeated, and each day augmented the
+boldness of the sectarians; till at last they even ventured, after
+concluding the service to conduct their preachers home in triumph, with
+an escort of armed horsemen, and ostentatiously to brave the law. The
+town council sent express after express to the duchess, entreating her
+to visit them in person, and if possible to reside for a short time in
+Antwerp, as the only expedient to curb the arrogance of the populace;
+and assuring her that the most eminent merchants, afraid of being
+plundered, were already preparing to quit it. Fear of staking the royal
+dignity on so hazardous a stroke of policy forbade her compliance; but
+she despatched in her stead Count Megen, in order to treat with the
+magistrate for the introduction of a garrison. The rebellious mob, who
+quickly got an inkling of the object of his visit, gathered around him
+with tumultuous cries, shouting, "He was known to them as a sworn enemy
+of the Gueux; that it was notorious he was bringing upon them prisons
+and the Inquisition, and that he should leave the town instantly." Nor
+was the tumult quieted till Megen was beyond the gates. The Calvinists
+now handed in to the magistrate a memorial, in which they showed that
+their great numbers made it impossible for them henceforward to assemble
+in secrecy, and requested a separate place of worship to be allowed them
+inside the town. The town council renewed its entreaties to the duchess
+to assist, by her personal presence, their perplexities, or at least to
+send to them the Prince of Orange, as the only person for whom the
+people still had any respect, and, moreover, as specially bound to the
+town of Antwerp by his hereditary title of its burgrave. In order to
+escape the greater evil she was compelled to consent to the second
+demand, however much against her inclination to entrust Antwerp to the
+prince. After allowing himself to be long and fruitlessly entreated,
+for he had all at once resolved to take no further share in public
+affairs, he yielded at last to the earnest persuasions of the regent
+and the boisterous wishes of the people. Brederode, with a numerous
+retinue, came half a mile out of the town to meet him, and both parties
+saluted each other with a discharge of pistols. Antwerp appeared to
+have poured out all her inhabitants to welcome her deliverer. The high
+road swarmed with multitudes; the roofs were taken off the houses in
+order that they might accommodate more spectators; behind fences, from
+churchyard walls, even out of graves started up men. The attachment of
+the people to the prince showed itself in childish effusions. "Long
+live the Gueux!" was the shout with which young and old received him.
+"Behold," cried others, "the man who shall give us liberty." "He brings
+us," cried the Lutherans, "the Confession of Augsburg!" "We don't want
+the Gueux now!" exclaimed others; "we have no more need of the
+troublesome journey to Brussels. He alone is everything to us!" Those
+who knew not what to say vented their extravagant joy in psalms, which
+they vociferously chanted as they moved along. He, however, maintained
+his gravity, beckoned for silence, and at last, when no one would listen
+to him, exclaimed with indignation, half real and half affected, "By
+God, they ought to consider what they did, or they would one day repent
+what they had now done." The shouting increased even as he rode into
+the town. The first conference of the prince with the heads of the
+different religious sects, whom he sent for and separately interrogated,
+presently convinced him that the chief source of the evil was the mutual
+distrust of the several parties, and the suspicions which the citizens
+entertained of the designs of the government, and that therefore it must
+be his first business to restore confidence among them all. First of
+all he attempted, both by persuasion and artifice, to induce the
+Calvinists, as the most numerous body, to lay down their weapons, and in
+this he at last, with much labor, succeeded. When, however, some wagons
+were soon afterwards seen laden with ammunition in Malines, and the high
+bailiff of Brabant showed himself frequently in the neighborhood of
+Antwerp with an armed force, the Calvinists, fearing hostile
+interruption of their religious worship, besought the prince to allot
+them a place within the walls for their sermons, which should be secure
+from a surprise. He succeeded once more in pacifying them, and his
+presence fortunately prevented an outbreak on the Assumption of the
+Virgin, which, as usual, had drawn a crowd to the town, and from whose
+sentiments there was but too much reason for alarm. The image of the
+Virgin was, with the usual pomp, carried round the town without
+interruption; a few words of abuse, and a suppressed murmur about
+idolatry, was all that the disapproving multitudes indulged in against
+the procession.
+
+
+1566. While the regent received from one province after another the
+most melancholy accounts of the excesses of the Protestants, and while
+she trembled for Antwerp, which she was compelled to leave in the
+dangerous hands of the Prince of Orange, a new terror assailed her from
+another quarter. Upon the first authentic tidings of the public
+preaching she immediately called upon the league to fulfil its promises
+and to assist her in restoring order. Count Brederode used this pretext
+to summon a general meeting of the whole league, for which he could not
+have selected a more dangerous moment than the present. So ostentatious
+a display of the strength of the league, whose existence and protection
+had alone encouraged the Protestant mob to go the length it had already
+gone, would now raise the confidence of the sectarians, while in the
+same degree it depressed the courage of the regent. The convention took
+place in the town of Liege St. Truyen, into which Brederode and Louis of
+Nassau had thrown themselves at the head of two thousand confederates.
+As the long delay of the royal answer from Madrid seemed to presage no
+good from that quarter, they considered it advisable in any case to
+extort from the regent a letter of indemnity for their persons.
+
+Those among them who were conscious of a disloyal sympathy with the
+Protestant mob looked on its licentiousness as a favorable circumstance
+for the league; the apparent success of those to whose degrading
+fellowship they had deigned to stoop led them to alter their tone; their
+former laudable zeal began to degenerate into insolence and defiance.
+Many thought that they ought to avail themselves of the general
+confusion and the perplexity of the duchess to assume a bolder tone and
+heap demand upon demand. The Roman Catholic members of the league,
+among whom many were in their hearts still strongly inclined to the
+royal cause, and who had been drawn into a connection with the league by
+occasion and example, rather than from feeling and conviction, now heard
+to their astonishment propositions for establishing universal freedom of
+religion, and were not a little shocked to discover in how perilous an
+enterprise they had hastily implicated themselves. On this discovery
+the young Count Mansfeld withdrew immediately from it, and internal
+dissensions already began to undermine the work of precipitation and
+haste, and imperceptibly to loosen the joints of the league.
+
+Count Egmont and William of Orange were empowered by the regent to treat
+with the confederates. Twelve of the latter, among whom were Louis of
+Nassau, Brederode, and Kuilemberg, conferred with them in Duffle, a
+village near Malines. "Wherefore this new step?" demanded the regent
+by the mouth of these two noblemen. "I was required to despatch
+ambassadors to Spain; and I sent them. The edicts and the Inquisition
+were complained of as too rigorous; I have rendered both more lenient.
+A general assembly of the states of the realm was proposed; I have
+submitted this request to the king because I could not grant it from my
+own authority. What, then, have I unwittingly either omitted or done
+that should render necessary this assembling in St. Truyen? Is it
+perhaps fear of the king's anger and of its consequences that disturbs
+the confederates? The provocation certainly is great, but his mercy is
+even greater. Where now is the promise of the league to excite no
+disturbances amongst the people? Where those high-sounding professions
+that they were ready to die at my feet rather, than offend against any
+of the prerogatives of the crown? The innovators already venture on
+things which border closely on rebellion, and threaten the state with
+destruction; and it is to the league that they appeal. If it continues
+silently to tolerate this it will justly bring on itself the charge of
+participating in the guilt of their offences; if it is honestly disposed
+towards the sovereign it cannot remain longer inactive in this
+licentiousness of the mob. But, in truth, does it not itself outstrip
+the insane population by its dangerous example, concluding, as it is
+known to do, alliances with the enemies of the country, and confirming
+the evil report of its designs by the present illegal meeting?"
+
+Against these reproaches the league formally justified itself in a
+memorial which it deputed three of its members to deliver to the council
+of state at Brussels.
+
+"All," it commenced, "that your highness has done in respect to our
+petition we have felt with the most lively gratitude; and we cannot
+complain of any new measure, subsequently adopted, inconsistent with
+your promise; but we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the
+orders of your highness are by the judicial courts, at least, very
+little regarded; for we are continually hearing--and our own eyes attest
+to the truth of the report--that in all quarters our fellow-citizens are
+in spite of the orders of your highness still mercilessly dragged before
+the courts of justice and condemned to death for religion. What the
+league engaged on its part to do it has honestly fulfilled; it has, too,
+to the utmost of its power endeavored to prevent the public preachings;
+but it certainly is no wonder if the long delay of an answer from Madrid
+fills the mind of the people with distrust, and if the disappointed
+hopes of a general assembly of the states disposes them to put little
+faith in any further assurances. The league has never allied, nor ever
+felt any temptation to ally, itself with the enemies of the country. If
+the arms of France were to appear in the provinces we, the confederates,
+would be the first to mount and drive them back again. The league,
+however, desires to be candid with your highness. We thought we read
+marks of displeasure in your countenance; we see men in exclusive
+possession of your favor who are notorious for their hatred against us.
+We daily hear that persons are warned from associating with us, as with
+those infected with the plague, while we are denounced with the arrival
+of the king as with the opening of a day of judgment--what is more
+natural than that such distrust shown to us should at last rouse our
+own? That the attempt to blacken our league with the reproach of
+treason, that the warlike preparations of the Duke of Savoy and of other
+princes, which, according to common report, are directed against
+ourselves; the negotiations of the king with the French court to obtain
+a passage through that kingdom for a Spanish army, which is destined,
+it is said, for the Netherlands--what wonder if these and similar
+occurrences should have stimulated us to think in time of the means of
+self-defence, and to strengthen ourselves by an alliance with our
+friends beyond the frontier? On a general, uncertain, and vague rumor
+we are accused of a share in this licentiousness of the Protestant mob;
+but who is safe from general rumor? True it is, certainly, that of our
+numbers some are Protestants, to whom religious toleration would be a
+welcome boon; but even they have never forgotten what they owe to their
+sovereign. It is not fear of the king's anger which instigated us to
+hold this assembly. The king is good, and we still hope that he is also
+just. It cannot, therefore, be pardon that we seek from him, and just
+as little can it be oblivion that we solicit for our actions, which are
+far from being the least considerable of the services we have at
+different times rendered his majesty. Again, it is true, that the
+delegates of the Lutherans and Calvinists are with us in St. Truyen;
+nay, more, they have delivered to us a petition which, annexed to this
+memorial, we here present to your highness. In it they offer to go
+unarmed to their preachings if the league will tender its security to
+them, and be willing to engage for a general meeting of the states. We
+have thought it incumbent upon us to communicate both these matters to
+you, for our guarantee can have no force unless it is at the same time
+confirmed by your highness and some of your principal counsellors.
+Among these no one can be so well acquainted with the circumstances of
+our cause, or be so upright in intention towards us, as the Prince of
+Orange and Counts Horn and Egmont. We gladly accept these three as
+meditators if the necessary powers are given to them, and assurance is
+afforded us that no troops will be enlisted without their knowledge.
+This guarantee, however, we only require for a given period, before the
+expiration of which it will rest with the king whether he will cancel or
+confirm it for the future. If the first should be his will it will then
+be but fair that time should be allowed us to place our persons and our
+property in security; for this three weeks will be sufficient. Finally,
+and in conclusion, we on our part also pledge ourselves to undertake
+nothing new without the concurrence of those three persons, our
+mediators."
+
+The league would not have ventured to hold such bold language if it had
+not reckoned on powerful support and protection; but the regent was as
+little in a condition to concede their demands as she was incapable of
+vigorously opposing them. Deserted in Brussels by most of her
+counsellors of state, who had either departed to their provinces, or
+under some pretext or other had altogether withdrawn from public
+affairs; destitute as well of advisers as of money (the latter want had
+compelled her, in the first instance, to appeal to the liberality of the
+clergy; when this proved insufficient, to have recourse to a lottery),
+dependent on orders from Spain, which were ever expected and never
+received, she was at last reduced to the degrading expedient of entering
+into a negotiation with the confederates in St. Truyen, that they should
+wait twenty-four days longer for the king's resolution before they took
+any further steps. It was certainly surprising that the king still
+continued to delay a decisive answer to the petition, although it was
+universally known that he had answered letters of a much later date, and
+that the regent earnestly importuned him on this head. She had also, on
+the commencement of the public preaching, immediately despatched the
+Marquis of Bergen after the Baron of Montigny, who, as an eye-witness of
+these new occurrences, could confirm her written statements, to move the
+king to an earlier decision.
+
+
+1566. In the meanwhile, the Flemish ambassador, Florence of Montigny,
+had arrived in Madrid, where he was received with a great show of
+consideration. His instructions were to press for the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the mitigation of the edicts; the augmentation of the
+council of state, and the incorporation with it of the two other
+councils; the calling of a general assembly of the states, and, lastly,
+to urge the solicitations of the regent for a personal visit from the
+king. As the latter, however, was only desirous of gaining time,
+Montigny was put off with fair words until the arrival of his coadjutor,
+without whom the king was not willing to come to any final
+determination. In the meantime, Montigny had every day and at any hour
+that he desired, an audience with the king, who also commanded that on
+all occasions the despatches of the duchess and the answers to them
+should be communicated to himself. He was, too, frequently admitted to
+the council for Belgian affairs, where he never omitted to call the
+king's attention to the necessity of a general assembly of the states,
+as being the only means of successfully meeting the troubles which had
+arisen, and as likely to supersede the necessity of any other measure.
+He moreover impressed upon him that a general and unreserved indemnity
+for the past would alone eradicate the distrust, which was the source of
+all existing complaints, and would always counteract the good effects of
+every measure, however well advised. He ventured, from a thorough
+acquaintance with circumstances and accurate knowledge of the character
+of his countrymen, to pledge himself to the king for their inviolable
+loyalty, as soon as they should be convinced of the honesty of his
+intentions by the straightforwardness of his proceedings; while, on the
+contrary, he assured him that there would be no hopes of it as long as
+they were not relieved of the fear of being made the victims of the
+oppression, and sacrificed to the envy of the Spanish nobles. At last
+Montigny's coadjutor made his appearance, and the objects of their
+embassy were made the subject of repeated deliberations.
+
+
+1566. The king was at that time at his palace at Segovia, where also he
+assembled his state council. The members were: the Duke of Alva; Don
+Gomez de Figueroa; the Count of Feria; Don Antonio of Toledo, Grand
+Commander of St. John; Don John Manriquez of Lara, Lord Steward to the
+Queen; Ruy Gomez, Prince of Eboli and Count of Melito; Louis of Quixada,
+Master of the Horse to the Prince; Charles Tyssenacque, President of the
+Council for the Netherlands; Hopper, State Counsellor and Keeper of the
+Seal; and State Counsellor Corteville. The sitting of the council was
+protracted for several days; both ambassadors were in attendance, but
+the king was not himself present. Here, then, the conduct of the
+Belgian nobles was examined by Spanish eyes; step by step it was traced
+back to the most distant source; circumstances were brought into
+relation with others which, in reality, never had any connection; and
+what had been the offspring of the moment was made out to be a
+well-matured and far-sighted plan. All the different transactions and
+attempts of the nobles which had been governed solely by chance, and to
+which the natural order of events alone assigned their particular shape
+and succession, were said to be the result of a preconcerted scheme for
+introducing universal liberty in religion, and for placing all the power
+of the state in the hands of the nobles. The first step to this end
+was, it was said, the violent expulsion of the minister Granvella,
+against whom nothing could be charged, except that he was in possession
+of an authority which they preferred to exercise themselves. The second
+step was sending Count Egmont to Spain to urge the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the mitigation of the penal statutes, and to prevail on
+the king to consent to an augmentation of the council of state. As,
+however, this could not be surreptitiously obtained in so quiet a
+manner, the attempt was made to extort it from the court by a third and
+more daring step--by a formal conspiracy, the league of the Gueux. The
+fourth step to the same end was the present embassy, which at length
+boldly cast aside the mask, and by the insane proposals which they were
+not ashamed to make to their king, clearly brought to light the object
+to which all the preceding steps had tended. Could the abolition of the
+Inquisition, they exclaimed, lead to anything less than a complete
+freedom of belief? Would not the guiding helm of conscience be lost
+with it? Did not the proposed "moderation" introduce an absolute
+impunity for all heresies? What was the project of augmenting the
+council of state and of suppressing the two other councils but a
+complete remodelling of the government of the country in favor of
+the nobles?--a general constitution for all the provinces of the
+Netherlands? Again, what was this compact of the ecclesiastics in their
+public preachings but a third conspiracy, entered into with the very
+same objects which the league of the nobles in the council of state and
+that of the Gueux had failed to effect?
+
+However, it was confessed that whatever might be the source of the evil
+it was not on that account the less important and imminent. The
+immediate personal presence of the king in Brussels was, indubitably,
+the most efficacious means speedily and thoroughly to remedy it. As,
+however, it was already so late in the year, and the preparations alone
+for the journey would occupy the short tine which was to elapse before
+the winter set in; as the stormy season of the year, as well as the
+danger from French and English ships, which rendered the sea unsafe, did
+not allow of the king's taking the northern route, which was the shorter
+of the two; as the rebels themselves meanwhile might become possessed of
+the island of Walcheren, and oppose the lauding of the king; for all
+these reasons, the journey was not to be thought of before the spring,
+and in absence of the only complete remedy it was necessary to rest
+satisfied with a partial expedient. The council, therefore, agreed to
+propose to the king, in the first place, that he should recall the papal
+Inquisition from the provinces and rest satisfied with that of the
+bishops; in the second place, that a new plan for the mitigation of the
+edicts should be projected, by which the honor of religion and of the
+king would be better preserved than it had been in the transmitted
+"moderation;" thirdly, that in order to reassure the minds of the
+people, and to leave no means untried, the king should impart to the
+regent full powers to extend free grace and pardon to all those who had
+not already committed any heinous crime, or who had not as yet been
+condemned by any judicial process; but from the benefit of this
+indemnity the preachers and all who harbored them were to be excepted.
+On the other hand, all leagues, associations, public assemblies, and
+preachings were to be henceforth prohibited under heavy penalties; if,
+however, this prohibition should be infringed, the regent was to be at
+liberty to employ the regular troops and garrisons for the forcible
+reduction of the refractory, and also, in case of necessity, to enlist
+new troops, and to name the commanders over them according as should be
+deemed advisable. Finally, it would have a good effect if his majesty
+would write to the most eminent towns, prelates, and leaders of the
+nobility, to some in his own hand, and to all in a gracious tone, in
+order to stimulate their zeal in his service.
+
+When this resolution of his council of state was submitted to the king
+his first measure was to command public processions and prayers in all
+the most considerable places of the kingdom and also of the Netherlands,
+imploring the Divine guidance in his decision. He appeared in his own
+person in the council of state in order to approve this resolution and
+render it effective. He declared the general assembly of the states to
+be useless and entirely abolished it. He, however, bound himself to
+retain some German regiments in his pay, and, that they might serve with
+the more zeal, to pay them their long-standing arrears. He commanded
+the regent in a private letter to prepare secretly for war; three
+thousand horse and ten thousand infantry were to be assembled by her in
+Germany, to which end he furnished her with the necessary letters and
+transmitted to her a sum of three hundred thousand gold florins. He
+also accompanied this resolution with several autograph letters to some
+private individuals and towns, in which he thanked them in the most
+gracious terms for the zeal which they had already displayed in his
+service and called upon them to manifest the same for the future.
+Notwithstanding that he was inexorable on the most important point,
+and the very one on which the nation most particularly insisted--the
+convocation of the states, notwithstanding that his limited and
+ambiguous pardon was as good as none, and depended too much on arbitrary
+will to calm the public mind; notwithstanding, in fine, that he
+rejected, as too lenient, the proposed "moderation," but which, on the
+part of the people, was complained of as too severe; still he had this
+time made an unwonted step in the favor of the nation; he had sacrificed
+to it the papal Inquisition and left only the episcopal, to which it was
+accustomed. The nation had found more equitable judges in the Spanish
+council than they could reasonably have hoped for. Whether at another
+time and under other circumstances this wise concession would have had
+the desired effect we will not pretend to say. It came too late; when
+(1566) the royal letters reached Brussels the attack on images had
+already commenced.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                 BOOK IV.
+
+
+               THE ICONOCLASTS.
+
+
+
+The springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be
+sought for so far back as many historians affect to trace them. It is
+certainly possible, and very probable, that the French Protestants did
+industriously exert themselves to raise in the Netherlands a nursery for
+their religion, and to prevent by all means in their power an amicable
+adjustment of differences between their brethren in the faith in that
+quarter and the King of Spain, in order to give that implacable foe of
+their party enough to do in his own country. It is natural, therefore,
+to suppose that their agents in the provinces left nothing undone to
+encourage their oppressed brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their
+animosity against the ruling church, and by exaggerating the oppression
+under which they sighed to hurry them imperceptibly into illegal
+courses. It is possible, too, that there were many among the
+confederates who thought to help out their own lost cause by increasing
+the number of their partners in guilt; who thought they could not
+otherwise maintain the legal character of their league unless the
+unfortunate results against which they had warned the king really came
+to pass, and who hoped in the general guilt of all to conceal their own
+individual criminality. It is, however, incredible that the outbreak of
+the Iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan, preconcerted, as it
+is alleged, at the convent of St. Truyen. It does not seem likely that
+in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of whom the greater
+part were the adherents of popery, an individual should be found insane
+enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not so much
+injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under foot all
+respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and which
+could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate.
+Besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in
+its execution altogether, too monstrous to have been anything more than
+the offspring of the moment in which it saw the light; it seemed to flow
+so naturally from the circumstances which preceded it that it does not
+require to be traced far back to remount to its origin.
+
+A rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, made brutal by
+harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town,
+scared from place to place and driven almost to despair, were compelled
+to worship their God, and to hide like a work of darkness the universal,
+sacred privilege of humanity. Before their eyes proudly rose the
+temples of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged
+in ease their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven
+from the walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced,
+here in the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful
+secrecy to worship the same God; cast out from civil society into a
+state of nature, and reminded in one dread moment of the rights of that
+state! The greater their superiority of numbers the more unnatural did
+their lot appear; with wonder they perceive the truth. The free heaven,
+the arms lying ready, the frenzy in their brains and fury in their
+hearts combine to aid the suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the
+occasion calls; no premeditation is necessary where all eyes at once
+declare consent; the resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely
+uttered; ready for any unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what,
+the furious band rushes onwards. The smiling prosperity of the hostile
+religion insults the poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized
+temples casts contempt on their proscribed belief; every cross they set
+up upon the highway, every image of the saints that they meet, is a
+trophy erected over their own humiliation, and they all must be removed
+by their avenging hands. Fanaticism suggests these detestable
+proceedings, but base passions carry them into execution.
+
+
+1566. The commencement of the attack on images took place in West
+Flanders and Artois, in the districts between Lys and the sea. A
+frantic herd of artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes,
+beggars, vagabonds, and thieves, about three hundred in number,
+furnished with clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords (a few only
+were provided with swords or fire arms), cast themselves, with fanatical
+fury, into the villages and hamlets near St. Omer, and breaking open the
+gates of such churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow
+everywhere the altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and
+trample them under foot. With their excitement increased by its
+indulgence, and reinforced by newcomers, they press on by the direct
+road to Ypres, where they can count on the support of a strong body of
+Calvinists. Unopposed, they break into the cathedral, and mounting on
+ladders they hammer to pieces the pictures, hew down with axes the
+pulpits and pews, despoil the altars of their ornaments, and steal the
+holy vessels. This example was quickly followed in Menin, Comines,
+Verrich, Lille, and Oudenard; in a few days the same fury spreads
+through the whole of Flanders. At the very time when the first tidings
+of this occurrence arrived Antwerp was swarming with a crowd of
+houseless people, which the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin had
+brought together in that city. Even the presence of the Prince of
+Orange was hardly sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned
+to imitate the doings of their brethren in St. Omer; but an order from
+the court which summoned him to Brussels, where the regent was just
+assembling her council of state, in order to lay before them the royal
+letters, obliged him to abandon Antwerp to the outrages of this band.
+His departure was the signal for tumult. Apprehensive of the lawless
+violence of which, on the very first day of the festival, the mob had
+given indications in derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying
+about the image of the Virgin for a short time, brought it for safety
+to the choir, without, as formerly, setting it up in the middle of the
+church. This incited some mischievous boys from among the people to pay
+it a visit there, and jokingly inquire why she had so soon absented
+herself from among them? Others mounting the pulpit, mimicked the
+preacher, and challenged the papists to a dispute. A Roman Catholic
+waterman, indignant at this jest, attempted to pull them down, and blows
+were exchanged in the preacher's seat. Similar scenes occurred on the
+following evening. The numbers increased, and many came already
+provided with suspicious implements and secret weapons. At last it came
+into the head of one of them to cry, "Long live the Gueux!" immediately
+the whole band took up the cry, and the image of the Virgin was called
+upon to do the same. The few Roman Catholics who were present, and who
+had given up the hope of effecting anything against these desperadoes,
+left the church after locking all the doors except one. So soon as they
+found themselves alone it was proposed to sing one of the psalms in the
+new version, which was prohibited by the government. While they were
+yet singing they all, as at a given signal, rushed furiously upon the
+image of the Virgin, piercing it with swords and daggers, and striking
+off its head; thieves and prostitutes tore the great wax-lights from the
+altar, and lighted them to the work. The beautiful organ of the church,
+a masterpiece of the art of that period, was broken to pieces, all the
+paintings were effaced, the statues smashed to atoms. A crucifix, the
+size of life, which was set up between the two thieves, opposite the
+high altar, an ancient and highly valued piece of workmanship, was
+pulled to the ground with cords, and cut to pieces with axes, while the
+two malefactors at its side were respectfully spared. The holy wafers
+were strewed on the ground and trodden under foot; in the wine used for
+the Lord's Supper, which was accidentally found there, the health of the
+Gueux was drunk, while with the holy oil they rubbed their shoes. The
+very tombs were opened, and the half-decayed corpses torn up and
+trampled on. All this was done with as much wonderful regularity as if
+each had previously had his part assigned to him; every one worked into
+his neighbor's hands; no one, dangerous as the work was, met with
+injury; in the midst of thick darkness, which the tapers only served to
+render more sensible, with heavy masses falling on all sides, and though
+on the very topmost steps of the ladders, they scuffled with each other
+for the honors of demolition--yet no one suffered the least injury. In
+spite of the many tapers which lighted them below in their villanous
+work not a single individual was recognized. With incredible rapidity
+was the dark deed accomplished; a number of men, at most a hundred,
+despoiled in a few hours a temple of seventy altars--after St. Peter's
+at Rome, perhaps the largest and most magnificent in Christendom.
+
+The devastation of the cathedral did not content them; with torches and
+tapers purloined from it they set out at midnight to perform a similar
+work of havoc on the remaining churches, cloisters, and chapels. The
+destructive hordes increased with every fresh exploit of infamy, and
+thieves were allured by the opportunity. They carried away whatever
+they found of value--the consecrated vessels, altar-cloths, money, and
+vestments; in the cellars of the cloisters they drank to intoxication;
+to escape greater indignities the monks and nuns abandoned everything to
+them. The confused noises of these riotous acts had startled the
+citizens from their first sleep; but night made the danger appear more
+alarming than it really was, and instead of hastening to defend their
+churches the citizens fortified themselves in their houses, and in
+terror and anxiety awaited the dawn of morning. The rising sun at
+length revealed the devastation which had been going on during the
+night; but the havoc did not terminate with the darkness. Some churches
+and cloisters still remained uninjured; the same fate soon overtook them
+also. The work of destruction lasted three whole days. Alarmed at last
+lest the frantic mob, when it could no longer find anything sacred to
+destroy, should make a similar attack on lay property and plunder their
+ware houses; and encouraged, too, by discovering how small was the
+number of the depredators, the wealthier citizens ventured to show
+themselves in arms at the doors of their houses. All the gates of the
+town were locked but one, through which the Iconoclasts broke forth to
+renew the same atrocities in the rural districts. On one occasion only
+during all this time did the municipal officers venture to exert their
+authority, so strongly were they held in awe by the superior power of
+the Calvinists, by whom, as it was believed, this mob of miscreants
+was hired. The injury inflicted by this work of devastation was
+incalculable. In the church of the Virgin it was estimated at not less
+than four hundred thousand gold florins. Many precious works of art
+were destroyed; many valuable manuscripts; many monuments of importance
+to history and to diplomacy were thereby lost. The city magistrate
+ordered the plundered articles to be restored on pain of death; in
+enforcing this restitution he was effectually assisted by the preachers
+of the Reformers, who blushed for their followers. Much was in this
+manner recovered, and the ringleaders of the mob, less animated,
+perhaps, by the desire of plunder than by fanaticism and revenge, or
+perhaps being ruled by some unseen head, resolved for the future to
+guard against these excesses, and to make their attacks in regular bands
+and in better order.
+
+The town of Ghent, meanwhile, trembled for a like destiny. Immediately
+on the first news of the outbreak of the Iconoclasts in Antwerp the
+magistrate of the former town with the most eminent citizens had bound
+themselves to repel by force the church spoilers; when this oath was
+proposed to the commonalty also the voices were divided, and many
+declared openly that they were by no means disposed to hinder so devout
+a work. In this state of affairs the Roman Catholic clergy found it
+advisable to deposit in the citadel the most precious movables of their
+churches, and private families were permitted in like manner to provide
+for the safety of offerings which had been made by their ancestors.
+Meanwhile all the services were discontinued, the courts of justice were
+closed; and, like a town in momentary danger of being stormed by the
+enemy, men trembled in expectation of what was to come. At last an
+insane band of rioters ventured to send delegates to the governor with
+this impudent message: "They were ordered," they said, "by their chiefs
+to take the images out of the churches, as had been done in the other
+towns. If they were not opposed it should be done quietly and with as
+little injury as possible, but otherwise they would storm the churches;"
+nay, they went so far in their audacity as to ask the aid of the
+officers of justice therein. At first the magistrate was astounded at
+this demand; upon reflection, however, and in the hope that the presence
+of the officers of law would perhaps restrain their excesses, he did not
+scruple to grant their request.
+
+In Tournay the churches were despoiled of their ornaments within sight
+of the garrison, who could not be induced to march against the
+Iconoclasts. As the latter had been told that the gold and silver
+vessels and other ornaments of the church were buried underground, they
+turned up the whole floor, and exposed, among others, the body of the
+Duke Adolph of Gueldres, who fell in battle at the head of the
+rebellious burghers of Ghent, and had been buried herein Tournay. This
+Adolph had waged war against his father, and had dragged the vanquished
+old man some miles barefoot to prison--an indignity which Charles the
+Bold afterwards retaliated on him. And now, again, after more than half
+a century fate avenged a crime against nature by another against
+religion; fanaticism was to desecrate that which was holy in order to
+expose once more to execration the bones of a parricide. Other
+Iconoclasts from Valenciennes united themselves with those of Tournay to
+despoil all the cloisters of the surrounding district, during which a
+valuable library, the accumulation of centuries, was destroyed by fire.
+The evil soon penetrated into Brabant, also Malines, Herzogenbusch,
+Breda, and Bergen-op-Zoom experienced the same fate. The provinces,
+Namur and Luxemburg, with a part of Artois and of Hainault, had alone
+the good fortune to escape the contagion of those outrages. In the
+short period of four or five days four hundred cloisters were plundered
+in Brabant and Flanders alone.
+
+The northern Netherlands were soon seized with the same mania which had
+raged so violently through the southern. The Dutch towns, Amsterdam,
+Leyden, and Gravenhaag, had the alternative of either voluntarily
+stripping their churches of their ornaments, or of seeing them violently
+torn from there; the determination of their magistrates saved Delft,
+Haarlem, Gouda, and Rotterdam from the devastation. The same acts of
+violence were practised also in the islands of Zealand; the town of
+Utrecht and many places in Overyssel and Groningen suffered the same
+storms. Friesland was protected by the Count of Aremberg, and Gueldres
+by the Count of Megen from a like fate. An exaggerated report of these
+disturbances which came in from the provinces spread the alarm to
+Brussels, where the regent had just made preparations for an
+extraordinary session of the council of state. Swarms of Iconoclasts
+already penetrated into Brabant; and the metropolis, where they were
+certain of powerful support, was threatened by them with a renewal of
+the same atrocities then under the very eyes of majesty. The regent, in
+fear for her personal safety, which, even in the heart of the country,
+surrounded by provincial governors and Knights of the Fleece, she
+fancied insecure, was already meditating a flight to Mons, in Hainault,
+which town the Duke of Arschot held for her as a place of refuge, that
+she might not be driven to any undignified concession by falling into
+the power of the Iconoclasts. In vain did the knights pledge life and
+blood for her safety, and urgently beseech her not to expose them to
+disgrace by so dishonorable a flight, as though they were wanting in
+courage or zeal to protect their princess; to no purpose did the town of
+Brussels itself supplicate her not to abandon them in this extremity,
+and vainly did the council of state make the most impressive
+representations that so pusillanimous a step would not fail to encourage
+still more the insolence of the rebels; she remained immovable in this
+desperate condition. As messenger after messenger arrived to warn her
+that the Iconoclasts were advancing against the metropolis, she issued
+orders to hold everything in readiness for her flight, which was to take
+place quietly with the first approach of morning. At break of day the
+aged Viglius presented himself before her, whom, with the view of
+gratifying the nobles, she had been long accustomed to neglect. He
+demanded to know the meaning of the preparations he observed, upon which
+she at last confessed that she intended to make her escape, and assured
+him that he would himself do well to secure his own safety by
+accompanying her. "It is now two years," said the old man to her, "that
+you might have anticipated these results. Because I have spoken more
+freely than your courtiers you have closed your princely ear to me,
+which has been open only to pernicious suggestions." The regent allowed
+that she had been in fault, and had been blinded by an appearance of
+probity; but that she was now driven by necessity. "Are you resolved,"
+answered Viglius, "resolutely to insist upon obedience to the royal
+commands?" "I am," answered the duchess. "Then have recourse to the
+great secret of the art of government, to dissimulation, and pretend to
+join the princes until, with their assistance, you have repelled this
+storm. Show them a confidence which you are far from feeling in your
+heart. Make them take an oath to you that they will make common cause
+in resisting these disorders. Trust those as your friends who show
+themselves willing to do it; but be careful to avoid frightening away
+the others by contemptuous treatment." Viglius kept the regent engaged
+in conversation until the princes arrived, who he was quite certain
+would in nowise consent to her flight. When they appeared he quietly
+withdrew in order to issue commands to the town council to close the
+gates of the city and prohibit egress to every one connected with the
+court. This last measure effected more than all the representations had
+done. The regent, who saw herself a prisoner in her own capital, now
+yielded to the persuasions of the nobles, who pledged themselves to
+stand by her to the last drop of blood. She made Count Mansfeld
+commandant of the town, who hastily increased the garrison and armed her
+whole court.
+
+The state council was now held, who finally came to a resolution that it
+was expedient to yield to the emergency; to permit the preachings in
+those places where they had already commenced; to make known the
+abolition of the papal Inquisition; to declare the old edicts against
+the heretics repealed, and before all things to grant the required
+indemnity to the confederate nobles, without limitation or condition.
+At the same time the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Horn, with some
+others, were appointed to confer on this head with the deputies of the
+league. Solemnly and in the most unequivocal terms the members of the
+league were declared free from all responsibility by reason of the
+petition which had been presented, and all royal officers and
+authorities were enjoined to act in conformity with this assurance,
+and neither now nor for the future to inflict any injury upon any
+of the confederates on account of the said petition. In return,
+the confederates bound themselves to be true and loyal servants of
+his majesty, to contribute to the utmost of their power to the
+re-establishment of order and the punishment of the Iconiclasts,
+to prevail on the people to lay down their arms, and to afford
+active assistance to the king against internal and foreign enemies.
+Securities, formally drawn up and subscribed by the plenipotentiaries
+of both sides, were exchanged between them; the letter of indemnity, in
+particular, was signed by the duchess with her own hand and attested by
+her seal. It was only after a severe struggle, and with tears in her
+eyes, that the regent, as she tremblingly confessed to the king, was at
+last induced to consent to this painful step. She threw the whole blame
+upon the nobles, who had kept her a prisoner in Brussels and compelled
+her to it by force. Above all she complained bitterly of the Prince of
+Orange.
+
+This business accomplished, all the governors hastened to their
+provinces; Egmont to Flanders, Orange to Antwerp. In the latter city
+the Protestants had seized the despoiled and plundered churches, and,
+as if by the rights of war, had taken possession of them. The prince
+restored them to their lawful owners, gave orders for their repair, and
+re-established in them the Roman Catholic form of worship. Three of the
+Iconoclasts, who had been convicted, paid the penalty of their sacrilege
+on the gallows; some of the rioters were banished, and many others
+underwent punishment. Afterwards he assembled four deputies of each
+dialect, or nations, as they were termed, and agreed with them that, as
+the approaching winter made preaching in the open air impossible, three
+places within the town should be granted then, where they might either
+erect new churches, or convert private houses to that purpose. That
+they should there perform their service every Sunday and holiday, and
+always at the same hour, but on no other days. If, however, no holiday
+happened in the week, Wednesday should be kept by them instead. No
+religious party should maintain more than two clergymen, and these must
+be native Netherlanders, or at least have received naturalization from
+some considerable town of the provinces. All should take an oath to
+submit in civil matters to the municipal authorities and the Prince of
+Orange. They should be liable, like the other citizens, to all imposts.
+No one should attend sermons armed; a sword, however, should be allowed
+to each. No preacher should assail the ruling religion from the pulpit,
+nor enter upon controverted points, beyond what the doctrine itself
+rendered unavoidable, or what might refer to morals. No psalm should be
+sung by them out of their appointed district. At the election of their
+preachers, churchwardens, and deacons, as also at all their other
+consistorial meetings, a person from the government should on each
+occasion be present to report their proceedings to the prince and the
+magistrate. As to all other points they should enjoy the same
+protection as the ruling religion. This arrangement was to hold good
+until the king, with consent of the states, should determine otherwise;
+but then it should be free to every one to quit the country with his
+family and his property. From Antwerp the prince hastened to Holland,
+Zealand, and Utrecht, in order to make there similar arrangements for
+the restoration of peace; Antwerp, however, was, during his absence,
+entrusted to the superintendence of Count Howstraten, who was a mild
+man, and although an adherent of the league, had never failed in loyalty
+to the king. It is evident that in this agreement the prince had far
+overstepped the powers entrusted to him, and though in the service of
+the king had acted exactly like a sovereign lord. But he alleged in
+excuse that it would be far easier to the magistrate to watch these
+numerous and powerful sects if he himself interfered in their worship,
+and if this took place under his eyes, than if he were to leave the
+sectarians to themselves in the open air.
+
+In Gueldres Count Megen showed more severity, and entirely suppressed
+the Protestant sects and banished all their preachers. In Brussels the
+regent availed herself of the advantage derived from her personal
+presence to put a stop to the public preaching, even outside the town.
+When, in reference to this, Count Nassau reminded her in the name of the
+confederates of the compact which had been entered into, and demanded if
+the town of Brussels had inferior rights to the other towns? she
+answered, if there were public preachings in Brussels before the treaty,
+it was not her work if they were now discontinued. At the same time,
+however, she secretly gave the citizens to understand that the first who
+should venture to attend a public sermon should certainly be hung. Thus
+she kept the capital at least faithful to her.
+
+It was more difficult to quiet Tournay, which office was committed to
+Count Horn, in the place of Montigny, to whose government the town
+properly belonged. Horn commanded the Protestants to vacate the
+churches immediately, and to content themselves with a house of worship
+outside the walls. To this their preachers objected that the churches
+were erected for the use of the people, by which terms, they said, not
+the heads but the majority were meant. If they were expelled from the
+Roman Catholic churches it was at least fair that they should be
+furnished with money for erecting churches of their own. To this the
+magistrate replied even if the Catholic party was the weaker it was
+indisputably the better. The erection of churches should not be
+forbidden them; they could not, however, after the injury which the town
+had already suffered from their brethren, the Iconoclasts, very well
+expect that it should be further burdened by the erection of their
+churches. After long quarrelling on both sides, the Protestants
+contrived to retain possession of some churches, which, for greater
+security, they occupied with guards. In Valenciennes, too, the
+Protestants refused submission to the conditions which were offered to
+them through Philip St. Aldegonde, Baron of Noircarmes, to whom, in the
+absence of the Marquis of Bergen, the government of that place was
+entrusted. A reformed preacher, La Grange, a Frenchman by birth, who by
+his eloquence had gained a complete command over them, urged them to
+insist on having churches of their own within the town, and to threaten
+in case of refusal to deliver it up to the Huguenots. A sense of the
+superior numbers of the Calvinists, and of their understanding with the
+Huguenots, prevented the governor adopting forcible measures against
+them.
+
+Count Egmont, also to manifest his zeal for the king's service, did
+violence to his natural kind-heartedness. Introducing a garrison into
+the town of Ghent, he caused some of the most refractory rebels to be
+put to death. The churches were reopened, the Roman Catholic worship
+renewed, and all foreigners, without exception, ordered to quit the
+province. To the Calvinists, but to them alone, a site was granted
+outside the town for the erection of a church. In return they were
+compelled to pledge themselves to the most rigid obedience to the
+municipal authorities, and to active co-operation in the proceedings
+against the Iconoclasts. He pursued similar measures through all
+Flanders and Artois. One of his noblemen, John Cassembrot, Baron of
+Beckerzeel, and a leaguer, pursuing the Iconoclasts at the head of some
+horsemen of the league, surprised a band of them just as they were about
+to break into a town of Hainault, near Grammont, in Flanders, and took
+thirty of them prisoners, of whom twenty-two were hung upon the spot,
+and the rest whipped out of the province.
+
+Services of such importance one would have thought scarcely deserved to
+be rewarded with the displeasure of the king; what Orange, Egmont, and
+Horn performed on this occasion evinced at least as much zeal and had
+as beneficial a result as anything that was accomplished by Noircarmes,
+Megen, and Aremberg, to whom the king vouchsafed to show his gratitude
+both by words and deeds. But their zeal, their services came too late.
+They had spoken too loudly against his edicts, had been too vehement in
+their opposition to his measures, had insulted him too grossly in the
+person of his minister Granvella, to leave room for forgiveness. No
+time, no repentance, no atonement, however great, could efface this one
+offence from the memory of their sovereign.
+
+Philip lay sick at Segovia when the news of the outbreak of the
+Iconoclasts and the uncatholic agreement entered into with the Reformers
+reached him. At the same time the regent renewed her urgent entreaty
+for his personal visit, of which also all the letters treated, which the
+President Viglius exchanged with his friend Hopper. Many also of the
+Belgian nobles addressed special letters to the king, as, for instance,
+Egmont, Mansfeld, Megen, Aremberg, Noircarmes, and Barlaimont, in which
+they reported the state of their provinces, and at once explained and
+justified the arrangements they had made with the disaffected. Just at
+this period a letter arrived from the German Emperor, in which he
+recommended Philip to act with clemency towards his Belgian subjects,
+and offered his mediation in the matter. He had also written direct to
+the regent herself in Brussels, and added letters to the several leaders
+of the nobility, which, however, were never delivered. Having conquered
+the first anger which this hateful occurrence had excited, the king
+referred the whole matter to his council.
+
+The party of Granvella, which had the preponderance in the council, was
+diligent in tracing a close connection between the behavior of the
+Flemish nobles and the excesses of the church desecrators, which showed
+itself in similarity of the demands of both parties, and especially the
+time which the latter chose for their outbreak. In the same month,
+they observed, in which the nobles had sent in their three articles of
+pacification, the Iconoclasts had commenced their work; on the evening
+of the very day that Orange quitted Antwerp the churches too were
+plundered. During the whole tumult not a finger was lifted to take up
+arms; all the expedients employed were invariably such as turned to the
+advantage of the sects, while, on the contrary, all others were
+neglected which tended to the maintenance of the pure faith. Many of
+the Iconoclasts, it was further said, had confessed that all that they
+had done was with the knowledge and consent of the princes; though
+surely nothing was more natural, than for such worthless wretches to
+seek to screen with great names a crime which they had undertaken solely
+on their own account. A writing also was produced in which the high
+nobility were made to promise their services to the "Gueux," to procure
+the assembly of the states general, the genuineness of which, however,
+the former strenuously denied. Four different seditious parties were,
+they said, to be noticed in the Netherlands, which were all more or
+less connected with one another, and all worked towards a common end.
+One of these was those bands of reprobates who desecrated the churches;
+a second consisted of the various sects who had hired the former to
+perform their infamous acts; the "Gueux," who had raised themselves to
+be the defenders of the sects were the third; and the leading nobles who
+were inclined to the "Gueux" by feudal connections, relationship, and
+friendship, composed the fourth. All, consequently, were alike fatally
+infected, and all equally guilty. The government had not merely to
+guard against a few isolated members; it had to contend with the whole
+body. Since, then, it was ascertained that the people were the seduced
+party, and the encouragement to rebellion came from higher quarters, it
+would be wise and expedient to alter the plan hitherto adopted, which
+now appeared defective in several respects. Inasmuch as all classes had
+been oppressed without distinction, and as much of severity shown to the
+lower orders as of contempt to the nobles, both had been compelled to
+lend support to one another; a party had been given to the latter and
+leaders to the former. Unequal treatment seemed an infallible expedient
+to separate them; the mob, always timid and indolent when not goaded by
+the extremity of distress, would very soon desert its adored protectors
+and quickly learn to see in their fate well-merited retribution if only
+it was not driven to share it with them. It was therefore proposed to
+the king to treat the great multitude for the future with more leniency,
+and to direct all measures of severity against the leaders of the
+faction. In order, however, to avoid the appearance of a disgraceful
+concession, it was considered advisable to accept the mediation of the
+Emperor, and to impute to it alone and not to the justice of their
+demands, that the king out of pure generosity had granted to his Belgian
+subjects as much as they asked.
+
+The question of the king's personal visit to the provinces was now again
+mooted, and all the difficulties which had formerly been raised on this
+head appeared to vanish before the present emergency. "Now," said
+Tyssenacque and Hopper, "the juncture has really arrived at which the
+king, according to his own declaration formerly made to Count Egmont,
+will be ready to risk a thousand lives. To restore quiet to Ghent
+Charles V. had undertaken a troublesome and dangerous journey through an
+enemy's country. This was done for the sake of a single town; and now
+the peace, perhaps even the possession, of all the United Provinces was
+at stake." This was the opinion of the majority; and the journey of the
+king was looked upon as a matter from which he could not possibly any
+longer escape.
+
+The question now was, whether he should enter upon it with a numerous
+body of attendants or with few; and here the Prince of Eboli and Count
+Figueroa were at issue with the Duke of Alva, as their private interests
+clashed. If the king journeyed at the head of an army the presence of
+the Duke of Alva would be indispensable, who, on the other hand, if
+matters were peaceably adjusted, would be less required, and must make
+room for his rivals. "An army," said Figueroa, who spoke first, "would
+alarm the princes through whose territories it must march, and perhaps
+even be opposed by them; it would, moreover, unnecessarily burden the
+provinces for whose tranquillization it was intended, and add a new
+grievance to the many which had already driven the people to such
+lengths. It would press indiscriminately upon all of the king's
+subjects, whereas a court of justice, peaceably administering its
+office, would observe a marked distinction between the innocent and
+the guilty. The unwonted violence of the former course would tempt the
+leaders of the faction to take a more alarming view of their behavior,
+in which wantonness and levity had the chief share, and consequently
+induce them to proceed with deliberation and union; the thought of
+having forced the king to such lengths would plunge them into despair,
+in which they would be ready to undertake anything. If the king placed
+himself in arms against the rebels he would forfeit the most important
+advantage which he possessed over them, namely, his authority as
+sovereign of the country, which would prove the more powerful in
+proportion as he showed his reliance upon that alone. He would place
+himself thereby, as it were, on a level with the rebels, who on their
+side would not be at a loss to raise an army, as the universal hatred of
+the Spanish forces would operate in their favor with the nation. By
+this procedure the king would exchange the certain advantage which his
+position as sovereign of the country conferred upon him for the
+uncertain result of military operations, which, result as they might,
+would of necessity destroy a portion of his own subjects. The rumor of
+his hostile approach would outrun him time enough to allow all who were
+conscious of a bad cause to place themselves in a posture of defence,
+and to combine and render availing both their foreign and domestic
+resources. Here again the general alarm would do them important
+service; the uncertainty who would be the first object of this warlike
+approach would drive even the less guilty to the general mass of the
+rebels, and force those to become enemies to the king who otherwise
+would never have been so. If, however, he was coming among them without
+such a formidable accompaniment; if his appearance was less that of a
+sanguinary judge than of an angry parent, the courage of all good men
+would rise, and the bad would perish in their own security. They would
+persuade themselves what had happened was unimportant; that it did not
+appear to the king of sufficient moment to call for strong measures.
+They wished if they could to avoid the chance of ruining, by acts of
+open violence, a cause which might perhaps yet be saved; consequently,
+by this quiet, peaceable method everything would be gained which by the
+other would be irretrievably lost; the loyal subject would in no degree
+be involved in the same punishment with the culpable rebel; on the
+latter alone would the whole weight of the royal indignation descend.
+Lastly, the enormous expenses would be avoided which the transport of a
+Spanish army to those distant regions would occasion.
+
+"But," began the Duke of Alva, "ought the injury of some few citizens to
+be considered when danger impends over the whole? Because a few of the
+loyally-disposed may suffer wrong are the rebels therefore not to be
+chastised? The offence has been universal, why then should not the
+punishment be the same? What the rebels have incurred by their actions
+the rest have incurred equally by their supineness. Whose fault is it
+but theirs that the former have so far succeeded? Why did they not
+promptly oppose their first attempts? It is said that circumstances
+were not so desperate as to justify this violent remedy; but who will
+insure us that they will not be so by the time the king arrives,
+especially when, according to every fresh despatch of the regent, all is
+hastening with rapid strides to a-ruinous consummation? Is it a hazard
+we ought to run to leave the king to discover on his entrance into the
+provinces the necessity of his having brought with him a military force?
+It is a fact only too well-established that the rebels have secured
+foreign succors, which stand ready at their command on the first signal;
+will it then be time to think of preparing for war when the enemy pass
+the frontiers? Is it a wise risk to rely for aid upon the nearest
+Belgian troops when their loyalty is so little to be depended upon? And
+is not the regent perpetually reverting in her despatches to the fact
+that nothing but the want of a suitable military force has hitherto
+hindered her from enforcing the edicts, and stopping the progress of the
+rebels? A well-disciplined and formidable army alone will disappoint
+all their hopes of maintaining themselves in opposition to their lawful
+sovereign, and nothing but the certain prospect of destruction will make
+them lower their demands. Besides, without an adequate force, the king
+cannot venture his person in hostile countries; he cannot enter into any
+treaties with his rebellious subjects which would not be derogatory to
+his honor."
+
+The authority of the speaker gave preponderance to his arguments, and
+the next question was, when the king should commence his journey and
+what road he should take. As the voyage by sea was on every account
+extremely hazardous, he had no other alternative but either to proceed
+thither through the passes near Trent across. Germany, or to penetrate
+from Savoy over the Apennine Alps. The first route would expose him to
+the danger of the attack of the German Protestants, who were not likely
+to view with indifference the objects of his journey, and a passage over
+the Apennines was at this late season of the year not to be attempted.
+Moreover, it would be necessary to send for the requisite galleys from
+Italy, and repair them, which would take several months. Finally, as
+the assembly of the Cortes of Castile, from which he could not well be
+absent, was already appointed for December, the journey could not be
+undertaken before the spring. Meanwhile the regent pressed for explicit
+instructions how she was to extricate herself from her present
+embarrassment, without compromising the royal dignity too far; and it
+was necessary to do something in the interval till the king could
+undertake to appease the troubles by his personal presence. Two
+separate letters were therefore despatched to the duchess; one public,
+which she could lay before the states and the council chambers, and one
+private, which was intended for herself alone. In the first, the king
+announced to her his restoration to health, and the fortunate birth of
+the Infanta Clara Isabella Eugenia, afterwards wife of the Archduke
+Albert of Austria and Princess of the Netherlands. He declared to her
+his present firm intention to visit the Netherlands in person, for which
+he was already making the necessary preparations. The assembling of the
+states he refused, as he had previously done. No mention was made in
+this letter of the agreement which she had entered into with the
+Protestants and with the league, because he did not deem it advisable at
+present absolutely to reject it, and he was still less disposed to
+acknowledge its validity. On the other hand, he ordered her to
+reinforce the army, to draw together new regiments from Germany, and to
+meet the refractory with force. For the rest, he concluded, he relied
+upon the loyalty of the leading nobility, among whom he knew many who
+were sincere in their attachment both to their religion and their king.
+In the secret letter she was again enjoined to do all in her power to
+prevent the assembling of the states; but if the general voice should
+become irresistible, and she was compelled to yield, she was at least to
+manage so cautiously that the royal dignity should not suffer, and no
+one learn the king's consent to their assembly.
+
+While these consultations were held in Spain the Protestants in the
+Netherlands made the most extensive use of the privileges which had been
+compulsorily granted to them. The erection of churches wherever it was
+permitted was completed with incredible rapidity; young and old, gentle
+and simple, assisted in carrying stones; women sacrificed even their
+ornaments in order to accelerate the work. The two religious parties
+established in several towns consistories, and a church council of their
+own, the first move of the kind being made in Antwerp, and placed their
+form of worship on a well-regulated footing. It was also proposed to
+raise a common fund by subscription to meet any sudden emergency of the
+Protestant church in general. In Antwerp a memorial was presented by
+the Calvinists of that town to the Count of Hogstraten, in which they
+offered to pay three millions of dollars to secure the free exercise of
+their religion. Many copies of this writing were circulated in the
+Netherlands; and in order to stimulate others, many had ostentatiously
+subscribed their names to large sums. Various interpretations of this
+extravagant offer were made by the enemies of the Reformers, and all had
+some appearance of reason. For instance, it was urged that under the
+pretext of collecting the requisite sum for fulfilling this engagement
+they hoped, without suspicion, to raise funds for military purposes; for
+whether they should be called upon to contribute for or against they
+would, it was thought, be more ready to burden themselves with a view of
+preserving peace than for an oppressive and devasting war. Others saw
+in this offer nothing more than a temporary stratagem of the Protestants
+by which they hoped to bind the court and keep it irresolute until they
+should have gained sufficient strength to confront it. Others again
+declared it to be a downright bravado in order to alarm the regent, and
+to raise the courage of their own party by the display of such rich
+resources. But whatever was the true motive of this proposition, its
+originators gained little by it; the contributions flowed in scantily
+and slowly, and the court answered the proposal with silent contempt.
+The excesses, too, of the Iconoclasts, far from promoting the cause of
+the league and advancing the Protestants interests, had done irreparable
+injury to both. The sight of their ruined churches, which, in the
+language of Viglius, resembled stables more than houses of God, enraged
+the Roman Catholics, and above all the clergy. All of that religion,
+who had hitherto been members of the league, now forsook it, alleging
+that even if it had not intentionally excited and encouraged the
+excesses of the Iconoclasts it had beyond question remotely led to them.
+The intolerance of the Calvinists who, wherever they were the ruling
+party, cruelly oppressed the Roman Catholics, completely expelled the
+delusion in which the latter had long indulged, and they withdrew their
+support from a party from which, if they obtained the upper hand, their
+own religion had so much cause to fear. Thus the league lost many of
+its best members; the friends and patrons, too, which it had hitherto
+found amongst the well-disposed citizens now deserted it, and its
+character began perceptibly to decline. The severity with which some of
+its members had acted against the Iconoclasts in order to prove their
+good disposition towards the regent, and to remove the suspicion of any
+connection with the malcontents, had also injured them with the people
+who favored the latter, and thus the league was in danger of ruining
+itself with both parties at the same time. The regent had no sooner
+became acquainted with this change in the public mind than she devised a
+plan by which she hoped gradually to dissolve the whole league, or at
+least to enfeeble it through internal dissensions. For this end she
+availed herself of the private letters which the king had addressed to
+some of the nobles, and enclosed to her with full liberty to use them at
+her discretion. These letters, which overflowed with kind expressions
+were presented to those for whom they were intended, with an attempt at
+secrecy, which designedly miscarried, so that on each occasion some one
+or other of those who had received nothing of the sort got a hint of
+them. In order to spread suspicion the more widely numerous copies of
+the letters were circulated. This artifice attained its object. Many
+members of the league began to doubt the honesty of those to whom such
+brilliant promises were made; through fear of being deserted by their
+principal members and supporters, they eagerly accepted the conditions
+which were offered them by the regent, and evinced great anxiety for a
+speedy reconciliation with the court. The general rumor of the
+impending visit of the king, which the regent took care to have widely
+circulated, was also of great service to her in this matter; many who
+could not augur much good to themselves from the royal presence did not
+hesitate to accept a pardon, which, perhaps, for what they could tell,
+was offered them for the last time. Among those who thus received
+private letters were Egmont and Prince of Orange. Both had complained
+to the king of the evil reports with which designing persons in Spain
+had labored to brand their names, and to throw suspicion on their
+motives and intentions; Egmont, in particular, with the honest
+simplicity which was peculiar to his character, had asked the monarch
+only to point out to him what he most desired, to determine the
+particular action by which his favor could be best obtained and zeal in
+his service evinced, and it should, he assured him, be done. The king
+in reply caused the president, Von Tyssenacque, to tell him that he
+could do nothing better to refute his traducers than to show perfect
+submission to the royal orders, which were so clearly and precisely
+drawn up, that no further exposition of them was required, nor any
+particular instruction. It was the sovereign's part to deliberate, to
+examine, and to decide; unconditionally to obey was the duty of the
+subject; the honor of the latter consisted in his obedence. It did not
+become a member to hold itself wiser than the head. He was assuredly to
+be blamed for not having done his utmost to curb the unruliness of his
+sectarians; but it was even yet in his power to make up for past
+negligence by at least maintaining peace and order until the actual
+arrival of the king. In thus punishing Count Egmont with reproofs like
+a disobedient child, the king treated him in accordance with what he
+knew of his character; with his friend he found it necessary to call in
+the aid of artifice and deceit. Orange, too, in his letter, had alluded
+to the suspicions which the king entertained of his loyalty and
+attachment, but not, like Egmont, in the vain hope of removing them; for
+this, he had long given up; but in order to pass from these complaints
+to a request for permission to resign his offices. He had already
+frequently made this request to the regent, but had always received from
+her a refusal, accompanied with the strongest assurance of her regard.
+The king also, to whom he now at last addressed a direct application,
+returned him the same answer, graced with similar strong assurances of
+his satisfaction and gratitude. In particular he expressed the high
+satisfaction he entertained of his services, which he had lately
+rendered the crown in Antwerp, and lamented deeply that the private
+affairs of the prince (which the latter had made his chief plea for
+demanding his dismissal) should have fallen into such disorder; but
+ended with the declaration that it was impossible for him to dispense
+with his valuable services at a crisis which demanded the increase,
+rather than diminution, of his good and honest servants. He had
+thought, he added, that the prince entertained a better opinion of him
+than to suppose him capable of giving credit to the idle talk of certain
+persons, who were friends neither to the prince nor to himself. But, at
+the same time, to give him a proof of his sincerity, he complained to
+him in confidence of his brother, the Count of Nassau, pretended to ask
+his advice in the matter, and finally expressed a wish to have the count
+removed for a period from the Netherlands.
+
+But Philip had here to do with a head which in cunning was superior to
+his own. The Prince of Orange had for a long time held watch over him
+and his privy council in Madrid and Segovia, through a host of spies,
+who reported to him everything of importance that was transacted there.
+The court of this most secret of all despots had become accessible to
+his intriguing spirit and his money; in this manner he had gained
+possession of several autograph letters of the regent, which she had
+secretly written to Madrid, and had caused copies to be circulated in
+triumph in Brussels, and in a measure under her own eyes, insomuch that
+she saw with astonishment in everybody's hands what she thought was
+preserved with so much care, and entreated the king for the future to
+destroy her despatches immediately they were read. William's vigilance
+did not confine itself simply to the court of Spain; he had spies in
+France, and even at more distant courts. He is also charged with not
+being over scrupulous as to the means by which he acquired his
+intelligence. But the most important disclosure was made by an
+intercepted letter of the Spanish ambassador in France, Francis Von
+Alava, to the duchess, in which the former descanted on the fair
+opportunity which was now afforded to the king, through the guilt of
+the Netherlandish people, of establishing an arbitrary power in that
+country. He therefore advised her to deceive the nobles by the very
+arts which they had hitherto employed against herself, and to secure
+them through smooth words and an obliging behavior. The king, he
+concluded, who knew the nobles to be the hidden springs of all the
+previous troubles, would take good care to lay hands upon them at the
+first favorable opportunity, as well as the two whom he had already in
+Spain; and did not mean to let them go again, having sworn to make an
+example in them which should horrify the whole of Christendom, even if
+it should cost him his hereditary dominions. This piece of evil news
+was strongly corroborated by the letters which Bergen and Montigny wrote
+from Spain, and in which they bitterly complained of the contemptuous
+behavior of the grandees and the altered deportment of the monarch
+towards them; and the Prince of Orange was now fully sensible what he
+had to expect from the fair promises of the king.
+
+The letter of the minister, Alava, together with some others from Spain,
+which gave a circumstantial account of the approaching warlike visit of
+the king, and of his evil intentions against the nobles, was laid by the
+prince before his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, Counts Egmont, Horn,
+and Hogstraten, at a meeting at Dendermonde in Flanders, whither these
+five knights had repaired to confer on the measures necessary for their
+security. Count Louis, who listened only to his feelings of
+indignation, foolhardily maintained that they ought, without loss of
+time, to take up arms and seize some strongholds. That they ought at
+all risks to prevent the king's armed entrance into the provinces. That
+they should endeavor to prevail on the Swiss, the Protestant princes of
+Germany, and the Huguenots to arm and obstruct his passage through their
+territories; and if, notwithstanding, he should force his way through
+these impediments, that the Flemings should meet him with an army on the
+frontiers. He would take upon himself to negotiate a defensive alliance
+in France, in Switzerland, and in Germany, and to raise in the latter
+empire four thousand horse, together with a proportionate body of
+infantry. Pretexts would not be wanting for collecting the requisite
+supplies of money, and the merchants of the reformed sect would, he felt
+assured, not fail them. But William, more cautious and more wise,
+declared himself against this proposal, which, in the execution, would
+be exposed to numberless difficulties, and had as yet nothing to justify
+it. The Inquisition, he represented, was in fact abolished, the edicts
+were nearly sunk into oblivion, and a fair degree of religious liberty
+accorded. Hitherto, therefore, there existed no valid or adequate
+excuse for adopting this hostile method; he did not doubt, however,
+that one would be presented to them before long, and in good time for
+preparation. His own opinion consequently was that they should await
+this opportunity with patience, and in the meanwhile still keep a
+watchful eye upon everything, and contrive to give the people a hint of
+the threatened danger, that they might be ready to act if circumstances
+should call for their co-operation. If all present had assented to the
+opinion of the Prince of Orange, there is no doubt but so powerful a
+league, formidable both by the influence and the high character of its
+members, would have opposed obstacles to the designs of the king which
+would have compelled him to abandon them entirely. But the
+determination of the assembled knights was much shaken by the
+declaration with which Count Egmont surprised them. "Rather," said he,
+"may all that is evil befall me than that I should tempt fortune so
+rashly. The idle talk of the Spaniard, Alava, does not move me; how
+should such a person be able to read the mind of a sovereign so reserved
+as Philip, and to decipher his secrets? The intelligence which Montigny
+gives us goes to prove nothing more than that the king has a very
+doubtful opinion of our zeal for his service, and believes he has cause
+to distrust our loyalty; and for this I for my part must confess that
+we have given him only too much cause. And it is my serious purpose,
+by redoubling my zeal, to regain his good opinion, and by my future
+behavior to remove, if possible, the distrust which my actions have
+hitherto excited. How could I tear myself from the arms of my numerous
+and dependent family to wander as an exile at foreign courts, a burden
+to every one who received me, the slave of every one who condescended to
+assist me, a servant of foreigners, in order to escape a slight degree
+of constraint at home? Never can the monarch act unkindly towards a
+servant who was once beloved and dear to him, and who has established a
+well-grounded claim to his gratitude. Never shall I be persuaded that
+he who has expressed such favorable, such gracious sentiments towards
+his Belgian subjects, and with his own mouth gave me such emphatic,
+such solemn assurances, can be now devising, as it is pretended, such
+tyrannical schemes against them. If we do but restore to the country
+its former repose, chastise the rebels, and re-establish the Roman
+Catholic form of worship wherever it has been violently suppressed,
+then, believe me, we shall hear no more of Spanish troops. This is the
+course to which I now invite you all by my counsel and my example, and
+to which also most of our brethren already incline. I, for my part,
+fear nothing from the anger of the king. My conscience acquits me.
+I trust my fate and fortunes to his justice and clemency." In vain did
+Nassau, Horn, and Orange labor to shake his resolution, and to open his
+eyes to the near and inevitable danger. Egmont was really attached to
+the king; the royal favors, and the condescension with which they were
+conferred, were still fresh in his remembrance. The attentions with
+which the monarch had distinguished him above all his friends had not
+failed of their effect. It was more from false shame than from party
+spirit that he had defended the cause of his countrymen against him;
+more from temperament and natural kindness of heart than from tried
+principles that he had opposed the severe measures of the government.
+The love of the nation, which worshipped him as its idol, carried him
+away. Too vain to renounce a title which sounded so agreeable, he had
+been compelled to do something to deserve it; but a single look at his
+family, a harsher designation applied to his conduct, a dangerous
+inference drawn from it, the mere sound of crime, terrified him from his
+self-delusion, and scared him back in haste and alarm to his duty.
+
+Orange's whole plan was frustrated by Egmont's withdrawal. The latter
+possessed the hearts of the people and the confidence of the army,
+without which it was utterly impossible to undertake anything effective.
+The rest had reckoned with so much certainty upon him that his
+unexpected defection rendered the whole meeting nugatory. They
+therefore separated without coming to a determination. All who had met
+in Dendermonde were expected in the council of state in Brussels; but
+Egmont alone repaired thither. The regent wished to sift him on the
+subject of this conference, but she could extract nothing further from
+him than the production of the letter of Alava, of which he had
+purposely taken a copy, and which, with the bitterest reproofs, he laid
+before her. At first she changed color at sight of it, but quickly
+recovering herself, she boldly declared that it was a forgery. "How can
+this letter," she said, "really come from Alava, when I miss none? And
+would he who pretends to have intercepted it have spared the other
+letters? Nay, how can it be true, when not a single packet has
+miscarried, nor a single despatch failed to come to hand? How, too,
+can it be thought likely that the king would have made Alava master
+of a secret which he has not communicated even to me?"
+
+
+
+
+                CIVIL WAR
+
+1566. Meanwhile the regent hastened to take advantage of the schism
+amongst the nobles to complete the ruin of the league, which was already
+tottering under the weight of internal dissensions. Without loss of
+time she drew from Germany the troops which Duke Eric of Brunswick was
+holding in readiness, augmented the cavalry, and raised five regiments
+of Walloons, the command of which she gave to Counts Mansfeld, Megen,
+Aremberg, and others. To the prince, likewise, she felt it necessary to
+confide troops, both because she did not wish, by withholding them
+pointedly, to insult him, and also because the provinces of which he was
+governor were in urgent need of them; but she took the precaution of
+joining with him a Colonel Waldenfinger, who should watch all his steps
+and thwart his measures if they appeared dangerous. To Count Egmont the
+clergy in Flanders paid a contribution of forty thousand gold florins
+for the maintenance of fifteen hundred men, whom he distributed among
+the places where danger was most apprehended. Every governor was
+ordered to increase his military force, and to provide himself with
+ammunition. These energetic preparations, which were making in all
+places, left no doubt as to the measures which the regent would adopt in
+future. Conscious of her superior force, and certain of this important
+support, she now ventured to change her tone, and to employ quite
+another language with the rebels. She began to put the most arbitrary
+interpretation on the concessions which, through fear and necessity, she
+had made to the Protestants, and to restrict all the liberties which she
+had tacitly granted them to the mere permission of their preaching. All
+other religious exercises and rites, which yet appeared to be involved
+in the former privilege, were by new edicts expressly forbidden, and all
+offenders in such matters were to be proceeded against as traitors. The
+Protestants were permitted to think differently from the ruling church
+upon the sacrament, but to receive it differently was a crime; baptism,
+marriage, burial, after their fashion, were probibited under pain of
+death. It was a cruel mockery to allow them their religion, and forbid
+the exercise of it; but this mean artifice of the regent to escape from
+the obligation of her pledged word was worthy of the pusillanimity with
+which she had submitted to its being extorted from her. She took
+advantage of the most trifling innovations and the smallest excesses to
+interrupt the preachings; and some of the preachers, under the charge of
+having performed their office in places not appointed to them, were
+brought to trial, condemned, and executed. On more than one occasion
+the regent publicly declared that the confederates had taken unfair
+advantage of her fears, and that she did not feel herself bound by an
+engagement which had been extorted from her by threats.
+
+Of all the Belgian towns which had participated in the insurrection of
+the Iconoclasts none had caused the regent so much alarm as the town of
+Valenciennes, in Hainault. In no other was the party of the Calvinists
+so powerful, and the spirit of rebellion for which the province of
+Hainault had always made itself conspicuous, seemed to dwell here as in
+its native place. The propinquity of France, to which, as well by
+language as by manners, this town appeared to belong, rather than to the
+Netherlands, had from the first led to its being governed with great
+mildness and forbearance, which, however, only taught it to feel its own
+importance. At the last outbreak of the church-desecrators it had been
+on the point of surrendering to the Huguenots, with whom it maintained
+the closest understanding. The slightest excitement night renew this
+danger. On this account Valenciennes was the first town to which the
+regent proposed, as soon as should be in her power, to send a strong
+garrison. Philip of Noircarmes, Baron of St. Aldegonde, Governor of
+Hainault in the place of the absent Marquis of Bergen, had received this
+charge, and now appeared at the head of an army before its walls.
+Deputies came to meet him on the part of the magistrate from the town,
+to petition against the garrison, because the Protestant citizens, who
+were the superior number, had declared against it. Noircarnes
+acquainted them with the will of the regent, and gave them the choice
+between the garrison or a siege. He assured them that not more than
+four squadrons of horse and six companies of foot should be imposed upon
+the town; and for this he would give them his son as a hostage. These
+terms were laid before the magistrate, who, for his part, was much
+inclined to accept them. But Peregrine Le Grange, the preacher, and the
+idol of the populace, to whom it was of vital importance to prevent a
+submission of which he would inevitably become the victim, appeared at
+the head of his followers, and by his powerful eloquence excited the
+people to reject the conditions. When their answer was brought to
+Noircarmes, contrary to all law of nations, he caused the messengers to
+be placed in irons, and carried them away with him as prisoners; he was,
+however, by express command of the regent, compelled to set them free
+again. The regent, instructed by secret orders from Madrid to exercise
+as much forbearance as possible, caused the town to be repeatedly
+summoned to receive the garrison; when, however, it obstinately
+persisted in its refusal, it was declared by public edict to be in
+rebellion, and Noircarmes was authorized to commence the siege in form.
+The other provinces were forbidden to assist this rebellious town with
+advice, money, or arms. All the property contained in it was
+confiscated. In order to let it see the war before it began in earnest,
+and to give it time for rational reflection, Noircarmes drew together
+troops from all Hainault and Cambray (1566), took possession of St.
+Amant, and placed garrisons in all adjacent places.
+
+The line of conduct adopted towards Valenciennes allowed the other towns
+which were similarly situated to infer the fate which was intended for
+them also, and at once put the whole league in motion. An army of the
+Gueux, between three thousand and four thousand strong, which was
+hastily collected from the rabble of fugitives, and the remaining bands
+of the Iconoclasts, appeared in the territories of Tournay and Lille, in
+order to secure these two towns, and to annoy the enemy at Valenciennes.
+The commandant of Lille was fortunate enough to maintain that place by
+routing a detachment of this army, which, in concert with the Protestant
+inhabitants, had made an attempt to get possession of it. At the same
+time the army of the Gueux, which was uselessly wasting its time at
+Lannoy, was surprised by Noircarmes and almost entirely annihilated.
+The few who with desperate courage forced their way through the enemy,
+threw themselves into the town of Tournay, which was immediately
+summoned by the victor to open its gates and admit a garrison. Its
+prompt obedience obtained for it a milder fate. Noircarmes contented
+himself with abolishing the Protestant consistory, banishing the
+preachers, punishing the leaders of the rebels, and again
+re-establishing the Roman Catholic worship, which he found almost
+entirely suppressed. After giving it a steadfast Roman Catholic as
+governor, and leaving in it a sufficient garrison, he again returned
+with his victorious army to Valenciennes to press the siege.
+
+This town, confident in its strength, actively prepared for defence,
+firmly resolved to allow things to come to extremes before it
+surrendered. The inhabitants had not neglected to furnish themselves
+with ammunition and provisions for a long siege; all who could carry
+arms (the very artisans not excepted), became soldiers; the houses
+before the town, and especially the cloisters, were pulled down, that
+the besiegers might not avail themselves of them to cover their attack.
+The few adherents of the crown, awed by the multitude, were silent; no
+Roman Catholic ventured to stir himself. Anarchy and rebellion had
+taken the place of good order, and the fanaticism of a foolhardy priest
+gave laws instead of the legal dispensers of justice. The male
+population was numerous, their courage confirmed by despair, their
+confidence unbounded that the siege would be raised, while their hatred
+against the Roman Catholic religion was excited to the highest pitch.
+Many had no mercy to expect; all abhorred the general thraldom of an
+imperious garrison. Noircarmes, whose army had become formidable
+through the reinforcements which streamed to it from all quarters, and
+was abundantly furnished with all the requisites for a long blockade,
+once more attempted to prevail on the town by gentle means, but in vain.
+At last he caused the trenches to be opened and prepared to invest the
+place.
+
+In the meanwhile the position of the Protestants had grown as much worse
+as that of the regent had improved. The league of the nobles had
+gradually melted away to a third of its original number. Some of its
+most important defenders, Count Egmont, for instance, had gone over to
+the king; the pecuniary contributions which had been so confidently
+reckoned upon came in but slowly and scantily; the zeal of the party
+began perceptibly to cool, and the close of the fine season made it
+necessary to discontinue the public preachings, which, up to this time,
+had been continued. These and other reasons combined induced the
+declining party to moderate its demands, and to try every legal
+expedient before it proceeded to extremities. In a general synod of the
+Protestants, which was held for this object in Antwerp, and which was
+also attended by some of the confederates, it was resolved to send
+deputies to the regent to remonstrate with her upon this breach of
+faith, and to remind her of her compact. Brederode undertook this
+office, but was obliged to submit to a harsh and disgraceful rebuff, and
+was shut out of Brussels. He had now recourse to a written memorial, in
+which,--in the name of the whole league, he complained that the duchess
+had, by violating her word, falsified in sight of all the Protestants
+the security given by the league, in reliance on which all of them had
+laid down their arms; that by her insincerity she had undone all the
+good which the confederates had labored to effect; that she had sought
+to degrade the league in the eyes of the people, had excited discord
+among its members, and had even caused many of them to be persecuted as
+criminals. He called upon her to recall her late ordinances, which
+deprived the Protestants of the free exercise of their religion, but
+above all to raise the siege of Valenciennes, to disband the troops
+newly enlisted, and ended by assuring her that on these conditions and
+these alone the league would be responsible for the general
+tranquillity.
+
+To this the regent replied in a tone very different from her previous
+moderation. "Who these confederates are who address me in this memorial
+is, indeed, a mystery to me. The confederates with whom I had formerly
+to do, for ought I know to the contrary, have dispersed. All at least
+cannot participate in this statement of grievances, for I myself know of
+many, who, satisfied in all their demands, have returned to their duty.
+But still, whoever he may be, who without authority and right, and
+without name addresses me, he has at least given a very false
+interpretation to my word if he asserts that I guaranteed to the
+Protestants complete religious liberty. No one can be ignorant how
+reluctantly I was induced to permit the preachings in the places where
+they had sprung up unauthorized, and this surely cannot be counted for a
+concession of freedom in religion. Is it likely that I should have
+entertained the idea of protecting these illegal consistories, of
+tolerating this state within a state? Could I forget myself so far as
+to grant the sanction of law to an objectionable sect; to overturn all
+order in the church and in the state, and abominably to blaspheme my
+holy religion? Look to him who has given you such permission, but you
+must not argue with me. You accuse me of having violated the agreement
+which gave you impunity and security. The past I am willing to look
+over, but not what may be done in future. No advantage was to be taken
+of you on account of the petition of last April, and to the best of my
+knowledge nothing of the kind has as yet been done; but whoever again
+offends in the same way against the majesty of the king must be ready to
+bear the consequences of his crime. In fine, how can you presume to
+remind me of an agreement which you have been the first to break? At
+whose instigation were the churches plundered, the images of the saints
+thrown down, and the towns hurried into rebellion? Who formed alliances
+with foreign powers, set on foot illegal enlistments, and collected
+unlawful taxes from the subjects of the king? These are the reasons
+which have impelled me to draw together my troops, and to increase the
+severity of the edicts. Whoever now asks me to lay down my arms cannot
+mean well to his country or his king, and if ye value your own lives,
+look to it that your own actions acquit you, instead of judging mine."
+
+All the hopes which the confederates might have entertained of an
+amicable adjustment sank with this high-toned declaration. Without
+being confident of possessing powerful support, the regent would not,
+they argued, employ such language. An army was in the field, the enemy
+was before Valenciennes, the members who were the heart of the league
+had abandoned it, and the regent required unconditional submission.
+Their cause was now so bad that open resistance could not make it worse.
+If they gave themselves up defenceless into the hands of their
+exasperated sovereign their fate was certain; an appeal to arms could at
+least make it a matter of doubt; they, therefore, chose the latter, and
+began seriously to take steps for their defence. In order to insure the
+assistance of the German Protestants, Louis of Nassau attempted to
+persuade the towns of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Tournay, and Valenciennes to
+adopt the confession of Augsburg, and in this manner to seal their
+alliance with a religious union. But the proposition was not
+successful, because the hatred of the Calvinists to the Lutherans
+exceeded, if possible, that which they bore to popery. Nassau also
+began in earnest to negotiate for supplies from France, the Palatinate,
+and Saxony. The Count of Bergen fortified his castles; Brederode threw
+himself with a small force into his strong town of Vianne on the Leek,
+over which he claimed the rights of sovereignty, and which he hastily
+placed in a state of defense, and there awaited a reinforcement from the
+league, and the issue of Nassua's negotiations. The flag of war was now
+unfurled, everywhere the drum was heard to beat; in all parts troops
+were seen on the march, contributions collected, and soldiers enlisted.
+The agents of each party often met in the same place, and hardly had the
+collectors and recruiting officers of the regent quitted a town when it
+had to endure a similar visit from the agents of the league.
+
+From Valenciennes the regent directed her attention to Herzogenbusch,
+where the Iconoclasts had lately committed fresh excesses, and the party
+of the Protestants had gained a great accession of strength. In order
+to prevail on the citizens peaceably to receive a garrison, she sent
+thither, as ambassador, the Chancellor Scheiff, from Brabant, with
+counsellor Merode of Petersheim, whom she appointed governor of the
+town; they were instructed to secure the place by judicious means, and
+to exact from the citizens a new oath of allegiance. At the same time
+the Count of Megen, who was in the neighborhood with a body of troops,
+was ordered to support the two envoys in effecting their commission,
+and to afford the means of throwing in a garrison immediately. But
+Brederode, who obtained information of these movements in Viane, had
+already sent thither one of his creatures, a certain Anton von Bomber,--
+a hot Calvinist, but also a brave soldier, in order to raise the courage
+of his party, and to frustrate the designs of the regent. This Bomberg
+succeeded in getting possession of the letters which the chancellor
+brought with him from the duchess, and contrived to substitute in their
+place counterfeit ones, which, by their harsh and imperious language,
+were calculated to exasperate the minds of the citizens. At the same
+time he attempted to throw suspicion on both the ambassadors of the
+duchess as having evil designs upon the town. In this he succeeded so
+well with the mob that in their mad fury they even laid hands on the
+ambassadors and placed them in confinement. He himself, at the head of
+eight thousand men, who had adopted him as their leader, advanced
+against the Count of Megen, who was moving in order of battle, and gave
+him so warm a reception, with some heavy artillery, that he was
+compelled to retire without accomplishing his object. The regent now
+sent an officer of justice to demand the release of her ambassadors, and
+in case of refusal to threaten the place with siege; but Bomberg with
+his party surrounded the town hall and forced the magistrate to deliver
+to him the key of the town. The messenger of the regent was ridiculed
+and dismissed, and an answer sent through him that the treatment of the
+prisoners would depend upon Brederode's orders. The herald, who was
+remaining outside before the town, now appeared to declare war against
+her, which, however, the chancellor prevented.
+
+After his futile attempt on Herzogenhusch the Count of Megen threw
+himself into Utrecht in order to prevent the execution of a design which
+Count Brederode had formed against that town. As it had suffered much
+from the army of the confederates, which was encamped in its immediate
+neighborhood, near Viane, it received Megen with open arms as its
+protector, and conformed to all the alterations which he made in the
+religious worship. Upon this he immediately caused a redoubt to be
+thrown up on the bank of the Leek, which would command Viane.
+Brederode, not disposed to await his attack, quitted that rendezvous
+with the best part of his army and hastened to Amsterdam.
+
+However unprofitably the Prince of Orange appeared to be losing his
+time in Antwerp during these operations he was, nevertheless, busily
+employed. At his instigation the league had commenced recruiting, and
+Brederode had fortified his castles, for which purpose he himself
+presented him with three cannons which he had had cast at Utrecht.
+His eye watched all the movements of the court, and he kept the league
+warned of the towns which were next menaced with attack. But his chief
+object appeared to be to get possession of the principal places in the
+districts under his own government, to which end he with all his power
+secretly assisted Brederode's plans against Utrecht and Amsterdam. The
+most important place was the Island of Walcheren, where the king was
+expected to land; and he now planned a scheme for the surprise of this
+place, the conduct of which was entrusted to one of the confederate
+nobles, an intimate friend of the Prince of Orange, John of Marnix,
+Baron of Thoulouse, and brother of Philip of Aldegonde.
+
+
+1567. Thoulouse maintained a secret understanding with the late mayor
+of Middleburg, Peter Haak, by which he expected to gain an opportunity
+of throwing a garrison into Middleburg and Flushing. The recruiting,
+however, for this undertaking, which was set on foot in Antwerp, could
+not be carried on so quietly as not to attract the notice of the
+magistrate. In order, therefore, to lull the suspicions of the latter,
+and at the same time to promote the success of the scheme, the prince
+caused the herald by public proclamation to order all foreign soldiers
+and strangers who were in the service of the state, or employed in other
+business, forthwith to quit the town. He might, say his adversaries, by
+closing the gates have easily made himself master of all these suspected
+recruits; but be expelled them from the town in order to drive them the
+more quickly to the place of their destination. They immediately
+embarked on the Scheldt, and sailed down to Rammekens; as, however, a
+market-vessel of Antwerp, which ran into Flushing a little before them
+had given warning of their design they were forbidden to enter the port.
+They found the same difficulty at Arnemuiden, near Middleburg, although
+the Protestants in that place exerted themselves to raise an
+insurrection in their favor. Thoulouse, therefore, without having
+accomplished anything, put about his ships and sailed back down the
+Scheldt as far as Osterweel, a quarter of a mile from Antwerp, where he
+disembarked his people and encamped on the shore, with the hope of
+getting men from Antwerp, and also in order to revive by his presence
+the courage of his party, which had been cast down by the proceedings of
+the magistrate. By the aid of the Calvinistic clergy, who recruited for
+him, his little army increased daily, so that at last he began to be
+formidable to the Antwerpians, whose whole territory he laid waste. The
+magistrate was for attacking him here with the militia, which, however,
+the Prince of Orange successfully opposed by the pretext that it would
+not be prudent to strip the town of soldiers.
+
+Meanwhile the regent had hastily brought together a small army under the
+command of Philip of Launoy, which moved from Brussels to Antwerp by
+forced marches. At the same time Count Megen managed to keep the army
+of the Gueux shut up and employed at Viane, so that it could neither
+hear of these movements nor hasten to the assistance of its
+confederates. Launoy, on his arrival attacked by surprise the dispersed
+crowds, who, little expecting an enemy, had gone out to plunder, and
+destroyed them in one terrible carnage. Thoulouse threw himself with
+the small remnant of his troops into a country house, which had served
+him as his headquarters, and for a long time defended himself with the
+courage of despair, until Launoy, finding it impossible to dislodge him,
+set fire to the house. The few who escaped the flames fell on the
+swords of the enemy or were drowned in the Scheldt. Thoulouse himself
+preferred to perish in the flames rather than to fall into the hands of
+the enemy. This victory, which swept off more than a thousand of the
+enemy, was purchased by the conqueror cheaply enough, for he did not
+lose more than two men. Three hundred of the leaguers who surrendered
+were cut down without mercy on the spot, as a sally from Antwerp was
+momentarily dreaded.
+
+Before the battle actually commenced no anticipation of such an event
+had been entertained at Antwerp. The Prince of Orange, who had got
+early information of it, had taken the precaution the day before of
+causing the bridge which unites the town with Osterweel to be destroyed,
+in order, as he gave out, to prevent the Calvinists within the town
+going out to join the army of Thoulouse. A more probable motive seems
+to have been a fear lest the Catholics should attack the army of the
+Gueux general in the rear, or lest Launoy should prove victorious, and
+try to force his way into the town. On the same pretext the gates of
+the city were also shut by his orders, arnd the inhabitants, who did not
+comprehend the meaning of all these movements, fluctuated between
+curiosity and alarm, until the sound of artillery from Osterweel
+announced to them what there was going on. In clamorous crowds they all
+ran to the walls and ramparts, from which, as the wind drove the smoke
+from the contending armies, they commanded a full view of the whole
+battle. Both armies were so near to the town that they could discern
+their banners, and clearly distinguish the voices of the victors and the
+vanquished. More terrible even than the battle itself was the spectacle
+which this town now presented. Each of the conflicting armies had its
+friends and its enemies on the wall. All that went on in the plain
+roused on the ramparts exultation or dismay; on the issue of the
+conflict the fate of each spectator seemed to depend. Every movement on
+the field could be read in the faces of the townsmen; defeat and
+triumph, the terror of the conquered, and the fury of the conqueror.
+Here a painful but idle wish to support those who are giving way, to
+rally those who fly; there an equally futile desire to overtake them,
+to slay them, to extirpate them. Now the Gueux fly, and ten thousand
+men rejoice; Thoulouse's last place and refuge is in flames, and the
+hopes of twenty thousand citizens are consumed with him.
+
+But the first bewilderment of alarm soon gave place to a frantic desire
+of revenge. Shrieking aloud, wringing her hands and with dishevelled
+hair, the widow of the slain general rushed amidst the crowds to implore
+their pity and help. Excited by their favorite preacher, Hermann, the
+Calvinists fly to arms, determined to avenge their brethren, or to
+perish with them; without reflection, without plan or leader, guided by
+nothing but their anguish, their delirium, they rush to the Red Gate of
+the city which leads to the field of battle; but there is no egress, the
+gate is shut and the foremost of the crowd recoil on those that follow.
+Thousands and thousands collect together, a dreadful rush is made to the
+Meer Bridge. We are betrayed! we are prisoners! is the general cry.
+Destruction to the papists, death to him who has betrayed us!--a sullen
+murmur, portentous of a revolt, runs through the multitude. They begin
+to suspect that all that has taken place has been set on foot by the
+Roman Catholics to destroy the Calvinists. They had slain their
+defenders, and they would now fall upon the defenceless. With fatal
+speed this suspicion spreads through the whole of Antwerp. Now they
+can, they think, understand the past, and they fear something still
+worse in the background; a frightful distrust gains possession of every
+mind. Each party dreads the other; every one sees an enemy in his
+neighbor; the mystery deepens the alarm and horror; a fearful condition
+for a populous town, in which every accidental concourse instantly
+becomes tumult, every rumor started amongst them becomes a fact, every
+small spark a blazing flame, and by the force of numbers and collision
+all passions are furiously inflamed. All who bore the name of
+Calvinists were roused by this report. Fifteen thousand of them take
+possession of the Meer Bridge, and plant heavy artillery upon it, which
+they had taken by force from the arsenal; the same thing also happens at
+another bridge; their number makes them formidable, the town is in their
+hands; to escape an imaginary danger they bring all Antwerp to the brink
+of ruin.
+
+Immediately on the commencement of the tumult the Prince of Orange
+hastened to the Meer Bridge, where, boldly forcing his way through the
+raging crowd, he commanded peace and entreated to be heard. At the
+other bridge Count Hogstraten, accompanied by the Burgomaster Strahlen,
+made the same attempt; but not possessing a sufficient share either of
+eloquence or of popularity to command attention, he referred the
+tumultuous crowd to the prince, around whom all Antwerp now furiously
+thronged. The gate, he endeavored to explain to them, was shut simply
+to keep off the victor, whoever he might be, from the city, which would
+otherwise become the prey of an infuriated soldiery. In vain! the
+frantic people would not listen, and one more daring than the rest
+presented his musket at him, calling him a traitor. With tumultuous
+shouts they demanded the key of the Red Gate, which he was ultimately
+forced to deliver into the hands of the preacher Hermann. But, he added
+with happy presence of mind, they must take heed what they were doing;
+in the suburbs six hundred of the enemy's horse were waiting to receive
+them. This invention, suggested by the emergency, was not so far
+removed from the truth as its author perhaps imagined; for no sooner had
+the victorious general perceived the commotion in Antwerp than he caused
+his whole cavalry to mount in the hope of being able, under favor of the
+disturbance, to break into the town. I, at least, continued the Prince
+of Orange, shall secure my own safety in time, and he who follows my
+example will save himself much future regret. These words opportunely
+spoken and immediately acted upon had their effect. Those who stood
+nearest followed him, and were again followed by the next, so that at
+last the few who had already hastened out of the city when they saw no
+one coming after them lost the desire of coping alone with the six
+hundred horse. All accordingly returned to the Meer Bridge, where they
+posted watches and videttes, and the night was passed tumultuously under
+arms.
+
+The town of Antwerp was now threatened with fearful bloodshed and
+pillage. In this pressing emergency Orange assembled an extraordinary
+senate, to which were summoned all the best-disposed citizens of the
+four nations. If they wished, said he, to repress the violence of the
+Calvinists they must oppose them with an army strong enough and prepared
+to meet them. It was therefore resolved to arm with speed the Roman
+Catholic inhabitants of the town, whether natives, Italians, or
+Spaniards, and, if possible, to induce the Lutherans also to join them.
+The haughtiness of the Calvinists, who, proud of their wealth and
+confident in their numbers, treated every other religious party with
+contempt, had long made the Lutherans their enemies, and the mutual
+exasperation of these two Protestant churches was even more implacable
+than their common hatred of the dominant church. This jealousy the
+magistrate had turned to advantage, by making use of one party to curb
+the other, and had thus contrived to keep the Calvinists in check, who,
+from their numbers and insolence, were most to be feared. With this
+view, he had tacitly taken into his protection the Lutherans, as the
+weaker and more peaceable party, having moreover invited for them, from
+Germany, spiritual teachers, who, by controversial sermons, might keep
+up the mutual hatred of the two bodies. He encouraged the Lutherans in
+the vain idea that the king thought more favorably of their religious
+creed than that of the Calvinists, and exhorted them to be careful how
+they damaged their good cause by any understanding with the latter. It
+was not, therefore, difficult to bring about, for the moment, a union
+with the Roman Catholics and the Lutherans, as its object was to keep
+down their detested rivals. At dawn of day an army was opposed to the
+Calvinists which was far superior in force to their own. At the head of
+this army, the eloquence of Orange had far greater effect, and found far
+more attention than on the preceding evening, unbacked by such strong
+persuasion. The Calvinists, though in possession of arms and artillery,
+yet, alarmed at the superior numbers arrayed against them, were the
+first to send envoys, and to treat for an amicable adjustment of
+differences, which by the tact and good temper of the Prince of Orange,
+he concluded to the satisfaction of all parties. On the proclamation of
+this treaty the Spaniards and Italians immediately laid down their arms.
+They were followed by the Calvinists, and these again by the Roman
+Catholics; last of all the Lutherans disarmed.
+
+Two days and two nights Antwerp had continued in this alarming state.
+During the tumult the Roman Catholics had succeeded in placing barrels
+of gunpowder under the Meer Bridge, and threatened to blow into the air
+the whole army of the Calvinists, who had done the same in other places
+to destroy their adversaries. The destruction of the town hung on the
+issue of a moment, and nothing but the prince's presence of mind saved
+it.
+
+Noircarmes, with his army of Walloons, still lay before Valenciennes,
+which, in firm reliance on being relieved by the Gueux, obstinately
+refused to listen to all the representations of the regent, and rejected
+every idea of surrender. An order of the court had expressly forbidden
+the royalist general to press the siege until he should receive
+reinforcements from Germany. Whether from forbearance or fear, the king
+regarded with abhorrence the violent measure of storming the place, as
+necessarily involving the innocent in the fate of the guilty, and
+exposing the loyal subject to the same ill-treatment as the rebel. As,
+however, the confidence of the besieged augmented daily, and emboldened
+by the inactivity of the besiegers, they annoyed him by frequent
+sallies, and after burning the cloisters before the town, retired with
+the plunder--as the time uselessly lost before this town was put to good
+use by the rebels and their allies, Noircarmes besought the duchess to
+obtain immediate permission from the king to take it by storm. The
+answer arrived more quickly than Philip was ever before wont to reply.
+As yet they must be content, simply to make the necessary preparations,
+and then to wait awhile to allow terror to have its effect; but if upon
+this they did not appear ready to capitulate, the storming might take
+place, but, at the same time, with the greatest possible regard for the
+lives of the inhabitants. Before the regent allowed Noircarmes to
+proceed to this extremity she empowered Count Egmont, with the Duke
+Arschot, to treat once more with the rebels amicably. Both conferred
+with the deputies of the town, and omitted no argument calculated to
+dispel their delusion. They acquainted them with the defeat of
+Thoulouse, their sole support, and with the fact that the Count of Megen
+had cut off the army of the Gueux from the town, and assured them that
+if they had held out so long they owed it entirely to the king's
+forbearance. They offered them full pardon for the past; every one was
+to be free to prove his innocence before whatever tribunal he should
+chose; such as did not wish to avail themselves of this privilege were
+to be allowed fourteen days to quit the town with all their effects.
+Nothing was required of the townspeople but the admission of the
+garrison. To give time to deliberate on these terms an armistice of
+three days was granted. When the deputies returned they found their
+fellow-citizens less disposed than ever to an accommodation, reports of
+new levies by the Gueux having, in the meantime, gained currency.
+Thoulouse, it was pretended, had conquered, and was advancing with a
+powerful army to relieve the place. Their confidence went so far that
+they even ventured to break the armistice, and to fire upon the
+besiegers. At last the burgomaster, with difficulty, succeeded in
+bringing matters so far towards a peaceful settlement that twelve of the
+town counsellors were sent into the camp with the following conditions:
+The edict by which Valenciennes had been charged with treason and
+declared an enemy to the country was required to be recalled, the
+confiscation of their goods revoked, and the prisoners on both sides
+restored to liberty; the garrison was not to enter the town before every
+one who thought good to do so had placed himself and his property in
+security; and a pledge to be given that the inhabitants should not be
+molested in any manner, and that their expenses should be paid by the
+king.
+
+Noircarmes was so indignant with these conditions that he was almost on
+the point of ill-treating the deputies. If they had not come, he told
+them, to give up the place, they might return forthwith, lest he should
+send them home with their hands tied behind their backs. Upon this the
+deputies threw the blame on the obstinacy of the Calvinists, and
+entreated him, with tears in their eyes, to keep them in the camp, as
+they did not, they said, wish to have anything more to do with their
+rebellious townsmen, or to be joined in their fate. They even knelt to
+beseech the intercession of Egmont, but Noircarmes remained deaf to all
+their entreaties, and the sight of the chains which he ordered to be
+brought out drove them reluctantly enough back to Valenciennes.
+Necessity, not severity, imposed this harsh procedure upon the general.
+The detention of ambassadors had on a former occasion drawn upon him the
+reprimand of the duchess; the people in the town would not have failed
+to have ascribed the non-appearance of their present deputies to the
+same cause as in the former case had detained them. Besides, he was
+loath to deprive the town of any out of the small residue of
+well-disposed citizens, or to leave it a prey to a blind, foolhardy mob.
+Egmont was so mortified at the bad report of his embassy that he the
+night following rode round to reconnoitre its fortifications, and
+returned well satisfied to have convinced himself that it was no longer
+tenable.
+
+Valenciennes stretches down a gentle acclivity into the level plain,
+being built on a site as strong as it is delightful. On one side
+enclosed by the Scheldt and another smaller river, and on the other
+protected by deep ditches, thick walls, and towers, it appears capable
+of defying every attack. But Noircarmes had discovered a few points
+where neglect had allowed the fosse to be filled almost up to the level
+of the natural surface, and of these he determined to avail himself in
+storming. He drew together all the scattered corps by which he had
+invested the town, and during a tempestuous night carried the suburb of
+Berg without the loss of a single man. He then assigned separate points
+of attack to the Count of Bossu, the young Charles of Mansfeld, and the
+younger Barlaimont, and under a terrible fire, which drove the enemy
+from his walls, his troops were moved up with all possible speed. Close
+before the town, and opposite the gate under the eyes of the besiegers,
+and with very little loss, a battery was thrown up to an equal height
+with the fortifications. From this point the town was bombarded with an
+unceasing fire for four hours. The Nicolaus tower, on which the
+besieged had planted some artillery, was among the first that fell, and
+many perished under its ruins. The guns were directed against all the
+most conspicuous buildings, and a terrible slaughter was made amongst
+the inhabitants. In a few hours their principal works were destroyed,
+and in the gate itself so extensive a breach was made that the besieged,
+despairing of any longer defending themselves, sent in haste two
+trumpeters to entreat a parley. This was granted, but the storm was
+continued without intermission. The ambassador entreated Noircarmes to
+grant them the same terms which only two days before they had rejected.
+But circumstances had now changed, and the victor would hear no more of
+conditions. The unceasing fire left the inhabitants no time to repair
+the ramparts, which filled the fosse with their debris, and opened many
+a breach for the enemy to enter by. Certain of utter destruction, they
+surrendered next morning at discretion after a bombardment of
+six-and-thirty hours without intermission, and three thousand bombs had
+been thrown into the city. Noircarmes marched into the town with his
+victorious army under the strictest discipline, and was received by a
+crowd of women and children, who went to meet him, carrying green boughs,
+and beseeching his pity. All the citizens were immediately disarmed, the
+commandant and his son beheaded; thirty-six of the most guilty of the
+rebels, among whom were La Grange and another Calvinistic preacher, Guido
+de Bresse, atoned for their obstinacy at the gallows; all the municipal
+functionaries were deprived of their offices, and the town of all its
+privileges. The Roman Catholic worship was immediately restored in full
+dignity, and the Protestant abolished. The Bishop of Arras was obliged to
+quit his residence in the town, and a strong garrison placed in it to
+insure its future obedience.
+
+The fate of Valenciennes, towards which all eyes had been turned, was a
+warning to the other towns which had similarly offended. Noircarmes
+followed up his victory, and marched immediately against Maestricht,
+which surrendered without a blow, and received a garrison. From thence
+he marched to Tornhut to awe by his presence the people of Herzogenbusch
+and Antwerp. The Gueux in this place, who under the command of Bomberg
+had carried all things before them, were now so terrified at his
+approach that they quitted the town in haste. Noircarmes was received
+without opposition. The ambassadors of the duchess were immediately set
+at liberty. A strong garrison was thrown into Tornhut. Cambray also
+opened its gates, and joyfully recalled its archbishop, whom the
+Calvinists had driven from his see, and who deserved this triumph as
+he did not stain his entrance with blood. Ghent, Ypres, and Oudenarde
+submitted and received garrisons. Gueldres was now almost entirely
+cleared of the rebels and reduced to obedience by the Count of Megen.
+In Friesland and Groningen the Count of Aremberg had eventually the same
+success; but it was not obtained here so rapidly or so easily, since the
+count wanted consistency and firmness, and these warlike republicans
+maintained more pertinaciously their privileges, and were greatly
+supported by the strength of their position. With the exception of
+Holland all the provinces had yielded before the victorious arms of the
+duchess. The courage of the disaffected sunk entirely, and nothing was
+left to them but flight or submission.
+
+
+
+
+          RESIGNATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE.
+
+Ever since the establishment of the Guesen league, but more perceptibly
+since the outbreak of the Iconoclasts, the spirit of rebellion and
+disaffection had spread so rapidly among all classes, parties had become
+so blended and confused, that the regent had difficulty in
+distinguishing her own adherents, and at last hardly knew on whom to
+rely. The lines of demarcation between the loyal and the disaffected
+had grown gradually fainter, until at last they almost entirely
+vanished. The frequent alterations, too, which she had been obliged to
+make in the laws, and which were at most the expedients and suggestions
+of the moment, had taken from them their precision and binding force,
+and had given full scope to the arbitrary will of every individual whose
+office it was to interpret them. And at last, amidst the number and
+variety of the interpretations, the spirit was lost and the intention of
+the lawgiver baffled. The close connection which in many cases
+subsisted between Protestants and Roman Catholics, between Gueux and
+Royalists, and which not unfrequently gave them a common interest, led
+the latter to avail themselves of the loophole which the vagueness of
+the laws left open, and in favor of their Protestant friends and
+associates evaded by subtle distinctions all severity in the discharge
+of their duties. In their minds it was enough not to be a declared
+rebel, not one of the Gueux, or at least not a heretic, to be authorized
+to mould their duties to their inclinations, and to set the most
+arbitrary limits to their obedience to the king. Feeling themselves
+irresponsible, the governors of the provinces, the civil functionaries,
+both high and low, the municipal officers, and the military commanders
+had all become extremely remiss in their duty, and presuming upon this
+impunity showed a pernicious indulgence to the rebels and their
+adherents which rendered abortive all the regent's measures of coercion.
+This general indifference and corruption of so many servants of the
+state had further this injurious result, that it led the turbulent to
+reckon on far stronger support than in reality they had cause for, and
+to count on their own side all who were but lukewarm adherents of the
+court. This way of thinking, erroneous as it was, gave them greater
+courage and confidence; it had the same effect as if it had been well
+founded; and the uncertain vassals of the king became in consequence
+almost as injurious to him as his declared enemies, without at the same
+time being liable to the same measures of severity. This was especially
+the case with the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Bergen, Hogstraten,
+Horn, and several others of the higher nobility. The regent felt the
+necessity of bringing these doubtful subjects to an explanation, in
+order either to deprive the rebels of a fancied support or to unmask the
+enemies of the king. And the latter reason was of the more urgent
+moment when being obliged to send an army into the field it was of the
+utmost importance to entrust the command of the troops to none but those
+of whose fidelity she was fully assured. She caused, therefore, an oath
+to be drawn up which bound all who took it to advance the Roman Catholic
+faith, to pursue and punish the Iconoclasts, and to help by every means
+in their power in extirpating all kinds of heresy. It also pledged them
+to treat the king's enemies as their own, and to serve without
+distinction against all whom the regent in the king's name should point
+out. By this oath she did not hope so much to test their sincerity, and
+still less to secure them, as rather to gain a pretext for removing the
+suspected parties if they declined to take it, and for wresting from
+their hands a power which they abused, or a legitimate ground for
+punishing them if they took it and broke it. This oath was exacted from
+all Knights of the Fleece, all civil functionaries and magistrates, all
+officers of the army--from every one in short who held any appointment
+in the state. Count Mansfeld was the first who publicly took it in the
+council of state at Brussels; his example was followed by the Duke of
+Arschot, Counts Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont. Hogstraten and Horn
+endeavored to evade the necessity. The former was offended at a proof
+of distrust which shortly before the regent had given him. Under the
+pretext that Malines could not safely be left any longer without its
+governor, but that the presence of the count was no less necessary in
+Antwerp, she had taken from him that province and given it to another
+whose fidelity she could better reckon upon. Hostraten expressed his
+thanks that she had been pleased to release him from one of his burdens,
+adding that she would complete the obligation if she would relieve him
+from the other also. True to his determination Count Horn was living
+on one of his estates in the strong town of Weerdt, having retired
+altogether from public affairs. Having quitted the service of the
+state, he owed, he thought, nothing more either to the republic or to
+the king, and declined the oath, which in his case appears at last to
+have been waived.
+
+The Count of Brederode was left the choice of either taking the
+prescribed oath or resigning the command of his squadron of cavalry.
+After many fruitless attempts to evade the alternative, on the plea that
+he did not hold office in the state, he at last resolved upon the latter
+course, and thereby escaped all risk of perjuring himself.
+
+Vain were all the attempts to prevail on the Prince of Orange to take
+the oath, who, from the suspicion which had long attached to him,
+required more than any other this purification; and from whom the great
+power which it had been necessary to place in his hands fully justified
+the regent in exacting it. It was not, however, advisable to proceed
+against him with the laconic brevity adopted towards Brederode and the
+like; on the other hand, the voluntary resignation of all his offices,
+which he tendered, did not meet the object of the regent, who foresaw
+clearly enough how really dangerous he would become, as soon as he
+should feel himself independent, and be no longer checked by any
+external considerations of character or duty in the prosecution of his
+secret designs. But ever since the consultation in Dendermonde the
+Prince of Orange had made up his mind to quit the service of the King of
+Spain on the first favorable opportunity, and till better days to leave
+the country itself. A very disheartening experience had taught him how
+uncertain are hopes built on the multitude, and how quickly their zeal
+is cooled by the necessity of fulfilling its lofty promises. An army
+was already in the field, and a far stronger one was, he knew, on its
+road, under the command of the Duke of Alva. The time for remonstrances
+was past; it was only at the head of an army that an advantageous treaty
+could now be concluded with the regent, and by preventing the entrance
+of the Spanish general. But now where was he to raise this army, in
+want as he was of money, the sinews of warfare, since the Protestants
+had retracted their boastful promises and deserted him in this pressing
+emergency?
+
+   [How valiant the wish, and how sorry the deed was, is proved by the
+   following instance amongst others. Some friends of the national
+   liberty, Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, had solemnly
+   engaged in Amsterdam to subscribe to a common fund the hundredth
+   penny of their estates, until a sum of eleven thousand florins
+   should be collected, which was to be devoted to the common cause
+   and interests. An alms-box, protected by three locks, was prepared
+   for the reception of these contributions. After the expiration of
+   the prescribed period it was opened, and a sum was found amounting
+   to seven hundred florins, which was given to the hostess of the
+   Count of Brederode, in part payment of his unliquidated score.
+   Univ. Hist. of the N., vol. 3.]
+
+Religious jealousy and hatred, moreover, separated the two Protestant
+churches, and stood in the way of every salutary combination against
+the common enemy of their faith. The rejection of the Confession of
+Augsburg by the Calvinists had exasperated all the Protestant princes of
+Germany, so that no support was to be looked for from the empire. With
+Count Egmont the excellent army of Walloons was also lost to the cause,
+for they followed with blind devotion the fortunes of their general, who
+had taught them at St. Quentin and Gravelines to be invincible. And
+again, the outrages which the Iconoclasts had perpetrated on the
+churches and convents had estranged from the league the numerous,
+wealthy, and powerful class of the established clergy, who, before this
+unlucky episode, were already more than half gained over to it; while,
+by her intrigues, the regent daily contrived to deprive the league
+itself of some one or other of its most influential members.
+
+All these considerations combined induced the prince to postpone to
+a more favorable season a project for which the present juncture was
+little suited, and to leave a country where his longer stay could not
+effect any advantage for it, but must bring certain destruction on
+himself. After intelligence gleaned from so many quarters, after so
+many proofs of distrust, so many warnings from Madrid, he could be no
+longer doubtful of the sentiments of Philip towards him. If even he
+had any doubt, his uncertainty would soon have been dispelled by the
+formidable armament which was preparing in Spain, and which was to have
+for its leader, not the king, as was falsely given out, but, as he was
+better informed, the Duke of Alva, his personal enemy, and the very man
+he had most cause to fear. The prince had seen too deeply into Philip's
+heart to believe in the sincerity of his reconciliation after having
+once awakened his fears. He judged his own conduct too justly to
+reckon, like his friend Egmont, on reaping a gratitude from the king to
+which he had not sown. He could therefore expect nothing but hostility
+from him, and prudence counselled him to screen himself by a timely
+flight from its actual outbreak. He had hitherto obstinately refused
+to take the new oath, and all the written exhortations of the regent
+had been fruitless. At last she sent to him at Antwerp her private
+secretary, Berti, who was to put the matter emphatically to his
+conscience, and forcibly remind him of all the evil consequences which
+so sudden a retirement from the royal service would draw upon the
+country, as well as the irreparable injury it would do to his own fair
+fame. Already, she informed him by her ambassador, his declining the
+required oath had cast a shade upon his honor, and imparted to the
+general voice, which accused him of an understanding with the rebels, an
+appearance of truth which this unconditional resignation would convert
+to absolute certainty. It was for the sovereign to discharge his
+servants, but it did not become the servant to abandon his sovereign.
+The envoy of the regent found the prince in his palace at Antwerp,
+already, as it appeared, withdrawn from the public service, and entirely
+devoted to his private concerns. The prince told him, in the presence
+of Hogstraten, that he had refused to take the required oath because he
+could not find that such a proposition had ever before been made to a
+governor of a province; because he had already bound himself, once for
+all, to the king, and therefore, by taking this new oath, he would
+tacitly acknowledge that he had broken the first. He had also refused
+because the old oath enjoined him to protect the rights and privileges
+of the country, but he could not tell whether this new one might not
+impose upon him duties which would contravene the first; because, too,
+the clause which bound him to serve, if required, against all without
+distinction, did not except even the emperor, his feudal lord, against
+whom, however, he, as his vassal, could not conscientiously make war.
+He had refused to take this oath because it might impose upon him the
+necessity of surrendering his friends and relations, his children, nay,
+even his wife, who was a Lutheran, to butchery. According to it,
+moreover, he must lend himself to every thing which it should occur to
+the king's fancy or passion to demand. But the king might thus exact
+from him things which he shuddered even to think of, and even the
+severities which were now, and had been all along, exercised upon the
+Protestants, were the most revolting to his heart. This oath, in short,
+was repugnant to his feelings as a man, and he could not take it. In
+conclusion, the name of the Duke of Alva dropped from his lips in a tone
+of bitterness, and he became immediately silent.
+
+All these objections were answered, point by point, by Berti. Certainly
+such an oath had never been required from a governor before him, because
+the provinces had never been similarly circumstanced. It was not
+exacted because the governors had broken the first, but in order to
+remind them vividly of their former vows, and to freshen their activity
+in the present emergency. This oath would not impose upon him anything
+which offended against the rights and privileges of the country, for the
+king had sworn to observe these as well as the Prince of Orange. The
+oath did not, it was true, contain any reference to a war with the
+emperor, or any other sovereign to whom the prince might be related; and
+if he really had scruples on this point, a distinct clause could easily
+be inserted, expressly providing against such a contingency. Care would
+be taken to spare him any duties which were repugnant to his feelings as
+a man, and no power on earth would compel him to act against his wife or
+against his children. Berti was then passing to the last point, which
+related to the Duke of Alva, but the prince, who did not wish to have
+this part of his discourse canvassed, interrupted him. "The king was
+coming to the Netherlands," he said, "and he knew the king. The king
+would not endure that one of his servants should have wedded a Lutheran,
+and he had therefore resolved to go with his whole family into voluntary
+banishment before he was obliged to submit to the same by compulsion.
+But," he concluded, "wherever he might be, he would always conduct
+himself as a subject of the king." Thus far-fetched were the motives
+which the prince adduced to avoid touching upon the single one which
+really decided him.
+
+Berti had still a hope of obtaining, through Egmont's eloquence, what by
+his own he despaired of effecting. He therefore proposed a meeting with
+the latter (1567), which the prince assented to the more willingly as he
+himself felt a desire to embrace his friend once more before his
+departure, and if possible to snatch the deluded man from certain
+destruction. This remarkable meeting, at which the private secretary,
+Berti, and the young Count Mansfeld, were also present, was the last
+that the two friends ever held, and took place in Villebroeck, a village
+on the Rupel, between Brussels and Antwerp. The Calvinists, whose last
+hope rested on the issue of this conference, found means to acquaint
+themselves of its import by a spy, who concealed himself in the chimney
+of the apartment where it was held. All three attempted to shake the
+determination of the prince, but their united eloquence was unable to
+move him from his purpose. "It will cost you your estates, Orange, if
+you persist in this intention," said the Prince of Gaure, as he took him
+aside to a window. "And you your life, Egmont, if you change not
+yours," replied the former. "To me it will at least be a consolation in
+my misfortunes that I desired, in deed as well as in word, to help my
+country and my friends in the hour of need; but you, my friend, you are
+dragging friends and country with you to destruction." And saying these
+words, he once again exhorted him, still more urgently than ever, to
+return to the cause of his country, which his arm alone was yet able to
+preserve; if not, at least for his own sake to avoid the tempest which
+was gathering against him from Spain.
+
+But all the arguments, however lucid, with which a far-discerning
+prudence supplied him, and however urgently enforced, with all the ardor
+and animation which the tender anxiety of friendship could alone
+inspire, did not avail to destroy the fatal confidence which still
+fettered Egmont's better reason. The warning of Orange seemed to come
+from a sad and dispirited heart; but for Egmont the world still smiled.
+To abandon the pomp and affluence in which he had grown up to youth and
+manhood; to part with all the thousand conveniences of life which alone
+made it valuable to him, and all this to escape an evil which his
+buoyant spirit regarded as remote, if not imaginary; no, that was not a
+sacrifice which could be asked from Egmont. But had he even been less
+given to indulgence than he was, with what heart could he have consigned
+a princess, accustomed by uninterrupted prosperity to ease and comfort,
+a wife who loved him as dearly as she was beloved, the children on whom
+his soul hung in hope and fondness, to privations at the prospect of
+which his own courage sank, and which a sublime philosophy alone can
+enable sensuality to undergo. "You will never persuade me, Orange,"
+said Egmont, "to see things in the gloomy light in which they appear to
+thy mournful prudence. When I have succeeded in abolishing the public
+preachings, and chastising the Iconoclasts, in crushing the rebels, and
+restoring peace and order in the provinces, what can the king lay to my
+charge? The king is good and just; I have claims upon his gratitude,
+and I must not forget what I owe to myself." "Well, then," cried
+Orange, indignantly and with bitter anguish, "trust, if you will, to
+this royal gratitude; but a mournful presentiment tells me--and may
+Heaven grant that I am deceived!--that you, Egmont, will be the bridge
+by which the Spaniards will pass into our country to destroy it." After
+these words, he drew him to his bosom, ardently clasping him in his
+arms. Long, as though the sight was to serve for the remainder of his
+life, did he keep his eyes fixed upon him; the tears fell; they saw each
+other no more.
+
+The very next day the Prince of Orange wrote his letter of resignation
+to the regent, in which he assured her of his perpetual esteem, and once
+again entreated her to put the best interpretation on his present step.
+He then set off with his three brothers and his whole family for his own
+town of Breda, where he remained only as long as was requisite to
+arrange some private affairs. His eldest son, Prince Philip William,
+was left behind at the University of Louvain, where he thought him
+sufficiently secure under the protection of the privileges of Brabant
+and the immunities of the academy; an imprudence which, if it was really
+not designed, can hardly be reconciled with the just estimate which, in
+so many other cases, he had taken of the character of his adversary. In
+Breda the heads of the Calvinists once more consulted him whether there
+was still hope for them, or whether all was irretrievably lost. "He had
+before advised them," replied the prince, "and must now do so again, to
+accede to the Confession of Augsburg; then they might rely upon aid from
+Germany. If they would still not consent to this, they must raise six
+hundred thousand florins, or more, if they could." "The first," they
+answered, "was at variance with their conviction and their conscience;
+but means might perhaps be found to raise the money if he would only let
+them know for what purpose he would use it." "No!" cried he, with the
+utmost displeasure, "if I must tell you that, it is all over with the
+use of it." With these words he immediately broke off the conference
+and dismissed the deputies.
+
+The Prince of Orange was reproached with having squandered his fortune,
+and with favoring the innovations on account of his debts; but he
+asserted that he still enjoyed sixty thousand florins yearly rental.
+Before his departure he borrowed twenty thousand florins from the states
+of Holland on the mortgage of some manors. Men could hardly persuade
+themselves that he would have succumbed to necessity so entirely, and
+without an effort at resistance given up all his hopes and schemes. But
+what he secretly meditated no one knew, no one had read in his heart.
+Being asked how he intended to conduct himself towards the King of
+Spain, "Quietly," was his answer, "unless he touches my honor or my
+estates." He left the Netherlands soon afterwards, and betook himself
+in retirement to the town of Dillenburg, in Nassau, at which place he
+was born. He was accompanied to Germany by many hundreds, either as his
+servants or as volunteers, and was soon followed by Counts Hogstraten,
+Kuilemberg, and Bergen, who preferred to share a voluntary exile with
+him rather than recklessly involve themselves in an uncertain destiny.
+In his departure the nation saw the flight of its guardian angel; many
+had adored, all had honored him. With him the last stay of the
+Protestants gave way; they, however, had greater hopes from this man
+in exile than from all the others together who remained behind. Even
+the Roman Catholics could not witness his departure without regret.
+Them also had he shielded from tyranny; he had not unfrequently
+protected them against the oppression of their own church, and he had
+rescued many of them from the sanguinary jealousy of their religious
+opponents. A few fanatics among the Calvinists, who were offended with
+his proposal of an alliance with their brethren, who avowed the
+Confession of Augsburg, solemnized with secret thanksgivings the day on
+which the enemy left them. (1567).
+
+
+
+
+        DECAY AND DISPERSION OF THE GEUSEN LEAGUE.
+
+Immediately after taking leave of his friend, the Prince of Gaure
+hastened back to Brussels, to receive from the regent the reward of his
+firmness, and there, in the excitement of the court and in the sunshine
+of his good fortune, to dispel the light cloud which the earnest
+warnings of the Prince of Orange had cast over his natural gayety.
+The flight of the latter now left him in possession of the stage.
+He had now no longer any rival in the republic to dim his glory. With
+redoubled zeal he wooed the transient favor of the court, above which he
+ought to have felt himself far exalted. All Brussels must participate
+in his joy. He gave splendid banquets and public entertainments, at
+which, the better to eradicate all suspicion from his mind, the regent
+herself frequently attended. Not content with having taken the required
+oath, he outstripped the most devout in devotion; outran the most
+zealous in zeal to extirpate the Protestant faith, and to reduce by
+force of arms the refractory towns of Flanders. He declared to his old
+friend, Count Hogstraten, as also to the rest of the Gueux, that he
+would withdraw from them his friendship forever if they hesitated any
+longer to return into the bosom of the church, and reconcile themselves
+with their king. All the confidential letters which had been exchanged
+between him and them were returned, and by this last step the breach
+between them was made public and irreparable. Egmont's secession, and
+the flight of the Prince of Orange, destroyed the last hope of the
+Protestants and dissolved the whole league of the Gueux. Its members
+vied with each other in readiness--nay, they could not soon enough
+abjure the covenant and take the new oath proposed to them by the
+government. In vain did the Protestant merchants exclaim at this breach
+of faith on the part of the nobles; their weak voice was no longer
+listened to, and all the sums were lost with which they had supplied the
+league.
+
+The most important places were quickly reduced and garrisoned; the
+rebels had fled, or perished by the hand of the executioner; in the
+provinces no protector was left. All yielded to the fortune of the
+regent, and her victorious army was advancing against Antwerp. After a
+long and obstinate contest this town had been cleared of the worst
+rebels; Hermann and his adherents took to flight; the internal storms
+had spent their rage. The minds of the people became gradually
+composed, and no longer excited at will by every furious fanatic, began
+to listen to better counsels. The wealthier citizens earnestly longed
+for peace to revive commerce and trade, which had suffered severely from
+the long reign of anarchy. The dread of Alva's approach worked wonders;
+in order to prevent the miseries which a Spanish army would inflict upon
+the country, the people hastened to throw themselves on the gentler
+mercies of the regent. Of their own accord they despatched
+plenipotentiaries to Brussels to negotiate for a treaty and to hear her
+terms. Agreeably as the regent was surprised by this voluntary step,
+she did not allow herself to be hurried away by her joy. She declared
+that she neither could nor would listen to any overtures or
+representations until the town had received a garrison. Even this was
+no longer opposed, and Count Mansfeld marched in the day after with
+sixteen squadrons in battle array. A solemn treaty was now made between
+the town and duchess, by which the former bound itself to prohibit the
+Calvinistic form of worship, to banish all preachers of that persuasion,
+to restore the Roman Catholic religion to its former dignity, to
+decorate the despoiled churches with their former ornaments, to
+administer the old edicts as before, to take the new oath which the
+other towns had sworn to, and, lastly, to deliver into the hands of
+justice all who been guilty of treason, in bearing arms, or taking part
+in the desecration of the churches. On the other hand, the regent
+pledged herself to forget all that had passed, and even to intercede for
+the offenders with the king. All those who, being dubious of obtaining
+pardon, preferred banishment, were to be allowed a month to convert
+their property into money, and place themselves in safety. From this
+grace none were to be excluded but such as had been guilty of a capital
+offence, and who were excepted by the previous article. Immediately
+upon the conclusion of this treaty all Calvinist and Lutheran preachers
+in Antwerp, and the adjoining territory, were warned by the herald to
+quit the country within twenty-four hours. All the streets and gates
+were now thronged with fugitives, who for the honor of their God
+abandoned what was dearest to them, and sought a more peaceful home for
+their persecuted faith. Here husbands were taking an eternal farewell
+of their wives, fathers of their children; there whole families were
+preparing to depart. All Antwerp resembled a house of mourning;
+wherever the eye turned some affecting spectacle of painful separation
+presented itself. A seal was set on the doors of the Protestant
+churches; the whole worship seemed to be extinct. The 10th of April
+(1567) was the day appointed for the departure of the preachers. In the
+town hall, where they appeared for the last time to take leave of the
+magistrate, they could not command their grief; but broke forth into
+bitter reproaches. They had been sacrificed, they exclaimed, they had
+been shamefully betrayed; but a time would come when Antwerp would pay
+dearly enough for this baseness. Still more bitter were the complaints
+of the Lutheran clergy, whom the magistrate himself had invited into the
+country to preach against the Calvinists. Under the delusive
+representation that the king was not unfavorable to their religion they
+had been seduced into a combination against the Calvinists, but as soon
+as the latter had been by their co-operation brought under subjection,
+and their own services were no longer required, they were left to bewail
+their folly, which had involved themselves and their enemies in common
+ruin.
+
+A few days afterwards the regent entered Antwerp in triumph, accompanied
+by a thousand Walloon horse, the Knights of the Golden Fleece, all the
+governors and counsellors, a number of municipal officers, and her whole
+court. Her first visit was to the cathedral, which still bore
+lamentable traces of the violence of the Iconoclasts, and drew from her
+many and bitter tears. Immediately afterwards four of the rebels, who
+had been overtaken in their flight, were brought in and executed in the
+public market-place. All the children who had been baptized after the
+Protestant rites were rebaptized by Roman Catholic priests; all the
+schools of heretics were closed, and their churches levelled to the
+ground. Nearly all the towns in the Netherlands followed the example of
+Antwerp and banished the Protestant preachers. By the end of April the
+Roman Catholic churches were repaired and embellished more splendidly
+than ever, while all the Protestant places of worship were pulled down,
+and every vestige of the proscribed belief obliterated in the seventeen
+provinces. The populace, whose sympathies are generally with the
+successful party, was now as active in accelerating the ruin of the
+unfortunate as a short time before it had been furiously zealous in its
+cause; in Ghent a large and beautiful church which the Calvinists had
+erected was attacked, and in less than an hour had wholly disappeared.
+From the beams of the roofless churches gibbets were erected for those
+who had profaned the sanctuaries of the Roman Catholics. The places of
+execution were filled with corpses, the prisons with condemned victims,
+the high roads with fugitives. Innumerable were the victims of this
+year of murder; in the smallest towns fifty at least, in several of the
+larger as many as three hundred, were put to death, while no account was
+kept of the numbers in the open country who fell into the hands of the
+provost-marshal and were immediately strung up as miscreants, without
+trial and without mercy.
+
+The regent was still in Antwerp when ambassadors presented themselves
+from the Electors of Brandenburg, Saxony, Hesse, Wurtemberg, and Baden
+to intercede for their fugitive brethren in the faith. The expelled
+preachers of the Augsburg Confession had claimed the rights assured to
+them by the religious peace of the Germans, in which Brabant, as part of
+the empire, participated, and had thrown themselves on the protection of
+those princes. The arrival of the foreign ministers alarmed the regent,
+and she vainly endeavored to prevent their entrance into Antwerp; under
+the guise, however, of showing them marks of honor, she continued to
+keep them closely watched lest they should encourage the malcontents in
+any attempts against the peace of the town. From the high tone which
+they most unreasonably adopted towards the regent it might almost be
+inferred that they were little in earnest in their demand. "It was but
+reasonable," they said, "that the Confession of Augsburg, as the only
+one which met the spirit of the gospel, should be the ruling faith in
+the Netherlands; but to persecute it by such cruel edicts as were in
+force was positively unnatural and could not be allowed. They therefore
+required of the regent, in the name of religion, not to treat the people
+entrusted to her rule with such severity." She replied through the Count
+of Staremberg, her minister for German affairs, that such an exordium
+deserved no answer at all. From the sympathy which the German princes
+had shown for the Belgian fugitives it was clear that they gave less
+credit to the letters of the king, in explanation of his measures, than
+to the reports of a few worthless wretches who, in the desecrated
+churches, had left behind them a worthier memorial of their acts and
+characters. It would far more become them to leave to the King of Spain
+the care of his own subjects, and abandon the attempt to foster a spirit
+of rebellion in foreign countries, from which they would reap neither
+honor nor profit. The ambassadors left Antwerp in a few days without
+having effected anything. The Saxon minister, indeed, in a private
+interview with the regent even assured her that his master had most
+reluctantly taken this step.
+
+The German ambassadors had not quitted Antwerp when intelligence from
+Holland completed the triumph of the regent. From fear of Count Megen
+Count Brederode had deserted his town of Viane, and with the aid of the
+Protestants inhabitants had succeeded in throwing himself into
+Amsterdam, where his arrival caused great alarm to the city magistrate,
+who had previously found difficulty in preventing a revolt, while it
+revived the courage of the Protestants. Here Brederode's adherents
+increased daily, and many noblemen flocked to him from Utrecht,
+Friesland, and Groningen, whence the victorious arms of Megen and
+Aremberg had driven them. Under various disguises they found means to
+steal into the city, where they gathered round Brederode, and served him
+as a strong body-guard. The regent, apprehensive of a new outbreak,
+sent one of her private secretaries, Jacob de la Torre, to the council
+of Amsterdam, and ordered them to get rid of Count Brederode on any
+terms and at any risk. Neither the magistrate nor de la Torre himself,
+who visited Brederode in person to acquaint him with the will of the
+duchess, could prevail upon him to depart. The secretary was even
+surprised in his own chamber by a party of Brederode's followers, and
+deprived of all his papers, and would, perhaps, have lost his life also
+if he had not contrived to make his escape. Brederode remained in
+Amsterdam a full month after this occurrence, a powerless idol of the
+Protestants, and an oppressive burden to the Roman Catholics; while his
+fine army, which he had left in Viane, reinforced by many fugitives from
+the southern provinces, gave Count Megen enough to do without attempting
+to harass the Protestants in their flight. At last Brederode resolved
+to follow the example of Orange, and, yielding to necessity, abandon a
+desperate cause. He informed the town council that he was willing to
+leave Amsterdam if they would enable him to do so by furnishing him with
+the pecuniary means. Glad to get quit of him, they hastened to borrow
+the money on the security of the town council. Brederode quitted
+Amsterdam the same night, and was conveyed in a gunboat as far as Vlie,
+from whence he fortunately escaped to Embden. Fate treated him more
+mildly than the majority of those he had implicated in his foolhardy
+enterprise; he died the year after, 1568, at one of his castles in
+Germany, from the effects of drinking, by which he sought ultimately to
+drown his grief and disappointments. His widow, Countess of Moers in
+her own right, was remarried to the Prince Palatine, Frederick III. The
+Protestant cause lost but little by his demise; the work which he had
+commenced, as it had not been kept alive by him, so it did not die with
+him.
+
+The little army, which in his disgraceful flight he had deserted, was
+bold and valiant, and had a few resolute leaders. It disbanded, indeed,
+as soon as he, to whom it looked for pay, had fled; but hunger and
+courage kept its parts together some time longer. One body, under
+command of Dietrich of Battenburgh, marched to Amsterdam in the hope of
+carrying that town; but Count Megen hastened with thirteen companies of
+excellent troops to its relief, and compelled the rebels to give up the
+attempt. Contenting themselves with plundering the neighboring
+cloisters, among which the abbey of Egmont in particular was hardly
+dealt with, they turned off towards Waaterland, where they hoped the
+numerous swamps would protect them from pursuit. But thither Count
+Megen followed them, and compelled them in all haste to seek safety in
+the Zuyderzee. The brothers Van Battenburg, and two Friesan nobles,
+Beima and Galama, with a hundred and twenty men and the booty they had
+taken from the monasteries, embarked near the town of Hoorne, intending
+to cross to Friesland, but through the treachery of the steersman, who
+ran the vessel on a sand-bank near Harlingen, they fell into the hands
+of one of Aremberg's captains, who took them all prisoners. The Count
+of Aremberg immediately pronounced sentence upon all the captives of
+plebeian rank, but sent his noble prisoners to the regent, who caused
+seven of them to be beheaded. Seven others of the most noble, including
+the brothers Van Battenburg and some Frieslanders, all in the bloom of
+youth, were reserved for the Duke of Alva, to enable him to signalize
+the commencement of his administration by a deed which was in every way
+worthy of him. The troops in four other vessels which set sail from
+Medenhlick, and were pursued by Count Megen in small boats, were more
+successful. A contrary wind had forced them out of their course and
+driven them ashore on the coast of Gueldres, where they all got safe to
+land; crossing the Rhine, near Heusen, they fortunately escaped into
+Cleves, where they tore their flags in pieces and dispersed. In North
+Holland Count Megen overtook some squadrons who had lingered too long in
+plundering the cloisters, and completely overpowered them. He
+afterwards formed a junction with Noircarmes and garrisoned Amsterdam.
+The Duke Erich of Brunswick also surprised three companies, the last
+remains of the army of the Gueux, near Viane, where they were
+endeavoring to take a battery, routed them and captured their leader,
+Rennesse, who was shortly afterwards beheaded at the castle of
+Freudenburg, in Utrecht. Subsequently, when Duke Erich entered Viane,
+he found nothing but deserted streets, the inhabitants having left it
+with the garrison on the first alarm. He immediately razed the
+fortifications, and reduced this arsenal of the Gueux to an open town
+without defences. All the originators of the league were now dispersed;
+Brederode and Louis of Nassau had fled to Germany, and Counts
+Hogstraten, Bergen, and Kuilemberg had followed their example.
+Mansfeld had seceded, the brothers Van Battenburg awaited in prison an
+ignomonious fate, while Thoulouse alone had found an honorable death on
+the field of battle. Those of the confederates who had escaped the
+sword of the enemy and the axe of the executioner had saved nothing but
+their lives, and thus the title which they had assumed for show became
+at last a terrible reality.
+
+Such was the inglorious end of the noble league, which in its beginning
+awakened such fair hopes and promised to become a powerful protection
+against oppression. Unanimity was its strength, distrust and internal
+dissension its ruin. It brought to light and developed many rare and
+beautiful virtues, but it wanted the most indispensable of all, prudence
+and moderation, without which any undertaking must miscarry, and all the
+fruits of the most laborious industry perish. If its objects had been
+as pure as it pretended, or even had they remained as pure as they
+really were at its first establishment, it might have defied the
+unfortunate combination of circumstances which prematurely overwhelmed
+it, and even if unsuccessful it would still have deserved an honorable
+mention in history. But it is too evident that the confederate nobles,
+whether directly or indirectly, took a greater share in the frantic
+excesses of the Iconoclasts than comported with the dignity and
+blamelessness of their confederation, and many among them openly
+exchanged their own good cause for the mad enterprise of these worthless
+vagabonds. The restriction of the Inquisition and a mitigation of the
+cruel inhumanity of the edicts must be laid to the credit of the league;
+but this transient relief was dearly purchased, at the cost of so many
+of the best and bravest citizens, who either lost their lives in the
+field, or in exile carried their wealth and industry to another quarter
+of the world; and of the presence of Alva and the Spanish arms. Many,
+too, of its peaceable citizens, who without its dangerous temptations
+would never have been seduced from the ranks of peace and order, were
+beguiled by the hope of success into the most culpable enterprises, and
+by their failure plunged into ruin and misery. But it cannot be denied
+that the league atoned in some measure for these wrongs by positive
+benefits. It brought together and emboldened many whom a selfish
+pusillanimity kept asunder and inactive; it diffused a salutary public
+spirit amongst the Belgian people, which the oppression of the
+government had almost entirely extinguished, and gave unanimity and a
+common voice to the scattered members of the nation, the absence of
+which alone makes despots bold. The attempt, indeed, failed, and the
+knots, too carelessly tied, were quickly unloosed; but it was through
+such failures that the nation was eventually to attain to a firm and
+lasting union, which should bid defiance to change.
+
+The total destruction of the Geusen army quickly brought the Dutch towns
+also back to their obedience, and in the provinces there remained not a
+single place which had not submitted to the regent; but the increasing
+emigration, both of the natives and the foreign residents, threatened
+the country with depopulation. In Amsterdam the crowd of fugitives was
+so great that vessels were wanting to convey them across the North Sea
+and the Zuyderzee, and that flourishing emporium beheld with dismay the
+approaching downfall of its prosperity. Alarmed at this general flight,
+the regent hastened to write letters to all the towns, to encourage the
+citizens to remain, and by fair promises to revive a hope of better and
+milder measures. In the king's name she promised to all who would
+freely swear to obey the state and the church complete indemnity, and by
+public proclamation invited the fugitives to trust to the royal clemency
+and return to their homes. She engaged also to relieve the nation from
+the dreaded presence of a Spanish army, even if it were already on the
+frontiers; nay, she went so far as to drop hints that, if necessary,
+means might be found to prevent it by force from entering the provinces,
+as she was fully determined not to relinquish to another the glory of a
+peace which it had cost her so much labor to effect. Few, however,
+returned in reliance upon her word, and these few had cause to repent it
+in the sequel; many thousands had already quitted the country, and
+several thousands more quickly followed them. Germany and England were
+filled with Flemish emigrants, who, wherever they settled, retained
+their usages and manners, and even their costume, unwilling to come to
+the painful conclusion that they should never again see their native
+land, and to give up all hopes of return. Few carried with them any
+remains of their former affluence; the greater portion had to beg their
+way, and bestowed on their adopted country nothing but industrious skill
+and honest citizens.
+
+And now the regent hastened to report to the king tidings such as,
+during her whole administration, she had never before been able to
+gratify him with. She announced to him that she had succeeded in
+restoring quiet throughout the provinces, and that she thought herself
+strong enough to maintain it. The sects were extirpated, and the Roman
+Catholic worship re-established in all its former splendor; the rebels
+had either already met with, or were awaiting in prison, the punishment
+they deserved; the towns were secured by adequate garrisons. There was
+therefore no necessity for sending Spanish troops into the Netherlands,
+and nothing to justify their entrance. Their arrival would tend to
+destroy the existing repose, which it had cost so much to establish,
+would check the much-desired revival of commerce and trade, and, while
+it would involve the country in new expenses, would at the same time
+deprive them of the only means of supporting them. The mere rumor of
+the approach of a Spanish army had stripped the country of many
+thousands of its most valuable citizens; its actual appearance would
+reduce it to a desert. As there was no longer any enemy to subdue, or
+rebellion to suppress, the people would see no motive for the march of
+this army but punishment and revenge, and under this supposition its
+arrival would neither be welcomed nor honored. No longer excused by
+necessity, this violent expedient would assume the odious aspect of
+oppression, would exasperate the national mind afresh, drive the
+Protestants to desperation, and arm their brethren in other countries in
+their defence. The regent, she said, had in the king's name promised
+the nation it should be relieved from this foreign army, and to this
+stipulation she was principally indebted for the present peace; she
+could not therefore guarantee its long continuance if her pledge was not
+faithfully fulfilled. The Netherlands would receive him as their
+sovereign, the king, with every mark of attachment and veneration, but
+he must come as a father to bless, not as a despot to chastise them.
+Let him come to enjoy the peace which she had bestowed on the country,
+but not to destroy it afresh.
+
+
+
+
+      ALVA'S ARMAMENT AND EXPEDITION TO THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+But it was otherwise determined in the council at Madrid. The minister,
+Granvella, who, even while absent himself, ruled the Spanish cabinet by
+his adherents; the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor, Spinosa, and the Duke of
+Alva, swayed respectively by hatred, a spirit of persecution, or private
+interest, had outvoted the milder councils of the Prince Ruy Gomes of
+Eboli, the Count of Feria, and the king's confessor, Fresneda. The
+insurrection, it was urged by the former, was indeed quelled for the
+present, but only because the rebels were awed by the rumor of the
+king's armed approach; it was to fear of punishment alone, and not to
+sorrow for their crime, that the present calm was to be ascribed, and
+it would soon again be broken if that feeling were allowed to subside.
+In fact, the offences of the people fairly afforded the king the
+opportunity he had so long desired of carrying out his despotic views
+with an appearance of justice. The peaceable settlement for which the
+regent took credit to herself was very far from according with his
+wishes, which sought rather for a legitimate pretext to deprive the
+provinces of their privileges, which were so obnoxious to his despotic
+temper.
+
+With an impenetrable dissimulation Philip had hitherto fostered the
+general delusion that he was about to visit the provinces in person,
+while all along nothing could have been more remote from his real
+intentions. Travelling at any time ill suited the methodical regularity
+of his life, which moved with the precision of clockwork; and his narrow
+and sluggish intellect was oppressed by the variety and multitude of
+objects with which new scenes crowded it. The difficulties and dangers
+which would attend a journey to the Netherlands must, therefore, have
+been peculiarly alarming to his natural timidity and love of ease. Why
+should he, who, in all that he did, was accustomed to consider himself
+alone, and to make men accommodate themselves to his principles, not his
+principles to men, undertake so perilous an expedition, when he could
+see neither the advantage nor necessity of it. Moreover, as it had ever
+been to him an utter impossibility to separate, even for a moment, his
+person from his royal dignity, which no prince ever guarded so
+tenaciously and pedantically as himself, so the magnificence and
+ceremony which in his mind were inseparably connected with such a
+journey, and the expenses which, on this account, it would necessarily
+occasion, were of themselves sufficient motives to account for his
+indisposition to it, without its being at all requisite to call in the
+aid of the influence of his favorite, Ruy Gomes, who is said to have
+desired to separate his rival, the Duke of Alva, from the king. Little,
+however, as be seriously intended this journey, he still deemed it
+advisable to keep up the expectation of it, as well with a view of
+sustaining the courage of the loyal as of preventing a dangerous
+combination of the disaffected, and stopping the further progress
+of the rebels.
+
+In order to carry on the deception as long as possible, Philip made
+extensive preparations for his departure, and neglected nothing which
+could be required for such an event. He ordered ships to be fitted out,
+appointed the officers and others to attend him. To allay the suspicion
+such warlike preparations might excite in all foreign courts, they were
+informed through his ambassadors of his real design. He applied to the
+King of France for a passage for himself and attendants through that
+kingdom, and consulted the Duke of Savoy as to the preferable route. He
+caused a list to be drawn up of all the towns and fortified places that
+lay in his march, and directed all the intermediate distances to be
+accurately laid down. Orders were issued for taking a map and survey of
+the whole extent of country between Savoy and Burgundy, the duke being
+requested to furnish the requisite surveyors and scientific officers.
+To such lengths was the deception carried that the regent was commanded
+to hold eight vessels at least in readiness off Zealand, and to despatch
+them to meet the king the instant she heard of his having sailed from
+Spain; and these ships she actually got ready, and caused prayers to be
+offered up in all the churches for the king's safety during the voyage,
+though in secret many persons did not scruple to remark that in his
+chamber at Madrid his majesty would not have much cause to dread the
+storms at sea. Philip played his part with such masterly skill that the
+Belgian ambassadors at Madrid, Lords Bergen and Montigny, who at first
+had disbelieved in the sincerity of his pretended journey, began at last
+to be alarmed, and infected their friends in Brussels with similar
+apprehensions. An attack of tertian ague, which about this time the
+king suffered, or perhaps feigned, in Segovia, afforded a plausible
+pretence for postponing his journey, while meantime the preparations for
+it were carried on with the utmost activity. At last, when the urgent
+and repeated solicitations of his sister compelled him to make a
+definite explanation of his plans, he gave orders that the Duke of Alva
+should set out forthwith with an army, both to clear the way before him
+of rebels, and to enhance the splendor of his own royal arrival. He did
+not yet venture to throw off the mask and announce the duke as his
+substitute. He had but too much reason to fear that the submission
+which his Flemish nobles would cheerfully yield to their sovereign would
+be refused to one of his servants, whose cruel character was well known,
+and who, moreover, was detested as a foreigner and the enemy of their
+constitution. And, in fact, the universal belief that the king was soon
+to follow, which long survived Alva's entrance into the country,
+restrained the outbreak of disturbances which otherwise would assuredly
+have been caused by the cruelties which marked the very opening of the
+duke's government.
+
+The clergy of Spain, and especially the Inquisition, contributed richly
+towards the expenses of this expedition as to a holy war. Throughout
+Spain the enlisting was carried on with the utmost zeal. The viceroys
+and governors of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Milan received orders to
+select the best of their Italian and Spanish troops in the garrisons and
+despatch them to the general rendezvous in the Genoese territory, where
+the Duke of Alva would exchange them for the Spanish recruits which he
+should bring with him. At the same time the regent was commanded to
+hold in readiness a few more regiments of German infantry in Luxembourg,
+under the command of the Counts Eberstein, Schaumburg, and Lodrona, and
+also some squadrons of light cavalry in the Duchy of Burgundy to
+reinforce the Spanish general immediately on his entrance into the
+provinces. The Count of Barlaimont was commissioned to furnish the
+necessary provision for the armament, and a sum of two hundred thousand
+gold florins was remitted to the regent to enable her to meet these
+expenses and to maintain her own troops.
+
+The French court, however, under pretence of the danger to be
+apprehended from the Huguenots, had refused to allow the Spanish army to
+pass through France. Philip applied to the Dukes of Savoy and Lorraine,
+who were too dependent upon him to refuse his request. The former
+merely stipulated that he should be allowed to maintain two thousand
+infantry and a squadron of horse at the king's expense in order to
+protect his country from the injuries to which it might otherwise be
+exposed from the passage of the Spanish army. At the same time he
+undertook to provide the necessary supplies for its maintenance during
+the transit.
+
+The rumor of this arrangement roused the Huguenots, the Genevese, the
+Swiss, and the Grisons. The Prince of Conde and the Admiral Coligny
+entreated Charles IX. not to neglect so favorable a moment of inflicting
+a deadly blow on the hereditary foe of France. With the aid of the
+Swiss, the Genevese, and his own Protestant subjects, it would, they
+alleged, be an easy matter to destroy the flower of the Spanish troops
+in the narrow passes of the Alpine mountains; and they promised to
+support him in this undertaking with an army of fifty thousand
+Huguenots. This advice, however, whose dangerous object was not easily
+to be mistaken, was plausibly declined by Charles IX., who assured them
+that he was both able and anxious to provide for the security of his
+kingdom. He hastily despatched troops to cover the French frontiers;
+and the republics of Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and the Grisons followed his
+example, all ready to offer a determined opposition to the dreaded enemy
+of their religion and their liberty.
+
+On the 5th of May, 1567, the Duke of Alva set sail from Carthagena with
+thirty galleys, which had been furnished by Andrew Doria and the Duke
+Cosmo of Florence, and within eight days landed at Genoa, where the four
+regiments were waiting to join him. But a tertian ague, with which he
+was seized shortly after his arrival, compelled him to remain for some
+days inactive in Lombardy--a delay of which the neighboring powers
+availed themselves to prepare for defence. As soon as the duke
+recovered he held at Asti, in Montferrat, a review of all his troops,
+who were more formidable by their valor than by their numbers, since
+cavalry and infantry together did not amount to much above ten thousand
+men. In his long and perilous march he did not wish to encumber himself
+with useless supernumeraries, which would only impede his progress and
+increase the difficulty of supporting his army. These ten thousand
+veterans were to form the nucleus of a greater army, which, according as
+circumstances and occasion might require, he could easily assemble in
+the Netherlands themselves.
+
+This array, however, was as select as it was small. It consisted of the
+remains of those victorious legions at whose head Charles V. had made
+Europe tremble; sanguinary, indomitable bands, in whose battalions the
+firmness of the old Macedonian phalanx lived again; rapid in their
+evolutions from long practice, hardy and enduring, proud of their
+leader's success, and confident from past victories, formidable by their
+licentiousness, but still more so by their discipline; let loose with
+all the passions of a warmer climate upon a rich and peaceful country,
+and inexorable towards an enemy whom the church had cursed. Their
+fanatical and sanguinary spirit, their thirst for glory and innate
+courage was aided by a rude sensuality, the instrument by which the
+Spanish general firmly and surely ruled his otherwise intractable
+troops. With a prudent indulgence he allowed riot and voluptuousness
+to reign throughout the camp. Under his tacit connivance Italian
+courtezans followed the standards; even in the march across the
+Apennines, where the high price of the necessaries of life compelled him
+to reduce his force to the smallest possible number, he preferred to
+have a few regiments less rather than to leave behind these instruments
+of voluptuousness.
+
+   [The bacchanalian procession of this army contrasted strangely
+   enough with the gloomy seriousness and pretended sanctity of his
+   aim. The number of these women was so great that to restrain the
+   disorders and quarrelling among themselves they hit upon the
+   expedient of establishing a discipline of their own. They ranged
+   themselves under particular flags, marched in ranks and sections,
+   and in admirable military order, after each battalion, and classed
+   themselves with strict etiquette according to their rank and pay.]
+
+But industriously as Alva strove to relax the morals of his soldiers,
+he enforced the more rigidly a strict military discipline, which was
+interrupted only by a victory or rendered less severe by a battle.
+For all this he had, he said, the authority of the Athenian General
+Iphicrates, who awarded the prize of valor to the pleasure-loving and
+rapacious soldier. The more irksome the restraint by which the passions
+of the soldiers were kept in check, the greater must have been the
+vehemence with which they broke forth at the sole outlet which was left
+open to them.
+
+The duke divided his infantry, which was about nine thousand strong, and
+chiefly Spaniards, into four brigades, and gave the command of them to
+four Spanish officers. Alphonso of Ulloa led the Neapolitan brigade of
+nine companies, amounting to three thousand two hundred and thirty men;
+Sancho of Lodogno commanded the Milan brigade, three thousand two
+hundred men in ten companies; the Sicilian brigade, with the same number
+of companies, and consisting of sixteen hundred men, was under Julian
+Romero, an experienced warrior, who had already fought on Belgian
+ground.
+
+   [The same officer who commanded one of the Spanish regiments about
+   which so much complaint had formerly been made in the States-
+   General.]
+
+Gonsalo of Braccamonte headed that of Sardinia, which was raised by
+three companies of recruits to the full complement of the former. To
+every company, moreover, were added fifteen Spanish musqueteers. The
+horse, in all twelve hundred strong, consisted of three Italian, two
+Albanian, and seven Spanish squadrons, light and heavy cavalry, and the
+chief command was held by Ferdinand and Frederick of Toledo, the two
+sons of Alva. Chiappin Vitelli, Marquis of Cetona, was field-marshal;
+a celebrated general whose services had been made over to the King of
+Spain by Cosmo of Florence; and Gabriel Serbellon was general of
+artillery. The Duke of Savoy lent Alva an experienced engineer, Francis
+Pacotto, of Urbino, who was to be employed in the erection of new
+fortifications. His standard was likewise followed by a number of
+volunteers, and the flower of the Spanish nobility, of whom the greater
+part had fought under Charles V. in Germany, Italy, and before Tunis.
+Among these were Christopher Mondragone, one of the ten Spanish heroes
+who, near Mithlberg, swam across the Elbe with their swords between
+their teeth, and, under a shower of bullets from the enemy, brought over
+from the opposite shore the boats which the emperor required for the
+construction of a bridge. Sancho of Avila, who had been trained to war
+under Alva himself, Camillo of Monte, Francis Ferdugo, Karl Davila,
+Nicolaus Basta, and Count Martinego, all fired with a noble ardor,
+either to commence their military career under so eminent a leader, or
+by another glorious campaign under his command to crown the fame they
+had already won. After the review the army marched in three divisions
+across Mount Cenis, by the very route which sixteen centuries before
+Hannibal is said to have taken. The duke himself led the van; Ferdinand
+of Toledo, with whom was associated Lodogno as colonel, the centre; and
+the Marquis of Cetona the rear. The Commissary General, Francis of
+Ibarra, was sent before with General Serbellon to open the road for the
+main body, and get ready the supplies at the several quarters for the
+night. The places which the van left in the morning were entered in the
+evening by the centre, which in its turn made room on the following day
+for the rear. Thus the army crossed the Alps of Savoy by regular
+stages, and with the fourteenth day completed that dangerous passage.
+A French army of observation accompanied it side by side along the
+frontiers of Dauphins, and the course of the Rhone, and the allied army
+of the Genevese followed it on the right, and was passed by it at a
+distance of seven miles. Both these armies of observation carefully
+abstained from any act of hostility, and were merely intended to cover
+their own frontiers. As the Spanish legions ascended and descended the
+steep mountain crags, or while they crossed the rapid Iser, or file by
+file wound through the narrow passes of the rocks, a handful of men
+would have been sufficient to put an entire stop to their march, and to
+drive them back into the mountains, where they would have been
+irretrievably lost, since at each place of encampment supplies were
+provided for no more than a single day, and for a third part only of the
+whole force. But a supernatural awe and dread of the Spanish name
+appeared to have blinded the eyes of the enemy so that they did not
+perceive their advantage, or at least did not venture to profit by it.
+In order to give them as little opportunity as possible of remembering
+it, the Spanish general hastened through this dangerous pass.
+
+Convinced, too, that if his troops gave the slightest umbrage he was
+lost, the strictest discipline was maintained during the march; not a
+single peasant's hut, not a single field was injured; and never,
+perhaps, in the memory of man was so numerous an army led so far in such
+excellent order.
+
+   [Once only on entering Lorraine three horsemen ventured to drive
+   away a few sheep from a flock, of which circumstance the duke was
+   no sooner informed than he sent back to the owner what had been
+   taken from him and sentenced the offenders to be hung. This
+   sentence was, at the intercession of the Lorraine general, who had
+   come to the frontiers to pay his respects to the duke, executed on
+   only one of the three, upon whom the lot fell at the drum-head.]
+
+Destined as this army was for vengeance and murder, a malignant and
+baleful star seemed to conduct it safe through all dangers; and it would
+be difficult to decide whether the prudence of its general or the
+blindness of its enemies is most to be wondered at.
+
+In Franche Comte, four squadrons of Burgundian cavalry, newly-raised,
+joined the main army, which, at Luxembourg, was also reinforced by three
+regiments of German infantry under the command of Counts Eberstein,
+Schaumburg, and Lodrona. From Thionville, where he halted a few days,
+Alva sent his salutations to the regent by Francis of Ibarra, who was,
+at the same time, directed to consult her on the quartering of the
+troops. On her part, Noircarmes and Barlairnont were despatched to the
+Spanish camp to congratulate the duke on his arrival, and to show him
+the customary marks of honor. At the same time they were directed to
+ask him to produce the powers entrusted to him by the king, of which,
+however, he only showed a part. The envoys of the regent were followed
+by swarms of the Flemish nobility, who thought they could not hasten
+soon enough to conciliate the favor of the new viceroy, or by a timely
+submission avert the vengeance which was preparing. Among them was
+Count Egmont. As he came forward the duke pointed him out to the
+bystanders. "Here comes an arch-heretic," he exclaimed, loud enough to
+be heard by Egmont himself, who, surprised at these words, stopped and
+changed color. But when the duke, in order to repair his imprudence,
+went up to him with a serene countenance, and greeted him with a
+friendly embrace, the Fleming was ashamed of his fears, and made light
+of this warning, by putting some frivolous interpretation upon it.
+Egmont sealed this new friendship with a present of two valuable
+chargers, which Alva accepted with a grave condescension.
+
+Upon the assurance of the regent that the provinces were in the
+enjoyment of perfect peace, and that no opposition was to be apprehended
+from any quarter, the duke discharged some German regiments, which had
+hitherto drawn their pay from the Netherlands. Three thousand six
+hundred men, under the command of Lodrona, were quartered in Antwerp,
+from which town the Walloon garrison, in which full reliance could not
+be placed, was withdrawn; garrisons proportionably stronger were thrown
+into Ghent and other important places; Alva himself marched with the
+Milan brigade towards Brussels, whither he was accompanied by a splendid
+cortege of the noblest in the land.
+
+Here, as in all the other towns of the Netherlands, fear and terror had
+preceded him, and all who were conscious of any offences, and even those
+who were sensible of none, alike awaited his approach with a dread
+similar to that with which criminals see the coming of their day of
+trial. All who could tear themselves from the ties of family, property,
+and country had already fled, or now at last took to flight. The
+advance of the Spanish army had already, according to the report of the
+regent, diminished the population of the provinces by the loss of one
+hundred thousand citizens, and this general flight still continued. But
+the arrival of the Spanish general could not be more hateful to the
+people of the Netherlands than it was distressing and dispiriting to the
+regent. At last, after so many years of anxiety, she had begun to taste
+the sweets of repose, and that absolute-authority, which had been the
+long-cherished object of eight years of a troubled and difficult
+administration. This late fruit of so much anxious industry, of so many
+cares and nightly vigils, was now to be wrested from her by a stranger,
+who was to be placed at once in possession of all the advantages which
+she had been forced to extract from adverse circumstances, by a long
+and tedious course of intrigue and patient endurance. Another was
+lightly to bear away the prize of promptitude, and to triumph by more
+rapid success over her superior but less glittering merits. Since the
+departure of the minister, Granvella, she had tasted to the full the
+pleasures of independence. The flattering homage of the nobility, which
+allowed her more fully to enjoy the shadow of power, the more they
+deprived her of its substance, had, by degrees, fostered her vanity to
+such an extent, that she at last estranged by her coldness even the most
+upright of all her servants, the state counsellor Viglius, who always
+addressed her in the language of truth. All at once a censor of her
+actions was placed at her side, a partner of her power was associated
+with her, if indeed it was not rather a master who was forced upon her,
+whose proud, stubborn, and imperious spirit, which no courtesy could
+soften, threatened the deadliest wounds to her self-love and vanity. To
+prevent his arrival she had, in her representations to the king, vainly
+exhausted every political argument. To no purpose had she urged that
+the utter ruin of the commerce of the Netherlands would be the
+inevitable consequence of; this introduction of the Spanish troops; in
+vain had she assured the king that peace was universally restored, and
+reminded him of her own services in procuring it, which deserved, she
+thought, a better guerdon than to see all the fruits of her labors
+snatched from her and given to a foreigner, and more than all, to behold
+all the good which she had effected destroyed by a new and different
+line of conduct. Even when the duke had already crossed Mount Cenis she
+made one more attempt, entreating him at least to diminish his army; but
+that also failed, for the duke insisted upon acting up to the powers
+entrusted to him. In poignant grief she now awaited his approach, and
+with the tears she shed for her country were mingled those of offended
+self-love.
+
+On the 22d of August, 1567, the Duke of Alva appeared before the gates
+of Brussels. His army immediately took up their quarters in the
+suburbs, and he himself made it his first duty to pay his respects to
+the sister of his king. She gave him a private audience on the plea of
+suffering from sickness. Either the mortification she had undergone had
+in reality a serious effect upon her health, or, what is not improbable,
+she had recourse to this expedient to pain his haughty spirit, and in
+some degree to lessen his triumph. He delivered to her letters from the
+king, and laid before her a copy of his own appointment, by which the
+supreme command of the whole military force of the Netherlands was
+committed to him, and from which, therefore, it would appear, that the
+administration of civil affairs remained, as heretofore, in the hands of
+the regent. But as soon as he was alone with her he produced a new
+commission, which was totally different from the former. According to
+this, the power was delegated to him of making war at his discretion,
+of erecting fortifications, of appointing and dismissing at pleasure the
+governors of provinces, the commandants of towns, and other officers of
+the king; of instituting inquiries into the past troubles, of punishing
+those who originated them, and of rewarding the loyal. Powers of this
+extent, which placed him almost on a level with a sovereign prince, and
+far surpassed those of the regent herself, caused her the greatest
+consternation, and it was with difficulty that she could conceal her
+emotion. She asked the duke whether he had not even a third commission,
+or some special orders in reserve which went still further, and were
+drawn up still more precisely, to which he replied distinctly enough in
+the affirmative, but at the same time gave her to understand that this
+commission might be too full to suit the present occasion, and would be
+better brought into play hereafter with due regard to time and
+circumstances. A few days after his arrival he caused a copy of the
+first instructions to be laid before the several councils and the
+states, and had them printed to insure their rapid circulation. As the
+regent resided in the palace, he took up his quarters temporarily in
+Kuilemberg house, the same in which the association of the Gueux had
+received its name, and before which, through a wonderful vicissitude,
+Spanish tyranny now planted its flag.
+
+A dead silence reigned in Brussels, broken only at times by the unwonted
+clang of arms. The duke had entered the town but a few hours when his
+attendants, like bloodhounds that have been slipped, dispersed
+themselves in all directions. Everywhere foreign faces were to be seen;
+the streets were empty, all the houses carefully closed, all amusements
+suspended, all public places deserted. The whole metropolis resembled a
+place visited by the plague. Acquaintances hurried on without stopping
+for their usual greeting; all hastened on the moment a Spaniard showed
+himself in the streets. Every sound startled them, as if it were the
+knock of the officials of justice at their doors; the nobility, in
+trembling anxiety, kept to their houses; they shunned appearing in
+public lest their presence should remind the new viceroy of some past
+offence. The two nations now seemed to have exchanged characters. The
+Spaniard had become the talkative man and the Brabanter taciturn;
+distrust and fear had scared away the spirit of cheerfulness and mirth;
+a constrained gravity fettered even the play of the features. Every
+moment the impending blow was looked for with dread.
+
+This general straining of expectation warned the duke to hasten the
+accomplishment of his plans before they should be anticipated by the
+timely flight of his victims. His first object was to secure the
+suspected nobles, in order, at once and forever, to deprive the faction
+of its leaders, and the nation, whose freedom was to be crushed, of all
+its supporters. By a pretended affability he had succeeded in lulling
+their first alarm, and in restoring Count Egmont in particular to his
+former perfect confidence, for which purpose he artfully employed his
+sons, Ferdinand and Frederick of Toledo, whose companionableness and
+youth assimilated more easily with the Flemish character. By this
+skilful advice he succeeded also in enticing Count Horn to Brussels,
+who had hitherto thought it advisable to watch the first measures of the
+duke from a distance, but now suffered himself to be seduced by the good
+fortune of his friend. Some of the nobility, and Count Egmont at the
+head of them, even resumed their former gay style of living. But they
+themselves did not do so with their whole hearts, and they had not many
+imitators. Kuilemberg house was incessantly besieged by a numerous
+crowd, who thronged around the person of the new viceroy, and exhibited
+an affected gayety on their countenances, while their hearts were wrung
+with distress and fear. Egmont in particular assumed the appearance of
+a light heart, entertaining the duke's sons, and being feted by them in
+return. Meanwhile, the duke was fearful lest so fair an opportunity for
+the accomplishment of his plans might not last long, and lest some act
+of imprudence might destroy the feeling of security which had tempted
+both his victims voluntarily to put themselves into his power; he only
+waited for a third; Hogstraten also was to be taken in the same net.
+Under a plausible pretext of business he therefore summoned him to the
+metropolis. At the same time that he purposed to secure the three
+counts in Brussels, Colonel Lodrona was to arrest the burgomaster,
+Strahlen, in Antwerp, an intimate friend of the Prince of Orange, and
+suspected of having favored the Calvinists; another officer was to seize
+the private secretary of Count Egmont, whose name was John Cassembrot
+von Beckerzeel, as also some secretaries of Count Horn, and was to
+possess themselves of their papers.
+
+When the day arrived which had been fixed upon for the execution of this
+plan, the duke summoned all the counsellors and knights before him to
+confer with them upon matters of state. On this occasion the Duke of
+Arschot, the Counts Mansfeld, Barlaimont, and Aremberg attended on the
+part of the Netherlands, and on the part of the Spaniards besides the
+duke's sons, Vitelli, Serbellon, and Ibarra. The young Count Mansfeld,
+who likewise appeared at the meeting, received a sign from his father to
+withdraw with all speed, and by a hasty flight avoid the fate which was
+impending over him as a former member of the Geusen league. The duke
+purposely prolonged the consultation to give time before he acted for
+the arrival of the couriers from Antwerp, who were to bring him the
+tidings of the arrest of the other parties. To avoid exciting any
+suspicion, the engineer, Pacotto, was required to attend the meeting to
+lay before it the plans for some fortifications. At last intelligence
+was brought him that Lodrona had successfully executed his commission.
+Upon this the duke dexterously broke off the debate and dismissed the
+council. And now, as Count Egmont was about to repair to the apartment
+of Don Ferdinand, to finish a game that he had commenced with him, the
+captain of the duke's body guard, Sancho D'Avila, stopped him, and
+demanded his sword in the king's name. At the same time he was
+surrounded by a number of Spanish soldiers, who, as had been
+preconcerted, suddenly advanced from their concealment. So unexpected
+a blow deprived Egmont for some moments of all powers of utterance and
+recollection; after a while, however, he collected himself, and taking
+his sword from his side with dignified composure, said, as he delivered
+it into the hands of the Spaniard, "This sword has before this on more
+than one occasion successfully defended the king's cause." Another
+Spanish officer arrested Count Horn as he was returning to his house
+without the least suspicion of danger. Horn's first inquiry was after
+Egmont. On being told that the same fate had just happened to his
+friend he surrendered himself without resistance. "I have suffered
+myself to be guided by him," he exclaimed, "it is fair that I should
+share his destiny." The two counts were placed in confinement in
+separate apartments. While this was going on in the interior of
+Kuilemberg house the whole garrison were drawn out under arms in front
+of it. No one knew what had taken place inside, a mysterious terror
+diffused itself throughout Brussels until rumor spread the news of this
+fatal event. Each felt as if he himself were the sufferer; with many
+indignation at Egmont's blind infatuation preponderated over sympathy
+for his fate; all rejoiced that Orange had escaped. The first question
+of the Cardinal Granvella, too, when these tidings reached him in Rome,
+is said to have been, whether they had taken the Silent One also. On
+being answered in the negative he shook his head "then as they have let
+him escape they have got nothing." Fate ordained better for the Count
+of Hogstraten. Compelled by ill-health to travel slowly, he was met by
+the report of this event while he was yet on his way. He hastily turned
+back, and fortunately escaped destruction. Immediately after Egmont's
+seizure a writing was extorted from him, addressed to the commandant of
+the citadel of Ghent, ordering that officer to deliver the fortress to
+the Spanish Colonel Alphonso d'Ulloa. Upon this the two counts were
+then (after they had been for some weeks confined in Brussels) conveyed
+under a guard of three thousand Spaniards to Ghent, where they remained
+imprisoned till late in the following year. In the meantime all their
+papers had been seized. Many of the first nobility who, by the
+pretended kindness of the Duke of Alva, had allowed themselves to be
+cajoled into remaining experienced the same fate. Capital punishment
+was also, without further delay, inflicted on all who before the duke's
+arrival had been taken with arms in their hands. Upon the news of
+Egmont's arrest a second body of about twenty thousand inhabitants took
+up the wanderer's staff, besides the one hundred thousand who, prudently
+declining to await the arrival of the Spanish general, had already
+placed themselves in safety.
+
+   [A great part of these fugitives helped to strengthen the army of
+   the Huguenots, who had taken occasion, from the passage of the
+   Spanish army through Lorraine, to assemble their forces, and now
+   pressed Charles IX. hard. On these grounds the French court
+   thought it had a right to demand aid from the regent of the
+   Netherlands. It asserted that the Huguenots had looked upon the
+   march of the Spanish army as the result of a preconcerted plan
+   which had been formed against them by the two courts at Bayonne and
+   that this had roused them from their slumber. That consequently it
+   behooved the Spanish court to assist in extricating the French king
+   from difficulties into which the latter had been brought simply by
+   the march of the Spanish troops. Alva actually sent the Count of
+   Aremberg with a considerable force to join the army of the Queen
+   Mother in France, and even offered to command these subsidiaries in
+   person, which, however, was declined. Strada, 206. Thuan, 541.]
+
+After so noble a life had been assailed no one counted himself safe any
+longer; but many found cause to repent that they had so long deferred
+this salutary step; for every day flight was rendered more difficult,
+for the duke ordered all the ports to be closed, and punished the
+attempt at emigration with death. The beggars were now esteemed
+fortunate, who had abandoned country and property in order to preserve
+at least their liberty and their lives.
+
+
+
+
+   ALVA'S FIRST MEASURES, AND DEPARTURE OF THE DUCHESS OF PARMA.
+
+Alva's first step, after securing the most suspected of the nobles, was
+to restore the Inquisition to its former authority, to put the decrees
+of Trent again in force, abolish the "moderation," and promulgate anew
+the edicts against heretics in all their original severity. The court
+of Inquisition in Spain had pronounced the whole nation of the
+Netherlands guilty of treason in the highest degree, Catholics and
+heterodox, loyalists and rebels, without distinction; the latter as
+having offended by overt acts, the former as having incurred equal guilt
+by their supineness. From this sweeping condemnation a very few were
+excepted, whose names, however, were purposely reserved, while the
+general sentence was publicly confirmed by the king. Philip declared
+himself absolved from all his promises, and released from all
+engagements which the regent in his name had entered into with the
+people of the Netherlands, and all the justice which they had in future
+to expect from him must depend on his own good-will and pleasure. All
+who had aided in the expulsion of the minister, Granvella, who had taken
+part in the petition of the confederate nobles, or had but even spoken
+in favor of it; all who had presented a petition against the decrees of
+Trent, against the edicts relating to religion, or against the
+installation of the bishops; all who had permitted the public
+preachings, or had only feebly resisted them; all who had worn the
+insignia of the Gueux, had sung Geusen songs, or who in any way
+whatsoever had manifested their joy at the establishment of the league;
+all who had sheltered or concealed the reforming preachers, attended
+Calvinistic funerals, or had even merely known of their secret meetings,
+and not given information of them; all who had appealed to the national
+privileges; all, in fine, who had expressed an opinion that they ought
+to obey God rather than man; all these indiscriminately were declared
+liable to the penalties which the law imposed upon any violation of the
+royal prerogative, and upon high treason; and these penalties were,
+according to the instruction which Alva had received, to be executed on
+the guilty persons without forbearance or favor; without regard to rank,
+sex, or age, as an example to posterity, and for a terror to all future
+times. According to this declaration there was no longer an innocent
+person to be found in the whole Netherlands, and the new viceroy had it
+in his power to make a fearful choice of victims. Property and life
+were alike at his command, and whoever should have the good fortune to
+preserve one or both must receive them as the gift of his generosity and
+humanity. By this stroke of policy, as refined as it was detestable,
+the nation was disarmed, and unanimity rendered impossible. As it
+absolutely depended on the duke's arbitrary will upon whom the sentence
+should be carried in force which had been passed without exception upon
+all, each individual kept himself quiet, in order to escape, if
+possible, the notice of the viceroy, and to avoid drawing the fatal
+choice upon himself. Every one, on the other hand, in whose favor he
+was pleased to make an exception stood in a degree indebted to him, and
+was personally under an obligation which must be measured by the value
+he set upon his life and property. As, however, this penalty could only
+be executed on the smaller portion of the nation, the duke naturally
+secured the greater by the strongest ties of fear and gratitude, and for
+one whom he sought out as a victim he gained ten others whom he passed
+over. As long as he continued true to this policy he remained in quiet
+possession of his rule, even amid the streams of blood which he caused
+to flow, and did not forfeit this advantage till the want of money
+compelled him to impose a burden upon the nation which oppressed all
+indiscriminately.
+
+In order to be equal to this bloody occupation, the details of which
+were fast accumulating, and to be certain of not losing a single victim
+through the want of instruments; and, on the other hand, to render his
+proceedings independent of the states, with whose privileges they were
+so much at variance, and who, indeed, were far too humane for him, he
+instituted an extraordinary court of justice. This court consisted of
+twelve criminal judges, who, according to their instructions, to the
+very letter of which they must adhere, were to try and pronounce
+sentence upon those implicated in the past disturbances. The mere
+institution of such a board was a violation of the liberties of the
+country, which expressly stipulated that no citizen should be tried out
+of his own province; but the duke filled up the measure of his injustice
+when, contrary to the most sacred privileges of the nation, he proceeded
+to give seats and votes in that court to Spaniards, the open and avowed
+enemies of Belgian liberty. He himself was the president of this court,
+and after him a certain licentiate, Vargas, a Spaniard by birth, of
+whose iniquitous character the historians of both parties are unanimous;
+cast out like a plague-spot from his own country, where he had violated
+one of his wards, he was a shameless, hardened villain, in whose mind
+avarice, lust, and the thirst for blood struggled for ascendancy. The
+principal members were Count Aremberg, Philip of Noircarmes, and Charles
+of Barlaimont, who, however, never sat in it; Hadrian Nicolai,
+chancellor of Gueldres; Jacob Mertens and Peter Asset, presidents of
+Artois and Flanders; Jacob Hesselts and John de la Porte, counsellors of
+Ghent; Louis del Roi, doctor of theology, and by birth a Spaniard; John
+du Bois, king's advocate; and De la'Torre, secretary of the court. In
+compliance with the representations of Viglius the privy council was
+spared any part in this tribunal; nor was any one introduced into it
+from the great council at Malines. The votes of the members were only
+recommendatory, not conclusive, the final sentence being reserved by the
+duke to himself. No particular time was fixed for the sitting of the
+court; the members, however, assembled at noon, as often as the duke
+thought good. But after the expiration of the third month Alva began to
+be less frequent in his attendance, and at last resigned his place
+entirely to his favorite, Vargas, who filled it with such odious fitness
+that in a short time all the members, with the exception merely of the
+Spanish doctor, Del Rio, and the secretary, De la Torre, weary of the
+atrocities of which they were compelled to be both eyewitnesses and
+accomplices, remained away from the assembly.
+
+   [The sentences passed upon the most eminent persons (for example,
+   the sentence of death passed upon Strahlen, the burgomaster of
+   Antwerp), were signed only by Vargas, Del Rio, and De la Torre.]
+
+It is revolting to the feelings to think how the lives of the noblest
+and best were thus placed at the mercy of Spanish vagabonds, and how
+even the sanctuaries of the nation, its deeds and charters, were
+unscrupulously ransacked, the seals broken, and the most secret
+contracts between the sovereign and the state profaned and exposed.
+
+   [For an example of the unfeeling levity with which the most
+   important matters, even decisions in cases of life and death, were
+   treated in this sanguinary council, it may serve to relate what is
+   told of the Counsellor Hesselts. He was generally asleep during
+   the meeting, and when his turn came to vote on a sentence of death
+   he used to cry out, still half asleep: "Ad patibulum! Ad
+   patibulum!" so glibly did his tongue utter this word. It is
+   further to be remarked of this Hesselts, that his wife, a daughter
+   of the President Viglius, had expressly stipulated in the marriage-
+   contract that he should resign the dismal office of attorney for
+   the king, which made him detested by the whole nation. Vigl. ad
+   Hopp. lxvii., L.]
+
+From the council of twelve (which, from the object of its institution,
+was called the council for disturbances, but on account of its
+proceedings is more generally known under the appellation of the council
+of blood, a name which the nation in their exasperation bestowed upon
+it), no appeal was allowed. Its proceedings could not be revised. Its
+verdicts were irrevocable and independent of all other authority. No
+other tribunal in the country could take cognizance of cases which
+related to the late insurrection, so that in all the other courts
+justice was nearly at a standstill. The great council at Malines was
+as good as abolished; the authority of the council of state entirely
+ceased, insomuch that its sittings were discontinued. On some rare
+occasions the duke conferred with a few members of the late assembly,
+but even when this did occur the conference was held in his cabinet, and
+was no more than a private consultation, without any of the proper forms
+being observed. No privilege, no charter of immunity, however carefully
+protected, had any weight with the council for disturbances.
+
+   [Vargas, in a few words of barbarous Latin, demolished at once the
+   boasted liberties of the Netherlands. "Non curamus vestros
+   privilegios," he replied to one who wished to plead the immunities
+   of the University of Louvain.]
+
+It compelled all deeds and contracts to be laid before it, and often
+forced upon them the most strained interpetations and alterations. If
+the duke caused a sentence to be drawn out which there was reason to
+fear might be opposed by the states of Brabant, it was legalized without
+the Brabant seal. The most sacred rights of individuals were assailed,
+and a tyranny without example forced its arbitrary will even into the
+circle of domestic life. As the Protestants and rebels had hitherto
+contrived to strengthen their party so much by marriages with the first
+families in the country, the duke issued an edict forbidding all
+Netherlanders, whatever might be their rank or office, under pain of
+death and confiscation of property, to conclude a marriage without
+previously obtaining his permission.
+
+All whom the council for disturbances thought proper to summon before it
+were compelled to appear, clergy as well as laity; the most venerable
+heads of the senate, as well as the reprobate rabble of the Iconoclasts.
+Whoever did not present himself, as indeed scarcely anybody did, was
+declared an outlaw, and his property was confiscated; but those who were
+rash or foolish enough to appear, or who were so unfortunate as to be
+seized, were lost without redemption. Twenty, forty, often fifty were
+summoned at the same time and from the same town, and the richest were
+always the first on whom the thunderbolt descended. The meaner
+citizens, who possessed nothing that could render their country and
+their homes dear to them, were taken unawares and arrested without any
+previous citation. Many eminent merchants, who had at their disposal
+fortunes of from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand florins, were
+seen with their hands tied behind their backs, dragged like common
+vagabonds at the horse's tail to execution, and in Valenciennes
+fifty-five persons were decapitated at one time. All the prisons--and the
+duke immediately on commencing his administration had built a great
+number of them--were crammed full with the accused; hanging, beheading,
+quartering, burning were the prevailing and ordinary occupations of the
+day; the punishment of the galleys and banishment were more rarely heard
+of, for there was scarcely any offence which was reckoned too trival to
+be punished with death. Immense sums were thus brought into the treasury,
+which, however, served rather to stimulate the new viceroy's and his
+colleagues' thirst for gold than to quench it. It seemed to be his insane
+purpose to make beggars of the whole people, and to throw all their
+riches into the hands of the king and his servants. The yearly income
+derived from these confiscations was computed to equal the revenues of
+the first kingdoms of Europe; it is said to have been estimated, in a
+report furnished to the king, at the incredible amount of twenty million
+of dollars. But these proceedings were the more inhuman, as they often
+bore hardest precisely upon the very persons who were the most peaceful
+subjects, and most orthodox Roman Catholics, whom they could not want to
+injure. Whenever an estate was confiscated all the creditors who had
+claims upon it were defrauded. The hospitals, too, and public
+institutions, which such properties had contributed to support, were now
+ruined, and the poor, who had formerly drawn a pittance from this source,
+were compelled to see their only spring of comfort dried up. Whoever
+ventured to urge their well-grounded claims on the forfeited property
+before the council of twelve (for no other tribunal dared to interfere
+with these inquiries), consumed their substance in tedious and expensive
+proceedings, and were reduced to beggary before they saw the end of them.
+The histories of civilized states furnish but one instance of a similar
+perversion of justice, of such violation of the rights of property, and
+of such waste of human life; but Cinna, Sylla, and Marius entered
+vanquished Rome as incensed victors, and practised without disguise what
+the viceroy of the Netherlands performed under the venerable veil of the
+laws.
+
+Up to the end of the year 1567 the king's arrival had been confidently
+expected, and the well-disposed of the people had placed all their last
+hopes on this event. The vessels, which Philip had caused to be
+equipped expressly for the purpose of meeting him, still lay in the
+harbor of Flushing, ready to sail at the first signal; and the town of
+Brussels had consented to receive a Spanish garrison, simply because the
+king, it was pretended, was to reside within its walls. But this hope
+gradually vanished, as he put off the journey from one season to the
+next, and the new viceroy very soon began to exhibit powers which
+announced him less as a precursor of royalty than as an absolute
+minister, whose presence made that of the monarch entirely superfluous.
+To compete the distress of the provinces their last good angel was now
+to leave them in the person of the regent. From the moment when the
+production of the duke's extensive powers left no doubt remaining as to
+the practical termination of her own rule, Margaret had formed the
+resolution of relinquishing the name also of regent. To see a successor
+in the actual possession of a dignity which a nine years' enjoyment had
+made indispensable to her; to see the authority, the glory, the
+splendor, the adoration, and all the marks of respect, which are the
+usual concomitants of supreme power, pass over to another; and to feel
+that she had lost that which she could never forget she had once held,
+was more than a woman's mind could endure; moreover, the Duke of Alva
+was of all men the least calculated to make her feel her privation the
+less painful by a forbearing use of his newly-acquired dignity. The
+tranquillity of the country, too, which was put in jeopardy by this
+divided rule, seemed to impose upon the duchess the necessity of
+abdicating. Many governors of provinces refused, without an express
+order from the court, to receive commands from the duke and to recognize
+him as co-regent.
+
+The rapid change of their point of attraction could not be met by the
+courtiers so composedly and imperturbably but that the duchess observed
+the alteration, and bitterly felt it. Even the few who, like State
+Counsellor Viglius, still firmly adhered to her, did so less from
+attachment to her person than from vexation at being displaced by
+novices and foreigners, and from being too proud to serve a fresh
+apprenticeship under a new viceroy. But far the greater number, with
+all their endeavors to keep an exact mean, could not help making a
+difference between the homage they paid to the rising sun and that which
+they bestowed on the setting luminary. The royal palace in Brussels
+became more and more deserted, while the throng at Kuilemberg house
+daily increased. But what wounded the sensitiveness of the duchess most
+acutely was the arrest of Horn and Egmont, which was planned and
+executed by the duke without her knowledge or consent, just as if there
+had been no such person as herself in existence. Alva did, indeed,
+after the act was done, endeavor to appease her by declaring that the
+design had been purposely kept secret from her in order to spare her
+name from being mixed up in so odious a transaction; but no such
+considerations of delicacy could close the wound which had been
+inflicted on her pride. In order at once to escape all risk of similar
+insults, of which the present was probably only a forerunner, she
+despatched her private secretary, Macchiavell, to the court of her
+brother, there to solicit earnestly for permission to resign the
+regency. The request was granted without difficulty by the king, who
+accompanied his consent with every mark of his highest esteem. He would
+put aside (so the king expressed himself) his own advantage and that of
+the provinces in order to oblige his sister. He sent a present of
+thirty thousand dollars, and allotted to her a yearly pension of twenty
+thousand.
+
+   [Which, however, does not appear to have been very punctually paid,
+   if a pamphlet maybe trusted which was printed during her lifetime.
+   (It bears the title: Discours sur la Blessure de Monseigneur Prince
+   d'Orange, 1582, without notice of the place where it was printed,
+   and is to be found in the Elector's library at Dresden.) She
+   languished, it is there stated, at Namur in poverty, and so ill-
+   supported by her son (the then governor of the Netherlands), that
+   her own secretary, Aldrobandin, called her sojourn there an exile.
+   But the writer goes on to ask what better treatment could she
+   expect from a son who, when still very young, being on a visit to
+   her at Brussels, snapped his fingers at her behind her back.]
+
+At the same time a diploma was forwarded to the Duke of Alva,
+constituting him, in her stead, viceroy of all the Netherlands, with
+unlimited powers.
+
+Gladly would Margaret have learned that she was permitted to resign the
+regency before a solemn assembly of the states, a wish which she had not
+very obscurely hinted to the king. But she was not gratified. She was
+particularly fond of solemnity, and the example of the Emperor, her
+father, who had exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of his abdication
+of the crown in this very city, seemed to have great attractions for
+her. As she was compelled to part with supreme power, she could
+scarcely be blamed for wishing to do so with as much splendor as
+possible. Moreover, she had not failed to observe how much the general
+hatred of the duke had effected in her own favor, and she looked,
+therefore, the more wistfully forward to a scene, which promised to be
+at once so flattering to her and so affecting. She would have been glad
+to mingle her own tears with those which she hoped to see shed by the
+Netherlanders for their good regent. Thus the bitterness of her descent
+from the throne would have been alleviated by the expression of general
+sympathy. Little as she had done to merit the general esteem during the
+nine years of her administration, while fortune smiled upon her, and the
+approbation of her sovereign was the limit to all her wishes, yet now
+the sympathy of the nation had acquired a value in her eyes as the only
+thing which could in some degree compensate to her for the
+disappointment of all her other hopes. Fain would she have persuaded
+herself that she had become a voluntary sacrifice to her goodness of
+heart and her too humane feelings towards the Netherlanders. As,
+however, the king was very far from being disposed to incur any danger
+by calling a general assembly of the states, in order to gratify a mere
+caprice of his sister, she was obliged to content herself with a
+farewell letter to them. In this document she went over her whole
+administration, recounted, not without ostentation, the difficulties
+with which she had had to struggle, the evils which, by her dexterity,
+she had prevented, and wound up at last by saying that she left a
+finished work, and had to transfer to her successor nothing but the
+punishment of offenders. The king, too, was repeatedly compelled to hear
+the same statement, and she left nothing undone to arrogate to herself
+the glory of any future advantages which it might be the good fortune of
+the duke to realize. Her own merits, as something which did not admit
+of a doubt, but was at the same time a burden oppressive to her modesty,
+she laid at the feet of the king.
+
+Dispassionate posterity may, nevertheless; hesitate to subscribe
+unreservedly to this favorable opinion. Even though the united voice of
+her contemporaries, and the testimony of the Netherlands themselves
+vouch for it, a third party will not be denied the right to examine her
+claims with stricter scrutiny. The popular mind, easily affected, is
+but too ready to count the absence of a vice as an additional virtue,
+and, under the pressure of existing evil, to give excess of praise for
+past benefits.
+
+The Netherlander seems to have concentrated all his hatred upon the
+Spanish name. To lay the blame of the national evils on the regent
+would tend to remove from the king and his minister the curses which he
+would rather shower upon them alone and undividedly; and the Duke of
+Alva's government of the Netherlands was, perhaps, not the proper point
+of view from which to test the merits of his predecessor. It was
+undoubtedly no light task to meet the king's expectations without
+infringing the rights of the people and the duties of humanity; but
+in struggling to effect these two contradictory objects Margaret had
+accomplished neither. She had deeply injured the nation, while
+comparatively she had done little service to the king. It is true that
+she at last crushed the Protestant faction, but the accidental outbreak
+of the Iconoclasts assisted her in this more than all her dexterity.
+She certainly succeeded by her intrigues in dissolving the league of the
+nobles, but not until the first blow had been struck at its roots by
+internal dissensions. The object, to secure which she had for many
+years vainly exhausted her whole policy, was effected at last by a single
+enlistment of troops, for which, however, the orders were issued from
+Madrid. She delivered to the duke, no doubt, a tranquillized country;
+but it cannot be denied that the dread of his approach had the chief
+share in tranquillizing it. By her reports she led the council in Spain
+astray; because she never informed it of the disease, but only of the
+occasional symptoms; never of the universal feeling and voice of the
+nation, but only of the misconduct of factions. Her faulty
+administration, moreover, drew the people into the crime, because
+she exasperated without sufficiently awing them. She it was that
+brought the murderous Alva into the country by leading the king to
+believe that the disturbances in the provinces were to be ascribed, not
+so much to the severity of the royal ordinances, as to the unworthiness
+of those who were charged with their execution. Margaret possessed
+natural capacity and intellect; and an acquired political tact enabled
+her to meet any ordinary case; but she wanted that creative genius
+which, for new and extraordinary emergencies, invents new maxims, or
+wisely oversteps old ones. In a country where honesty was the best
+policy, she adopted the unfortunate plan of practising her insidious
+Italian policy, and thereby sowed the seeds of a fatal distrust in the
+minds of the people. The indulgence which has been so liberally imputed
+to her as a merit was, in truth, extorted from her weakness and timidity
+by the courageous opposition of the nation; she had never departed from
+the strict letter of the royal commands by her own spontaneous
+resolution; never did the gentle feelings of innate humanity lead her
+to misinterpret the cruel purport of her instructions. Even the few
+concessions to which necessity compelled her were granted with an
+uncertain and shrinking hand, as if fearing to give too much; and she
+lost the fruit of her benefactions because she mutilated them by a
+sordid closeness. What in all the other relations of her life she was
+too little, she was on the throne too much--a woman! She had it in her
+power, after Granvella's expulsion, to become the benefactress of the
+Belgian nation, but she did not. Her supreme good was the approbation
+of her king, her greatest misfortune his displeasure; with all the
+eminent qualities of her mind she remained an ordinary character because
+her heart was destitute of native nobility. She used a melancholy power
+with much moderation, and stained her government with no deed of
+arbitrary cruelty; nay, if it had depended on her, she would have always
+acted humanely. Years afterwards, when her idol, Philip II., had long
+forgotten her, the Netherlanders still honored her memory; but she was
+far from deserving the glory which her successor's inhumanity reflected
+upon her.
+
+She left Brussels about the end of December, 1567. The duke escorted
+her as far as the frontiers of Brabant, and there left her under the
+protection of Count Mansfeld in order to hasten back to the metropolis
+and show himself to the Netherlanders as sole regent.
+
+
+
+
+       TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF COUNTS EGMONT AND HORN.
+
+The two counts were a few weeks after their arrest conveyed to Ghent
+under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, where they were confined in
+the citadel for more than eight months. Their trial commenced in due
+form before the council of twelve, and the solicitor-general, John Du
+Bois, conducted the proceedings. The indictment against Egmont
+consisted of ninety counts, and that against Horn of sixty. It would
+occupy too much space to introduce them here. Every action, however
+innocent, every omission of duty, was interpreted on the principle which
+had been laid down in the opening of the indictment, "that the two
+counts, in conjunction with the Prince of Orange, had planned the
+overthrow of the royal authority in the Netherlands, and the usurpation
+of the government of the country;" the expulsion of Granvella; the
+embassy of Egmont to Madrid; the confederacy of the Gueux; the
+concessions which they made to the Protestants in the provinces under
+their government--all were made to have a connection with, and reference
+to, this deliberate design. Thus importance was attached to the most
+insignificant occurrences, and one action made to darken and discolor
+another. By taking care to treat each of the charges as in itself a
+treasonable offence it was the more easy to justify a sentence of high
+treason by the whole.
+
+The accusations were sent to each of the prisoners, who were required to
+reply to them within five days. After doing so they were allowed to
+employ solicitors and advocates, who were permitted free access to them;
+but as they were accused of treason their friends were prohibited from
+visiting them. Count Egmont employed for his solicitor Von Landas, and
+made choice of a few eminent advocates from Brussels.
+
+The first step was to demur against the tribunal which was to try them,
+since by the privilege of their order they, as Knights of the Golden
+Fleece, were amenable only to the king himself, the grand master. But
+this demurrer was overruled, and they were required to produce their
+witnesses, in default of which they were to be proceeded against _in
+contumaciam._ Egmont had satisfactorily answered to eighty-two counts,
+while Count Horn had refuted the charges against him, article by
+article. The accusation and the defence are still extant; on that
+defence every impartial tribunal would have acquitted them both. The
+Procurator Fiscal pressed for the production of their evidence, and the
+Duke of Alva issued his repeated commands to use despatch. They
+delayed, however, from week to week, while they renewed their protests
+against the illegality of the court. At last the duke assigned them
+nine days to produce their proofs; on the lapse of that period they were
+to be declared guilty, and as having forfeited all right of defence.
+
+During the progress of the trial the relations and friends of the two
+counts were not idle. Egmont's wife, by birth a duchess of Bavaria,
+addressed petitions to the princes of the German empire, to the Emperor,
+and to the King of Spain. The Countess Horn, mother of the imprisoned
+count, who was connected by the ties of friendship or of blood with the
+principal royal families of Germany, did the same. All alike protested
+loudly against this illegal proceeding, and appealed to the liberty of
+the German empire, on which Horn, as a count of the empire, had special
+claims; the liberty of the Netherlands and the privileges of the Order
+of the Golden Fleece were likewise insisted upon. The Countess Egmont
+succeeded in obtaining the intercession of almost every German court in
+behalf of her husband. The King of Spain and his viceroy were besieged
+by applications in behalf of the accused, which were referred from one
+to the other, and made light of by both. Countess Horn collected
+certificates from all the Knights of the Golden Fleece in Spain,
+Germany, and Italy to prove the privileges of the order. Alva rejected
+them with a declaration that they had no force in such a case as the
+present. "The crimes of which the counts are accused relate to the
+affairs of the Belgian provinces, and he, the duke, was appointed by the
+king sole judge of all matters connected with those countries."
+
+Four months had been allowed to the solicitor-general to draw up the
+indictment, and five were granted to the two counts to prepare for their
+defence. But instead of losing their time and trouble in adducing their
+evidence, which, perhaps, would have profited then but little, they
+preferred wasting it in protests against the judges, which availed them
+still less. By the former course they would probably have delayed the
+final sentence, and in the time thus gained the powerful intercession of
+their friends might perhaps have not been ineffectual. By obstinately
+persisting in denying the competency of the tribunal which was to try
+them, they furnished the duke with an excuse for cutting short the
+proceedings. After the last assigned period had expired, on the 1st of
+June, 1658, the council of twelve declared them guilty, and on the 4th
+of that month sentence of death was pronounced against them.
+
+The execution of twenty-five noble Netherlanders, who were beheaded in
+three successive days in the marketplace at Brussels, was the terrible
+prelude to the fate of the two counts. John Casembrot von Beckerzeel,
+secretary to Count Egmont, was one of the unfortunates, who was thus
+rewarded for his fidelity to his master, which he steadfastly maintained
+even upon the rack, and for his zeal in the service of the king, which
+he had manifested against the Iconoclasts. The others had either been
+taken prisoners, with arms in their hands, in the insurrection of the
+"Gueux," or apprehended and condemned as traitors on account of having
+taken a part in the petition of the nobles.
+
+The duke had reason to hasten the execution of the sentence. Count
+Louis of Nassau had given battle to the Count of Aremberg, near the
+monastery of Heiligerlee, in Groningen, and had the good fortune to
+defeat him. Immediately after his victory he had advanced against
+Groningen, and laid siege to it. The success of his arms had raised the
+courage of his faction; and the Prince of Orange, his brother, was close
+at hand with an army to support him. These circumstances made the
+duke's presence necessary in those distant provinces; but he could not
+venture to leave Brussels before the fate of two such important
+prisoners was decided. The whole nation loved them, which was not a
+little increased by their unhappy fate. Even the strict papists
+disapproved of the execution of these eminent nobles. The slightest
+advantage which the arms of the rebels might gain over the duke, or even
+the report of a defeat, would cause a revolution in Brussels, which
+would immediately set the two counts at liberty. Moreover, the
+petitions and intercessions which came to the viceroy, as well as to
+the King of Spain, from the German princes, increased daily; nay, the
+Emperor, Maximilian II., himself caused the countess to be assured "that
+she had nothing to fear for the life of her spouse." These powerful
+applications might at last turn the king's heart in favor of the
+prisoners. The king might, perhaps, in reliance on his viceroy's usual
+dispatch, put on the appearance of yielding to the representations of so
+many sovereigns, and rescind the sentence of death under the conviction
+that his mercy would come too late. These considerations moved the duke
+not to delay the execution of the sentence as soon as it was pronounced.
+
+On the day after the sentence was passed the two counts were brought,
+under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, from Ghent to Brussels, and
+placed in confinement in the Brodhause, in the great market-place. The
+next morning the council of twelve were assembled; the duke, contrary to
+his custom, attended in person, and both the sentences, in sealed
+envelopes, were opened and publicly read by Secretary Pranz. The two
+counts were declared guilty of treason, as having favored and promoted
+the abominable conspiracy of the Prince of Orange, protected the
+confederated nobles, and been convicted of various misdemeanors against
+their king and the church in their governments and other appointments.
+Both were sentenced to be publicly beheaded, and their heads were to be
+fixed upon pikes and not taken down without the duke's express command.
+All their possessions, fiefs, and rights escheated to the royal
+treasury. The sentence was signed only by the duke and the secretary,
+Pranz, without asking or caring for the consent of the other members of
+the council.
+
+During the night between the 4th and 5th of June the sentences were
+brought to the prisoners, after they had already gone to rest. The duke
+gave them to the Bishop of Ypres, Martin Rithov, whom he had expressly
+summoned to Brussels to prepare the prisoners for death. When the
+bishop received this commission he threw himself at the feet of the
+duke, and supplicated him with tears in his eyes for mercy, at least for
+respite for the prisoners; but he was answered in a rough and angry
+voice that he had been sent for from Ypres, not to oppose the sentence,
+but by his spiritual consolation to reconcile the unhappy noblemen to
+it.
+
+Egmont was the first to whom the bishop communicated the sentence of
+death. "That is indeed a severe sentence," exclaimed the count, turning
+pale, and with a faltering voice. "I did not think that I had offended
+his majesty so deeply as to deserve such treatment. If, however, it
+must be so I submit to my fate with resignation. May this death atone
+for my offence, and save my wife and children from suffering. This at
+least I think I may claim for my past services. As for death, I will
+meet it with composure, since it so pleases God and my king." He then
+pressed the bishop to tell him seriously and candidly if there was no
+hope of pardon. Being answered in the negative, he confessed and
+received the sacrament from the priest, repeating after him the mass
+with great devoutness. He asked what prayer was the best and most
+effective to recommend him to God in his last hour. On being told that
+no prayer could be more effectual than the one which Christ himself had
+taught, he prepared immediately to repeat the Lord's prayer. The
+thoughts of his family interrupted him; he called for pen and ink, and
+wrote two letters, one to his wife, the other to the king. The latter
+was as follows:
+
+"Sire,--This morning I have heard the sentence which your majesty has
+been pleased to pass upon me. Far as I have ever been from attempting
+anything against the person or service of your majesty, or against the
+true, old, and Catholic religion, I yet submit myself with patience to
+the fate which it has pleased God to ordain should suffer. If, during
+the past disturbances, I have omitted, advised, or done anything that
+seems at variance with my duty, it was most assuredly performed with the
+best intentions, or was forced upon me by the pressure of circumstances.
+I therefore pray your majesty to forgive me, and, in consideration of my
+past services, show mercy to my unhappy wife, my poor children, and
+servants. In a firm hope of this, I commend myself--to the infinite
+mercy of God.
+
+"Your majesty's most faithful vassal and servant,
+
+"LAMORAL COUNT EGMONT.
+
+"BRUSSELS, June 5, 1568, near my last moments."
+
+
+This letter he placed in the hands of the bishop, with the strongest
+injunctions for its safe delivery; and for greater security he sent a
+duplicate in his own handwriting to State Counsellor Viglius, the most
+upright man in the senate, by whom, there is no doubt, it was actually
+delivered to the king. The family of the count were subsequently
+reinstated in all his property, fiefs, and rights, which, by virtue of
+the sentence, had escheated to the royal treasury.
+
+Meanwhile a scaffold had been erected in the marketplace, before the
+town hall, on which two poles were fixed with iron spikes, and the whole
+covered with black cloth. Two-and-twenty companies of the Spanish
+garrison surrounded the scaffold, a precaution which was by no means
+superfluous. Between ten and eleven o'clock the Spanish guard appeared
+in the apartment of the count; they were provided with cords to tie his
+hands according to custom. He begged that this might be spared him, and
+declared that he was willing and ready to die. He himself cut off the
+collar from his doublet to facilitate the executioner's duty. He wore a
+robe of red damask, and over that a black Spanish cloak trimmed with
+gold lace. In this dress he appeared on the scaffold, and was attended
+by Don Julian Romero, maitre-de-camp; Salinas, a Spanish captain; and
+the Bishop of Ypres. The grand provost of the court, with a red wand in
+his hand, sat on horseback at the foot of the scaffold; the executioner
+was concealed beneath.
+
+Egmont had at first shown a desire to address the people from the
+scaffold. He desisted, however, on the bishop's representing to him
+that either he would not be heard, or that if he were, he might--such at
+present was the dangerous disposition of the people--excite them to acts
+of violence, which would only plunge his friends into destruction. For
+a few moments he paced the scaffold with noble dignity, and lamented
+that it had not been permitted him to die a more honorable death for his
+king and his country. Up to the last he seemed unable to persuade
+himself that the king was in earnest, and that his severity would be
+carried any further than the mere terror of execution. When the
+decisive period approached, and he was to receive the extreme unction,
+he looked wistfully round, and when there still appeared no prospect of
+a reprieve, he turned to Julian Romero, and asked him once more if there
+was no hope of pardon for him. Julian Romero shrugged his shoulders,
+looked on the ground, and was silent.
+
+He then closely clenched his teeth, threw off his mantle and robe, knelt
+upon the cushion, and prepared himself for the last prayer. The bishop
+presented him the crucifix to kiss, and administered to him extreme
+unction, upon which the count made him a sign to leave him. He drew a
+silk cap over his eyes, and awaited the stroke. Over the corpse and the
+streaming blood a black cloth was immediately thrown.
+
+All Brussels thronged around the scaffold, and the fatal blow seemed to
+fall on every heart. Loud sobs alone broke the appalling silence. The
+duke himself, who watched the execution from a window of the townhouse,
+wiped his eyes as his victim died.
+
+Shortly afterwards Count Horn advanced on the scaffold. Of a more
+violent temperament than his friend, and stimulated by stronger reasons
+for hatred against the king, he had received the sentence with less
+composure, although in his case, perhaps, it was less unjust. He burst
+forth in bitter reproaches against the king, and the bishop with
+difficulty prevailed upon him to make a better use of his last moments
+than to abuse them in imprecations on his enemies. At last, however, he
+became more collected, and made his confession to the bishop, which at
+first he was disposed to refuse.
+
+He mounted the scaffold with the same attendants as his friend. In
+passing he saluted many of his acquaintances; his hands were, like
+Egmont's, free, and he was dressed in a black doublet and cloak, with a
+Milan cap of the same color upon his head. When he had ascended, he
+cast his eyes upon the corpse, which lay under the cloth, and asked one
+of the bystanders if it was the body of his friend. On being answered
+in the affirmative, he said some words in Spanish, threw his cloak from
+him, and knelt upon the cushion. All shrieked aloud as he received the
+fatal blow.
+
+The heads of both were fixed upon the poles which were set up on the
+scaffold, where they remained until past three in the afternoon, when
+they were taken down, and, with the two bodies, placed in leaden coffins
+and deposited in a vault.
+
+In spite of the number of spies and executioners who surrounded the
+scaffold, the citizens of Brussels would not be prevented from dipping
+their handkerchiefs in the streaming blood, and carrying home with them
+these precious memorials.
+
+
+
+
+  SIEGE OF ANTWERP BY THE PRINCE OF PARMA, IN THE YEARS 1584 AND 1585.
+
+It is an interesting spectacle to observe the struggle of man's
+inventive genius in conflict with powerful opposing elements, and to
+see the difficulties which are insurmountable to ordinary capacities
+overcome by prudence, resolution, and a determined will. Less
+attractive, but only the more instructive, perhaps, is the contrary
+spectacle, where the absence of those qualities renders all efforts of
+genius vain, throws away all the favors of fortune, and where inability
+to improve such advantages renders hopeless a success which otherwise
+seemed sure and inevitable. Examples of both kinds are afforded by the
+celebrated siege of Antwerp by the Spaniards towards the close of the
+sixteenth century, by which that flourishing city was forever deprived
+of its commercial prosperity, but which, on the other hand, conferred
+immortal fame on the general who undertook and accomplished it.
+
+Twelve years had the war continued which the northern provinces of
+Belgium had commenced at first in vindication simply of their religious
+freedom, and the privileges of their states, from the encroachments of
+the Spanish viceroy, but maintained latterly in the hope of establishing
+their independence of the Spanish crown. Never completely victors, but
+never entirely vanquished, they wearied out the Spanish valor by tedious
+operations on an unfavorable soil, and exhausted the wealth of the
+sovereign of both the Indies while they themselves were called beggars,
+and in a degree actually were so. The league of Ghent, which had united
+the whole Netherlands, Roman Catholic and Protestant, in a common and
+(could such a confederation have lasted) invincible body, was indeed
+dissolved; but in place of this uncertain and unnatural combination the
+northern provinces had, in the year 1579, formed among themselves the
+closer union of Utrecht, which promised to be more lasting, inasmuch as
+it was linked and held together by common political and religious
+interests. What the new republic had lost in extent through this
+separation from the Roman Catholic provinces it was fully compensated
+for by the closeness of alliance, the unity of enterprise, and energy of
+execution; and perhaps it was fortunate in thus timely losing what no
+exertion probably would ever have enabled it to retain.
+
+The greater part of the Walloon provinces had, in the year 1584, partly
+by voluntary submission and partly by force of arms, been again reduced
+under the Spanish yoke. The northern districts alone had been able at
+all successfully to oppose it. A considerable portion of Brabant and
+Flanders still obstinately held out against the arms of the Duke
+Alexander of Parma, who at that time administered the civil government
+of the provinces, and the supreme command of the army, with equal energy
+and prudence, and by a series of splendid victories had revived the
+military reputation of Spain. The peculiar formation of the country,
+which by its numerous rivers and canals facilitated the connection of
+the towns with one another and with the sea, baffled all attempts
+effectually to subdue it, and the possession of one place could only be
+maintained by the occupation of another. So long as this communication
+was kept up Holland and Zealand could with little difficulty assist
+their allies, and supply them abundantly by water as well as by land
+with all necessaries, so that valor was of no use, and the strength of
+the king's troops was fruitlessly wasted on tedious sieges.
+
+Of all the towns in Brabant Antwerp was the most important, as well
+from, its wealth, its population, and its military force, as by its
+position on the mouth of the Scheldt. This great and populous town,
+which at this date contained more than eighty thousand inhabitants, was
+one of the most active members of the national league, and had in the
+course of the war distinguished itself above all the towns of Belgium by
+an untamable spirit of liberty. As it fostered within its bosom all the
+three Christian churches, and owed much of its prosperity to this
+unrestricted religious liberty, it had the more cause to dread the
+Spanish rule, which threatened to abolish this toleration, and by the
+terror of the Inquisition to drive all the Protestant merchants from its
+markets. Moreover it had had but too terrible experience of the
+brutality of the Spanish garrisons, and it was quite evident that if it
+once more suffered this insupportable yoke to be imposed upon it it
+would never again during the whole course of the war be able to throw it
+off.
+
+But powerful as were the motives which stimulated Antwerp to resistance,
+equally strong were the reasons which determined the Spanish general to
+make himself master of the place at any cost. On the possession of this
+town depended in a great measure that of the whole province of Brabant,
+which by this channel chiefly derived its supplies of corn from Zealand,
+while the capture of this place would secure to the victor the command
+of the Scheldt. It would also deprive the league of Brabant, which held
+its meetings in the town, of its principal support; the whole faction of
+its dangerous influence, of its example, its counsels, and its money,
+while the treasures of its inhabitants would open plentiful supplies for
+the military exigencies of the king. Its fall would sooner or later
+necessarily draw after it that of all Brabant, and the preponderance of
+power in that quarter would decide the whole dispute in favor of the
+king. Determined by these grave considerations, the Duke of Parma drew
+his forces together in July, 1584, and advanced from his position at
+Dornick to the neighborhood of Antwerp, with the intention of investing
+it.
+
+But both the natural position and fortifications of the town appeared to
+defy attacks. Surrounded on the side of Brabant with insurmountable
+works and moats, and towards Flanders covered by the broad and rapid
+stream of the Scheldt, it could not be carried by storm; and to blockade
+a town of such extent seemed to require a land force three times larger
+than that which the duke had, and moreover a fleet, of which he was
+utterly destitute. Not only did the river yield the town all necessary
+supplies from Ghent, it also opened an easy communication with the
+bordering province of Zealand. For, as the tide of the North Sea
+extends far up the Scheldt, and ebbs and flows regularly, Antwerp enjoys
+the peculiar advantage that the same tide flows past it at different
+times in two opposite directions. Besides, the adjacent towns of
+Brussels, Malines, Ghent, Dendermonde, and others, were all at this time
+in the hands of the league, and could aid the place from the land side
+also. To blockade, therefore, the town by land, and to cut off its
+communication with Flanders and Brabant, required two different armies,
+one on each bank of the river. A sufficient fleet was likewise needed
+to guard the passage of the Scheldt, and to prevent all attempts at
+relief, which would most certainly be made from Zealand. But by the war
+which he had still to carry on in other quarters, and by the numerous
+garrisons which he was obliged to leave in the towns and fortified
+places, the army of the duke was reduced to ten thousand infantry and
+seventeen hundred horse, a force very inadequate for an undertaking of
+such magnitude. Moreover, these troops were deficient in the most
+necessary supplies, and the long arrears of pay had excited them to
+subdued murmurs, which hourly threatened to break out into open mutiny.
+If, notwithstanding these difficulties, he should still attempt the
+siege, there would be much occasion to fear from the strongholds of the
+enemy, which were left in the rear, and from which it would be easy, by
+vigorous sallies, to annoy an army distributed over so many places, and
+to expose it to want by cutting off its supplies.
+
+All these considerations were brought forward by the council of war,
+before which the Duke of Parrna now laid his scheme. However great the
+confidence which they placed in themselves, and in the proved abilities
+of such a leader, nevertheless the most experienced generals did not
+disguise their despair of a fortunate result. Two only were exceptions,
+Capizucchi and Mondragone, whose ardent courage placed them above all
+apprehensions; the rest concurred in dissuading the duke from attempting
+so hazardous an enterprise, by which they ran the risk of forfeiting the
+fruit of all their former victories and tarnishing the glory they had
+already earned.
+
+But objections, which he had already made to himself and refuted, could
+not shake the Duke of Parma in his purpose. Not in ignorance of its
+inseparable dangers, not from thoughtless overvaluing his forces had he
+taken this bold resolve. But that instinctive genius which leads great
+men by paths which inferior minds either never enter upon or never
+finish, raised him above the influence of the doubts which a cold and
+narrow prudence would oppose to his views; and, without being able to
+convince his generals, he felt the correctness of his calculations in a
+conviction indistinct, indeed, but not on that account less indubitable.
+A succession of fortunate results had raised his confidence, and the
+sight of his army, unequalled in Europe for discipline, experience, and
+valor, and commanded by a chosen body of the most distinguished
+officers, did not permit him to entertain fear for a moment. To those
+who objected to the small number of his troops, he answered, that
+however long the pike, it is only the point that kills; and that in
+military enterprise, the moving power was of more importance than the
+mass to be moved. He was aware, indeed, of the discontent of his
+troops, but he knew also their obedience; and he thought, moreover, that
+the best means to stifle their murmurs was by keeping them employed in
+some important undertaking, by stimulating their desire of glory by the
+splendor of the enterprise, and their rapacity by hopes of the rich
+booty which the capture of so wealthy a town would hold out.
+
+In the plan which he now formed for the conduct of the siege he
+endeavored to meet all these difficulties. Famine was the only
+instrument by which he could hope to subdue the town; but effectually to
+use this formidable weapon, it would be expedient to cut off all its
+land and water communications. With this view, the first object was to
+stop, or at least to impede, the arrival of supplies from Zealand. It
+was, therefore, requisite not only to carry all the outworks, which the
+people of Antwerp had built on both shores of the Scheldt for the
+protection of their shipping; but also, wherever feasible, to throw up
+new batteries which should command the whole course of the river; and to
+prevent the place from drawing supplies from the land side, while
+efforts were being made to intercept their transmission by sea, all the
+adjacent towns of Brabant and Flanders were comprehended in the plan of
+the siege, and the fall of Antwerp was based on the destruction of all
+those places. A bold and, considering the duke's scanty force, an
+almost extravagant project, which was, however, justified by the genius
+of its author, and crowned by fortune with a brilliant result.
+
+As, however, time was required to accomplish a plan of this magnitude,
+the Prince of Parma was content, for the present, with the erection of
+numerous forts on the canals and rivers which connected Antwerp with
+Dendermonde, Ghent, Malines, Brussels, and other places. Spanish
+garrisons were quartered in the vicinity, and almost at the very gates
+of those towns, which laid waste the open country, and by their
+incursions kept the surrounding territory in alarm. Thus, round Ghent
+alone were encamped about three thousand men, and proportionate numbers
+round the other towns. In this way, and by means of the secret
+understanding which he maintained with the Roman Catholic inhabitants of
+those towns, the duke hoped, without weakening his own forces, gradually
+to exhaust their strength, and by the harassing operations of a petty
+but incessant warfare, even without any formal siege, to reduce them at
+last to capitulate.
+
+In the meantime the main force was directed against Antwerp, which he
+now closely invested. He fixed his headquarters at Bevern in Flanders,
+a few miles from Antwerp, where he found a fortified camp. The
+protection of the Flemish bank of the Scheldt was entrusted to the
+Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry; the Brabant bank to the Count
+Peter Ernest Von Mansfeld, who was joined by another Spanish leader,
+Mondragone. Both the latter succeeded in crossing the Scheldt upon
+pontoons, notwithstanding the Flemish admiral's ship was sent to oppose
+them, and, passing Antwerp, took up their position at Stabroek in
+Bergen. Detached corps dispersed themselves along the whole Brabant
+side, partly to secure the dykes and the roads.
+
+Some miles below Antwerp the Scheldt was guarded by two strong forts, of
+which one was situated at Liefkenshoek on the island Doel, in Flanders,
+the other at Lillo, exactly opposite the coast of Brabant. The last had
+been erected by Mondragone himself, by order of the Duke of Alvaa, when
+the latter was still master of Antwerp, and for this very reason the
+Duke of Parma now entrusted to him the attack upon it. On the
+possession of these two forts the success of the siege seemed wholly to
+depend, since all the vessels sailing from Zealand to Antwerp must pass
+under their guns. Both forts had a short time before been strengthened
+by the besieged, and the former was scarcely finished when the Margrave
+of Rysburg attacked it. The celerity with which he went to work
+surprised the enemy before they were sufficiently prepared for defence,
+and a brisk assault quickly placed Liefkenshoek in the hands of the
+Spaniards. The confederates sustained this loss on the same fatal day
+that the Prince of Orange fell at Delft by the hands of an assassin.
+The other batteries, erected on the island of Doel, were partly
+abandoned by their defenders, partly taken by surprise, so that in a
+short time the whole Flemish side was cleared of the enemy. But the
+fort at Lillo, on the Brabant shore, offered a more vigorous resistance,
+since the people of Antwerp had had time to strengthen its
+fortifications and to provide it with a strong garrison. Furious
+sallies of the besieged, led by Odets von Teligny, supported by the
+cannon of the fort, destroyed all the works of the Spaniards, and an
+inundation, which was effected by opening the sluices, finally drove
+them away from the place after a three weeks' siege, and with the loss
+of nearly two thousand killed. They now retired into their fortified
+camp at Stabroek, and contented themselves with taking possession of the
+dams which run across the lowlands of Bergen, and oppose a breastwork to
+the encroachments of the East Scheldt.
+
+The failure of his attempt upon the fort of Lillo compelled the Prince
+of Parma to change his measures. As he could not succeed in stopping
+the passage of the Scheldt by his original plan, on which the success of
+the siege entirely depended, he determined to effect his purpose by
+throwing a bridge across the whole breadth of the river. The thought
+was bold, and there were many who held it to be rash. Both the breadth
+of the stream, which at this part exceeds twelve hundred paces, as well
+as its violence, which is still further augmented by the tides of the
+neighboring sea, appeared to render every attempt of this kind
+impracticable. Moreover, he had to contend with a deficiency of timber,
+vessels, and workmen, as well as with the dangerous position between the
+fleets of Antwerp and of Zealand, to which it would necessarily be an
+easy task, in combination with a boisterous element, to interrupt so
+tedious a work. But the Prince of Parma knew his power, and his settled
+resolution would yield to nothing short of absolute impossibility.
+After he had caused the breadth as well as the depth of the river to be
+measured, and had consulted with two of his most skilful engineers,
+Barocci and Plato, it was settled that the bridge should be constructed
+between Calloo in Flanders and Ordain in Brabant. This spot was
+selected because the river is here narrowest, and bends a little to the
+right, and so detains vessels a while by compelling them to tack. To
+cover the bridge strong bastions were erected at both ends, of which the
+one on the Flanders side was named Fort St. Maria, the other, on the
+Brabant side, Fort St. Philip, in honor of the king.
+
+While active preparations were making in the Spanish camp for the
+execution of this scheme, and the whole attention of the enemy was
+directed to it, the duke made an unexpected attack upon Dendermonde, a
+strong town between Ghent and Antwerp, at the confluence of the Dender
+and the Scheldt. As long as this important place was in the hands of
+the enemy the towns of Ghent and Antwerp could mutually support each
+other, and by the facility of their communication frustrate all the
+efforts of the besiegers. Its capture would leave the prince free to
+act against both towns, and might decide the fate of his undertaking.
+The rapidity of his attack left the besieged no time to open their
+sluices and lay the country under water. A hot cannonade was opened
+upon the chief bastion of the town before the Brussels gate, but was
+answered by the fire of the besieged, which made great havoc amongst the
+Spaniards. It increased, however, rather than discouraged their ardor,
+and the insults of the garrison, who mutilated the statue of a saint
+before their eyes, and after treating it with the most contumelious
+indignity, hurled it down from the rampart, raised their fury to the
+highest pitch. Clamorously they demanded to be led against the bastion
+before their fire had made a sufficient breach in it, and the prince, to
+avail himself of the first ardor of their impetuosity, gave the signal
+for the assault. After a sanguinary contest of two hours the rampart
+was mounted, and those who were not sacrificed to the first fury of the
+Spaniards threw themselves into the town. The latter was indeed now
+more exposed, a fire being directed upon it from the works which had
+been carried; but its strong walls and the broad moat which surrounded
+it gave reason to expect a protracted resistance. The inventive
+resources of the Prince of Parma soon overcame this obstacle also.
+While the bombardment was carried on night and day, the troops were
+incessantly employed in diverting the course of the Dender, which
+supplied the fosse with water, and the besieged were seized with despair
+as they saw the water of the trenches, the last defence of the town,
+gradually disappear. They hastened to capitulate, and in August, 1584,
+received a Spanish garrison. Thus, in the space of eleven days, the
+Prince of Parrna accomplished an undertaking which, in the opinion of
+competent judges, would require as many weeks.
+
+The town of Ghent, now cut off from Antwerp and the sea, and hard
+pressed by the troops of the king, which were encamped in its vicinity,
+and without hope of immediate succor, began to despair, as famine, with
+all its dreadful train, advanced upon them with rapid steps. The
+inhabitants therefore despatched deputies to the Spanish camp at Bevern,
+to tender its submission to the king upon the same terms as the prince
+had a short time previously offered. The deputies were informed that
+the time for treaties was past, and that an unconditional submission
+alone could appease the just anger of the monarch whom they had offended
+by their rebellion. Nay, they were even given to understand that it
+would be only through his great mercy if the same humiliation were not
+exacted from them as their rebellious ancestors were forced to undergo
+under Charles V., namely, to implore pardon half-naked, and with a cord
+round their necks. The deputies returned to Ghent in despair, but three
+days afterwards a new deputation was sent to the Spanish camp, which at
+last, by the intercession of one of the prince's friends, who was a
+prisoner in Ghent, obtained peace upon moderate terms. The town was to
+pay a fine of two hundred thousand florins, recall the banished papists,
+and expel the Protestant inhabitants, who, however, were to be allowed
+two years for the settlement of their affairs. All the inhabitants
+except six, who were reserved for capital punishment (but afterwards
+pardoned), were included in a general amnesty, and the garrison, which
+amounted to two thousand men, was allowed to evacuate the place with the
+honors of war. This treaty was concluded in September of the same year,
+at the headquarters at Bevern, and immediately three thousand Spaniards
+marched into the town as a garrison.
+
+It was more by the terror of his name and the dread of famine than by
+the force of arms that the Prince of Parma had succeeded in reducing
+this city to submission, the largest and strongest in the Netherlands,
+which was little inferior to Paris within the barriers of its inner
+town, consisted of thirty-seven thousand houses, and was built on twenty
+islands, connected by ninety-eight stone bridges. The important
+privileges which in the course of several centuries this city had
+contrived to extort from its rulers fostered in its inhabitants a spirit
+of independence, which not unfrequently degenerated into riot and
+license, and naturally brought it in collision with the Austrian-Spanish
+government. And it was exactly this bold spirit of liberty which
+procured for the Reformation the rapid and extensive success it met with
+in this town, and the combined incentives of civil and religious freedom
+produced all those scenes of violence by which, during the rebellion, it
+had unfortunately distinguished itself. Besides the fine levied, the
+prince found within the walls a large store of artillery, carriages,
+ships, and building materials of all kinds, with numerous workmen and
+sailors, who materially aided him in his plans against Antwerp.
+
+Before Ghent surrendered to the king Vilvorden and Herentals had fallen
+into the hands of the Spaniards, and the capture of the block-houses
+near the village of Willebrock had cut off Antwerp from Brussels and
+Malines. The loss of these places within so short a period deprived
+Antwerp of all hope of succor from Brabant and Flanders, and limited all
+their expectations to the assistance which might be looked for from
+Zealand. But to deprive them also of this the Prince of Parma was now
+making the most energetic preparations.
+
+The citizens of Antwerp had beheld the first operations of the enemy
+against their town with the proud security with which the sight of their
+invincible river inspired them. This confidence was also in a degree
+justified by the opinion of the Prince of Orange, who, upon the first
+intelligence of the design, had said that the Spanish army would
+inevitably perish before the walls of Antwerp. That nothing, however,
+might be neglected, he sent, a short time before his assassination, for
+the burgomaster of Antwerp, Philip Marnix of St. Aldegonde, his intimate
+friend, to Delft, where he consulted with him as to the means of
+maintaining defensive operations. It was agreed between then that it
+would be advisable to demolish forthwith the great dam between Sanvliet
+and Lillo called the Blaaugarendyk, so as to allow the waters of the
+East Scheldt to inundate, if necessary, the lowlands of Bergen, and
+thus, in the event of the Scheldt being closed, to open a passage for
+the Zealand vessels to the town across the inundated country. Aldegonde
+had, after his return, actually persuaded the magistrate and the
+majority of the citizens to agree to this proposal, when it was resisted
+by the guild of butchers, who claimed that they would be ruined by such
+a measure; for the plain which it was wished to lay under water was a
+vast tract of pasture land, upon which about twelve thousand oxen--were
+annually put to graze. The objection of the butchers was successful,
+and they managed to prevent the execution of this salutary scheme until
+the enemy had got possession of the dams as well as the pasture land.
+
+At the suggestion of the burgomaster St. Aldegonde, who, himself a
+member of the states of Brabant, was possessed of great authority in
+that council, the fortifications on both sides the Scheldt had, a short
+time before the arrival of the Spaniards, been placed in repair, and
+many new redoubts erected round the town. The dams had been cut through
+at Saftingen, and the water of the West Scheldt let out over nearly the
+whole country of Waes. In the adjacent Marquisate of Bergen troops had
+been enlisted by the Count of Hohenlohe, and a Scotch regiment, under
+the command of Colonel Morgan, was already in the pay of the republic,
+while fresh reinforcements were daily expected from England and France.
+Above all, the states of Holland and Zealand were called upon to hasten
+their supplies. But after the enemy had taken strong positions on both
+sides of the river, and the fire of their batteries made the navigation
+dangerous, when place after place in Brabant fell into their hands, and
+their cavalry had cut off all communication on the land side, the
+inhabitants of Antwerp began at last to entertain serious apprehensions
+for the future. The town then contained eighty-five thousand souls, and
+according to calculation three hundred thousand quarters of corn were
+annually required for their support. At the beginning of the siege
+neither the supply nor the money was wanting for the laying in of such a
+store; for in spite of the enemy's fire the Zealand victualling ships,
+taking advantage of the rising tide, contrived to make their way to the
+town. All that was requisite was to prevent any of the richer citizens
+from buying up these supplies, and, in case of scarcity, raising the
+price. To secure his object, one Gianibelli from Mantua, who had
+rendered important services in the course of the siege, proposed a
+property tax of one penny in every hundred, and the appointment of a
+board of respectable persons to purchase corn with this money, and
+distribute it weekly. And until the returns of this tax should be
+available the richer classes should advance the required sum, holding
+the corn purchased, as a deposit, in their own magazines; and were also
+to share in the profit. But this plan was unwelcome to the wealthier
+citizens, who had resolved to profit by the general distress. They
+recommended that every individual should be required to provide himself
+with a sufficient supply for two years; a proposition which, however it
+might suit their own circumstances, was very unreasonable in regard to
+the poorer inhabitants, who, even before the siege, could scarcely find
+means to supply themselves for so many months. They obtained indeed
+their object, which was to reduce the poor to the necessity of either
+quitting the place or becoming entirely their dependents. But when they
+afterwards reflected that in the time of need the rights of property
+would not be respected, they found it advisable not to be over-hasty in
+making their own purchases.
+
+The magistrate, in order to avert an evil that would have pressed upon
+individuals only, had recourse to an expedient which endangered the
+safety of all. Some enterprising persons in Zealand had freighted a
+large fleet with provisions, which succeeded in passing the guns of the
+enemy, and discharged its cargo at Antwerp. The hope of a large profit
+had tempted the merchants to enter upon this hazardous speculation; in
+this, however, they were disappointed, as the magistrate of Antwerp had,
+just before their arrival, issued an edict regulating the price of all
+the necessaries of life. At the same time to prevent individuals from
+buying up the whole cargo and storing it in their magazines with a view
+of disposing of it afterwards at a dearer rate, he ordered that the
+whole should be publicly sold in any quantities from the vessels. The
+speculators, cheated of their hopes of profit by these precautions, set
+sail again, and left Antwerp with the greater part of their cargo, which
+would have sufficed for the support of the town for several months.
+
+This neglect of the most essential and natural means of preservation can
+only be explained by the supposition that the inhabitants considered it
+absolutely impossible ever to close the Scheldt completely, and
+consequently had not the least apprehension that things would come to
+extremity. When the intelligence arrived in Antwerp that the prince
+intended to throw a bridge over the Scheldt the idea was universally
+ridiculed as chimerical. An arrogant comparison was drawn between the
+republic and the stream, and it was said that the one would bear the
+Spanish yoke as little as the other. "A river which is twenty-four
+hundred feet broad, and, with its own waters alone, above sixty feet
+deep, but which with the tide rose twelve feet more--would such a
+stream," it was asked, "submit to be spanned by a miserable piece of
+paling? Where were beams to be found high enough to reach to the bottom
+and project above the surface? and how was a work of this kind to stand
+in winter, when whole islands and mountains of ice, which stone walls
+could hardly resist, would be driven by the flood against its weak
+timbers, and splinter them to pieces like glass? Or, perhaps, the
+prince purposed to construct a bridge of boats; if so, where would he
+procure the latter, and how bring them into his intrenchments? They
+must necessarily be brought past Antwerp, where a fleet was ready to
+capture or sink them."
+
+But while they were trying to prove the absurdity of the Prince of
+Parma's undertaking he had already completed it. As soon as the forts
+St. Maria and St. Philip were erected, and protected the workmen and the
+work by their fire, a pier was built out into the stream from both
+banks, for which purpose the masts of the largest vessels were employed;
+by a skilful arrangement of the timbers they contrived to give the whole
+such solidity that, as the result proved, it was able to resist the
+violent pressure of the ice. These timbers, which rested firmly and
+securely on the bottom of the river, and projected a considerable height
+above it, being covered with planks, afforded a commodious roadway. It
+was wide enough to allow eight men to cross abreast, and a balustrade
+that ran along it on both sides, protected them from the fire of
+small-arms from the enemy's vessels. This "stacade," as it was called,
+ran from the two opposite shores as far as the increasing depth and force
+of the stream allowed. It reduced the breadth of the river to about
+eleven hundred feet; as, however, the middle and proper current would not
+admit of such a barrier, there remained, therefore, between the two
+stacades a space of more than six hundred paces through which a whole
+fleet of transports could sail with ease. This intervening space the
+prince designed to close by a bridge of boats, for which purpose the
+craft must be procured from Dunkirk. But, besides that they could not be
+obtained in any number at that place, it would be difficult to bring them
+past Antwerp without great loss. He was, therefore, obliged to content
+himself for the time with having narrowed the stream one-half, and
+rendered the passage of the enemy's vessels so much the more difficult.
+Where the stacades terminated in the middle of the stream they spread out
+into parallelograms, which were mounted with heavy guns, and served as a
+kind of battery on the water. From these a heavy fire was opened on every
+vessel that attempted to pass through this narrow channel. Whole fleets,
+however, and single vessels still attempted and succeeded in passing this
+dangerous strait.
+
+Meanwhile Ghent surrendered, and this unexpected success at once rescued
+the prince from his dilemma. He found in this town everything necessary
+to complete his bridge of boats; and the only difficulty now was its
+safe transport, which was furnished by the enemy themselves. By cutting
+the dams at Saftingen a great part of the country of Waes, as far as the
+village of Borcht, had been laid under water, so that it was not
+difficult to cross it with flat-bottomed boats. The prince, therefore,
+ordered his vessels to run out from Ghent, and after passing Dendermonde
+and Rupelmonde to pass through the left dyke of the Scheldt, leaving
+Antwerp to the right, and sail over the inundated fields in the
+direction of Borcht. To protect this passage a fort was erected at the
+latter village, which would keep the enemy in check. All succeeded to
+his wishes, though not without a sharp action with the enemy's flotilla,
+which was sent out to intercept this convoy. After breaking through a
+few more dams on their route, they reached the Spanish quarters at
+Calloo, and successfully entered the Scheldt again. The exultation of
+the army was greater when they discovered the extent of the danger the
+vessels had so narrowly escaped. Scarcely had they got quit of the
+enemy's vessels when a strong reinforcement from Antwerp got under
+weigh, commanded by the valiant defender of Lillo, Odets von Teligny.
+When this officer saw that the affair was over, and that the enemy had
+escaped, he took possession of the dam through which their fleet had
+passed, and threw up a fort on the spot in order to stop the passage of
+any vessels from Ghent which might attempt to follow them.
+
+By this step the prince was again thrown into embarrassment. He was far
+from having as yet a sufficient number of vessels, either for the
+construction of the bridge or for its defence, and the passage by which
+the former convoy had arrived was now closed by the fort erected by
+Teligny. While he was reconnoitring the country to discover a new way
+for his, fleets an idea occurred to him which not only put an end to his
+present dilemma, but greatly accelerated the success of his whole plan.
+Not far from the village of Stecken, in Waes, which is within some five
+thousand paces of the commencement of the inundation, flows a small
+stream called the Moer, which falls into the Scheldt near Ghent. From
+this river he caused a canal to be dug to the spot where the inundations
+began, and as the water of these was not everywhere deep enough for the
+transit of his boats, the canal between Bevern and Verrebroek was
+continued to Calloo, where it was met by the Scheldt. At this work five
+hundred pioneers labored without intermission, and in order to cheer the
+toil of the soldiers the prince himself took part in it. In this way
+did he imitate the example of the two celebrated Romans, Drusus and
+Corbulo, who by similar works had united the Rhine with the Zuyder Zee,
+and the Maes with the Rhine?
+
+This canal, which the army in honor of its projector called the canal of
+Parma, was fourteen thousand paces in length, and was of proportion able
+depth and breadth, so as to be navigable for ships of a considerable
+burden. It afforded to the vessels from Ghent not only a more secure,
+but also a much shorter course to the Spanish quarters, because it was
+no longer necessary to follow the many windings of the Scheldt, but
+entering the Moer at once near Ghent, and from thence passing close to
+Stecken, they could proceed through the canal and across the inundated
+country as far as Calloo. As the produce of all Flanders was brought to
+the town of Ghent, this canal placed the Spanish camp in communication
+with the whole province. Abundance poured into the camp from all
+quarters, so that during the whole course of the siege the Spaniards
+suffered no scarcity of any kind. But the greatest benefit which the
+prince derived from this work was an adequate supply of flat-bottomed
+vessels to complete his bridge.
+
+These preparations were overtaken by the arrival of winter, which, as
+the Scheldt was filled with drift-ice, occasioned a considerable delay
+in the building of the bridge. The prince had contemplated with anxiety
+the approach of this season, lest it should prove highly destructive to
+the work he had undertaken, and afford the enemy a favorable opportunity
+for making a serious attack upon it. But the skill of his engineers
+saved him from the one danger, and the strange inaction of the enemy
+freed him from the other. It frequently happened, indeed, that at
+flood-time large pieces of ice were entangled in the timbers, and shook
+them violently, but they stood the assault of the furious element, which
+only served to prove their stability.
+
+In Antwerp, meanwhile, important moments had been wasted in futile
+deliberations; and in a struggle of factions the general welfare was
+neglected. The government of the town was divided among too many heads,
+and much too great a share in it was held by the riotous mob to allow
+room for calmness of deliberation or firmness of action. Besides the
+municipal magistracy itself, in which the burgomaster had only a single
+voice, there were in the city a number of guilds, to whom were consigned
+the charge of the internal and external defence, the provisioning of the
+town, its fortifications, the marine, commerce, etc.; some of whom must
+be consulted in every business of importance. By means of this crowd of
+speakers, who intruded at pleasure into the council, and managed to
+carry by clamor and the number of their adherents what they could not
+effect by their arguments, the people obtained a dangerous influence
+in the public debates, and the natural struggle of such discordant
+interests retarded the execution of every salutary measure.
+A government so vacillating and impotent could not command the respect
+of unruly sailors and a lawless soldiery. The orders of the state
+consequently were but imperfectly obeyed, and the decisive moment was
+more than once lost by the negligence, not to say the open mutiny, both
+of the land and sea forces. The little harmony in the selection of the
+means by which the enemy was to be opposed would not, however, have
+proved so injurious had there but existed unanimity as to the end. But
+on this very point the wealthy citizens and poorer classes were divided;
+so the former, having everything to apprehend from allowing matters to
+be carried to extremity, were strongly inclined to treat with the Prince
+of Parma. This disposition they did not even attempt to conceal after
+the fort of Liefkenshoek had fallen into the enemy's hands, and serious
+fears were entertained for the navigation of the Scheldt. Some of them,
+indeed, withdrew entirely from the danger, and left to its fate the
+town, whose prosperity they had been ready enough to share, but in whose
+adversity they were unwilling to bear a part. From sixty to seventy of
+those who remained memorialized the council, advising that terms should
+be made with the king. No sooner, however, had the populace got
+intelligence of it than their indignation broke out in a violent uproar,
+which was with difficulty appeased by the imprisonment and fining of the
+petitioners. Tranquillity could only be fully restored by publication
+of an edict, which imposed the penalty of death on all who either
+publicly or privately should countenance proposals for peace.
+
+The Prince of Parma did not fail to take advantage of these
+disturbances; for nothing that transpired within the city escaped his
+notice, being well served by the agents with whom he maintained a secret
+understanding with Antwerp, as well as the other towns of Brabant and
+Flanders. Although he had already made considerable progress in his
+measures for distressing the town, still he had many steps to take
+before he could actually make himself master of it; and one unlucky
+moment might destroy the work of many months. Without, therefore,
+neglecting any of his warlike preparations, he determined to make one
+more serious attempt to get possession by fair means. With this object
+he despatched a letter in November to the great council of Antwerp, in
+which he skilfully made use of every topic likely to induce the citizens
+to come to terms, or at least to increase their existing dissensions.
+He treated them in this letter in the light of persons who had been led
+astray, and threw the whole blame of their revolt and refractory conduct
+hitherto upon the intriguing spirit of the Prince of Orange, from whose
+artifices the retributive justice of heaven had so lately liberated
+them. "It was," he said, "now in their power to awake from their long
+infatuation and return to their allegiance to a monarch who was ready
+and anxious to be reconciled to his subjects. For this end he gladly
+offered himself as mediator, as he had never ceased to love a country in
+which he had been born, and where he had spent the happiest days of his
+youth. He therefore exhorted them to send plenipotentiaries with whom
+he could arrange the conditions of peace, and gave them hopes of
+obtaining reasonable terms if they made a timely submission, but also
+threatened them with the severest treatment if they pushed matters to
+extremity."
+
+This letter, in which we are glad to recognize a language very different
+from that which the Duke of Alva held ten years before on a similar
+occasion, was answered by the townspeople in a respectful and dignified
+tone. While they did full justice to the personal character of the
+prince, and acknowledged his favorable intentions towards them with
+gratitude, they lamented the hardness of the times, which placed it out
+of his power to treat them in accordance with his character and
+disposition. They declared that they would gladly place their fate in
+his hands if he were absolute master of his actions, instead of being
+obliged to obey the will of another, whose proceedings his own candor
+would not allow him to approve of. The unalterable resolution of the
+King of Spain, as well as the vow which he had made to the pope, were
+only too well known for them to have any hopes in that quarter. They at
+the same time defended with a noble warmth the memory of the Prince of
+Orange, their benefactor and preserver, while they enumerated the true
+cases which had produced this unhappy war, and had caused the provinces
+to revolt from the Spanish crown. At the same time they did not
+disguise from him that they had hopes of finding a new and a milder
+master in the King of France, and that, if only for this reason, they
+could not enter into any treaty with the Spanish king without incurring
+the charge of the most culpable fickleness and ingratitude.
+
+The united provinces, in fact, dispirited by a succession of reverses,
+had at last come to the determination of placing themselves under the
+protection and sovereignty of France, and of preserving their existence
+and their ancient privileges by the sacrifice of their independence.
+With this view an embassy had some time before been despatched to Paris,
+and it was the prospect of this powerful assistance which principally
+supported the courage of the people of Antwerp. Henry III., King of
+France, was personally disposed to accept this offer; but the troubles
+which the intrigues of the Spaniards contrived to excite within his own
+kingdom compelled him against his will to abandon it. The provinces now
+turned for assistance to Queen Elizabeth of England, who sent them some
+supplies, which, however, came too late to save Antwerp. While the
+people of this city were awaiting the issue of these negotiations, and
+expecting aid from foreign powers, they neglected, unfortunately, the
+most natural and immediate means of defence; the whole winter was lost,
+and while the enemy turned it to greater advantage the more complete was
+their indecision and inactivity.
+
+The burgomaster of Antwerp, St. Aldegonde, had, indeed, repeatedly urged
+the fleet of Zealand to attack the enemy's works, which should be
+supported on the other side from Antwerp. The long and frequently
+stormy nights would favor this attempt, and if at the same time a sally
+were made by the garrison at Lillo, it seemed scarcely possible for
+the enemy to resist this triple assault. But unfortunately
+misunderstandings had arisen between the commander of the fleet, William
+von Blois von Treslong, and the admiralty of Zealand, which caused the
+equipment of the fleet to be most unaccountably delayed. In order to
+quicken their movements Teligny at last resolved to go himself to
+Middleburg, were the states of Zealand were assembled; but as the enemy
+were in possession of all the roads the attempt cost him his freedom and
+the republic its most valiant defender. However, there was no want of
+enterprising vessels, which, under the favor of the night and the
+floodtide, passing through the still open bridge in spite of the enemy's
+fire, threw provisions into the town and returned with the ebb. But as
+many of these vessels fell into the hands of the enemy the council gave
+orders that they should never risk the passage unless they amounted to a
+certain number; and the result, unfortunately, was that none attempted
+it because the required number could not be collected at one time.
+Several attacks were also made from Antwerp on the ships of the
+Spaniards, which were not entirely unsuccessful; some of the latter were
+captured, others sunk, and all that was required was to execute similar
+attempts on a grand scale. But however zealously St. Aldegonde urged
+this, still not a captain was to be found who would command a vessel for
+that purpose.
+
+Amid these delays the winter expired, and scarcely had the ice begun to
+disappear when the construction of the bridge of boats was actively
+resumed by the besiegers. Between the two piers a space of more than
+six hundred paces still remained to be filled up, which was effected in
+the following manner: Thirty-two flat-bottomed vessels, each sixty-six
+feet long and twenty broad, were fastened together with strong cables
+and iron chains, but at a distance from each other of about twenty feet
+to allow a free passage to the stream. Each boat, moreover, was moored
+with two cables, both up and down the stream, but which, as the water
+rose with the tide, or sunk with the ebb, could be slackened or
+tightened. Upon the boats great masts were laid which reached from one
+to another, and, being covered with planks, formed a regular road,
+which, like that along the piers, was protected with a balustrade. This
+bridge of boats, of which the two piers formed a continuation, had,
+including the latter, a length of twenty-four thousand paces. This
+formidable work was so ingeniously constructed, and so richly furnished
+with the instruments of destruction, that it seemed almost capable, like
+a living creature, of defending itself at the word of command,
+scattering death among all who approached. Besides the two forts of St.
+Maria and St. Philip, which terminated the bridge on either shore, and
+the two wooden bastions on the bridge itself, which were filled with
+soldiers and mounted with guns on all sides, each of the two-and-thirty
+vessels was manned with thirty soldiers and four sailors, and showed the
+cannon's mouth to the enemy, whether he came up from Zealand or down
+from Antwerp. There were in all ninety-seven cannon, which were
+distributed beneath and above the bridge, and more than fifteen hundred
+men who were posted, partly in the forts, partly in the vessels, and, in
+case of necessity, could maintain a terrible fire of small-arms upon the
+enemy.
+
+But with all this the prince did not consider his work sufficiently
+secure. It was to be expected that the enemy would leave nothing
+unattempted to burst by the force of his machines the middle and weakest
+part. To guard against this, he erected in a line with the bridge of
+boats, but at some distance from it, another distinct defence, intended
+to break the force of any attack that might be directed against the
+bridge itself. This work consisted of thirty-three vessels of
+considerable magnitude, which were moored in a row athwart the stream
+and fastened in threes by masts, so that they formed eleven different
+groups. Each of these, like a file of pikemen, presented fourteen long
+wooden poles with iron heads to the approaching enemy. These vessels
+were loaded merely with ballast, and were anchored each by a double but
+slack cable, so as to be able to give to the rise and fall of the tide.
+As they were in constant motion they got from the soldiers the name of
+"swimmers." The whole bridge of boats and also a part of the piers were
+covered by these swimmers, which were stationed above as well as below
+the bridge. To all these defensive preparations was added a fleet of
+forty men-of-war, which were stationed on both coasts and served as a
+protection to the whole.
+
+This astonishing work was finished in March, 1585, the seventh month of
+the siege, and the day on which it was completed was kept as a jubilee
+by the troops. The great event was announced to the besieged by a grand
+_fete de joie_, and the army, as if to enjoy ocular demonstration of its
+triumph, extended itself along the whole platform to gaze upon the proud
+stream, peacefully and obediently flowing under the yoke which had been
+imposed upon it. All the toil they had undergone was forgotten in the
+delightful spectacle, and every man who had had a hand in it, however
+insignificant he might be, assumed to himself a portion of the honor
+which the successful execution of so gigantic an enterprise conferred on
+its illustrious projector. On the other hand, nothing could equal the
+consternation which seized the citizens of Antwerp when intelligence was
+brought them that the Scheldt was now actually closed, and all access
+from Zealand cut off. To increase their dismay they learned the fall of
+Brussels also, which had at last been compelled by famine to capitulate.
+An attempt made by the Count of Hohenlohe about the same time on
+Herzogenbusch, with a view to recapture the town, or at least form a
+diversion, was equally unsuccessful; and thus the unfortunate city lost
+all hope of assistance, both by sea and land.
+
+These evil tidings were brought them by some fugitives who had succeeded
+in passing the Spanish videttes, and had made their way into the town;
+and a spy, whom the burgomaster had sent out to reconnoitre the enemy's
+works, increased the general alarm by his report. He had been seized
+and carried before the Prince of Parma, who commanded him to be
+conducted over all the works, and all the defences of the bridge to be
+pointed out to him. After this had been done he was again brought
+before the general, who dismissed him with these words: "Go," said he,
+"and report what you have seen to those who sent you. And tell them,
+too, that it is my firm resolve to bury myself under the ruins of this
+bridge or by means of it to pass into your town."
+
+But the certainty of danger now at last awakened the zeal of the
+confederates, and it was no fault of theirs if the former half of the
+prince's vow was not fulfilled. The latter had long viewed with
+apprehension the preparations which were making in Zealand for the
+relief of the town. He saw clearly that it was from this quarter that
+he had to fear the most dangerous blow, and that with all his works he
+could not make head against the combined fleets of Zealand and Antwerp
+if they were to fall upon him at the same time and at the proper moment.
+For a while the delays of the admiral of Zealand, which he had labored
+by all the means in his power to prolong, had been his security, but now
+the urgent necessity accelerated the expedition, and without waiting for
+the admiral the states at Middleburg despatched the Count Justin of
+Nassau, with as many ships as they could muster, to the assistance of
+the besieged. This fleet took up a position before Liefkenshoek, which
+was in possession of the Spaniards, and, supported by a few vessels from
+the opposite fort of Lillo, cannonaded it with such success that the
+walls were in a short time demolished, and the place carried by storm.
+The Walloons who formed the garrison did not display the firmness which
+might have been expected from soldiers of the Duke of Parma; they
+shamefully surrendered the fort to the enemy, who in a short time were
+in possession of the whole island of Doel, with all the redoubts
+situated upon it. The loss of these places, which were, however, soon
+retaken, incensed the Duke of Parma so much that he tried the officers
+by court-martial, and caused the most culpable among them to be
+beheaded. Meanwhile this important conquest opened to the Zealanders a
+free passage as far as the bridge, and after concerting with the people
+of Antwerp the time was fixed for a combined attack on this work. It
+was arranged that, while the bridge of boats was blown up by machines
+already prepared in Antwerp, the Zealand fleet, with a sufficient supply
+of provisions, should be in the vicinity, ready to sail to the town
+through the opening.
+
+While the Duke of Parma was engaged in constructing his bridge an
+engineer within the walls was already preparing the materials for its
+destruction. Frederick Gianibelli was the name of the man whom fate had
+destined to be the Archimedes of Antwerp, and to exhaust in its defence
+the same ingenuity with the same want of success. He was born in
+Mantua, and had formerly visited Madrid for the purpose, it was said,
+of offering his services to King Philip in the Belgian war. But wearied
+with waiting the offended engineer left the court with the intention of
+making the King of Spain sensibly feel the value of talents which he had
+so little known how to appreciate. He next sought the service of Queen
+Elizabeth of England, the declared enemy of Spain, who, after witnessing
+a few specimens of his skill, sent him to Antwerp. He took up his
+residence in that town, and in the present extremity devoted to its
+defence his knowledge, his energy, and his zeal.
+
+As soon as this artist perceived that the project of erecting the bridge
+was seriously intended, and that the work was fast approaching to
+completion, he applied to the magistracy for three large vessels, from a
+hundred and fifty to five hundred tons, in which he proposed to place
+mines. He also demanded sixty boats, which, fastened together with
+cables and chains, furnished with projecting grappling-irons, and put in
+motion with the ebbing of the tide, were intended to second the
+operation of the mine-ships by being directed in a wedgelike form
+against the bridge. But he had to deal with men who were quite
+incapable of comprehending an idea out of the common way, and even where
+the salvation of their country was at stake could not forget the
+calculating habits of trade.
+
+His scheme was rejected as too expensive, and with difficulty he at last
+obtained the grant of two smaller vessels, from seventy to eighty tons,
+with a number of flat-bottomed boats. With these two vessels, one of
+which he called the "Fortune" and the other the "Hope," he proceeded in
+the following manner: In the hold of each he built a hollow chamber of
+freestone, five feet broad, three and a half high, and forty long. This
+magazine he filled with sixty hundredweight of the finest priming powder
+of his own compounding, and covered it with as heavy a weight of large
+slabs and millstones as the vessels could carry. Over these he further
+added a roof of similar stones, which ran up to a point and projected
+six feet above the ship's side. The deck itself was crammed with iron
+chains and hooks, knives, nails, and other destructive missiles; the
+remaining space, which was not occupied by the magazine, was likewise
+filled up with planks. Several small apertures were left in the chamber
+for the matches which were to set fire to the mine. For greater
+certainty he had also contrived a piece of mechanism which, after the
+lapse of a given time, would strike out sparks, and even if the matches
+failed would set the ship on fire. To delude the enemy into a belief
+that these machines were only intended to set the bridge on fire, a
+composition of brimstone and pitch was placed in the top, which could
+burn a whole hour. And still further to divert the enemy's attention
+from the proper seat of danger, he also prepared thirty-two flatbottomed
+boats, upon which there were only fireworks burning, and whose sole
+object was to deceive the enemy. These fire-ships were to be sent down
+upon the bridge in four separate squadrons, at intervals of half an
+hour, and keep the enemy incessantly engaged for two whole hours, so
+that, tired of firing and wearied by vain expectation, they might at
+last relax their vigilance before the real fire-ships came. In addition
+to all this he also despatched a few vessels in which powder was
+concealed in order to blow up the floating work before the bridge, and
+to clear a passage for the two principal ships. At the same time he
+hoped by this preliminary attack to engage the enemy's attention, to
+draw them out, and expose them to the full deadly effect of the volcano.
+
+The night between the 4th and 5th of April was fixed for the execution
+of this great undertaking. An obscure rumor of it had already diffused
+itself through the Spanish camp, and particularly from the circumstance
+of many divers from Antwerp having been detected endeavoring to cut the
+cables of the vessels. They were prepared, therefore, for a serious
+attack; they only mistook the real nature of it, and counted on having
+to fight rather with man than the elements. In this expectation the
+duke caused the guards along the whole bank to be doubled, and drew up
+the chief part of his troops in the vicinity of the bridge, where he was
+present in person; thus meeting the danger while endeavoring to avoid
+it.
+
+No sooner was it dark than three burning vessels were seen to float down
+from the city towards the bridge, then three more, and directly after
+the same number. They beat to arms throughout the Spanish camp, and the
+whole length of the bridge was crowded with soldiers. Meantime the
+number of the fire-ships increased, and they came in regular order down
+the stream, sometimes two and sometimes three abreast, being at first
+steered by sailors on board them. The admiral of the Antwerp fleet,
+Jacob Jacobson (whether designedly or through carelessness is not
+known), had committed the error of sending off the four squadrons of
+fire-ships too quickly one after another, and caused the two large
+mine-ships also to follow them too soon, and thus disturbed the intended
+order of attack.
+
+The array of vessels kept approaching, and the darkness of night still
+further heightened the extraordinary spectacle. As far as the eye could
+follow the course of the stream all was fire; the fire-ships burning as
+brilliantly as if they were themselves in the flames; the surface of the
+water glittered with light; the dykes and the batteries along the shore,
+the flags, arms, and accoutrements of the soldiers who lined the rivers
+as well as the bridges were clearly distinguishable in the glare. With
+a mingled sensation of awe and pleasure the soldiers watched the unusual
+sight, which rather resembled a fete than a hostile preparation, but
+from the very strangeness of the contrast filled the mind with a
+mysterious awe. When the burning fleet had come within two thousand
+paces of the bridge those who had the charge of it lighted the matches,
+impelled the two mine-vessels into the middle of the stream, and leaving
+the others to the guidance of the current of the waves, they hastily
+made their escape in boats which had been kept in readiness.
+
+Their course, however, was irregular, and destitute of steersmen they
+arrived singly and separately at the floating works, where they
+continued hanging or were dashed off sidewise on the shore. The
+foremost powder-ships, which were intended to set fire to the floating
+works, were cast, by the force of a squall which arose at that instant,
+on the Flemish coast. One of the two, the "Fortune," grounded in its
+passage before it reached the bridge, and killed by its explosion some
+Spanish soldiers who were at work in a neighboring battery. The other
+and larger fire-ship, called the "Hope," narrowly escaped a similar
+fate. The current drove her against the floating defences towards the
+Flemish bank, where it remained hanging, and had it taken fire at that
+moment the greatest part of its effect would have been lost. Deceived
+by the flames which this machine, like the other vessels, emitted, the
+Spaniards took it for a common fire-ship, intended to burn the bridge of
+boats. And as they had seen them extinguished one after the other
+without further effect all fears were dispelled, and the Spaniards began
+to ridicule the preparations of the enemy, which had been ushered in
+with so much display and now had so absurd an end. Some of the boldest
+threw themselves into the stream in order to get a close view of the
+fire-ship and extinguish it, when by its weight it suddenly broke
+through, burst the floating work which had detained it, and drove with
+terrible force on the bridge of boats. All was now in commotion on the
+bridge, and the prince called to the sailors to keep the vessel off with
+poles, and to extinguish the flames before they caught the timbers.
+
+At this critical moment he was standing at the farthest end of the left
+pier, where it formed a bastion in the water and joined the bridge of
+boats. By his side stood the Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry
+and governor of the province of Artois, who had formerly-served the
+states, but from a protector of the republic had become its worst enemy;
+the Baron of Billy, governor of Friesland and commander of the German
+regiments; the Generals Cajetan and Guasto, with several of the
+principal officers; all forgetful of their own danger and entirely
+occupied with averting the general calamity. At this moment a Spanish
+ensign approached the Prince of Parma and conjured him to remove from a
+place where his life was in manifest and imminent peril. No attention
+being paid to his entreaty he repeated it still more urgently, and at
+last fell at his feet and implored him in this one instance to take
+advice from his servant. While he said this he had laid hold of the
+duke's coat as though he wished forcibly to draw him away from the spot,
+and the latter, surprised rather at the man's boldness than persuaded by
+his arguments, retired at last to the shore, attended by Cajetan and
+Guasto. He had scarcely time to reach the fort St. Maria at the end of
+the bridge when an explosion took place behind him, just as if the earth
+had burst or the vault of heaven given way. The duke and his whole army
+fell to the ground as dead, and several minutes elapsed before they
+recovered their consciousness.
+
+But then what a sight presented itself! The waters of the Scheldt had
+been divided to its lowest depth, and driven with a surge which rose
+like a wall above the dam that confined it, so that all the
+fortifications on the banks were several feet under water. The earth
+shook for three miles round. Nearly the whole left pier, on which the
+fire-ship had been driven, with a part of the bridge of boats, had been
+burst and shattered to atoms, with all that was upon it; spars, cannon,
+and men blown into the air. Even the enormous blocks of stone which had
+covered the mine had, by the force of the explosion, been hurled into
+the neighboring fields, so that many of them were afterwards dug out of
+the ground at a distance of a thousand paces from the bridge. Six
+vessels were buried, several had gone to pieces. But still more
+terrible was the carnage which the murderous machine had dealt amongst
+the soldiers. Five hundred, according to other reports even eight
+hundred, were sacrificed to its fury, without reckoning those who
+escaped with mutilated or injured bodies. The most opposite kinds of
+death were combined in this frightful moment. Some were consumed by the
+flames of the explosion, others scalded to death by the boiling water of
+the river, others stifled by the poisonous vapor of the brimstone; some
+were drowned in the stream, some buried under the hail of falling masses
+of rock, many cut to pieces by the knives and hooks, or shattered by the
+balls which were poured from the bowels of the machine. Some were found
+lifeless without any visible injury, having in all probability been
+killed by the mere concussion of the air. The spectacle which presented
+itself directly after the firing of the mine was fearful. Men were seen
+wedged between the palisades of the bridge, or struggling to release
+themselves from beneath ponderous masses of rock, or hanging in the
+rigging of the ships; and from all places and quarters the most
+heartrending cries for help arose, but as each was absorbed in his own
+safety these could only be answered by helpless wailings.
+
+Many had escaped in the most wonderful manner. An officer named Tucci
+was carried by the whirlwind like a feather high into the air, where he
+was for a moment suspended, and then dropped into the river, where he
+saved himself by swimming. Another was taken up by the force of the
+blast from the Flanders shore and deposited on that of Brabant,
+incurring merely a slight contusion on the shoulder; he felt, as he
+afterwards said, during this rapid aerial transit, just as if he had
+been fired out of a cannon. The Prince of Parma himself had never been
+so near death as at that moment, when half a minute saved his life. He
+had scarcely set foot in the fort of St. Maria when he was lifted off
+his feet as if by a hurricane, and a beam which struck him on the head
+and shoulders stretched him senseless on the earth. For a long time he
+was believed to be actually killed, many remembering to have seen him on
+the bridge only a few minutes before the fatal explosion. He was found
+at last between his attendants, Cajetan and Guasto, raising himself up
+with his hand on his sword; and the intelligence stirred the spirits of
+the whole army. But vain would be the attempt to depict his feelings
+when he surveyed the devastation which a single moment had caused in the
+work of so many months. The bridge of boats, upon which all his hopes
+rested, was rent asunder; a great part of his army was destroyed;
+another portion maimed and rendered ineffective for many days; many of
+his best officers were killed; and, as if the present calamity were not
+sufficient, he had now to learn the painful intelligence that the
+Margrave of Rysburg, whom of all his officers he prized the highest, was
+missing. And yet the worst was still to come, for every moment the
+fleets of the enemy were to be expected from Antwerp and Lillo, to which
+this fearful position of the army would disable him from offering any
+effectual resistance. The bridge was entirely destroyed, and nothing
+could prevent the fleet from Zealand passing through in full sail; while
+the confusion of the troops in this first moment was so great and
+general that it would have been impossible to give or obey orders, as
+many corps had lost their commanding officers, and many commanders their
+corps; and even the places where they had been stationed were no longer
+to be recognized amid the general ruin. Add to this that all the
+batteries on shore were under water, that several cannon were sunk, that
+the matches were wet, and the ammunition damaged. What a moment for the
+enemy if they had known how to avail themselves of it!
+
+It will scarcely be believed, however, that this success, which
+surpassed all expectation, was lost to Antwerp, simply because nothing
+was known of it. St. Aldegonde, indeed, as soon as the explosion of the
+mine was heard in the town, had sent out several galleys in the
+direction of the bridge, with orders to send up fire-balls and rockets
+the moment they had passed it, and then to sail with the intelligence
+straight on to Lillo, in order to bring up, without delay, the Zealand
+fleet, which had orders to co-operate. At the same time the admiral of
+Antwerp was ordered, as soon as the signal was given, to sail out with
+his vessels and attack the enemy in their first consternation. But
+although a considerable reward was promised to the boatmen sent to
+reconnoitre they did not venture near the enemy, but returned without
+effecting their purpose, and reported that the bridge of boats was
+uninjured, and the fire-ship had had no effect. Even on the following
+day also no better measures were taken to learn the true state of the
+bridge; and as the fleet at Lillo, in spite of the favorable wind, was
+seen to remain inactive, the belief that the fire-ships had accomplished
+nothing was confirmed. It did not seem to occur to any one that this
+very inactivity of the confederates, which misled the people of Antwerp,
+might also keep back the Zealanders at Lille, as in fact it did. So
+signal an instance of neglect could only have occurred in a government,
+which, without dignity of independence, was guided by the tumultuous
+multitude it ought to have governed. The more supine, however, they
+were themselves in opposing the enemy, the more violently did their rage
+boil against Gianibelli, whom the frantic mob would have torn in pieces
+if they could have caught him. For two days the engineer was in the
+most imminent danger, until at last, on the third morning, a courier
+from Lillo, who had swam under the bridge, brought authentic
+intelligence of its having been destroyed, but at the same time
+announced that it had been repaired.
+
+This rapid restoration of the bridge was really a miraculous effort of
+the Prince of Parma. Scarcely had he recovered from the shock, which
+seemed to have overthrown all his plans, when he contrived, with
+wonderful presence of mind, to prevent all its evil consequences. The
+absence of the enemy's fleet at this decisive moment revived his hopes.
+The ruinous state of the bridge appeared to be a secret to them, and
+though it was impossible to repair in a few hours the work of so many
+months, yet a great point would be gained if it could be done even in
+appearance. All his men were immediately set to work to remove the
+ruins, to raise the timbers which had been thrown down, to replace those
+which were demolished, and to fill up the chasms with ships. The duke
+himself did not refuse to share in the toil, and his example was
+followed by all his officers. Stimulated by this popular behavior, the
+common soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost; the work was carried
+on during the whole night under the constant sounding of drums and
+trumpets, which were distributed along the bridge to drown the noise of
+the work-people. With dawn of day few traces remained of the night's
+havoc; and although the bridge was restored only in appearance, it
+nevertheless deceived the spy, and consequently no attack was made upon
+it. In the meantime the prince contrived to make the repairs solid,
+nay, even to introduce some essential alterations in the structure. In
+order to guard against similar accidents for the future, a part of the
+bridge of boats was made movable, so that in case of necessity it could
+be taken away and a passage opened to the fire-ships. His loss of men
+was supplied from the garrisons of the adjoining places, and by a German
+regiment which arrived very opportunely from Gueldres. He filled up the
+vacancies of the officers who were killed, and in doing this he did not
+forget the Spanish ensign who had saved his life.
+
+The people of Antwerp, after learning the success of their mine-ship,
+now did homage to the inventor with as much extravagance as they had a
+short time before mistrusted him, and they encouraged his genius to new
+attempts. Gianibelli now actually obtained the number of flat-bottomed
+vessels which he had at first demanded in vain, and these he equipped in
+such a manner that they struck with irresistible force on the bridge,
+and a second time also burst and separated it. But this time, the wind
+was contrary to the Zealand fleet, so that they could not put out, and
+thus the prince obtained once more the necessary respite to repair the
+damage. The Archimedes of Antwerp was not deterred by any of these
+disappointments. Anew he fitted out two large vessels which were armed
+with iron hooks and similar instruments in order to tear asunder the
+bridge. But when the moment came for these vessels to get under weigh
+no one was found ready to embark in them. The engineer was therefore
+obliged to think of a plan for giving to these machines such a
+self-impulse that, without being guided by a steersman, they would keep the
+middle of the stream, and not, like the former ones, be driven on the
+bank by the wind. One of his workmen, a German, here hit upon a strange
+invention, if Strada's description of it is to be credited. He affixed a
+sail under the vessel, which was to be acted upon by the water, just as
+an ordinary sail is by the wind, and could thus impel the ship with the
+whole force of the current. The result proved the correctness of his
+calculation; for this vessel, with the position of its sails reversed,
+not only kept the centre of the stream, but also ran against the bridge
+with such impetuosity that the enemy had not time to open it and was
+actually burst asunder. But all these results were of no service to the
+town, because the attempts were made at random and were supported by no
+adequate force. A new fire-ship, equipped like the former, which had
+succeeded so well, and which Gianibelli had filled with four thousand
+pounds of the finest powder was not even used; for a new mode of
+attempting their deliverance had now occurred to the people of Antwerp.
+
+Terrified by so many futile attempts from endeavoring to clear a
+passage for vessels on the river by force, they at last came to the
+determination of doing without the stream entirely. They remembered the
+example of the town of Leyden, which, when besieged by the Spaniards ten
+years before, had saved itself by opportunely inundating the surrounding
+country, and it was resolved to imitate this example. Between Lillo and
+Stabroek, in the district of Bergen, a wide and somewhat sloping plain
+extends as far as Antwerp, being protected by numerous embankments and
+counter-embankments against the irruptions of the East Scheldt. Nothing
+more was requisite than to break these dams, when the whole plain would
+become a sea, navigable by flat-bottomed vessels almost to the very
+walls of Antwerp. If this attempt should succeed, the Duke of Parma
+might keep the Scheldt guarded with his bridge of boats as long as he
+pleased; a new river would be formed, which, in case of necessity, would
+be equally serviceable for the time. This was the very plan which the
+Prince of Orange had at the commencement of the siege recommended, and
+in which he had been strenuously, but unsuccessfully, seconded by St.
+Aldegonde, because some of the citizens could not be persuaded to
+sacrifice their own fields. In the present emergency they reverted to
+this last resource, but circumstances in the meantime had greatly
+changed.
+
+The plain in question is intersected by a broad and high dam, which
+takes its name from the adjacent Castle of Cowenstein, and extends for
+three miles from the village of Stabroek, in Bergen, as far as the
+Scheldt, with the great dam of which it unites near Ordam. Beyond this
+dam no vessels can proceed, however high the tide, and the sea would be
+vainly turned into the fields as long as such an embankment remained in
+the way, which would prevent the Zealand vessels from descending into
+the plain before Antwerp. The fate of the town would therefore depend
+upon the demolition of this Cowenstein dam; but, foreseeing this, the
+Prince of Parma had, immediately on commencing the blockade, taken
+possession of it, and spared no pains to render it tenable to the last.
+At the village of Stabroek, Count Mansfeld was encamped with the
+greatest part of his army, and by means of this very Cowenstein dam kept
+open the communication with the bridge, the headquarters, and the
+Spanish magazines at Calloo. Thus the army formed an uninterrupted line
+from Stabroek in Brabant, as far as Bevern in Flanders, intersected
+indeed, but not broken by the Scheldt, and which could not be cut off
+without a sanguinary conflict. On the dam itself within proper
+distances five different batteries had been erected, the command of
+which was given to the most valiant officers in the army. Nay, as the
+Prince of Parma could not doubt that now the whole fury of the war would
+be turned to this point, he entrusted the defence of the bridge to Count
+Mansfeld, and resolved to defend this important post himself. The war,
+therefore, now assumed a different aspect, and the theatre of it was
+entirely changed.
+
+Both above and below Lillo, the Netherlanders had in several places cut
+through the dam, which follows the Brabant shore of the Scheldt; and
+where a short time before had been green fields, a new element now
+presented itself, studded with masts and boats. A Zealand fleet,
+commanded by Count Hohenlohe, navigated the inundated fields, and made
+repeated movements against the Cowenstein dam, without, however,
+attempting a serious attack on it, while another fleet showed itself in
+the Scheldt, threatening the two coasts alternately with a landing, and
+occasionally the bridge of boats with an attack. For several days this
+manoeuvre was practised on the enemy, who, uncertain of the quarter
+whence an attack was to be expected, would, it was hoped, be exhausted
+by continual watching, and by degrees lulled into security by so many
+false alarms. Antwerp had promised Count Hohenlohe to support the
+attack on the dam by a flotilla from the town; three beacons on the
+principal tower were to be the signal that this was on the way. When,
+therefore, on a dark night the expected columns of fire really ascended
+above Antwerp, Count Hohenlohe immediately caused five hundred of his
+troops to scale the dam between two of the enemy's redoubts, who
+surprised part of the Spanish garrison asleep, and cut down the others
+who attempted to defend themselves. In a short time they had gained a
+firm footing upon the dam, and were just on the point of disembarking
+the remainder of their force, two thousand in number, when the Spaniards
+in the adjoining redoubts marched out and, favored by the narrowness of
+the ground, made a desperate attack on the crowded Zealanders. The guns
+from the neighboring batteries opened upon the approaching fleet, and
+thus rendered the landing of the remaining troops impossible; and as
+there were no signs of co-operation on the part of the city, the
+Zealanders were overpowered after a short conflict and again driven down
+from the dam. The victorious Spaniards pursued them through the water
+as far as their boats, sunk many of the latter, and compelled the rest
+to retreat with heavy loss. Count Hohenlohe threw the blame of this
+defeat upon the inhabitants of Antwerp, who had deceived him by a false
+signal, and it certainly must be attributed to the bad arrangement of
+both parties that the attempt failed of better success.
+
+But at last the allies determined to make a systematic assault on the
+enemy with their combined force, and to put an end to the siege by a
+grand attack as well on the dam as on the bridge. The 16th of May,
+1585, was fixed upon for the execution of this design, and both armies
+used their utmost endeavors to make this day decisive. The force of the
+Hollanders and Zealanders, united to that of Antwerp, exceeded two
+hundred ships, to man which they had stripped their towns and citadels,
+and with this force they purposed to attack the Cowenstein dam on both
+sides. The bridge over the Scheldt was to be assailed with new machines
+of Gianibelli's invention, and the Duke of Parma thereby hindered from
+assisting the defence of the dam.
+
+Alexander, apprised of the danger which threatened him, spared nothing
+on his side to meet it with energy. Immediately after getting
+possession of the dam he had caused redoubts to be erected at five
+different, places, and had given the command of them to the most
+experienced officers of the army. The first of these, which was called
+the Cross battery, was erected on the spot where the Cowenstein darn
+enters the great embankment of the Scheldt, and makes with the latter
+the form of a cross; the Spaniard, Mondragone, was appointed to the
+command of this battery. A thousand paces farther on, near the castle
+of Cowenstein, was posted the battery of St. James, which was entrusted
+to the command of Camillo di Monte. At an equal distance from this lay
+the battery of St. George, and at a thousand paces from the latter, the
+Pile battery, under the command of Gamboa, so called from the pile-work
+on which it rested; at the farthest end of the darn, near Stabroek, was
+the fifth redoubt, where Count Mansfeld, with Capizuechi, an Italian,
+commanded. All these forts the prince now strengthened with artillery
+and men; on both sides of the dam, and along its whole extent, he caused
+piles to be driven, as well to render the main embankment firmer, as to
+impede the labor of the pioneers, who were to dig through it.
+
+Early on the morning of the 16th of May the enemy's forces were in
+motion. With the dusk of dawn there came floating down from Lillo, over
+the inundated country, four burning vessels, which so alarmed the guards
+upon the dams, who recollected the former terrible explosion, that they
+hastily retreated to the next battery. This was exactly what the enemy
+desired. In these vessels, which had merely the appearance of
+fire-ships, soldiers were concealed, who now suddenly jumped ashore, and
+succeeded in mounting the dam at the undefended spot, between the St.
+George and Pile batteries. Immediately afterward the whole Zealand
+fleet showed itself, consisting of numerous ships-of-war, transports,
+and a crowd of smaller craft, which were laden with great sacks of
+earth, wool, fascines, gabions, and the like, for throwing up
+breastworks wherever necessary, The ships-of-war were furnished with
+powerful artillery, and numerously and bravely manned, and a whole army
+of pioneers accompanied it in order to dig through the dam as soon as it
+should be in their possession.
+
+The Zealanders had scarcely begun on their side to ascend the dam when
+the fleet of Antwerp advanced from Osterweel and attacked it on the
+other. A high breastwork was hastily thrown up between the two nearest
+hostile batteries, so as at once to divide the two garrisons and to
+cover the pioneers. The latter, several hundreds in number, now fell to
+work with their spades on both sides of the dam, and dug with such
+energy that hopes were entertained of soon seeing the two seas united.
+But meanwhile the Spaniards also had gained time to hasten to the spot
+from the two nearest redoubts, and make a spirited assault, while the
+guns from the battery of St. George played incessantly on the enemy's
+fleet. A furious battle now raged in the quarter where they were
+cutting through the dike and throwing up the breastworks. The
+Zealanders had drawn a strong line of troops round the pioneers to keep
+the enemy from interrupting their work, and in this confusion of battle,
+in the midst of a storm of bullets from the enemy, often up to the
+breast in water, among the dead and dying, the pioneers pursued their
+work, under the incessant exhortations of the merchants, who impatiently
+waited to see the dam opened and their vessels in safety. The
+importance of the result, which it might be said depended entirely upon
+their spades, appeared to animate even the common laborers with heroic
+courage. Solely intent upon their task, they neither saw nor heard the
+work of death which was going on around them, and as fast as the
+foremost ranks fell those behind them pressed into their places. Their
+operations were greatly impeded by the piles which had been driven in,
+but still more by the attacks of the Spaniards, who burst with desperate
+courage through the thickest of the enemy, stabbed the pioneers in the
+pits where they were digging, and filled up again with dead bodies the
+cavities which the living had made. At last, however, when most of
+their officers were killed or wounded, and the number of the enemy
+constantly increasing, while fresh laborers were supplying the place of
+those who had been slain, the courage of these valiant troops began to
+give way, and they thought it advisable to retreat to their batteries.
+Now, therefore, the confederates saw themselves masters of the whole
+extent of the dam, from Fort St. George as far as the Pile battery. As,
+however, it seemed too long to wait for the thorough demolition of the
+dam, they hastily unloaded a Zealand transport, and brought the cargo
+over the dam to a vessel of Antwerp, with which Count Hohenlohe sailed
+in triumph to that city. The sight of the provisions at once filled the
+inhabitants with joy, and as if the victory was already won, they gave
+themselves up to the wildest exultation. The bells were rung, the
+cannon discharged, and the inhabitants, transported by their unexpected
+success, hurried to the Osterweel gate, to await the store-ships which
+were supposed to be at hand.
+
+In fact, fortune had never smiled so favorably on the besieged as at
+that moment. The enemy, exhausted and dispirited, had thrown themselves
+into their batteries, and, far from being able to struggle with the
+victors for the post they had conquered, they found themselves rather
+besieged in the places where they had taken refuge. Some companies of
+Scots, led by their brave colonel, Balfour, attacked the battery of St.
+George, which, however, was relieved, but not without severe loss, by
+Camillo di Monte, who hastened thither from St. James' battery. The
+Pile battery was in a much worse condition, it being hotly cannonaded by
+the ships, and threatened every moment to crumble to pieces. Gainboa,
+who commanded it, lay wounded, and it was unfortunately deficient in
+artillery to keep the enemy at a distance. The breastwork, too, which
+the Zealanders had thrown up between this battery and that of St.
+George cut off all hope of assistance from the Scheldt. If, therefore,
+the Belgians had only taken advantage of this weakness and inactivity of
+the enemy to proceed with zeal and perseverance in cutting through the
+dam, there is no doubt that a passage might have been made, and thus put
+an end to the whole siege. But here also the same want of consistent
+energy showed itself which had marked the conduct of the people of
+Antwerp during the whole course of the siege. The zeal with which the
+work had been commenced cooled in proportion to the success which
+attended it. It was soon found too tedious to dig through the dyke; it
+seemed far easier to transfer the cargoes from the large store-ships
+into smaller ones, and carry these to the town with the flood tide. St.
+Aldegonde and Hohenlohe, instead of remaining to animate the industry of
+the workmen by their personal presence, left the scene of action at the
+decisive moment, in order, by sailing to the town with a corn vessel, to
+win encomiums on their wisdom and valor.
+
+While both parties were fighting on the dam with the most obstinate fury
+the bridge over the Scheldt had been attacked from Antwerp with new
+machines, in order to give employment to the prince in that quarter.
+But the sound of the firing soon apprised him of what was going on at
+the dyke, and as soon as he saw the bridge clear he hastened to support
+the defence of the dyke. Followed by two hundred Spanish pikemen, he
+flew to the place of attack, and arrived just in time to prevent the
+complete defeat of his troops. He hastily posted some guns which he had
+brought with him in the two nearest redoubts, and maintained from thence
+a heavy fire upon the enemy's ships. He placed himself at the head of
+his men, and, with his sword in one hand and shield in the other, led
+them against the enemy. The news of his arrival, which quickly spread
+from one end of the dyke to the other, revived the drooping spirits of
+his troops, and the conflict recommenced with renewed violence, made
+still more murderous by the nature of the ground where it was fought.
+Upon the narrow ridge of the dam, which in many places was not more than
+nine paces broad, about five thousand combatants were fighting; so
+confined was the spot upon which the strength of both armies was
+assembled, and which was to decide the whole issue of the siege. With
+the Antwerpers the last bulwark of their city was at stake; with the
+Spaniards it was to determine the whole success of their undertaking.
+Both parties fought with a courage which despair alone could inspire.
+From both the extremities of the dam the tide of war rolled itself
+towards the centre, where the Zealanders and Antwerpers had the
+advantage, and where they had collected their whole strength. The
+Italians and Spaniards, inflamed by a noble emulation, pressed on from
+Stabroek; and from the Scheldt the Walloons and Spaniards advanced, with
+their general at their head. While the former endeavored to relieve the
+Pile battery, which was hotly pressed by the enemy, both by sea and
+land, the latter threw themselves on the breastwork, between the St.
+George and the Pile batteries, with a fury which carried everything
+before it. Here the flower of the Belgian troops fought behind a
+well-fortified rampart, and the guns of the two fleets covered this
+important post. The prince was already pressing forward to attack this
+formidable defence with his small army when he received intelligence that
+the Italians and Spaniards, under Capizucchi and Aquila, had forced their
+way, sword in hand, into the Pile battery, had got possession of it, and
+were now likewise advancing from the other side against the enemy's
+breastwork. Before this intrenchment, therefore, the whole force of both
+armies was now collected, and both sides used their utmost efforts to
+carry and to defend this position. The Netherlanders on board the fleet,
+loath to remain idle spectators of the conflict, sprang ashore from their
+vessels. Alexander attacked the breastwork on one side, Count Mansfeld on
+the other; five assaults were made, and five times they were repulsed.
+The Netherlanders in this decisive moment surpassed themselves; never in
+the whole course of the war had they fought with such determination. But
+it was the Scotch and English in particular who baffled the attempts of
+the enemy by their valiant resistance. As no one would advance to the
+attack in the quarter where the Scotch fought, the duke himself led on
+the troops, with a javelin in his hand, and up to his breast in water. At
+last, after a protracted struggle, the forces of Count Mansfeld succeeded
+with their halberds and pikes in making a breach in the breastwork, and
+by raising themselves on one another's shoulders scaled the parapet.
+Barthelemy Toralva, a Spanish captain, was the first who showed himself
+on the top; and almost at the same instant the Italian, Capizucchi,
+appeared upon the edge of it; and thus the contest of valor was decided
+with equal glory for both nations. It is worth while to notice here the
+manner in which the Prince of Parma, who was made arbiter of this emulous
+strife, encouraged this delicate sense of honor among his warriors. He
+embraced the Italian, Capizucchi, in presence of the troops, and
+acknowledged aloud that it was principally to the courage of this officer
+that he owed the capture of the breastwork. He caused the Spanish
+captain, Toralva, who was dangerously wounded, to be conveyed to his own
+quarters at Stabroek, laid on his own bed, and covered with the cloak
+which he himself had worn the day before the battle.
+
+After the capture of the breastwork the victory no longer remained
+doubtful. The Dutch and Zealand troops, who had disembarked to come to
+close action with the enemy, at once lost their courage when they looked
+about them and saw the vessels, which were their last refuge, putting
+off from the shore.
+
+For the tide had begun to ebb, and the commanders of the fleet, from
+fear of being stranded with their heavy transports, and, in case of an
+unfortunate issue to the engagement, becoming the prey of the enemy,
+retired from the dam, and made for deep water. No sooner did Alexander
+perceive this than he pointed out to his troops the flying vessels, and
+encouraged them to finish the action with an enemy who already despaired
+of their safety. The Dutch auxiliaries were the first that gave way,
+and their example was soon followed by the Zealanders. Hastily leaping
+from the dam they endeavored to reach the vessels by wading or swimming;
+but from their disorderly flight they impeded one another, and fell in
+heaps under the swords of the pursuers. Many perished even in the
+boats, as each strove to get on board before the other, and several
+vessels sank under the weight of the numbers who rushed into them. The
+Antwerpers, who fought for their liberty, their hearths, their faith,
+were the last who retreated, but this very circumstance augmented their
+disaster. Many of their vessels were outstripped by the ebb-tide, and
+grounded within reach of the enemy's cannon, and were consequently
+destroyed with all on board. Crowds of fugitives endeavored by swimming
+to gain the other transports, which had got into deep water; but such
+was the rage and boldness of the Spaniards that they swam after them
+with their swords between their teeth, and dragged many even from the
+ships. The victory of the king's troops was complete but bloody; for of
+the Spaniards about eight hundred, of the Netherlanders some thousands
+(without reckoning those who were drowned), were left on the field, and
+on both sides many of the principal nobility perished. More than thirty
+vessels, with a large supply of provisions for Antwerp, fell into the
+hands of the victors, with one hundred and fifty cannon and other
+military stores. The dam, the possession of which had been so dearly
+maintained, was pierced in thirteen different places, and the bodies of
+those who had cut through it were now used to stop up the openings.
+
+The following day a transport of immense size and singular construction
+fell into the hands of the royalists. It formed a floating castle, and
+had been destined for the attack on the Cowenstein dam. The people of
+Antwerp had built it at an immense expense at the very time when the
+engineer Gianibelli's useful proposals had been rejected on account of
+the cost they entailed, and this ridiculous monster was called by the
+proud title of "End of the War," which appellation was afterwards
+changed for the more appropriate sobriquet of "Money lost!" When this
+vessel was launched it turned out, as every sensible person had
+foretold, that on account of its unwieldly size it was utterly
+impossible to steer it, and it could hardly be floated by the highest
+tide. With great difficulty it was worked as far as Ordain, where,
+deserted by the tide, it went aground, and fell a prey to the enemy.
+
+The attack upon the Cowenstein dam was the last attempt which was made
+to relieve Antwerp. From this time the courage of the besieged sank,
+and the magistracy of the town vainly labored to inspirit with distant
+hopes the lower orders, on whom the present distress weighed heaviest.
+Hitherto the price of bread had been kept down to a tolerable rate,
+although the quality of it continued to deteriorate; by degrees,
+however, provisions became so scarce that a famine was evidently near at
+hand. Still hopes were entertained of being able to hold out, at least
+until the corn between the town and the farthest batteries, which was
+already in full ear, could be reaped; but before that could be done the
+enemy had carried the last outwork, and had appropriated the whole
+harvest to their use. At last the neighboring and confederate town of
+Malines fell into the enemy's hands, and with its fall vanished the only
+remaining hope of getting supplies from Brabant. As there was,
+therefore, no longer any means of increasing the stock of provisions
+nothing was left but to diminish the consumers. All useless persons,
+all strangers, nay even the women and children were to be sent away out
+of the town, but this proposal was too revolting to humanity to be
+carried into execution. Another plan, that of expelling the Catholic
+inhabitants, exasperated them so much that it had almost ended in open
+mutiny. And thus St. Aldegonde at last saw himself compelled to yield
+to the riotous clamors of the populace, and on the 17th of August, 1585,
+to make overtures to the Duke of Parma for the surrender of the town.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+by Frederich Schiller
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #6780 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6780)
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The History of the Revolt of the Netherlands
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+    <!--
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
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+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+by Friedrich Schiller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+
+Title: The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+
+Author: Friedrich Schiller
+
+Release Date: October 25, 2006 [EBook #6780]
+Last Updated: November 6, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REVOLT OF NETHERLANDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <h1>
+      THE WORKS
+    </h1>
+    <h3>
+      OF
+    </h3>
+    <h2>
+      FRIEDRICH SCHILLER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h4>
+      Translated from the German by E. B. Eastwick and A. J. W. Morrison
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h4>
+      Illustrated
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%;">
+      <img alt="1pb005 (136K)" src="images/1pb005.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE TO THE EDITION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The present is the best collected edition of the important works of
+      Schiller which is accessible to readers in the English language. Detached
+      poems or dramas have been translated at various times since the first
+      publication of the original works; and in several instances these versions
+      have been incorporated into this collection. Schiller was not less
+      efficiently qualified by nature for an historian than for a dramatist. He
+      was formed to excel in all departments of literature, and the admirable
+      lucidity of style and soundness and impartiality of judgment displayed in
+      his historical writings will not easily be surpassed, and will always
+      recommend them as popular expositions of the periods of which they treat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Since the publication of the first English edition many corrections and
+      improvements have been made, with a view to rendering it as acceptable as
+      possible to English readers; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages of a
+      translation, the publishers feel sure that Schiller will be heartily
+      acceptable to English readers, and that the influence of his writings will
+      continue to increase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS was translated by Lieut. E.
+      B. Eastwick, and originally published abroad for students' use. But this
+      translation was too strictly literal for general readers. It has been
+      carefully revised, and some portions have been entirely rewritten by the
+      Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, who also has so ably translated the HISTORY OF THE
+      THIRTY YEARS WAR.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE CAMP OF WALLENSTEIN was translated by Mr. James Churchill, and first
+      appeared in "Frazer's Magazine." It is an exceedingly happy version of
+      what has always been deemed the most untranslatable of Schiller's works.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE PICCOLOMINI and DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN are the admirable version of S.
+      T. Coleridge, completed by the addition of all those passages which he has
+      omitted, and by a restoration of Schiller's own arrangement of the acts
+      and scenes. It is said, in defence of the variations which exist between
+      the German original and the version given by Coleridge, that he translated
+      from a prompter's copy in manuscript, before the drama had been printed,
+      and that Schiller himself subsequently altered it, by omitting some
+      passages, adding others, and even engrafting several of Coleridge's
+      adaptations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      WILHELM TELL is translated by Theodore Martin, Esq., whose well-known
+      position as a writer, and whose special acquaintance with German
+      literature make any recommendation superfluous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      DON CARLOS is translated by R. D. Boylan, Esq., and, in the opinion of
+      competent judges, the version is eminently successful. Mr. Theodore Martin
+      kindly gave some assistance, and, it is but justice to state, has enhanced
+      the value of the work by his judicious suggestions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The translation of MARY STUART is that by the late Joseph Mellish, who
+      appears to have been on terms of intimate friendship with Schiller. His
+      version was made from the prompter's copy, before the play was published,
+      and, like Coleridge's Wallenstein, contains many passages not found in the
+      printed edition. These are distinguished by brackets. On the other hand,
+      Mr. Mellish omitted many passages which now form part of the printed
+      drama, all of which are now added. The translation, as a whole, stands out
+      from similar works of the time (1800) in almost as marked a degree as
+      Coleridge's Wallenstein, and some passages exhibit powers of a high order;
+      a few, however, especially in the earlier scenes, seemed capable of
+      improvement, and these have been revised, but, in deference to the
+      translator, with a sparing hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE MAID OF ORLEANS is contributed by Miss Anna Swanwick, whose
+      translation of Faust has since become well known. It has been. carefully
+      revised, and is now, for the first time, published complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE BRIDE OF MESSINA, which has been regarded as the poetical masterpiece
+      of Schiller, and, perhaps of all his works, presents the greatest
+      difficulties to the translator, is rendered by A. Lodge, Esq., M. A. This
+      version, on its first publication in England, a few years ago, was
+      received with deserved eulogy by distinguished critics. To the present
+      edition has been prefixed Schiller's Essay on the Use of the Chorus in
+      Tragedy, in which the author's favorite theory of the "Ideal of Art" is
+      enforced with great ingenuity and eloquence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE HISTORY
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      OF THE
+    </h3>
+    <h2>
+      REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      CONTENTS
+    </h3>
+    <table summary="">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE TO THE EDITION. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> BOOK I.--Earlier History </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> BOOK II.--Cardinal Granvella </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> BOOK III.--Conspiracy of the Nobles </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> BOOK IV.--The Iconoclasts<br /> Trial and
+            Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn <br /> Siege of Antwerp by the
+            Prince of Parma </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Many years ago, when I read the History of the Belgian Revolution in
+      Watson's excellent work, I was seized with an enthusiasm which political
+      events but rarely excite. On further reflection I felt that this
+      enthusiastic feeling had arisen less from the book itself than from the
+      ardent workings of my own imagination, which had imparted to the recorded
+      materials the particular form that so fascinated me. These imaginations,
+      therefore, I felt a wish to fix, to multiply, and to strengthen; these
+      exalted sentiments I was anxious to extend by communicating them to
+      others. This was my principal motive for commencing the present history,
+      my only vocation to write it. The execution of this design carried me
+      farther than in the beginning I had expected. A closer acquaintance with
+      my materials enabled me to discover defects previously unnoticed, long
+      waste tracts to be filled up, apparent contradictions to be reconciled,
+      and isolated facts to be brought into connection with the rest of the
+      subject. Not so much with the view of enriching my history with new facts
+      as of seeking a key to old ones, I betook myself to the original sources,
+      and thus what was originally intended to be only a general outline
+      expanded under my hands into an elaborate history. The first part, which
+      concludes with the Duchess of Parma's departure from the Netherlands, must
+      be looked upon only as the introduction to the history of the Revolution
+      itself, which did not come to an open outbreak till the government of her
+      successor. I have bestowed the more care and attention upon this
+      introductory period the more the generality of writers who had previously
+      treated of it seemed to me deficient in these very qualities. Moreover, it
+      is in my opinion the more important as being the root and source of all
+      the subsequent events. If, then, the first volume should appear to any as
+      barren in important incident, dwelling prolixly on trifles, or, rather,
+      should seem at first sight profuse of reflections, and in general
+      tediously minute, it must be remembered that it was precisely out of small
+      beginnings that the Revolution was gradually developed; and that all the
+      great results which follow sprang out of a countless number of trifling
+      and little circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A nation like the one before us invariably takes its first steps with
+      doubts and uncertainty, to move afterwards only the more rapidly for its
+      previous hesitation. I proposed, therefore, to follow the same method in
+      describing this rebellion. The longer the reader delays on the
+      introduction the more familiar he becomes with the actors in this history,
+      and the scene in which they took a part, so much the more rapidly and
+      unerringly shall I be able to lead him through the subsequent periods,
+      where the accumulation of materials will forbid a slowness of step or
+      minuteness of attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As for the authorities of our history there is not so much cause to
+      complain of their paucity as of their extreme abundance, since it is
+      indispensable to read them all to obtain that clear view of the whole
+      subject to which the perusal of a part, however large, is always
+      prejudicial. From the unequal, partial, and often contradictory narratives
+      of the same occurrences it is often extremely difficult to seize the
+      truth, which in all is alike partly concealed and to be found complete in
+      none. In this first volume, besides de Thou, Strada, Reyd, Grotius,
+      Meteren, Burgundius, Meursius, Bentivoglio, and some moderns, the Memoirs
+      of Counsellor Hopper, the life and correspondence of his friend Viglius,
+      the records of the trials of the Counts of Hoorne and Egmont, the defence
+      of the Prince of Orange, and some few others have been my guides. I must
+      here acknowledge my obligations to a work compiled with much industry and
+      critical acumen, and written with singular truthfulness and impartiality.
+      I allude to the general history of the United Netherlands which was
+      published in Holland during the present century. Besides many original
+      documents which I could not otherwise have had access to, it has
+      abstracted all that is valuable in the excellent works of Bos, Hooft,
+      Brandt, Le Clerc, which either were impossible for me to procure or were
+      not available to my use, as being written in Dutch, which I do not
+      understand. An otherwise ordinary writer, Richard Dinoth, has also been of
+      service to me by the many extracts he gives from the pamphlets of the day,
+      which have been long lost. I have in vain endeavored to procure the
+      correspondence of Cardinal Granvella, which also would no doubt have
+      thrown much light upon the history of these times. The lately published
+      work on the Spanish Inquisition by my excellent countryman, Professor
+      Spittler of Gottingen, reached me too late for its sagacious and important
+      contents to be available for my purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The more I am convinced of the importance of the French history, the more
+      I lament that it was not in my power to study, as I could have wished, its
+      copious annals in the original sources and contemporary documents, and to
+      reproduce it abstracted of the form in which it was transmitted to me by
+      the more intelligent of my predecessors, and thereby emancipate myself
+      from the influence which every talented author exercises more or less upon
+      his readers. But to effect this the work of a few years must have become
+      the labor of a life. My aim in making this attempt will be more than
+      attained if it should convince a portion of the reading public of the
+      possibility of writing a history with historic truth without making a
+      trial of patience to the reader; and if it should extort from another
+      portion the confession that history can borrow from a cognate art without
+      thereby, of necessity, becoming a romance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      WEIMAR, Michaelmas Fair, 1788.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      INTRODUCTION.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Of those important political events which make the sixteenth century to
+      take rank among the brightest of the world's epochs, the foundation of the
+      freedom of the Netherlands appears to me one of the most remarkable. If
+      the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious lust of power claim
+      our admiration, how much more so should an event in which oppressed
+      humanity struggled for its noblest rights, where with the good cause
+      unwonted powers were united, and the resources of resolute despair
+      triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts of tyranny.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great and encouraging is the reflection that there is a resource left us
+      against the arrogant usurpations of despotic power; that its
+      best-contrived plans against the liberty of mankind may be frustrated;
+      that resolute opposition can weaken even the outstretched arm of tyranny;
+      and that heroic perseverance can eventually exhaust its fearful resources.
+      Never did this truth affect me so sensibly as in tracing the history of
+      that memorable rebellion which forever severed the United Netherlands from
+      the Spanish Crown. Therefore I thought it not unworth the while to attempt
+      to exhibit to the world this grand memorial of social union, in the hope
+      that it may awaken in the breast of my reader a spirit-stirring
+      consciousness of his own powers, and give a new and irrefragible example
+      of what in a good cause men may both dare and venture, and what by union
+      they may accomplish. It is not the extraordinary or heroic features of
+      this event that induce me to describe it. The annals of the world record
+      perhaps many similar enterprises, which may have been even bolder in the
+      conception and more brilliant in the execution. Some states have fallen
+      after a nobler struggle; others have risen with more exalted strides. Nor
+      are we here to look for eminent heroes, colossal talents, or those
+      marvellous exploits which the history of past times presents in such rich
+      abundance. Those times are gone; such men are no more. In the soft lap of
+      refinement we have suffered the energetic powers to become enervate which
+      those ages called into action and rendered indispensable. With admiring
+      awe we wonder at these gigantic images of the past as a feeble old man
+      gazes on the athletic sports of youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not so, however, in the history before us. The people here presented to
+      our notice were the most peaceful in our quarter of the globe, and less
+      capable than their neighbors of that heroic spirit which stamps a lofty
+      character even on the most insignificant actions. The pressure of
+      circumstances with its peculiar influence surprised them and forced a
+      transitory greatness upon them, which they never could have possessed and
+      perhaps will never possess again. It is, indeed, exactly this want of
+      heroic grandeur which renders this event peculiarly instructive; and while
+      others aim at showing the superiority of genius over chance, I shall here
+      paint a scene where necessity creates genius and accident makes heroes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If in any case it be allowable to recognize the intervention of Providence
+      in human affairs it is certainly so in the present history, its course
+      appears so contradictory to reason and experience. Philip II., the most
+      powerful sovereign of his line&mdash;whose dreaded supremacy menaced the
+      independence of Europe&mdash;whose treasures surpassed the collective
+      wealth of all the monarchs of Christendom besides&mdash;whose ambitious
+      projects were backed by numerous and well-disciplined armies &mdash;whose
+      troops, hardened by long and bloody wars, and confident in past victories
+      and in the irresistible prowess of this nation, were eager for any
+      enterprise that promised glory and spoil, and ready to second with prompt
+      obedience the daring genius of their leaders&mdash;this dreaded potentate
+      here appears before us obstinately pursuing one favorite project, devoting
+      to it the untiring efforts of a long reign, and bringing all these
+      terrible resources to bear upon it; but forced, in the evening of his
+      reign, to abandon it&mdash;here we see the mighty Philip II. engaging in
+      combat with a few weak and powerless adversaries, and retiring from it at
+      last with disgrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And with what adversaries? Here, a peaceful tribe of fishermen and
+      shepherds, in an almost-forgotten corner of Europe, which with difficulty
+      they had rescued from the ocean; the sea their profession, and at once
+      their wealth and their plague; poverty with freedom their highest
+      blessing, their glory, their virtue. There, a harmless, moral, commercial
+      people, revelling in the abundant fruits of thriving industry, and jealous
+      of the maintenance of laws which had proved their benefactors. In the
+      happy leisure of affluence they forsake the narrow circle of immediate
+      wants and learn to thirst after higher and nobler gratifications. The new
+      views of truth, whose benignant dawn now broke over Europe, cast a
+      fertilizing beam on this favored clime, and the free burgher admitted with
+      joy the light which oppressed and miserable slaves shut out. A spirit of
+      independence, which is the ordinary companion of prosperity and freedom,
+      lured this people on to examine the authority of antiquated opinions and
+      to break an ignominious chain. But the stern rod of despotism was held
+      suspended over them; arbitrary power threatened to tear away the
+      foundation of their happiness; the guardian of their laws became their
+      tyrant. Simple in their statecraft no less than in their manners, they
+      dared to appeal to ancient treaties and to remind the lord of both Indies
+      of the rights of nature. A name decides the whole issue of things. In
+      Madrid that was called rebellion which in Brussels was simply styled a
+      lawful remonstrance. The complaints of Brabant required a prudent
+      mediator; Philip II. sent an executioner. The signal for war was given. An
+      unparalleled tyranny assailed both property and life. The despairing
+      citizens, to whom the choice of deaths was all that was left, chose the
+      nobler one on the battle-field. A wealthy and luxurious nation loves
+      peace, but becomes warlike as soon as it becomes poor. Then it ceases to
+      tremble for a life which is deprived of everything that had made it
+      desirable. In an instant the contagion of rebellion seizes at once the
+      most distant provinces; trade and commerce are at a standstill, the ships
+      disappear from the harbors, the artisan abandons his workshop, the rustic
+      his uncultivated fields. Thousands fled to distant lands, a thousand
+      victims fell on the bloody field, and fresh thousands pressed on. Divine,
+      indeed, must that doctrine be for which men could die so joyfully. All
+      that was wanting was the last finishing hand, the enlightened,
+      enterprising spirit, to seize on this great political crisis and to mould
+      the offspring of chance into the ripe creation of wisdom. William the
+      Silent, like a second Brutus, devoted himself to the great cause of
+      liberty. Superior to all selfishness, he resigned honorable offices which
+      entailed on him obectionable duties, and, magnanimously divesting himself
+      of all his princely dignities, he descended to a state of voluntary
+      poverty, and became but a citizen of the world. The cause of justice was
+      staked upon the hazardous game of battle; but the newly-raised levies of
+      mercenaries and peaceful husbandmen were unable to withstand the terrible
+      onset of an experienced force. Twice did the brave William lead his
+      dispirited troops against the tyrant. Twice was he abandoned by them, but
+      not by his courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. sent as many reinforcements as the dreadful importunity of his
+      viceroy demanded. Fugitives, whom their country rejected, sought a new
+      home on the ocean, and turned to the ships of their enemy to satisfy the
+      cravings both of vengeance and of want. Naval heroes were now formed out
+      of corsairs, and a marine collected out of piratical vessels; out of
+      morasses arose a republic. Seven provinces threw off the yoke at the same
+      time, to form a new, youthful state, powerful by its waters and its union
+      and despair. A solemn decree of the whole nation deposed the tyrant, and
+      the Spanish name was erased from all its laws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For such acts no forgiveness remained; the republic became formidable only
+      because it was impossible for her to retrace her steps. But factions
+      distracted her within; without, her terrible element, the sea itself,
+      leaguing with her oppressors, threatened her very infancy with a premature
+      grave. She felt herself succumb to the superior force of the enemy, and
+      cast herself a suppliant before the most powerful thrones of Europe,
+      begging them to accept a dominion which she herself could no longer
+      protect. At last, but with difficulty&mdash;so despised at first was this
+      state that even the rapacity of foreign monarchs spurned her opening bloom&mdash;a
+      stranger deigned to accept their importunate offer of a dangerous crown.
+      New hopes began to revive her sinking courage; but in this new father of
+      his country destiny gave her a traitor, and in the critical emergency,
+      when the foe was in full force before her very gates, Charles of Anjou
+      invaded the liberties which he had been called to protect. In the midst of
+      the tempest, too, the assassin's hand tore the steersman from the helm,
+      and with William of Orange the career of the infant republic was seemingly
+      at an end, and all her guardian angels fled. But the ship continued to
+      scud along before the storm, and the swelling canvas carried her safe
+      without the pilot's help.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. missed the fruits of a deed which cost him his royal honor, and
+      perhaps, also, his self-respect. Liberty struggled on still with despotism
+      in obstinate and dubious contest; sanguinary battles were fought; a
+      brilliant array of heroes succeeded each other on the field of glory, and
+      Flanders and Brabant were the schools which educated generals for the
+      coming century. A long, devastating war laid waste the open country;
+      victor and vanquished alike waded through blood; while the rising republic
+      of the waters gave a welcome to fugitive industry, and out of the ruins of
+      despotism erected the noble edifice of its own greatness. For forty years
+      lasted the war whose happy termination was not to bless the dying eye of
+      Philip; which destroyed one paradise in Europe to form a new one out of
+      its shattered fragments; which destroyed the choicest flower of military
+      youth, and while it enriched more than a quarter of the globe impoverished
+      the possessor of the golden Peru. This monarch, who could expend nine
+      hundred tons of gold without oppressing his subjects, and by tyrannical
+      measures extorted far more, heaped, moreover, on his exhausted people a
+      debt of one hundred and forty millions of ducats. An implacable hatred of
+      liberty swallowed up all these treasures, and consumed on the fruitless
+      task the labor of a royal life. But the Reformation throve amidst the
+      devastations of the sword, and over the blood of her citizens the banner
+      of the new republic floated victorious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This improbable turn of affairs seems to border on a miracle; many
+      circumstances, however, combined to break the power of Philip, and to
+      favor the progress of the infant state. Had the whole weight of his power
+      fallen on the United Provinces there had been no hope for their religion
+      or their liberty. His own ambition, by tempting him to divide his
+      strength, came to the aid of their weakness. The expensive policy of
+      maintaining traitors in every cabinet of Europe; the support of the League
+      in France; the revolt of the Moors in Granada; the conquest of Portugal,
+      and the magnificent fabric of the Escurial, drained at last his apparently
+      inexhaustible treasury, and prevented his acting in the field with spirit
+      and energy. The German and Italian troops, whom the hope of gain alone
+      allured to his banner, mutinied when he could no longer pay them, and
+      faithlessly abandoned their leaders in the decisive moment of action.
+      These terrible instruments of oppression now turned their dangerous power
+      against their employer, and wreaked their vindictive rage on the provinces
+      which remained faithful to him. The unfortunate armament against England,
+      on which, like a desperate gamester, he had staked the whole strength of
+      his kingdom, completed his ruin; with the armada sank the wealth of the
+      two Indies, and the flower of Spanish chivalry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the very same proportion that the Spanish power declined the
+      republic rose in fresh vigor. The ravages which the fanaticism of the new
+      religion, the tyranny of the Inquisition, the furious rapacity of the
+      soldiery, and the miseries of a long war unbroken by any interval of
+      peace, made in the provinces of Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, at once
+      the arsenals and the magazines of this expensive contest, naturally
+      rendered it every year more difficult to support and recruit the royal
+      armies. The Catholic Netherlands had already lost a million of citizens,
+      and the trodden fields maintained their husbandmen no longer. Spain itself
+      had but few more men to spare. That country, surprised by a sudden
+      affluence which brought idleness with it, had lost much of its population,
+      and could not long support the continual drafts of men which were required
+      both for the New World and the Netherlands. Of these conscripts few ever
+      saw their country again; and these few having left it as youths returned
+      to it infirm and old. Gold, which had become more common, made soldiers
+      proportionately dearer; the growing charm of effeminacy enhanced the price
+      of the opposite virtues. Wholly different was the posture of affairs with
+      the rebels. The thousands whom the cruelty of the viceroy expelled from
+      the southern Netherlands, the Huguenots whom the wars of persecution drove
+      from France, as well as every one whom constraint of conscience exiled
+      from the other parts of Europe, all alike flocked to unite themselves with
+      the Belgian insurgents. The whole Christian world was their recruiting
+      ground. The fanaticism both of the persecutor and the persecuted worked in
+      their behalf. The enthusiasm of a doctrine newly embraced, revenge, want,
+      and hopeless misery drew to their standard adventurers from every part of
+      Europe. All whom the new doctrine had won, all who had suffered, or had
+      still cause of fear from despotism, linked their own fortunes with those
+      of the new republic. Every injury inflicted by a tyrant gave a right of
+      citizenship in Holland. Men pressed towards a country where liberty raised
+      her spirit-stirring banner, where respect and security were insured to a
+      fugitive religion, and even revenge on the oppressor. If we consider the
+      conflux in the present day of people to Holland, seeking by their entrance
+      upon her territory to be reinvested in their rights as men, what must it
+      have been at a time when the rest of Europe groaned under a heavy bondage,
+      when Amsterdam was nearly the only free port for all opinions? Many
+      hundred families sought a refuge for their wealth in a land which the
+      ocean and domestic concord powerfully combined to protect. The republican
+      army maintained its full complement without the plough being stripped of
+      hands to work it. Amid the clash of arms trade and industry flourished,
+      and the peaceful citizen enjoyed in anticipation the fruits of liberty
+      which foreign blood was to purchase for them. At the very time when the
+      republic of Holland was struggling for existence she extended her
+      dominions beyond the ocean, and was quietly occupied in erecting her East
+      Indian Empire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover, Spain maintained this expensive war with dead, unfructifying
+      gold, that never returned into the hand which gave it away, while it
+      raised to her the price of every necessary. The treasuries of the republic
+      were industry and commerce. Time lessened the one whilst it multiplied the
+      other, and exactly in the same proportion that the resources of the
+      Spanish government became exhausted by the long continuance of the war the
+      republic began to reap a richer harvest. Its field was sown sparingly with
+      the choice seed which bore fruit, though late, yet a hundredfold; but the
+      tree from which Philip gathered fruit was a fallen trunk which never again
+      became verdant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip's adverse destiny decreed that all the treasures which he lavished
+      for the oppression of the Provinces should contribute to enrich them. The
+      continual outlay of Spanish gold had diffused riches and luxury throughout
+      Europe; but the increasing wants of Europe were supplied chiefly by the
+      Netherlanders, who were masters of the commerce of the known world, and
+      who by their dealings fixed the price of all merchandise. Even during the
+      war Philip could not prohibit his own subjects from trading with the
+      republic; nay, he could not even desire it. He himself furnished the
+      rebels with the means of defraying the expenses of their own defence; for
+      the very war which was to ruin them increased the sale of their goods. The
+      enormous suns expended on his fleets and armies flowed for the most part
+      into the exchequer of the republic, which was more or less connected with
+      the commercial places of Flanders and Brabant. Whatever Philip attempted
+      against the rebels operated indirectly to their advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sluggish progress of this war did the king as much injury as it
+      benefited the rebels. His army was composed for the most part of the
+      remains of those victorious troops which had gathered their laurels under
+      Charles V. Old and long services entitled them to repose; many of them,
+      whom the war had enriched, impatiently longed for their homes, where they
+      might end in ease a life of hardship. Their former zeal, their heroic
+      spirit, and their discipline relaxed in the same proportion as they
+      thought they had fully satisfied their honor and their duty, and as they
+      began to reap at last the reward of so many battles. Besides, the troops
+      which had been accustomed by their irresistible impetuosity to vanquish
+      all opponents were necessarily wearied out by a war which was carried on
+      not so much against men as against the elements; which exercised their
+      patience more than it gratified their love of glory; and where there was
+      less of danger than of difficulty and want to contend with. Neither
+      personal courage nor long military experience was of avail in a country
+      whose peculiar features gave the most dastardly the advantage. Lastly, a
+      single discomfiture on foreign ground did them more injury than any
+      victories gained over an enemy at home could profit them. With the rebels
+      the case was exactly the reverse. In so protracted a war, in which no
+      decisive battle took place, the weaker party must naturally learn at last
+      the art of defence from the stronger; slight defeats accustomed him to
+      danger; slight victories animated his confidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the beginning of the war the republican army scarcely dared to show
+      itself in the field; the long continuance of the struggle practised and
+      hardened it. As the royal armies grew wearied of victory, the confidence
+      of the rebels rose with their improved discipline and experience. At last,
+      at the end of half a century, master and pupil separated, unsubdued, and
+      equal in the fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, throughout the war the rebels acted with more concord and unanimity
+      than the royalists. Before the former had lost their first leader the
+      government of the Netherlands had passed through as many as five hands.
+      The Duchess of Parma's indecision soon imparted itself to the cabinet of
+      Madrid, which in a short time tried in succession almost every system of
+      policy. Duke Alva's inflexible sternness, the mildness of his successor
+      Requescens, Don John of Austria's insidious cunning, and the active and
+      imperious mind of the Prince of Parma gave as many opposite directions to
+      the war, while the plan of rebellion remained the same in a single head,
+      who, as he saw it clearly, pursued it with vigor. The king's greatest
+      misfortune was that right principles of action generally missed the right
+      moment of application. In the commencement of the troubles, when the
+      advantage was as yet clearly on the king's side, when prompt resolution
+      and manly firmness might have crushed the rebellion in the cradle, the
+      reigns of government were allowed to hang loose in the hands of a woman.
+      After the outbreak had come to an open revolt, and when the strength of
+      the factious and the power of the king stood more equally balanced, and
+      when a skilful flexible prudence could alone have averted the impending
+      civil war, the government devolved on a man who was eminently deficient in
+      this necessary qualification. So watchful an observer as William the
+      Silent failed not to improve every advantage which the faulty policy of
+      his adversary presented, and with quiet silent industry he slowly but
+      surely pushed on the great enterprise to its accomplishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But why did not Philip II. himself appear in the Netherlands? Why did he
+      prefer to employ every other means, however improbable, rather than make
+      trial of the only remedy which could insure success? To curb the overgrown
+      power and insolence of the nobility there was no expedient more natural
+      than the presence of their master. Before royalty itself all secondary
+      dignities must necessarily have sunk in the shade, all other splendor be
+      dimmed. Instead of the truth being left to flow slowly and obscurely
+      through impure channels to the distant throne, so that procrastinated
+      measures of redress gave time to ripen ebullitions of the moment into acts
+      of deliberation, his own penetrating glance would at once have been able
+      to separate truth from error; and cold policy alone, not to speak of his
+      humanity, would have saved the land a million citizens. The nearer to
+      their source the more weighty would his edicts have been; the thicker they
+      fell on their objects the weaker and the more dispirited would have become
+      the efforts of the rebels. It costs infinitely more to do an evil to an
+      enemy in his presence than in his absence. At first the rebellion appeared
+      to tremble at its own name, and long sheltered itself under the ingenious
+      pretext of defending the cause of its sovereign against the arbitrary
+      assumptions of his own viceroy. Philip's appearance in Brussels would have
+      put an end at once to this juggling. In that case, the rebels would have
+      been compelled to act up to their pretence, or to cast aside the mask, and
+      so, by appearing in their true shape, condemn themselves. And what a
+      relief for the Netherlands if the king's presence had only spared them
+      those evils which were inflicted upon them without his knowledge, and
+      contrary to his will. <a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1"
+      id="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> What gain, too, even if it had
+      only enabled him to watch over the expenditure of the vast sums which,
+      illegally raised on the plea of meeting the exigencies of the war,
+      disappeared in the plundering hands of his deputies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What the latter were compelled to extort by the unnatural expedient of
+      terror, the nation would have been disposed to grant to the sovereign
+      majesty. That which made his ministers detested would have rendered the
+      monarch feared; for the abuse of hereditary power is less painfully
+      oppressive than the abuse of delegated authority. His presence would have
+      saved his exchequer thousands had he been nothing more than an economical
+      despot; and even had he been less, the awe of his person would have
+      preserved a territory which was lost through hatred and contempt for his
+      instruments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the same manner, as the oppression of the people of the Netherlands
+      excited the sympathy of all who valued their own rights, it might have
+      been expected that their disobedience and defection would have been a call
+      to all princes to maintain their own prerogatives in the case of their
+      neighbors. But jealousy of Spain got the better of political sympathies,
+      and the first powers of Europe arranged themselves more or less openly on
+      the side of freedom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although bound to the house of Spain by the ties of relationship, the
+      Emperor Maximilian II. gave it just cause for its charge against him of
+      secretly favoring the rebels. By the offer of his mediation he implicitly
+      acknowledged the partial justice of their complaints, and thereby
+      encouraged them to a resolute perseverance in their demands. Under an
+      emperor sincerely devoted to the interests of the Spanish house, William
+      of Orange could scarcely have drawn so many troops and so much money from
+      Germany. France, without openly and formally breaking the peace, placed a
+      prince of the blood at the head of the Netherlandish rebels; and it was
+      with French gold and French troops that the operations of the latter were
+      chiefly conducted. <a href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2"
+      id="linknoteref-2"><small>2</small></a> Elizabeth of England, too, did but
+      exercise a just retaliation and revenge in protecting the rebels against
+      their legitimate sovereign; and although her meagre and sparing aid
+      availed no farther than to ward off utter ruin from the republic, still
+      even this was infinitely valuable at a moment when nothing but hope could
+      have supported their exhausted courage. With both these powers Philip at
+      the time was at peace, but both betrayed him. Between the weak and the
+      strong honesty often ceases to appear a virtue; the delicate ties which
+      bind equals are seldom observed towards him whom all men fear. Philip had
+      banished truth from political intercourse; he himself had dissolved all
+      morality between kings, and had made artifice the divinity of cabinets.
+      Without once enjoying the advantages of his preponderating greatness, he
+      had, throughout life, to contend with the jealousy which it awakened in
+      others. Europe made him atone for the possible abuses of a power of which
+      in fact he never had the full possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If against the disparity between the two combatants, which, at first
+      sight, is so astounding, we weigh all the incidental circumstances which
+      were adverse to Spain, but favorable to the Netherlands, that which is
+      supernatural in this event will disappear, while that which is
+      extraordinary will still remain&mdash;and a just standard will be
+      furnished by which to estimate the real merit of these republicans in
+      working out their freedom. It must not, however, be thought that so
+      accurate a calculation of the opposing forces could have preceded the
+      undertaking itself, or that, on entering this unknown sea, they already
+      knew the shore on which they would ultimately be landed. The work did not
+      present itself to the mind of its originator in the exact form which it
+      assumed when completed, any more than the mind of Luther foresaw the
+      eternal separation of creeds when he began to oppose the sale of
+      indulgences. What a difference between the modest procession of those
+      suitors in Brussels, who prayed for a more humane treatment as a favor,
+      and the dreaded majesty of a free state, which treated with kings as
+      equals, and in less than a century disposed of the throne of its former
+      tyrant. The unseen hand of fate gave to the discharged arrow a higher
+      flight, and quite a different direction from that which it first received
+      from the bowstring. In the womb of happy Brabant that liberty had its
+      birth which, torn from its mother in its earliest infancy, was to gladden
+      the so despised Holland. But the enterprise must not be less thought of
+      because its issue differed from the first design. Man works up, smooths,
+      and fashions the rough stone which the times bring to him; the moment and
+      the instant may belong to him, but accident develops the history of the
+      world. If the passions which co-operated actively in bringing about this
+      event were only not unworthy of the great work to which they were
+      unconsciously subservient&mdash;if only the powers which aided in its
+      accomplishment were intrinsically noble, if only the single actions out of
+      whose great concatenation it wonderfully arose were beautiful then is the
+      event grand, interesting, and fruitful for us, and we are at liberty to
+      wonder at the bold offspring of chance, or rather offer up our admiration
+      to a higher intelligence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The history of the world, like the laws of nature, is consistent with
+      itself, and simple as the soul of man. Like conditions produce like
+      phenomena. On the same soil where now the Netherlanders were to resist
+      their Spanish tyrants, their forefathers, the Batavi and Belgee, fifteen
+      centuries before, combated against their Roman oppressors. Like the
+      former, submitting reluctantly to a haughty master, and misgoverned by
+      rapacious satraps, they broke off their chain with like resolution, and
+      tried their fortune in a similar unequal combat. The same pride of
+      conquest, the same national grandeur, marked the Spaniard of the sixteenth
+      century and the Roman of the first; the same valor and discipline
+      distinguished the armies of both, their battle array inspired the same
+      terror. There as here we see stratagem in combat with superior force, and
+      firmness, strengthened by unanimity, wearying out a mighty power weakened
+      by division; then as now private hatred armed a whole nation; a single
+      man, born for his times, revealed to his fellow-slaves the dangerous
+      Secret of their power, and brought their mute grief to a bloody
+      announcement. "Confess, Batavians," cries Claudius Civilis to his
+      countrymen in the sacred grove, "we are no longer treated, as formerly, by
+      these Romans as allies, but rather as slaves. We are handed over to their
+      prefects and centurions, who, when satiated with our plunder and with our
+      blood, make way for others, who, under different names, renew the same
+      outrages. If even at last Rome deigns to send us a legate, he oppresses us
+      with an ostentatious and costly retinue, and with still more intolerable
+      pride. The levies are again at hand which tear forever children from their
+      parents, brothers from brothers. Now, Batavians, is our time. Never did
+      Rome lie so prostrate as now. Let not their names of legions terrify you.
+      There is nothing in their camps but old men and plunder. Our infantry and
+      horsemen are strong; Germany is allied to us by blood, and Gaul is ready
+      to throw off its yoke. Let Syria serve them, and Asia and the East, who
+      are used to bow before kings; many still live who were born among us
+      before tribute was paid to the Romans. The gods are ever with the brave."
+      Solemn religious rites hallowed this conspiracy, like the League of the
+      Gueux; like that, it craftily wrapped itself in the veil of
+      submissiveness, in the majesty of a great name. The cohorts of Civilis
+      swear allegiance on the Rhine to Vespasian in Syria, as the League did to
+      Philip II. The same arena furnished the same plan of defence, the same
+      refuge to despair. Both confided their wavering fortunes to a friendly
+      element; in the same distress Civilis preserves his island, as fifteen
+      centuries after him William of Orange did the town of Leyden&mdash;through
+      an artificial inundation. The valor of the Batavi disclosed the impotency
+      of the world's ruler, as the noble courage of their descendants revealed
+      to the whole of Europe the decay of Spanish greatness. The same fecundity
+      of genius in the generals of both times gave to the war a similarly
+      obstinate continuance, and nearly as doubtful an issue; one difference,
+      nevertheless, distinguishes them: the Romans and Batavians fought
+      humanely, for they did not fight for religion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a href="#linknoteref-1" name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"><small>1</small></a>
+      More modern historians, with access to the records of the Spanish
+      Inquisition and the private communications between Phillip II. and his
+      various appointees to power in the Netherlands, rebut Shiller's kind but
+      naive thought. To the contrary, Phillip II. was most critical of his
+      envoys lack of severity. See in particular the "Rise of the Dutch
+      Republic" and the other works of John Motley on the history of the
+      Netherlands all of which are available at Project Gutenberg.&mdash;D.W.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a href="#linknoteref-2" name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"><small>2</small></a>
+      A few French generals who were by and large ineffective, and many promises
+      of gold which were undelivered.&mdash;D.W.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK I.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      EARLIER HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS UP TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Before we consider the immediate history of this great revolution, it will
+      be advisable to go a few steps back into the ancient records of the
+      country, and to trace the origin of that constitution which we find it
+      possessed of at the time of this remarkable change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first appearance of this people in the history of the world is the
+      moment of its fall; their conquerors first gave them a political
+      existence. The extensive region which is bounded by Germany on the east,
+      on the south by France, on the north and northwest by the North Sea, and
+      which we comprehend under the general name of the Netherlands, was, at the
+      time when the Romans invaded Gaul, divided amongst three principal
+      nations, all originally of German descent, German institutions, and German
+      spirit. The Rhine formed its boundaries. On the left of the river dwelt
+      the Belgae, on its right the Frisii, and the Batavi on the island which
+      its two arms then formed with the ocean. All these several nations were
+      sooner or later reduced into subjection by the Romans, but the conquerors
+      themselves give us the most glorious testimony to their valor. The Belgae,
+      writes Caesar, were the only people amongst the Gauls who repulsed the
+      invasion of the Teutones and Cimbri. The Batavi, Tacitus tells us,
+      surpassed all the tribes on the Rhine in bravery. This fierce nation paid
+      its tribute in soldiers, and was reserved by its conquerors, like arrow
+      and sword, only for battle. The Romans themselves acknowledged the
+      Batavian horsemen to be their best cavalry. Like the Swiss at this day,
+      they formed for a long time the body-guard of the Roman Emperor; their
+      wild courage terrified the Dacians, as they saw them, in full armor,
+      swimming across the Danube. The Batavi accompanied Agricola in his
+      expedition against Britain, and helped him to conquer that island. The
+      Frieses were, of all, the last subdued, and the first to regain their
+      liberty. The morasses among which they dwelt attracted the conquerors
+      later, and enhanced the price of conquest. The Roman Drusus, who made war
+      in these regions, had a canal cut from the Rhine into the Flevo, the
+      present Zuyder Zee, through which the Roman fleet penetrated into the
+      North Sea, and from thence, entering the mouths of the Ems and the Weser,
+      found an easy passage into the interior of Germany.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through four centuries we find Batavian troops in the Roman armies, but
+      after the time of Honorius their name disappears from history. Presently
+      we discover their island overrun by the Franks, who again lost themselves
+      in the adjoining country of Belgium. The Frieses threw off the yoke of
+      their distant and powerless rulers, and again appearad as a free, and even
+      a conquering people, who governed themselves by their own customs and a
+      remnant of Roman laws, and extended their limits beyond the left bank of
+      the Rhine. Of all the provinces of the Netherlands, Friesland especially
+      had suffered the least from the irruptions of strange tribes and foreign
+      customs, and for centuries retained traces of its original institutions,
+      of its national spirit and manners, which have not, even at the present
+      day, entirely disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The epoch of the immigration of nations destroyed the original form of
+      most of these tribes; other mixed races arose in their place, with other
+      constitutions. In the general irruption the towns and encampments of the
+      Romans disappeared, and with them the memorials of their wise government,
+      which they had employed the natives to execute. The neglected dikes once
+      more yielded to the violence of the streams and to the encroachments of
+      the ocean. Those wonders of labor, and creations of human skill, the
+      canals, dried up, the rivers changed their course, the continent and the
+      sea confounded their olden limits, and the nature of the soil changed with
+      its inhabitants. So, too, the connection of the two eras seems effaced,
+      and with a new race a new history commences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The monarchy of the Franks, which arose out of the ruins of Roman Gaul,
+      had, in the sixth and seventh centuries, seized all the provinces of the
+      Netherlands, and planted there the Christian faith. After an obstinate war
+      Charles Martel subdued to the French crown Friesland, the last of all the
+      free provinces, and by his victories paved a way for the gospel.
+      Charlemagne united all these countries, and formed of them one division of
+      the mighty empire which he had constructed out of Germany, France, and
+      Lombardy. As under his descendants this vast dominion was again torn into
+      fragments, so the Netherlands became at times German, at others French, or
+      then again Lotheringian Provinces; and at last we find them under both the
+      names of Friesland and Lower Lotheringia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the Franks the feudal system, the offspring of the North, also came
+      into these lands, and here, too, as in all other countries, it
+      degenerated. The more powerful vassals gradually made themselves
+      independent of the crown, and the royal governors usurped the countries
+      they were appointed to govern. But the rebellions vassals could not
+      maintain their usurpations without the aid of their own dependants, whose
+      assistance they were compelled to purchase by new concessions. At the same
+      time the church became powerful through pious usurpations and donations,
+      and its abbey lands and episcopal sees acquired an independent existence.
+      Thus were the Netherlands in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth
+      centuries split up into several small sovereignties, whose possessors did
+      homage at one time to the German Emperor, at another to the kings of
+      France. By purchase, marriages, legacies, and also by conquest, several of
+      these provinces were often united under one suzerain, and thus in the
+      fifteenth century we see the house of Burgundy in possession of the chief
+      part of the Netherlands. With more or less right Philip the Good, Duke of
+      Burgundy, had united as many as eleven provinces under his authority, and
+      to these his son, Charles the Bold, added two others, acquired by force of
+      arms. Thus imperceptibly a new state arose in Europe, which wanted nothing
+      but the name to be the most flourishing kingdom in this quarter of the
+      globe. These extensive possessions made the Dukes of Burgundy formidable
+      neighbors to France, and tempted the restless spirit of Charles the Bold
+      to devise a scheme of conquest, embracing the whole line of country from
+      the Zuyder Zee and the mouth of the Rhine down to Alsace. The almost
+      inexhaustible resources of this prince justify in some measure this bold
+      project. A formidable army threatened to carry it into execution. Already
+      Switzerland trembled for her liberty; but deceitful fortune abandoned him
+      in three terrible battles, and the infatuated hero was lost in the melee
+      of the living and the dead.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [A page who had seen him fall a few days after the battle conducted
+   the victors to the spot, and saved his remains from an ignominious
+   oblivion. His body was dragged from out of a pool, in which it was
+   fast frozen, naked, and so disfigured with wounds that with great
+   difficulty he was recognized, by the well-known deficiency of some
+   of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger-nails. But that,
+   notwithstanding the marks, there were still incredulous people who
+   doubted his death, and looked for his reappearance, is proved by
+   the missive in which Louis XI. called upon the Burgundian States to
+   return to their allegiance to the Crown of France. "If," the
+   passage runs, "Duke Charles should still be living, you shall be
+   released from your oath to me." Comines, t. iii., Preuves des
+   Memoires, 495, 497.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The sole heiress of Charles the Bold, Maria, at once the richest princess
+      and the unhappy Helen of that time, whose wooing brought misery on her
+      inheritance, was now the centre of attraction to the whole known world.
+      Among her suitors appeared two great princes, King Louis XI. of France,
+      for his son, the young Dauphin, and Maximilian of Austria, son of the
+      Emperor Frederic III. The successful suitor was to become the most
+      powerful prince in Europe; and now, for the first time, this quarter of
+      the globe began to fear for its balance of power. Louis, the more powerful
+      of the two, was ready to back his suit by force of arms; but the people of
+      the Netherlands, who disposed of the hand of their princess, passed by
+      this dreaded neighbor, and decided in favor of Maximilian, whose more
+      remote territories and more limited power seemed less to threaten the
+      liberty of their country. A deceitful, unfortunate policy, which, through
+      a strange dispensation of heaven, only accelerated the melancholy fate
+      which it was intended to prevent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To Philip the Fair, the son of Maria and Maximilian, a Spanish bride
+      brought as her portion that extensive kingmdom which Ferdinand and
+      Isabella had recently founded; and Charles of Austria, his son, was born
+      lord of the kingdoms of Spain, of the two Sicilies, of the New World, and
+      of the Netherlands. In the latter country the commonalty emancipated
+      themselves much earlier than in other; feudal states, and quickly attained
+      to an independent political existence. The favorable situation of the
+      country on the North Sea and on great navigable rivers early awakened the
+      spirit of commerce, which rapidly peopled the towns, encouraged industry
+      and the arts, attracted foreigners, and diffused prosperity and affluence
+      among them. However contemptuously the warlike policy of those times
+      looked down upon every peaceful and useful occupation, the rulers of the
+      country could not fail altogether to perceive the essential advantages
+      they derived from such pursuits. The increasing population of their
+      territories, the different imposts which they extorted from natives and
+      foreigners under the various titles of tolls, customs, highway rates,
+      escort money, bridge tolls, market fees, escheats, and so forth, were too
+      valuable considerations to allow them to remain indifferent to the sources
+      from which they were derived.. Their own rapacity made them promoters of
+      trade, and, as often happens, barbarism itself rudely nursed it, until at
+      last a healthier policy assumed its place. In the course of time they
+      invited the Lombard merchants to settle among them, and accorded to the
+      towns some valuable privileges and an independent jurisdiction, by which
+      the latter acquired uncommon extraordinary credit and influence. The
+      numerous wars which the counts and dukes carried on with one another, or
+      with their neighbors, made them in some measure dependent on the good-will
+      of the towns, who by their wealth obtained weight and consideration, and
+      for the subsidies which they afforded failed not to extort important
+      privileges in return. These privileges of the commonalties increased as
+      the crusades with their expensive equipment augumented the necessities of
+      the nobles; as a new road to Europe was opened for the productions of the
+      East, and as wide-spreading luxury created new wants to their princes.
+      Thus as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find in these lands
+      a mixed form of governmeut, in which the prerogative of the sovereign is
+      greatly limited by the privileges of the estates; that is to say, of the
+      nobility, the clergy, and the municipalities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These, under the name of States, assembled as often as the wants of the
+      province required it. Without their consent no new laws were valid, no war
+      could be carried on, and no taxes levied, no change made in the coinage,
+      and no foreigner admitted to any office of government. All the provinces
+      enjoyed these privileges in common; others were peculiar to the various
+      districts. The supreme government was hereditary, but the son did not
+      enter on the rights of his father before he had solemnly sworn to maintain
+      the existing constitution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Necessity is the first lawgiver; all the wants which had to be met by this
+      constitution were originally of a commercial nature. Thus the whole
+      constitution was founded on commerce, and the laws of the nation were
+      adapted to its pursuits. The last clause, which excluded foreigners from
+      all offices of trust, was a natural consequence of the preceding articles.
+      So complicated and artificial a relation between the sovereign and his
+      people, which in many provinces was further modified according to the
+      peculiar wants of each, and frequently of some single city, required for
+      its maintenance the liveliest zeal for the liberties of the country,
+      combined with an intimate acquaintance with them. From a foreigner neither
+      could well be expected. This law, besides, was enforced reciprocally in
+      each particular province; so that in Brabant no Fleming, in Zealand no
+      Hollander, could hold office; and it continued in force even after all
+      these provinces were united under one government.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Above all others, Brabant enjoyed the highest degree of freedom. Its
+      privileges were esteemed so valuable that many mothers from the adjacent
+      provinces removed thither about the time of their accouchment, in order to
+      entitle their children to participate, by birth, in all the immunities of
+      that favored country; just as, says Strada, one improves the plants of a
+      rude climate by removing them to the soil of a milder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the House of Burgundy had united several provinces under its
+      dominion, the separate provincial assemblies which, up to that time, had
+      been independent tribunals, were made subject to a supreme court at
+      Malines, which incorporated the various judicatures into one body, and
+      decided in the last resort all civil and criminal appeals. The separate
+      independence of the provinces was thus abolished, and the supreme power
+      vested in the senate at Malines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the death of Charles the Bold the states did not neglect to avail
+      themselves of the embarassment of their duchess, who, threatened by
+      France, was consequently in their power. Holland and Zealand compelled her
+      to sign a great charter, which secured to them the most important
+      sovereign rights. The people of Ghent carried their insolence to such a
+      pitch that they arbitrarily dragged the favorites of Maria, who had the
+      misfortune to displease them, before their own tribunals, and beheaded
+      them before the eyes of that princess. During the short government of the
+      Duchess Maria, from her father's death to her marriage, the commons
+      obtained powers which few free states enjoyed. After her death her
+      husband, Maximilian, illegally assumed the government as guardian of his
+      son. Offended by this invasion of their rights, the estates refused to
+      acknowledge his authority, and could only be brought to receive him as a
+      viceroy for a stated period, and under conditions ratified by oath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Maximilian, after he became Roman Emperor, fancied that he might safely
+      venture to violate the constitution. He imposed extraordinary taxes on the
+      provinces, gave official appointments to Burgundians and Germans, and
+      introduced foreign troops into the provinces. But the jealousy of these
+      republicans kept pace with the power of their regent. As he entered Bruges
+      with a large retinue of foreigners, the people flew to arms, made
+      themselves masters of his person, and placed him in confinement in the
+      castle. In spite of the intercession of the Imperial and Roman courts, he
+      did not again obtain his freedom until security had been given to the
+      people on all the disputed points.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The security of life and property arising from mild laws, and, an equal
+      administration of justice, had encouraged activity and industry. In
+      continual contest with the ocean and rapid rivers, which poured their
+      violence on the neighboring lowlands, and whose force it was requisite to
+      break by embankments and canals, this people had early learned to observe
+      the natural objects around them; by industry and perseverance to defy an
+      element of superior power; and like the Egyptian, instructed by his Nile,
+      to exercise their inventive genius and acuteness in self-defence. The
+      natural fertility of their soil, which favored agriculture and the
+      breeding of cattle, tended at the same time to increase the population.
+      Their happy position on the sea and the great navigable rivers of Germany
+      and France, many of which debouched on their coasts; the numerous
+      artificial canals which intersected the land in all directions, imparted
+      life to navigation; and the facility of internal communication between the
+      provinces, soon created and fostered a commercial spirit among these
+      people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The neighboring coasts, Denmark and Britain, were the first visited by
+      their vessels. The English wool which they brought back employed thousands
+      of industrious hands in Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp; and as early as the
+      middle of the twelfth century cloths of Flanders were extensively worn in
+      France and Germany. In the eleventh century we find ships of Friesland in
+      the Belt, and even in the Levant. This enterprising people ventured,
+      without a compass, to steer under the North Pole round to the most
+      northerly point of Russia. From the Wendish towns the Netherlands received
+      a share in the Levant trade, which, at that time, still passed from the
+      Black Sea through the Russian territories to the Baltic. When, in the
+      thirteenth century, this trade began to decline, the Crusades having
+      opened a new road through the Mediterranean for Indian merchandise, and
+      after the Italian towns had usurped this lucrative branch of commerce, and
+      the great Hanseatic League had been formed in Germany, the Netherlands
+      became the most important emporium between the north and south. As yet the
+      use of the compass was not general, and the merchantmen sailed slowly and
+      laboriously along the coasts. The ports on the Baltic were, during the
+      winter months, for the most part frozen and inaccessible. Ships,
+      therefore, which could not well accomplish within the year the long voyage
+      from the Mediterranean to the Belt, gladly availed themselves of harbors
+      which lay half-way between the two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With an immense continent behind them with which navigable streams kept up
+      their communication, and towards the west and north open to the ocean by
+      commodious harbors, this country appeared to be expressly formed for a
+      place of resort for different nations, and for a centre of commerce. The
+      principal towns of the Netherlands were established marts. Portuguese,
+      Spaniards, Italians, French, Britons, Germans, Danes, and Swedes thronged
+      to them with the produce of every country in the world. Competition
+      insured cheapness; industry was stimulated as it found a ready market for
+      its productions. With the necessary exchange of money arose the commerce
+      in bills, which opened a new and fruitful source of wealth. The princes of
+      the country, acquainted at last with their true interest, encouraged the
+      merchant by important immunities, and neglected not to protect their
+      commerce by advantageous treaties with foreign powers. When, in the
+      fifteenth century, several provinces were united under one rule, they
+      discontinued their private wars, which had proved so injurious, and their
+      separate interests were now more intimately connected by a common
+      government. Their commerce and affluence prospered in the lap of a long
+      peace, which the formidable power of their princes extorted from the
+      neighboring monarchs. The Burgundian flag was feared in every sea, the
+      dignity of their sovereign gave support to their undertakings, and the
+      enterprise of a private individual became the affair of a powerful state.
+      Such vigorous protection soon placed them in a position even to renounce
+      the Hanseatic League, and to pursue this daring enemy through every sea.
+      The Hanseatic merchants, against whom the coasts of Spain were closed,
+      were compelled at last, however reluctantly, to visit the Flemish fairs,
+      and purchase their Spanish goods in the markets of the Netherlands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bruges, in Flanders, was, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the
+      central point of the whole commerce of Europe, and the great market of all
+      nations. In the year 1468 a hundred and fifty merchant vessels were
+      counted entering the harbor of Sluys it one time. Besides the rich
+      factories of the Hanseatic League, there were here fifteen trading
+      companies, with their countinghouses, and many factories and merchants'
+      families from every European country. Here was established the market of
+      all northern products for the south, and of all southern and Levantine
+      products for the north. These passed through the Sound, and up the Rhine,
+      in Hanseatic vessels to Upper Germany, or were transported by landcarriage
+      to Brunswick and Luneburg.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As in the common course of human affairs, so here also a licentious luxury
+      followed prosperity. The seductive example of Philip the Good could not
+      but accelerate its approach. The court of the Burgundian dukes was the
+      most voluptuous and magnificent in Europe, Italy itself not excepted. The
+      costly dress of the higher classes, which afterwards served as patterns to
+      the Spaniards, and eventually, with other Burgundian customs, passed over
+      to the court of Austria, soon descended to the lower orders, and the
+      meanest citizen nursed his person in velvet and silk.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Philip the Good was too profuse a prince to amass treasures;
+   nevertheless Charles the Bold found accumulated among his effects,
+   a greater store of table services, jewels, carpets, and linen than
+   three rich princedoms of that time together possessed, and over and
+   above all a treasure of three hundred thousand dollars in ready
+   money. The riches of this prince, and of the Burgundian people,
+   lay exposed on the battle-fields of Granson, Murten and Nancy.
+   Here a Swiss soldier drew from the finger of Charles the Bold, that
+   celebrated diamond which was long esteemed the largest in Europe,
+   which even now sparkles in the crown of France as the second in
+   size, but which the unwitting finder sold for a florin. The Swiss
+   exchanged the silver they found for tin, and the gold for copper,
+   and tore into pieces the costly tents of cloth of gold. The value
+   of the spoil of silver, gold, and jewels which was taken has been
+   estimated at three millions. Charles and his army had advanced to
+   the combat, not like foes who purpose battle, but like conquerors
+   who adorn themselves after victory.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Comines, an author who travelled through the Netherlands about the middle
+      of the fifteenth century, tells us that pride had already attended their
+      prosperity. The pomp and vanity of dress was carried by both sexes to
+      extravagance. The luxury of the table had never reached so great a height
+      among any other people. The immoral assemblage of both sexes at
+      bathing-places, and such other places of reunion for pleasure and
+      enjoyment, had banished all shame&mdash;and we are not here speaking of
+      the usual luxuriousness of the higher ranks; the females of the common
+      class abandoned themselves to such extravagances without limit or measure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But how much more cheering to the philanthropist is this extravagance than
+      the miserable frugality of want, and the barbarous virtues of ignorance,
+      which at that time oppressed nearly the whole of Europe! The Burgundian
+      era shines pleasingly forth from those dark ages, like a lovely spring day
+      amid the showers of February. But this flourishing condition tempted the
+      Flemish towns at last to their ruin; Ghent and Bruges, giddy with liberty
+      and success, declared war against Philip the Good, the ruler of eleven
+      provinces, which ended as unfortunately as it was presumptuously
+      commenced. Ghent alone lost many thousand men in an engagement near Havre,
+      and was compelled to appease the wrath of the victor by a contribution of
+      four hundred thousand gold florins. All the municipal functionaries, and
+      two thousand of the principal citizens, went, stripped to their shirts,
+      barefooted, and with heads uncovered, a mile out of the town to meet the
+      duke, and on their knees supplicated for pardon. On this occasion they
+      were deprived of several valuable privileges, all irreparable loss for
+      their future commerce. In the year 1482 they engaged in a war, with no
+      better success, against Maximilian of Austria, with a view to, deprive him
+      of the guardianship of his son, which, in contravention of his charter, he
+      had unjustly assumed. In 1487 the town of Bruges placed the archduke
+      himself in confinement, and put some of his most eminent ministers to
+      death. To avenge his son the Emperor Frederic III. entered their territory
+      with an army, and, blockading for ten years the harbor of Sluys, put a
+      stop to their entire trade. On this occasion Amsterdam and Antwerp, whose
+      jealousy had long been roused by the flourishing condition of the Flemish
+      towns, lent him the most important assistance. The Italians began to bring
+      their own silk-stuffs to Antwerp for sale, and the Flemish cloth-workers
+      likewise, who had settled in England, sent their goods thither; and thus
+      the town of Bruges lost two important branches of trade. The Hanseatic
+      League had long been offended at their overweening pride; and it now left
+      them and removed its factory to Antwerp. In the year 1516 all the foreign
+      merchants left the town except only a few Spaniards; but its prosperity
+      faded as slowly as it had bloomed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Antwerp received, in the sixteenth century, the trade which the
+      luxuriousness of the Flemish towns had banished; and under the government
+      of Charles V. Antwerp was the most stirring and splendid city in the
+      Christian world. A stream like the Scheldt, whose broad mouth, in the
+      immediate vicinity, shared with the North Sea the ebb and flow of the
+      tide, and could carry vessels of the largest tonnage under the walls of
+      Antwerp, made it the natural resort for all vessels which visited that
+      coast. Its free fairs attracted men of business from all countries.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Two such fairs lasted forty days, and all the goods sold there
+   were duty free.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The industry of the nation had, in the beginning of this century, reached
+      its greatest height. The culture of grain, flax, the breeding of cattle,
+      the chase, and fisheries, enriched the peasant; arts, manufactures, and
+      trade gave wealth to the burghers. Flemish and Brabantine manufactures
+      were long to be seen in Arabia, Persia, and India. Their ships covered the
+      ocean, and in the Black Sea contended with the Genoese for supremacy. It
+      was the distinctive characteristic of the seaman of the Netherlands that
+      he made sail at all seasons of the year, and never laid up for the winter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the new route by the Cape of Good Hope was discovered, and the East
+      India trade of Portugal undermined that of the Levant, the Netherlands did
+      not feel the blow which was inflicted on the Italian republics. The
+      Portuguese established their mart in Brabant, and the spices of Calicut
+      were displayed for sale in the markets of Antwerp. Hither poured the West
+      Indian merchandise, with which the indolent pride of Spain repaid the
+      industry of the Netherlands. The East Indian market attracted the most
+      celebrated commercial houses from Florence, Lucca, and Genoa; and the
+      Fuggers and Welsers from Augsburg. Here the Hanse towns brought the wares
+      of the north, and here the English company had a factory. Here art and
+      nature seemed to expose to view all their riches; it was a splendid
+      exhibition of the works of the Creator and of the creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their renown soon diffused itself through the world. Even a company of
+      Turkish merchants, towards the end of this century, solicited permission
+      to settle here, and to supply the products of the East by way of Greece.
+      With the trade in goods they held also the exchange of money. Their bills
+      passed current in the farthest parts of the globe. Antwerp, it is
+      asserted, then transacted more extensive and more important business in a
+      single month than Venice, at its most flourishing period, in two whole
+      years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the year 1491 the Hanseatic League held its solemn meetings in this
+      town, which had formerly assembled in Lubeck alone. In 1531 the exchange
+      was erected, at that time the most splendid in all Europe, and which
+      fulfilled its proud inscription. The town now reckoned one hundred
+      thousand inhabitants. The tide of human beings, which incessantly poured
+      into it, exceeds all belief. Between two hundred and two hundred and fifty
+      ships were often seen loading at one time in its harbor; no day passed on
+      which the boats entering inwards and outwards did not amount to more than
+      five hundred; on market days the number amounted to eight or nine hundred.
+      Daily more than two hundred carriages drove through its gates; above two
+      thousand loaded wagons arrived every week from Germany, France, and
+      Lorraine, without reckoning the farmers' carts and corn-vans, which were
+      seldom less than ten thousand in number. Thirty thousand hands were
+      employed by the English company alone. The market dues, tolls, and excise
+      brought millions to the government annually. We can form some idea of the
+      resources of the nation from the fact that the extraordinary taxes which
+      they were obliged to pay to Charles V. towards his numerous wars were
+      computed at forty millions of gold ducats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For this affluence the Netherlands were as much indebted to their liberty
+      as to the natural advantages of their country. Uncertain laws and the
+      despotic sway of a rapacious prince would quickly have blighted all the
+      blessings which propitious nature had so abundantly lavished on them. The
+      inviolable sanctity of the laws can alone secure to the citizen the fruits
+      of his industry, and inspire him with that happy confidence which is the
+      soul of all activity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The genius of this people, developed by the spirit of commerce, and by the
+      intercourse with so many nations, shone in useful inventions; in the lap
+      of abundance and liberty all the noble arts were carefully cultivated and
+      carried to perfection. From Italy, to which Cosmo de Medici had lately
+      restored its golden age, painting, architecture, and the arts of carving
+      and of engraving on copper, were transplanted into the Netherlands, where,
+      in a new soil, they flourished with fresh vigor. The Flemish school, a
+      daughter of the Italian, soon vied with its mother for the prize; and, in
+      common with it, gave laws to the whole of Europe in the fine arts. The
+      manufactures and arts, on which the Netherlanders principally founded
+      their prosperity, and still partly base it, require no particular
+      enumeration. The weaving of tapestry, oil painting, the art of painting on
+      glass, even pocketwatches and sun-dials were, as Guicciardini asserts,
+      originally invented in the Netherlands. To them we are indebted for the
+      improvement of the compass, the points of which are still known by Flemish
+      names. About the year 1430 the invention of typography is ascribed to
+      Laurence Koster, of Haarlem; and whether or not he is entitled to this
+      honorable distinction, certain it is that the Dutch were among the first
+      to engraft this useful art among them; and fate ordained that a century
+      later it should reward its country with liberty. The people of the
+      Netherlands united with the most fertile genius for inventions a happy
+      talent for improving the discoveries of others; there are probably few
+      mechanical arts and manufactures which they did not either produce or at
+      least carry to a higher degree of perfection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up to this time these provinces had formed the most enviable state in
+      Europe. Not one of the Burgundian dukes had ventured to indulge a thought
+      of overturning the constitution; it had remained sacred even to the daring
+      spirit of Charles the Bold, while he was preparing fetters for foreign
+      liberty. All these princes grew up with no higher hope than to be the
+      heads of a republic, and none of their territories afforded them
+      experience of a higher authority. Besides, these princes possessed nothing
+      but what the Netherlands gave them; no armies but those which the nation
+      sent into the field; no riches but what the estates granted to them. Now
+      all was changed. The Netherlands had fallen to a master who had at his
+      command other instruments and other resources, who could arm against them
+      a foreign power.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The unnatural union of two such different nations as the Belgians
+   and Spaniards could not possibly be prosperous. I cannot here
+   refrain from quoting the comparison which Grotius, in energetic
+   language, has drawn between the two. "With the neighboring
+   nations," says he, "the people of the Netherlands could easily
+   maintain a good understanding, for they were of a similar origin
+   with themselves, and had grown up in the same manner. But the
+   people of Spain and of the Netherlands differed in almost every
+   respect from one another, and therefore, when they were brought
+   together clashed the more violently. Both had for many centuries
+   been distinguished in war, only the latter had, in luxurious
+   repose, become disused to arms, while the former had been inured to
+   war in the Italian and African campaigns; the desire of gain made
+   the Belgians more inclined to peace, but not less sensitive of
+   offence. No people were more free from the lust of conquest, but
+   none defended its own more zealously. Hence the numerous towns,
+   closely pressed together in a confined tract of country; densely
+   crowded with a foreign and native population; fortified near the
+   sea and the great rivers. Hence for eight centuries after the
+   northern immigration foreign arms could not prevail against them.
+   Spain, on the contrary, often changed its masters; and when at last
+   it fell into the hands of the Goths, its character and its manners
+   had suffered more or less from each new conqueror. The people thus
+   formed at last out of these several admixtures is described as
+   patient in labor, imperturbable in danger, equally eager for riches
+   and honor, proud of itself even to contempt of others, devout and
+   grateful to strangers for any act of kindness, but also revengeful,
+   and of such ungovernable passions in victory as so regard neither
+   conscience nor honor in the case of an enemy. All this is foreign
+   to the character of the Belgian, who is astute but not insidious,
+   who, placed midway between France and Germany, combines in
+   moderation the faults and good qualities of both. He is not easily
+   to be imposed upon, nor is he to be insulted with impunity. In
+   veneration for the Deity, too, he does not yield to the Spaniard;
+   the arms of the Northmen could not make him apostatize from
+   Christianity when he had once professed it. No opinion which the
+   church condemns had, up to this time, empoisoned the purity of his
+   faith. Nay, his pious extravagance went so far that it became
+   requisite to curb by laws the rapacity of his clergy. In both
+   people loyalty to their rulers is equally innate, with this
+   difference, that the Belgian places the law above kings. Of all
+   the Spaniards the Castilians require to be, governed with the most
+   caution; but the liberties which they arrogate for themselves they
+   do not willingly accord to others. Hence the difficult task to
+   their common ruler, so to distribute his attention, and care
+   between the two nations that neither the preference shown to the
+   Castilian should offend the Belgian, nor the equal treatment of the
+   Belgian affront the haughty spirit of the Castilian."&mdash;Grotii
+   Annal. Belg. L. 1. 4. 5. seq.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Charles V. was an absolute monarch in his Spanish dominions; in the
+      Netherlands he was no more than the first citizen. In the southern portion
+      of his empire he might have learned contempt for the rights of
+      individuals; here he was taught to respect them. The more he there tasted
+      the pleasures of unlimited power, and the higher he raised his opinion of
+      his own greatness, the more reluctant he must have felt to descend
+      elsewhere to the ordinary level of humanity, and to tolerate any check
+      upon his arbitrary authority. It requires, indeed, no ordinary degree of
+      virtue to abstain from warring against the power which imposes a curb on
+      our most cherished wishes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The superior power of Charles awakened at the same time in the Netherlands
+      that distrust which always accompanies inferiority. Never were they so
+      alive to their constitutional rights, never so jealous of the royal
+      prerogative, or more observant in their proceedings. Under, his reign we
+      see the most violent outbreaks of republican spirit, and the pretensions
+      of the people carried to an excess which nothing but the increasing
+      encroachments of the royal power could in the least justify. A Sovereign
+      will always regard the freedom of the citizen as an alienated fief, which
+      he is bound to recover. To the citizen the authority of a sovereign is a
+      torrent, which, by its inundation, threatens to sweep away his rights. The
+      Belgians sought to protect themselves against the ocean by embankments,
+      and against their princes by constitutional enactments. The whole history
+      of the world is a perpetually recurring struggle between liberty and the
+      lust of power and possession; as the history of nature is nothing but the
+      contest of the elements and organic bodies for space. The Netherlands soon
+      found to their cost that they had become but a province of a great
+      monarchy. So long as their former masters had no higher aim than to
+      promote their prosperity, their condition resembled the tranquil happiness
+      of a secluded family, whose head is its ruler. Charles V. introduced them
+      upon the arena of the political world. They now formed a member of that
+      gigantic body which the ambition of an individual employed as his
+      instrument. They ceased to have their own good for their aim; the centre
+      of their existence was transported to the soul of their ruler. As his
+      whole government was but one tissue of plans and manoeuvres to advance his
+      power, so it was, above all things, necessary that he should be completely
+      master of the various limbs of his mighty empire in order to move them
+      effectually and suddenly. It was impossible, therefore, for him to
+      embarrass himself with the tiresome mechanism of their interior political
+      organization, or to extend to their peculiar privileges the conscientious
+      respect which their republican jealousy demanded. It was expedient for him
+      to facilitate the exercise of their powers by concentration and unity. The
+      tribunal at Malines had been under his predecessor an independent court of
+      judicature; he subjected its decrees to the revision of a royal council,
+      which he established in Brussels, and which was the mere organ of his
+      will. He introduced foreigners into the most vital functions of their
+      constitution, and confided to them the most important offices. These men,
+      whose only support was the royal favor, would be but bad guardians of
+      privileges which, moreover, were little known to them. The ever-increasing
+      expenses of his warlike government compelled him as steadily to augment
+      his resources. In disregard of their most sacred privileges he imposed new
+      and strange taxes on the provinces. To preserve their olden consideration
+      the estates were forced to grant what he had been so modest as not to
+      extort; the whole history of the government of this monarch in the
+      Netherlands is almost one continued list of imposts demanded, refused, and
+      finally accorded. Contrary to the constitution, he introduced foreign
+      troops into their territories, directed the recruiting of his armies in
+      the provinces, and involved them in wars, which could not advance even if
+      they did not injure their interest, and to which they had not given their
+      consent. He punished the offences of a free state as a monarch; and the
+      terrible chastisement of Ghent announced to the other provinces the great
+      change which their constitution had already undergone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The welfare of the country was so far secured as was necessary to the
+      political schemes of its master; the intelligent policy of Charles would
+      certainly not violate the salutary regiment of the body whose energies he
+      found himself necessitated to exert. Fortunately, the opposite pursuits of
+      selfish ambition, and of disinterested philanthropy, often bring about the
+      same end; and the well-being of a state, which a Marcus Aurelius might
+      propose to himself as a rational object of pursuit, is occasionally
+      promoted by an Augustus or a Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles V. was perfectly aware that commerce was the strength of the
+      nation, and that the foundation of their commerce was liberty. He spared
+      its liberty because he needed its strength. Of greater political wisdom,
+      though not more just than his son, he adapted his principles to the
+      exigencies of time and place, and recalled an ordinance in Antwerp and in
+      Madrid which he would under other circumstances have enforced with all the
+      terrors of his power. That which makes the reign of Charles V.
+      particularly remarkable in regard to the Netherlands is the great
+      religious revolution which occurred under it; and which, as the principal
+      cause of the subsequent rebellion, demands a somewhat circumstantial
+      notice. This it was that first brought arbitrary power into the innermost
+      sanctuary of the constitution; taught it to give a dreadful specimen of
+      its might; and, in a measure, legalized it, while it placed republican
+      spirit on a dangerous eminence. And as the latter sank into anarchy and
+      rebellion monarchical power rose to the height of despotism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing is more natural than the transition from civil liberty to
+      religious freedom. Individuals, as well as communities, who, favored by a
+      happy political constitution, have become acquainted with the rights of
+      man, and accustomed to examine, if not also to create, the law which is to
+      govern them; whose minds have been enlightened by activity, and feelings
+      expanded by the enjoyments of life; whose natural courage has been exalted
+      by internal security and prosperity; such men will not easily surrender
+      themselves to the blind domination of a dull arbitrary creed, and will be
+      the first to emancipate themselves from its yoke. Another circumstance,
+      however, must have greatly tended to diffuse the new religion in these
+      countries. Italy, it might be objected, the seat of the greatest
+      intellectual culture, formerly the scene of the most violent political
+      factions, where a burning climate kindles the blood with the wildest
+      passions&mdash;Italy, among all the European countries, remained the
+      freest from this change. But to a romantic people, whom a warm and lovely
+      sky, a luxurious, ever young and ever smiling nature, and the multifarious
+      witcheries of art, rendered keenly susceptible of sensuous enjoyment, that
+      form of religion must naturally have been better adapted, which by its
+      splendid pomp captivates the senses, by its mysterious enigmas opens an
+      unbounded range to the fancy; and which, through the most picturesque
+      forms, labors to insinuate important doctrines into the soul. On the
+      contrary, to a people whom the ordinary employments of civil life have
+      drawn down to an unpoetical reality, who live more in plain notions than
+      in images, and who cultivate their common sense at the expense of their
+      imagination&mdash;to such a people that creed will best recommend itself
+      which dreads not investigation, which lays less stress on mysticism than
+      on morals, and which is rather to be understood then to be dwelt upon in
+      meditation. In few words, the Roman Catholic religion will, on the whole,
+      be found more adapted to a nation of artists, the Protestant more fitted
+      to a nation of merchants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On this supposition the new doctrines which Luther diffused in Germany,
+      and Calvin in Switzerland, must have found a congenial soil in the
+      Netherlands. The first seeds of it were sown in the Netherlands by the
+      Protestant merchants, who assembled at Amsterdam and Antwerp. The German
+      and Swiss troops, which Charles introduced into these countries, and the
+      crowd of French, German, and English fugitives who, under the protection
+      of the liberties of Flanders, sought to escape the sword of persecution
+      which threatened them at home, promoted their diffusion. A great portion
+      of the Belgian nobility studied at that time at Geneva, as the University
+      of Louvain was not yet in repute, and that of Douai not yet founded. The
+      new tenets publicly taught there were transplanted by the students to
+      their various countries. In an isolated people these first germs might
+      easily have been crushed; but in the market-towns of Holland and Brabant,
+      the resort of so many different nations, their first growth would escape
+      the notice of government, and be accelerated under the veil of obscurity.
+      A difference in opinion might easily spring up and gain ground amongst
+      those who already were divided in national character, in manners, customs,
+      and laws. Moreover, in a country where industry was the most lauded
+      virtue, mendicity the most abhorred vice, a slothful body of men, like
+      that of the monks, must have been an object of long and deep aversion.
+      Hence, the new religion, which opposed these orders, derived an immense
+      advantage from having the popular opinion on its side. Occasional
+      pamphlets, full of bitterness and satire, to which the newly-discovered
+      art of printing secured a rapid circulation, and several bands of
+      strolling orators, called Rederiker, who at that time made the circuit of
+      the provinces, ridiculing in theatrical representations or songs the
+      abuses of their times, contributed not a little to diminish respect for
+      the Romish Church, and to prepare the people for the reception of the new
+      dogmas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first conquests of this doctrine were astonishingly rapid. The number
+      of those who in a short time avowed themselves its adherents, especially
+      in the northern provinces, was prodigious; but among these the foreigners
+      far outnumbered the natives. Charles V., who, in this hostile array of
+      religious tenets, had taken the side which a despot could not fail to
+      take, opposed to the increasing torrent of innovation the most effectual
+      remedies. Unhappily for the reformed religion political justice was on the
+      side of its persecutor. The dam which, for so many centuries, had repelled
+      human understanding from truth was too suddenly torn away for the
+      outbreaking torrent not to overflow its appointed channel. The reviving
+      spirit of liberty and of inquiry, which ought to have remained within the
+      limits of religious questions, began also to examine into the rights of
+      kings. While in the commencement iron fetters were justly broken off, a
+      desire was eventually shown to rend asunder the most legitimate and most
+      indispensable of ties. Even the Holy Scriptures, which were now circulated
+      everywhere, while they imparted light and nurture to the sincere inquirer
+      after truth, were the source also whence an eccentric fanaticism contrived
+      to extort the virulent poison. The good cause had been compelled to choose
+      the evil road of rebellion, and the result was what in such cases it ever
+      will be so long as men remain men. The bad cause, too, which had nothing
+      in common with the good but the employment of illegal means, emboldened by
+      this slight point of connection, appeared in the same company, and was
+      mistaken for it. Luther had written against the invocation of saints;
+      every audacious varlet who broke into the churches and cloisters, and
+      plundered the altars, called himself Lutheran. Faction, rapine,
+      fanaticism, licentiousness robed themselves in his colors; the most
+      enormous offenders, when brought before the judges, avowed themselves his
+      followers. The Reformation had drawn down the Roman prelate to a level
+      with fallible humanity; an insane band, stimulated by hunger and want,
+      sought to annihilate all distinction of ranks. It was natural that a
+      doctrine, which to the state showed itself only in its most unfavorable
+      aspect, should not have been able to reconcile a monarch who had already
+      so many reasons to extirpate it; and it is no wonder, therefore, that be
+      employed against it the arms it had itself forced upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles must already have looked upon himself as absolute in the
+      Netherlands since he did not think it necessary to extend to these
+      countries the religious liberty which he had accorded to Germany. While,
+      compelled by the effectual resistance of the German princes, he assured to
+      the former country a free exercise of the new religion, in the latter he
+      published the most cruel edicts for its repression. By these the reading
+      of the Evangelists and Apostles; all open or secret meetings to which
+      religion gave its name in ever so slight a degree; all conversations on
+      the subject, at home or at the table, were forbidden under severe
+      penalties. In every province special courts of judicature were established
+      to watch over the execution of the edicts. Whoever held these erroneous
+      opinions was to forfeit his office without regard to his rank. Whoever
+      should be convicted of diffusing heretical doctrines, or even of simply
+      attending the secret meetings of the Reformers, was to be condemned to
+      death, and if a male, to be executed by the sword, if a female, buried
+      alive. Backsliding heretics were to be committed to the flames. Not even
+      the recantation of the offender could annul these appalling sentences.
+      Whoever abjured his errors gained nothing by his apostacy but at farthest
+      a milder kind of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fiefs of the condemned were also confiscated, contrary to the
+      privileges of the nation, which permitted the heir to redeem them for a
+      trifling fine; and in defiance of an express and valuable privilege of the
+      citizens of Holland, by which they were not to be tried out of their
+      province, culprits were conveyed beyond the limits of the native
+      judicature, and condemned by foreign tribunals. Thus did religion guide
+      the hand of despotism to attack with its sacred weapon, and without danger
+      or opposition, the liberties which were inviolable to the secular arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles V., emboldened by the fortunate progress of his arms in Germany,
+      thought that he might now venture on everything, and seriously meditated
+      the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. But the
+      terror of its very name alone reduced commerce in Antwerp to a standstill.
+      The principal foreign merchants prepared to quit the city. All buying and
+      selling ceased, the value of houses fell, the employment of artisans
+      stopped. Money disappeared from the hands of the citizen. The ruin of that
+      flourishing commercial city was inevitable had not Charles V. listened to
+      the representations of the Duchess of Parma, and abandoned this perilous
+      resolve. The tribunal, therefore, was ordered not to interfere with the
+      foreign merchants, and the title of Inquisitor was changed unto the milder
+      appellation of Spiritual Judge. But in the other provinces that tribunal
+      proceeded to rage with the inhuman despotism which has ever been peculiar
+      to it. It has been computed that during the reign of Charles V. fifty
+      thousand persons perished by the hand of the executioner for religion
+      alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we glance at the violent proceedings of this monarch we are quite at
+      a loss to comprehend what it was that kept the rebellion within bounds
+      during his reign, which broke out with so much violence under his
+      successor. A closer investigation will clear up this seeming anomaly.
+      Charles's dreaded supremacy in Europe had raised the commerce of the
+      Netherlands to a height which it had never before attained. The majesty of
+      his name opened all harbors, cleared all seas for their vessels, and
+      obtained for them the most favorable commercial treaties with foreign
+      powers. Through him, in particular, they destroyed the dominion of the
+      Hanse towns in the Baltic. Through him, also, the New World, Spain, Italy,
+      Germany, which now shared with them a common ruler, were, in a measure, to
+      be considered as provinces of their own country, and opened new channels
+      for their commerce. He had, moreover, united the remaining six provinces
+      with the hereditary states of Burgundy, and thus given to them an extent
+      and political importance which placed them by the side of the first
+      kingdoms of Europe.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [He had, too, at one time the intention of raising it to a kingdom;
+   but the essential points of difference between the provinces, which
+   extended from constitution and manners to measures and weights,
+   soon made him abandon this design. More important was the service
+   which he designed them in the Burgundian treaty, which settled its
+   relation to the German empire. According to this treaty the
+   seventeen provinces were to contribute to the common wants of the
+   German empire twice as much as an electoral prince; in case of a
+   Turkish war three times as much; in return for which, however, they
+   were to enjoy the powerful protection of this empire, and not to be
+   injured in any of their various privileges. The revolution, which
+   under Charles' son altered the political constitution of the
+   provinces, again annulled this compact, which, on account of the
+   trifling advantage that it conferred, deserves no further notice.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      By all this he flattered the national pride of this people. Moreover, by
+      the incorporation of Gueldres, Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen with
+      these provinces, he put an end to the private wars which had so long
+      disturbed their commerce; an unbroken internal peace now allowed them to
+      enjoy the full fruits of their industry. Charles was therefore a
+      benefactor of this people. At the same time, the splendor of his victories
+      dazzled their eyes; the glory of their sovereign, which was reflected upon
+      them also, had bribed their republican vigilance; while the awe-inspiring
+      halo of invincibility which encircled the conqueror of Germany, France,
+      Italy, and Africa terrified the factious. And then, who knows not on how
+      much may venture the man, be he a private individual or a prince, who has
+      succeeded in enchaining the admiration of his fellow-creatures! His
+      repeated personal visits to these lands, which he, according to his own
+      confession, visited as often as ten different times, kept the disaffected
+      within bounds; the constant exercise of severe and prompt justice
+      maintained the awe of the royal power. Finally, Charles was born in the
+      Netherlands, and loved the nation in whose lap he had grown up. Their
+      manners pleased him, the simplicity of their character and social
+      intercourse formed for him a pleasing recreation from the severe Spanish
+      gravity. He spoke their language, and followed their customs in his
+      private life. The burdensome ceremonies which form the unnatural barriers
+      between king and people were banished from Brussels. No jealous foreigner
+      debarred natives from access to their prince; their way to him was through
+      their own countrymen, to whom he entrusted his person. He spoke much and
+      courteously with them; his deportment was engaging, his discourse
+      obliging. These simple artifices won for him their love, and while his
+      armies trod down their cornfields, while his rapacious imposts diminished
+      their property, while his governors oppressed, his executioners
+      slaughtered, he secured their hearts by a friendly demeanor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gladly would Charles have seen this affection of the nation for himself
+      descend upon his son. On this account he sent for him in his youth from
+      Spain, and showed him in Brussels to his future subjects. On the solemn
+      day of his abdication he recommended to him these lands as the richest
+      jewel in his crown, and earnestly exhorted him to respect their laws and
+      privileges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. was in all the direct opposite of his father. As ambitious as
+      Charles, but with less knowledge of men and of the rights of man, he had
+      formed to himself a notion of royal authority which regarded men as simply
+      the servile instruments of despotic will, and was outraged by every
+      symptom of liberty. Born in Spain, and educated under the iron discipline
+      of the monks, he demanded of others the same gloomy formality and reserve
+      as marked his own character. The cheerful merriment of his Flemish
+      subjects was as uncongenial to his disposition and temper as their
+      privileges were offensive to his imperious will. He spoke no other
+      language but the Spanish, endured none but Spaniards about his person, and
+      obstinately adhered to all their customs. In vain did the loyal ingenuity
+      of the Flemish towns through which he passed vie with each other in
+      solemnizing his arrival with costly festivities.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The town of Antwerp alone expended on an occasion of this kind two
+   hundred and sixty thousand gold florins.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philip's eye remained dark; all the profusion of magnificence, all the
+      loud and hearty effusions of the sincerest joy could not win from him one
+      approving smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles entirely missed his aim by presenting his son to the Flemings.
+      They might eventually have endured his yoke with less impatience if he had
+      never set his foot in their land. But his look forewarned them what they
+      had to expect; his entry into Brussels lost him all hearts. The Emperor's
+      gracious affability with his people only served to throw a darker shade on
+      the haughty gravity of his son. They read in his countenance the
+      destructive purpose against their liberties which, even then, he already
+      revolved in his breast. Forewarned to find in him a tyrant they were
+      forearmed to resist him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The throne of the Netherlands was the first which Charles V. abdicated.
+      Before a solemn convention in Brussels he absolved the States-General of
+      their oath, and transferred their allegiance to King Philip, his son. "If
+      my death," addressing the latter, as he concluded, "had placed you in
+      possession of these countries, even in that case so valuable a bequest
+      would have given me great claims on your gratitude. But now that of my
+      free will I transfer them to you, now that I die in order to hasten your
+      enjoyment of them, I only require of you to pay to the people the
+      increased obligation which the voluntary surrender of my dignity lays upon
+      you. Other princes esteem it a peculiar felicity to bequeath to their
+      children the crown which death is already ravishing from then. This
+      happiness I am anxious to enjoy during my life. I wish to be a spectator
+      of your reign. Few will follow my example, as few have preceded me in it.
+      But this my deed will be praised if your future life should justify my
+      expectations, if you continue to be guided by that wisdom which you have
+      hitherto evinced, if you remain inviolably attached to the pure faith
+      which is the main pillar of your throne. One thing more I have to add: may
+      Heaven grant you also a son, to whom you may transmit your power by
+      choice, and not by necessity."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the Emperor had concluded his address Philip kneeled down before
+      him, kissed his hand, and received his paternal blessing. His eyes for the
+      last time were moistened with a tear. All present wept. It was an hour
+      never to be forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This affecting farce was soon followed by another. Philip received the
+      homage of the assembled states. He took the oath administered in the
+      following words: "I, Philip, by the grace of God, Prince of Spain, of the
+      two Sicilies, etc., do vow and swear that I will be a good and just lord
+      in these countries, counties, and duchies, etc.; that I will well and
+      truly hold, and cause to be held, the privileges and liberties of all the
+      nobles, towns, commons, and subjects which have been conferred upon them
+      by my predecessors, and also the customs, usages and rights which they now
+      have and enjoy, jointly and severally, and, moreover, that I will do all
+      that by law and right pertains to a good and just prince and lord, so help
+      me God and all His Saints."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The alarm which the arbitrary government of the Emperor had inspired, and
+      the distrust of his son, are already visible in the formula of this oath,
+      which was drawn up in far more guarded and explicit terms than that which
+      had been administered to Charles V. himself and all the Dukes in Burgundy.
+      Philip, for instance, was compelled to swear to the maintenance of their
+      customs and usages, what before his time had never been required. In the
+      oath which the states took to him no other obedience was promised than
+      such as should be consistent with the privileges of the country. His
+      officers then were only to reckon on submission and support so long as
+      they legally discharged the duties entrusted to them. Lastly, in this oath
+      of allegiance, Philip is simply styled the natural, the hereditary prince,
+      and not, as the Emperor had desired, sovereign or lord; proof enough how
+      little confidence was placed in the justice and liberality of the new
+      sovereign.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+         PHILIP II., RULER OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. received the lordship of the Netherlands in the brightest
+      period of their prosperity. He was the first of their princes who united
+      them all under his authority. They now consisted of seventeen provinces;
+      the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and Gueldres, the seven
+      counties of Artois, Hainault, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen, Holland, and
+      Zealand, the margravate of Antwerp, and the five lordships of Friesland,
+      Mechlin (Malines), Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen, which, collectively,
+      formed a great and powerful state able to contend with monarchies. Higher
+      than it then stood their commerce could not rise. The sources of their
+      wealth were above the earth's surface, but they were more valuable and
+      inexhaustible and richer than all the mines in America. These seventeen
+      provinces which, taken together, scarcely comprised the fifth part of
+      Italy, and do not extend beyond three hundred Flemish miles, yielded an
+      annual revenue to their lord, not much inferior to that which Britain
+      formerly paid to its kings before the latter had annexed so many of the
+      ecclesiastical domains to their crown. Three hundred and fifty cities,
+      alive with industry and pleasure, many of them fortified by their natural
+      position and secure without bulwarks or walls; six thousand three hundred
+      market towns of a larger size; smaller villages, farms, and castles
+      innumerable, imparted to this territory the aspect of one unbroken
+      flourishing landscape. The nation had now reached the meridian of its
+      splendor; industry and abundance had exalted the genius of the citizen,
+      enlightened his ideas, ennobled his affections; every flower of the
+      intellect had opened with the flourishing condition of the country. A
+      happy temperament under a severe climate cooled the ardor of their blood,
+      and moderated the rage of their passions; equanimity, moderation, and
+      enduring patience, the gifts of a northern clime; integrity, justice, and
+      faith, the necessary virtues of their profession; and the delightful
+      fruits of liberty, truth, benevolence, and a patriotic pride were blended
+      in their character, with a slight admixture of human frailties. No people
+      on earth was more easily governed by a prudent prince, and none with more
+      difficulty by a charlatan or a tyrant. Nowhere was the popular voice so
+      infallible a test of good government as here. True statesmanship could be
+      tried in no nobler school, and a sickly artificial policy had none worse
+      to fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A state constituted like this could act and endure with gigantic energy
+      whenever pressing emergencies called forth its powers and a skilful and
+      provident administration elicited its resources. Charles V. bequeathed to
+      his successor an authority in these provinces little inferior to that of a
+      limited monarchy. The prerogative of the crown had gained a visible
+      ascendancy over the republican spirit, and that complicated machine could
+      now be set in motion, almost as certainly and rapidly as the most
+      absolutely governed nation. The numerous nobility, formerly so powerful,
+      cheerfully accompanied their sovereign in his wars, or, on the civil
+      changes of the state, courted the approving smile of royality. The crafty
+      policy of the crown had created a new and imaginary good, of which it was
+      the exclusive dispenser. New passions and new ideas of happiness
+      supplanted at last the rude simplicity of republican virtue. Pride gave
+      place to vanity, true liberty to titles of Honor, a needy independence to
+      a luxurious servitude. To oppress or to plunder their native land as the
+      absolute satraps of an absolute lord was a more powerful allurement for
+      the avarice and ambition of the great, than in the general assembly of the
+      state to share with the monarch a hundredth part of the supreme power. A
+      large portion, moreover, of the nobility were deeply sunk in poverty and
+      debt. Charles V. had crippled all the most dangerous vassals of the crown
+      by expensive embassies to foreign courts, under the specious pretext of
+      honorary distinctions. Thus, William of Orange was despatched to Germany
+      with the imperial crown, and Count Egmont to conclude the marriage
+      contract between Philip and Queen Mary. Both also afterwards accompanied
+      the Duke of Alva to France to negotiate the peace between the two crowns,
+      and the new alliance of their sovereign with Madame Elizabeth. The
+      expenses of these journeys amounted to three hundred thousand florins,
+      towards which the king did not contribute a single penny. When the Prince
+      of Orange was appointed generalissimo in the place of the Duke of Savoy he
+      was obliged to defray all the necessary expenses of his office. When
+      foreign ambassadors or princes came to Brussels it was made incumbent on
+      the nobles to maintain the honor of their king, who himself always dined
+      alone, and never kept open table. Spanish policy had devised a still more
+      ingenious contrivance gradually to impoverish the richest families of the
+      land. Every year one of the Castilian nobles made his appearance in
+      Brussels, where he displayed a lavish magnificence. In Brussels it was
+      accounted an indelible disgrace to be distanced by a stranger in such
+      munificence. All vied to surpass him, and exhausted their fortunes in this
+      costly emulation, while the Spaniard made a timely retreat to his native
+      country, and by the frugality of four years repaired the extravagance of
+      one year. It was the foible of the Netherlandish nobility to contest with
+      every stranger the credit of superior wealth, and of this weakness the
+      government studiously availed itself. Certainly these arts did not in the
+      sequel produce the exact result that had been calculated on; for these
+      pecuniary burdens only made the nobility the more disposed for innovation,
+      since he who has lost all can only be a gainer in the general ruin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Roman Church had ever been a main support of the royal power, and it
+      was only natural that it should be so. Its golden time was the bondage of
+      the human intellect, and, like royalty, it had gained by the ignorance and
+      weakness of men. Civil oppression made religion more necessary and more
+      dear; submission to tyrannical power prepares the mind for a blind,
+      convenient faith, and the hierarchy repaid with usury the services of
+      despotism. In the provinces the bishops and prelates were zealous
+      supporters of royalty, and ever ready to sacrifice the welfare of the
+      citizen to the temporal advancement of the church and the political
+      interests of the sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Numerous and brave garrisons also held the cities in awe, which were at
+      the same time divided by religious squabbles and factions, and
+      consequently deprived of their strongest support&mdash;union among
+      themselves. How little, therefore, did it require to insure this
+      preponderance of Philip's power, and how fatal must have been the folly by
+      which it was lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Philip's authority in these provinces, however great, did not surpass
+      the influence which the Spanish monarchy at that time enjoyed throughout
+      Europe. No state ventured to enter the arena of contest with it. France,
+      its most dangerous neighbor, weakened by a destructive war, and still more
+      by internal factions, which boldly raised their heads during the feeble
+      government of a child, was advancing rapidly to that unhappy condition
+      which, for nearly half a century, made it a theatre of the most enormous
+      crimes and the most fearful calamities. In England Elizabeth could with
+      difficulty protect her still tottering throne against the furious storms
+      of faction, and her new church establishment against the insidious arts of
+      the Romanists. That country still awaited her mighty call before it could
+      emerge from a humble obscurity, and had not yet been awakened by the
+      faulty policy of her rival to that vigor and energy with which it finally
+      overthrew him. The imperial family of Germany was united with that of
+      Spain by the double ties of blood and political interest; and the
+      victorious progress of Soliman drew its attention more to the east than to
+      the west of Europe. Gratitude and fear secured to Philip the Italian
+      princes, and his creatures ruled the Conclave. The monarchies of the North
+      still lay in barbarous darkness and obscurity, or only just began to
+      acquire form and strength, and were as yet unrecognized in the political
+      system of Europe. The most skilful generals, numerous armies accustomed to
+      victory, a formidable marine, and the golden tribute from the West Indies,
+      which now first began to come in regularly and certainly&mdash;what
+      terrible instruments were these in the firm and steady hand of a talented
+      prince Under such auspicious stars did King Philip commence his reign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before we see him act we must first look hastily into the deep recesses of
+      his soul, and we shall there find a key to his political life. Joy and
+      benevolence were wholly wanting in the composition of his character. His
+      temperament, and the gloomy years of his early childhood, denied him the
+      former; the latter could not be imparted to him by men who had renounced
+      the sweetest and most powerful of the social ties. Two ideas, his own self
+      and what was above that self, engrossed his narrow and contracted mind.
+      Egotism and religion were the contents and the title-page of the history
+      of his whole life. He was a king and a Christian, and was bad in both
+      characters; he never was a man among men, because he never condescended
+      but only ascended. His belief was dark and cruel; for his divinity was a
+      being of terror, from whom he had nothing to hope but everything to fear.
+      To the ordinary man the divinity appears as a comforter, as a Saviour;
+      before his mind it was set up as an image of fear, a painful, humiliating
+      check to his human omnipotence. His veneration for this being was so much
+      the more profound and deeply rooted the less it extended to other objects.
+      He trembled servilely before God because God was the only being before
+      whom he had to tremble. Charles V. was zealous for religion because
+      religion promoted his objects. Philip was so because he had real faith in
+      it. The former let loose the fire and the sword upon thousands for the
+      sake of a dogma, while he himself, in the person of the pope, his captive,
+      derided the very doctrine for which he had sacrificed so much human blood.
+      It was only with repugnance and scruples of conscience that Philip
+      resolved on the most just war against the pope, and resigned all the
+      fruits of his victory as a penitent malefactor surrenders his booty. The
+      Emperor was cruel from calculation, his son from impulse. The first
+      possessed a strong and enlightened spirit, and was, perhaps, so much the
+      worse as a man; the second was narrow-minded and weak, but the more
+      upright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both, however, as it appears to me, might have been better men than they
+      actually were, and still, on the whole, have acted on the very same
+      principles. What we lay to the charge of personal character of an
+      individual is very often the infirmity, the necessary imperfection of
+      universal human nature. A monarchy so great and so powerful was too great
+      a trial for human pride, and too mighty a charge for human power. To
+      combine universal happiness with the highest liberty of the individual is
+      the sole prerogative of infinite intelligence, which diffuses itself
+      omnipresently over all. But what resource has man when placed in the
+      position of omnipotence? Man can only aid his circumscribed powers by
+      classification; like the naturalist, he establishes certain marks and
+      rules by which to facilitate his own feeble survey of the whole, to which
+      all individualities must conform. All this is accomplished for him by
+      religion. She finds hope and fear planted in every human breast; by making
+      herself mistress of these emotions, and directing their affections to a
+      single object, she virtually transforms millions of independent beings
+      into one uniform abstract. The endless diversity of the human will no
+      longer embarrasses its ruler&mdash;now there exists one universal good,
+      one universal evil, which he can bring forward or withdraw at pleasure,
+      and which works in unison with himself even when absent. Now a boundary is
+      established before which liberty must halt; a venerable, hallowed line,
+      towards which all the various conflicting inclinations of the will must
+      finally converge. The common aim of despotism and of priestcraft is
+      uniformity, and uniformity is a necessary expedient of human poverty and
+      imperfection. Philip became a greater despot than his father because his
+      mind was more contracted, or, in other words, he was forced to adhere the
+      more scrupulously to general rules the less capable he was of descending
+      to special and individual exceptions. What conclusion could we draw from
+      these principles but that Philip II. could not possibly have any higher
+      object of his solicitude than uniformity, both in religion and in laws,
+      because without these he could not reign?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet he would have shown more mildness and forbearance in his
+      government if he had entered upon it earlier. In the judgment which is
+      usually formed of this prince one circumstance does not appear to be
+      sufficiently considered in the history of his mind and heart, which,
+      however, in all fairness, ought to be duly weighed. Philip counted nearly
+      thirty years when he ascended the Spanish throne, and the early maturity
+      of his understanding had anticipated the period of his majority. A mind
+      like his, conscious of its powers, and only too early acquainted with his
+      high expectations, could not brook the yoke of childish subjection in
+      which he stood; the superior genius of the father, and the absolute
+      authority of the autocrat, must have weighed heavily on the self-satisfied
+      pride of such a son. The share which the former allowed him in the
+      government of the empire was just important enough to disengage his mind
+      from petty passions and to confirm the austere gravity of his character,
+      but also meagre enough to kindle a fiercer longing for unlimited power.
+      When he actually became possessed of uncontrolled authority it had lost
+      the charm of novelty. The sweet intoxication of a young monarch in the
+      sudden and early possession of supreme power; that joyous tumult of
+      emotions which opens the soul to every softer sentiment, and to which
+      humanity has owed so many of the most valuable and the most prized of its
+      institutions; this pleasing moment had for him long passed by, or had
+      never existed. His character was already hardened when fortune put him to
+      this severe test, and his settled principles withstood the collision of
+      occasional emotion. He had had time, during fifteen years, to prepare
+      himself for the change; and instead of youthful dallying with the external
+      symbols of his new station, or of losing the morning of his government in
+      the intoxication of an idle vanity, he remained composed and serious
+      enough to enter at once on the full possession of his power so as to
+      revenge himself through the most extensive employment of it for its having
+      been so long withheld from him.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+           THE TRIBUNAL OF THE INQUISITION
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. no sooner saw himself, through the peace of Chateau-Cambray, in
+      undisturbed enjoyment of his immense territory than he turned his whole
+      attention to the great work of purifying religion, and verified the fears
+      of his Netherlandish subjects. The ordinances which his father had caused
+      to be promulgated against heretics were renewed in all their rigor, and
+      terrible tribunals, to whom nothing but the name of inquisition was
+      wanting, were appointed to watch over their execution. But his plan
+      appeared to him scarcely more than half-fulfilled so long as he could not
+      transplant into these countries the Spanish Inquisition in its perfect
+      form&mdash;a design in which the Emperor had already suffered shipwreck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spanish Inquisition is an institution of a new and peculiar kind,
+      which finds no prototype in the whole course of time, and admits of
+      comparison with no ecclesiastical or civil tribunal. Inquisition had
+      existed from the time when reason meddled with what is holy, and from the
+      very commencement of scepticism and innovation; but it was in the middle
+      of the thirteenth century, after some examples of apostasy had alarmed the
+      hierarchy, that Innocent III. first erected for it a peculiar tribunal,
+      and separated, in an unnatural manner, ecclesiastical superintendence and
+      instruction from its judicial and retributive office. In order to be the
+      more sure that no human sensibilities or natural tenderness should thwart
+      the stern severity of its statutes, he took it out of the hands of the
+      bishops and secular clergy, who, by the ties of civil life, were still too
+      much attached to humanity for his purpose, and consigned it to those of
+      the monks, a half-denaturalized race of beings who had abjured the sacred
+      feelings, of nature, and were the servile tools of the Roman See. The
+      Inquisition was received in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France; a
+      Franciscan monk sat as judge in the terrible court, which passed sentence
+      on the Templars. A few states succeeded either in totally excluding or
+      else in subjecting it to civil authority. The Netherlands had remained
+      free from it until the government of Charles V.; their bishops exercised
+      the spiritual censorship, and in extraordinary cases reference was made to
+      foreign courts of inquisition; by the French provinces to that of Paris,
+      by the Germans to that of Cologne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Inquisition which we are here speaking of came from the west of
+      Europe, and was of a different origin and form. The last Moorish throne in
+      Granada had fallen in the fifteenth century, and the false faith of the
+      Saracens had finally succumbed before the fortunes of Christianity. But
+      the gospel was still new, and but imperfectly established in this youngest
+      of Christian kingdoms, and in the confused mixture of heterogeneous laws
+      and manners the religions had become mixed. It is true the sword of
+      persecution had driven many thousand families to Africa, but a far larger
+      portion, detained by the love of climate and home, purchased remission
+      from this dreadful necessity by a show of conversion, and continued at
+      Christian altars to serve Mohammed and Moses. So long as prayers were
+      offered towards Mecca, Granada was not subdued; so long as the new
+      Christian, in the retirement of his house, became again a Jew or a Moslem,
+      he was as little secured to the throne as to the Romish See. It was no
+      longer deemed sufficient to compel a perverse people to adopt the exterior
+      forms of a new faith, or to wed it to the victorious church by the weak
+      bands of ceremonials; the object now was to extirpate the roots of an old
+      religion, and to subdue an obstinate bias which, by the slow operation of
+      centuries, had been implanted in their manners, their language, and their
+      laws, and by the enduring influence of a paternal soil and sky was still
+      maintained in its full extent and vigor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If the church wished to triumph completely over the opposing worship, and
+      to secure her new conquest beyond all chance of relapse, it was
+      indispensable that she should undermine the foundation itself on which the
+      old religion was built. It was necessary to break to pieces the entire
+      form of moral character to which it was so closely and intimately
+      attached. It was requisite to loosen its secret roots from the hold they
+      had taken in. the innermost depths of the soul; to extinguish all traces
+      of it, both in domestic life and in the civil world; to cause all
+      recollection of it to perish; and, if possible, to destroy the very
+      susceptibility for its impressions. Country and family, conscience and
+      honor, the sacred feelings of society and of nature, are ever the first
+      and immediate ties to which religion attaches itself; from these it
+      derives while it imparts strength. This connection was now to be
+      dissolved; the old religion was violently to be dissevered from the holy
+      feelings of nature, even at the expense of the sanctity itself of these
+      emotions. Thus arose that Inquisition which, to distinguish it from the
+      more humane tribunals of the same name, we usually call the Spanish. Its
+      founder was Cardinal Ximenes, a Dominican monk. Torquemada was the first
+      who ascended its bloody throne, who established its statutes, and forever
+      cursed his order with this bequest. Sworn to the degradation of the
+      understanding and the murder of intellect, the instruments it employed
+      were terror and infamy. Every evil passion was in its pay; its snare was
+      set in every joy of life. Solitude itself was not safe from it; the fear
+      of its omnipresence fettered the freedom of the soul in its inmost and
+      deepest recesses. It prostrated all the instincts of human nature before
+      it yielded all the ties which otherwise man held most sacred. A heretic
+      forfeited all claims upon his race; the most trivial infidelity to his
+      mother church divested him of the rights of his nature. A modest doubt in
+      the infallibility of the pope met with the punishment of parricide and the
+      infamy of sodomy; its sentences resembled the frightful corruption of the
+      plague, which turns the most healthy body into rapid putrefaction. Even
+      the inanimate things belonging to a heretic were accursed. No destiny
+      could snatch the victim of the Inquisition from its sentence. Its decrees
+      were carried in force on corpses and on pictures, and the grave itself was
+      no asylum from its tremendous arm. The presumptuous arrogance of its
+      decrees could only be surpassed by the inhumanity which executed them. By
+      coupling the ludicrous with the terrible, and by amusing the eye with the
+      strangeness of its processions, it weakened compassion by the
+      gratification of another feeling; it drowned sympathy in derision and
+      contempt. The delinquent was conducted with solemn pomp to the place of
+      execution, a blood-red flag was displayed before him, the universal clang
+      of all the bells accompanied the procession. First came the priests, in
+      the robes of the Mass and singing a sacred hymn; next followed the
+      condemned sinner, clothed in a yellow vest, covered with figures of black
+      devils. On his head he wore a paper cap, surmounted by a human figure,
+      around which played lambent flames of fire, and ghastly demons flitted.
+      The image of the crucified Saviour was carried before, but turned away
+      from the eternally condemned sinner, for whom salvation was no longer
+      available. His mortal body belonged to the material fire, his immortal
+      soul to the flames of bell. A gag closed his mouth, and prevented him from
+      alleviating his pain by lamentations, from awakening compassion by his
+      affecting tale, and from divulging the secrets of the holy tribunal. He
+      was followed by the clergy in festive robes, by the magistrates, and the
+      nobility; the fathers who had been his judges closed the awful procession.
+      It seemed like a solemn funeral procession, but on looking for the corpse
+      on its way to the grave, behold! it was a living body whose groans are now
+      to afford such shuddering entertainment to the people. The executions were
+      generally held on the high festivals, for which a number of such
+      unfortunate sufferers were reserved in the prisons of the holy house, in
+      order to enhance the rejoicing by the multitude of the victims, and on
+      these occasions the king himself was usually present. He sat with
+      uncovered head, on a lower chair than that of the Grand Inquisitor, to
+      whom, on such occasions, he yielded precedence; who, then, would not
+      tremble before a tribunal at which majesty must humble itself?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great revolution in the church accomplished by Luther and Calvin
+      renewed the causes to which this tribunal owed its first origin; and that
+      which, at its commencement, was invented to clear the petty kingdom of
+      Granada from the feeble remnant of Saracens and Jews was now required for
+      the whole of Christendom. All the Inquisitions in Portugal, Italy,
+      Germany, and France adopted the form of the Spanish; it followed Europeans
+      to the Indies, and established in Goa a fearful tribunal, whose inhuman
+      proceedings make us shudder even at the bare recital. Wherever it planted
+      its foot devastation followed; but in no part of the world did it rage so
+      violently as in Spain. The victims are forgotten whom it immolated; the
+      human race renews itself, and the lands, too, flourish again which it has
+      devastated and depopulated by its fury; but centuries will elapse before
+      its traces disappear from the Spanish character. A generous and
+      enlightened nation has been stopped by it on its road to perfection; it
+      has banished genius from a region where it was indigenous, and a stillness
+      like that which hangs over the grave has been left in the mind of a people
+      who, beyond most others of our world, were framed for happiness and
+      enjoyment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first Inquisitor in Brabant was appointed by Charles V. in the year
+      1522. Some priests were associated with him as coadjutors; but he himself
+      was a layman. After the death of Adrian VI., his successor, Clement VII.,
+      appointed three Inquisitors for all the Netherlands; and Paul III. again
+      reduced them to two, which number continued until the commencement of the
+      troubles. In the year 1530, with the aid and approbation of the states,
+      the edicts against heretics were promulgated, which formed the foundation
+      of all that followed, and in which, also, express mention is made of the
+      Inquisition. In the year 1550, in consequence of the rapid increase of
+      sects, Charles V. was under the necessity of reviving and enforcing these
+      edicts, and it was on this occasion that the town of Antwerp opposed the
+      establishment of the Inquisition, and obtained an exemption from its
+      jurisdiction. But the spirit of the Inquisition in the Netherlands, in
+      accordance with the genius of the country, was more humane than in Spain,
+      and as yet had never been administered by a foreigner, much less by a
+      Dominican. The edicts which were known to everybody served it as the rule
+      of its decisions. On this very account it was less obnoxious; because,
+      however severe its sentence, it did not appear a tool of arbitrary power,
+      and it did not, like the Spanish Inquisition, veil itself in secrecy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip, however, was desirous of introducing the latter tribunal into the
+      Netherlands, since it appeared to him the instrument best adapted to
+      destroy the spirit of this people, and to prepare them for a despotic
+      government. He began, therefore, by increasing the rigor of the religious
+      ordinances of his father; by gradually extending the power of the
+      inquisitors; by making the proceedings more arbitrary, and more
+      independent of the civil jurisdiction. The tribunal soon wanted little
+      more than the name and the Dominicans to resemble in every point the
+      Spanish Inquisition. Bare suspicion was enough to snatch a citizen from
+      the bosom of public tranquillity, and from his domestic circle; and the
+      weakest evidence was a sufficient justification for the use of the rack.
+      Whoever fell into its abyss returned no more to the world. All the
+      benefits of the laws ceased for him; the maternal care of justice no
+      longer noticed him; beyond the pale of his former world malice and
+      stupidity judged him according to laws which were never intended for man.
+      The delinquent never knew his accuser, and very seldom his crime, &mdash;a
+      flagitious, devilish artifice which constrained the unhappy victim to
+      guess at his error, and in the delirium of the rack, or in the weariness
+      of a long living interment, to acknowledge transgressions which, perhaps,
+      had never been committed, or at least had never come to the knowledge of
+      his judges. The goods of the condemned were confiscated, and the informer
+      encouraged by letters of grace and rewards. No privilege, no civil
+      jurisdiction was valid against the holy power; the secular arm lost
+      forever all whom that power had once touched. Its only share in the
+      judicial duties of the latter was to execute its sentences with humble
+      submissiveness. The consequences of such an institution were, of
+      necessity, unnatural and horrible; the whole temporal happiness, the life
+      itself, of an innocent man was at the mercy of any worthless fellow. Every
+      secret enemy, every envious person, had now the perilous temptation of an
+      unseen and unfailing revenge. The security of property, the sincerity of
+      intercourse were gone; all the ties of interest were dissolved; all of
+      blood and of affection were irreparably broken. An infectious distrust
+      envenomed social life; the dreaded presence of a spy terrified the eye
+      from seeing, and choked the voice in the midst of utterance. No one
+      believed in the existence of an honest man, or passed for one himself.
+      Good name, the ties of country, brotherhood, even oaths, and all that man
+      holds sacred, were fallen in estimation. Such was the destiny to which a
+      great and flourishing commercial town was subjected, where one hundred
+      thousand industrious men had been brought together by the single tie of
+      mutual confidence,&mdash;every one indispensable to his neighbor, yet
+      every one distrusted and distrustful,&mdash;all attracted by the spirit of
+      gain, and repelled from each other by fear,&mdash;all the props of society
+      torn away, where social union was the basis of all life and all existence.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+    OTHER ENCROACHMENTS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      No wonder if so unnatural a tribunal, which had proved intolerable even to
+      the more submissive spirit of the Spaniard, drove a free state to
+      rebellion. But the terror which it inspired was increased by the Spanish
+      troops, which, even after the restoration of peace, were kept in the
+      country, and, in violation of the constitution, garrisoned border towns.
+      Charles V. had been forgiven for this introduction of foreign troops so
+      long as the necessity of it was evident, and his good intentions were less
+      distrusted. But now men saw in these troops only the alarming preparations
+      of oppression and the instruments of a detested hierarchy. Moreover, a
+      considerable body of cavalry, composed of natives, and fully adequate for
+      the protection of the country, made these foreigners superfluous. The
+      licentiousness and rapacity, too, of the Spaniards, whose pay was long in
+      arrear, and who indemnified themselves at the expense of the citizens,
+      completed the exasperation of the people, and drove the lower orders to
+      despair. Subsequently, when the general murmur induced the government to
+      move them from the frontiers and transport them into the islands of
+      Zealand, where ships were prepared for their deportation, their excesses
+      were carried to such a pitch that the inhabitants left off working at the
+      embankments, and preferred to abandon their native country to the fury of
+      the sea rather than to submit any longer to the wanton brutality of these
+      lawless bands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip, indeed, would have wished to retain these Spaniards in the
+      country, in order by their presence to give weight to his edicts, and to
+      support the innovations which he had resolved to make in the constitution
+      of the Netherlands. He regarded them as a guarantee for the submission of
+      the nation and as a chain by which he held it captive. Accordingly, he
+      left no expedient untried to evade the persevering importunity of the
+      states, who demanded the withdrawal of these troops; and for this end he
+      exhausted all the resources of chicanery and persuasion. At one time he
+      pretended to dread a sudden invasion by France, although, torn by furious
+      factions, that country could scarce support itself against a domestic
+      enemy; at another time they were, he said, to receive his son, Don Carlos,
+      on the frontiers; whom, however, he never intended should leave Castile.
+      Their maintenance should not be a burden to the nation; he himself would
+      disburse all their expenses from his private purse. In order to detain
+      them with the more appearance of reason he purposely kept back from them
+      their arrears of pay; for otherwise he would assuredly have preferred them
+      to the troops of the country, whose demands he fully satisfied. To lull
+      the fears of the nation, and to appease the general discontent, he offered
+      the chief command of these troops to the two favorites of the people, the
+      Prince of Orange and Count Egmont. Both, however, declined his offer, with
+      the noble-minded declaration that they could never make up their minds to
+      serve contrary to the laws of the country. The more desire the king showed
+      to have his Spaniards in the country the more obstinately the states
+      insisted on their removal. In the following Diet at Ghent he was
+      compelled, in the very midst of his courtiers, to listen to republican
+      truth. "Why are foreign hands needed for our defence?" demanded the Syndic
+      of Ghent. "Is it that the rest of the world should consider us too stupid,
+      or too cowardly, to protect ourselves? Why have we made peace if the
+      burdens of war are still to oppress us? In war necessity enforced
+      endurance; in peace our patience is exhausted by its burdens. Or shall we
+      be able to keep in order these licentious bands which thine own presence
+      could not restrain? Here, Cambray and Antwerp cry for redress; there,
+      Thionville and Marienburg lie waste; and, surely, thou hast not bestowed
+      upon us peace that our cities should become deserts, as they necessarily
+      must if thou freest them not from these destroyers? Perhaps then art
+      anxious to guard against surprise from our neighbors? This precaution is
+      wise; but the report of their preparations will long outrun their
+      hostilities. Why incur a heavy expense to engage foreigners who will not
+      care for a country which they must leave to-morrow? Hast thou not still at
+      thy command the same brave Netherlanders to whom thy father entrusted the
+      republic in far more troubled times? Why shouldest thou now doubt their
+      loyalty, which, to thy ancestors, they have preserved for so many
+      centuries inviolate? Will not they be sufficient to sustain the war long
+      enough to give time to thy confederates to join their banners, or to
+      thyself to send succor from the neighboring country?" This language was
+      too new to the king, and its truth too obvious for him to be able at once
+      to reply to it. "I, also, am a foreigner," he at length exclaimed, "and
+      they would like, I suppose, to expel me from the country!" At the same
+      time he descended from the throne, and left the assembly; but the speaker
+      was pardoned for his boldness. Two days afterwards he sent a message to
+      the states that if he had been apprised earlier that these troops were a
+      burden to them he would have immediately made preparation to remove them
+      with himself to Spain. Now it was too late, for they would not depart
+      unpaid; but he pledged them his most sacred promise that they should not
+      be oppressed with this burden more than four months. Nevertheless, the
+      troops remained in this country eighteen months instead of four; and would
+      not, perhaps, even then have left it so soon if the exigencies of the
+      state had not made their presence indispensable in another part of the
+      world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The illegal appointment of foreigners to the most important offices of the
+      country afforded further occasion of complaint against the government. Of
+      all the privileges of the provinces none was so obnoxious to the Spaniards
+      as that which excluded strangers from office, and none they had so
+      zealously sought to abrogate. Italy, the two Indies, and all the provinces
+      of this vast Empire, were indeed open to their rapacity and ambition; but
+      from the richest of them all an inexorable fundamental law excluded them.
+      They artfully persuaded their sovereign that his power in these countries
+      would never be firmly established so long as he could not employ
+      foreigners as his instruments. The Bishop of Arras, a Burgundian by birth,
+      had already been illegally forced upon the Flemings; and now the Count of
+      Feria, a Castilian, was to receive a seat and voice in the council of
+      state. But this attempt met with a bolder resistance than the king's
+      flatterers had led him to expect, and his despotic omnipotence was this
+      time wrecked by the politic measures of William of Orange and the firmness
+      of the states.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          WILLIAM OF ORANGE AND COUNT EGMONT.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      By such measures, did Philip usher in his government of the Netherlands,
+      and such were the grievances of the nation when he was preparing to leave
+      them. He had long been impatient to quit a country where he was a
+      stranger, where there was so much that opposed his secret wishes, and
+      where his despotic mind found such undaunted monitors to remind him of the
+      laws of freedom. The peace with France at last rendered a longer stay
+      unnecessary; the armaments of Soliman required his presence in the south,
+      and the Spaniards also began to miss their long-absent king. The choice of
+      a supreme Stadtholder for the Netherlands was the principal matter which
+      still detained him. Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, had filled this
+      place since the resignation of Mary, Queen of Hungary, which, however, so
+      long as the king himself was present, conferred more honor than real
+      influence. His absence would make it the most important office in the
+      monarchy, and the most splendid aim for the ambition of a subject. It had
+      now become vacant through the departure of the duke, whom the peace of
+      Chateau-Cambray had restored to his dominions. The almost unlimited power
+      with which the supreme Statholder would be entrusted, the capacity and
+      experience which so extensive and delicate an appointment required, but,
+      especially, the daring designs which the government had in contemplation
+      against the freedom of the country, the execution of which would devolve
+      on him, necessarily embarrassed the choice. The law, which excluded all
+      foreigners from office, made an exception in the case of the supreme
+      Stadtholder. As he could not be at the same time a native of all the
+      provinces, it was allowable for him not to belong to any one of them; for
+      the jealousy of the man of Brabant would concede no greater right to a
+      Fleming, whose home was half a mile from his frontier, than to a Sicilian,
+      who lived in another soil and under a different sky. But here the
+      interests of the crown itself seemed to favor the appointment of a native.
+      A Brabanter, for instance, who enjoyed the full confidence of his
+      countrymen if he were a traitor would have half accomplished his treason
+      before a foreign governor could have overcome the mistrust with which his
+      most insignificant measures would be watched. If the government should
+      succeed in carrying through its designs in one province, the opposition of
+      the rest would then be a temerity, which it would be justified in
+      punishing in the severest manner. In the common whole which the provinces
+      now formed their individual constitutions were, in a measure, destroyed;
+      the obedience of one would be a law for all, and the privilege, which one
+      knew not how to preserve, was lost for the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the Flemish nobles who could lay claim to the Chief Stadtholdership,
+      the expectations and wishes of the nation were divided between Count
+      Egmont and the Prince of Orange, who were alike qualified for this high
+      dignity by illustrious birth and personal merits, and by an equal share in
+      the affections of the people. Their high rank placed them both near to the
+      throne, and if the choice of the monarch was to rest on the worthiest it
+      must necessarily fall upon one of these two. As, in the course of our
+      history, we shall often have occasion to mention both names, the reader
+      cannot be too early made acquainted with their characters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      William I., Prince of Orange, was descended from the princely German house
+      of Nassau, which had already flourished eight centuries, had long disputed
+      the preeminence with Austria, and had given one Emperor to Germany.
+      Besides several extensive domains in the Netherlands, which made him a
+      citizen of this republic and a vassal of the Spanish monarchy, he
+      possessed also in France the independent princedom of Orange. William was
+      born in the year 1533, at Dillenburg, in the country of Nassau, of a
+      Countess Stolberg. His father, the Count of Nassau, of the same name, had
+      embraced the Protestant religion, and caused his son also to be educated
+      in it; but Charles V., who early formed an attachment for the boy, took
+      him when quite young to his court, and had him brought up in the Romish
+      church. This monarch, who already in the child discovered the future
+      greatness of the man, kept him nine years about his person, thought him
+      worthy of his personal instruction in the affairs of government, and
+      honored him with a confidence beyond his years. He alone was permitted to
+      remain in the Emperor's presence when he gave audience to foreign
+      ambassadors&mdash;a proof that, even as a boy, he had already begun to
+      merit the surname of the Silent. The Emperor was not ashamed even to
+      confess openly, on one occasion, that this young man had often made
+      suggestions which would have escaped his own sagacity. What expectations
+      might not be formed of the intellect of a man who was disciplined in such
+      a school.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      William was twenty-three years old when Charles abdicated the government,
+      and had already received from the latter two public marks of the highest
+      esteem. The Emperor had entrusted to him, in preference to all the nobles
+      of his court, the honorable office of conveying to his brother Ferdinand
+      the imperial crown. When the Duke of Savoy, who commanded the imperial
+      army in the Netherlands, was called away to Italy by the exigency of his
+      domestic affairs, the Emperor appointed him commander-in-chief against the
+      united representations of his military council, who declared it altogether
+      hazardous to oppose so young a tyro in arms to the experienced generals of
+      France. Absent, and unrecommended by any, he was preferred by the monarch
+      to the laurel-crowned band of his heroes, and the result gave him no cause
+      to repent of his choice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The marked favor which the prince had enjoyed with the father was in
+      itself a sufficient ground for his exclusion from the confidence of the
+      son. Philip, it appears, had laid it down for himself as a rule to avenge
+      the wrongs of the Spanish nobility for the preference which Charles V. had
+      on all important occasions shown to his Flemish nobles. Still stronger,
+      however, were the secret motives which alienated him from the prince.
+      William of Orange was one of those lean and pale men who, according to
+      Caesar's words, "sleep not at night, and think too much," and before whom
+      the most fearless spirits quail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The calm tranquillity of a never-varying countenance concealed a busy,
+      ardent soul, which never ruffled even the veil behind which it worked, and
+      was alike inaccessible to artifice and love; a versatile, formidable,
+      indefatigable mind, soft, and ductile enough to be instantaneously moulded
+      into all forms; guarded enough to lose itself in none; and strong enough
+      to endure every vicissitude of fortune. A greater master in reading and in
+      winning men's hearts never existed than William. Not that, after the
+      fashion of courts, his lips avowed a servility to which his proud heart
+      gave the lie; but because he was neither too sparing nor too lavish of the
+      marks of his esteem, and through a skilful economy of the favors which
+      mostly bind men, he increased his real stock in them. The fruits of his
+      meditation were as perfect as they were slowly formed; his resolves were
+      as steadily and indomitably accomplished as they were long in maturing. No
+      obstacles could defeat the plan which he had once adopted as the best; no
+      accidents frustrated it, for they all had been foreseen before they
+      actually occurred. High as his feelings were raised above terror and joy,
+      they were, nevertheless, subject in the same degree to fear; but his fear
+      was earlier than the danger, and he was calm in tumult because he had
+      trembled in repose. William lavished his gold with a profuse hand, but he
+      was a niggard of his movements. The hours of repast were the sole hours of
+      relaxation, but these were exclusively devoted to his heart, his family,
+      and his friends; this the modest deduction he allowed himself from the
+      cares of his country. Here his brow was cleared with wine, seasoned by
+      temperance and a cheerful disposition; and no serious cares were permitted
+      to enter this recess of enjoyment. His household was magnificent; the
+      splendor of a numerous retinue, the number and respectability of those who
+      surrounded his person, made his habitation resemble the court of a
+      sovereign prince. A sumptuous hospitality, that master-spell of
+      demagogues, was the goddess of his palace. Foreign princes and ambassadors
+      found here a fitting reception and entertainment, which surpassed all that
+      luxurious Belgium could elsewhere offer. A humble submissiveness to the
+      government bought off the blame and suspicion which this munificence might
+      have thrown on his intentions. But this liberality secured for him the
+      affections of the people, whom nothing gratified so much as to see the
+      riches of their country displayed before admiring foreigners, and the high
+      pinnacle of fortune on which he stood enhanced the value of the courtesy
+      to which he condescended. No one, probably, was better fitted by nature
+      for the leader of a conspiracy than William the Silent. A comprehensive
+      and intuitive glance into the past, the present, and the future; the
+      talent for improving every favorable opportunity; a commanding influence
+      over the minds of men, vast schemes which only when viewed from a distance
+      show form and symmetry; and bold calculations which were wound up in the
+      long chain of futurity; all these faculties he possessed, and kept,
+      moreover, under the control of that free and enlightened virtue which
+      moves with firm step even on the very edge of the abyss.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man like this might at other times have remained unfathomed by his whole
+      generation; but not so by the distrustful spirit of the age in which he
+      lived. Philip II. saw quickly and deeply into a character which, among
+      good ones, most resembled his own. If he had not seen through him so
+      clearly his distrust of a man, in whom were united nearly all the
+      qualities which he prized highest and could best appreciate, would be
+      quite inexplicable. But William had another and still more important point
+      of contact with Philip II. He had learned his policy from the same master,
+      and had become, it was to be feared, a more apt scholar. Not by making
+      Machiavelli's 'Prince' his study, but by having enjoyed the living
+      instruction of a monarch who reduced the book to practice, had he become
+      versed in the perilous arts by which thrones rise and fall. In him Philip
+      had to deal with an antagonist who was armed against his policy, and who
+      in a good cause could also command the resources of a bad one. And it was
+      exactly this last circumstance which accounts for his having hated this
+      man so implacably above all others of his day, and his having had so
+      supernatural a dread of him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The suspicion which already attached to the prince was increased by the
+      doubts which were entertained of his religious bias. So long as the
+      Emperor, his benefactor, lived, William believed in the pope; but it was
+      feared, with good ground, that the predilection for the reformed religion,
+      which had been imparted into his young heart, had never entirely left it.
+      Whatever church he may at certain periods of his life have preferred each
+      might console itself with the reflection that none other possessed him
+      more entirely. In later years he went over to Calvinism with almost as
+      little scruple as in his early childhood he deserted the Lutheran
+      profession for the Romish. He defended the rights of the Protestants
+      rather than their opinions against Spanish oppression; not their faith,
+      but their wrongs, had made him their brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These general grounds for suspicion appeared to be justified by a
+      discovery of his real intentions which accident had made. William had
+      remained in France as hostage for the peace of Chateau-Cambray, in
+      concluding which he had borne a part; and here, through the imprudence of
+      Henry II., who imagined he spoke with a confidant of the King of Spain, he
+      became acquainted with a secret plot which the French and Spanish courts
+      had formed against Protestants of both kingdoms. The prince hastened to
+      communicate this important discovery to his friends in Brussels, whom it
+      so nearly concerned, and the letters which he exchanged on the subject
+      fell, unfortunately, into the hands of the King of Spain. Philip was less
+      surprised at this decisive disclosure of William's sentiments than
+      incensed at the disappointment of his scheme; and the Spanish nobles, who
+      had never forgiven the prince that moment, when in the last act of his
+      life the greatest of Emperors leaned upon his shoulders, did not neglect
+      this favorable opportunity of finally ruining, in the good opinion of
+      their king, the betrayer of a state secret.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of a lineage no less noble than that of William was Lamoral, Count Egmont
+      and Prince of Gavre, a descendant of the Dukes of Gueldres, whose martial
+      courage had wearied out the arms of Austria. His family was highly
+      distinguished in the annals of the country; one of his ancestors, had,
+      under Maximilian, already filled the office of Stadtholder over Holland.
+      Egmont's marriage with the Duchess Sabina of Bavaria reflected additional
+      lustre on the splendor of his birth, and made him powerful through the
+      greatness of this alliance. Charles V. had, in the year 1516, conferred on
+      him at Utrecht the order of the Golden Fleece; the wars of this Emperor
+      were the school of his military genius, and the battle of St. Quentin and
+      Gravelines made him the hero of his age. Every blessing of peace, for
+      which a commercial people feel most grateful, brought to mind the
+      remembrance of the victory by which it was accelerated, and Flemish pride,
+      like a fond mother, exulted over the illustrious son of their country, who
+      had filled all Europe with admiration. Nine children who grew up under the
+      eyes of their fellow-citizens, multiplied and drew closer the ties between
+      him and his fatherland, and the people's grateful affection for the father
+      was kept alive by the sight of those who were dearest to him. Every
+      appearance of Egmont in public was a triumphal procession; every eye which
+      was fastened upon him recounted his history; his deeds lived in the
+      plaudits of his companions-in-arms; at the games of chivalry mothers
+      pointed him out to their children. Affability, a noble and courteous
+      demeanor, the amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits.
+      His liberal soul shone forth on his open brow; his frank-heartedness
+      managed his secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a
+      thought was no sooner his than it was the property of all. His religion
+      was gentle and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its
+      light from the heart and not from, his understanding. Egmont possessed
+      more of conscience than of fixed principles; his head had not given him a
+      code of its own, but had merely learnt it by rote; the mere name of any
+      action, therefore, was often with him sufficient for its condemnation. In
+      his judgment men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not something bad
+      or something good; in this system of morals there was no middle term
+      between vice and virtue; and consequently a single good trait often
+      decided his opinion of men. Egmont united all the eminent qualities which
+      form the hero; he was a better soldier than the Prince of Orange, but far
+      inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the world as it really was;
+      Egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an imagination that embellished
+      all that it reflected. Men, whom fortune has surprised with a reward for
+      which they can find no adequate ground in their actions, are, for the most
+      part, very apt to forget the necessary connection between cause and
+      effect, and to insert in the natural consequences of things a higher
+      miraculous power to which, as Caesar to his fortune, they at last insanely
+      trust. Such a character was Egmont. Intoxicated with the idea of his own
+      merits, which the love and gratitude of his fellow-citizens had
+      exaggerated, he staggered on in this sweet reverie as in a delightful
+      world of dreams. He feared not, because he trusted to the deceitful pledge
+      which destiny had given him of her favor, in the general love of the
+      people; and he believed in its justice because he himself was prosperous.
+      Even the most terrible experience of Spanish perfidy could not afterwards
+      eradicate this confidence from his soul, and on the scaffold itself his
+      latest feeling was hope. A tender fear for his family kept his patriotic
+      courage fettered by lower duties. Because he trembled for property and
+      life he could not venture much for the republic. William of Orange broke
+      with the throne because its arbitrary power was offensive to his pride;
+      Egmont was vain, and therefore valued the favors of the monarch. The
+      former was a citizen of the world; Egmont had never been more than a
+      Fleming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip II. still stood indebted to the hero of St. Quentin, and the
+      supreme stadtholdership of the Netherlands appeared the only appropriate
+      reward for such great services. Birth and high station, the voice of the
+      nation and personal abilities, spoke as loudly for Egmont as for Orange;
+      and if the latter was to be passed by it seemed that the former alone
+      could supplant him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two such competitors, so equal in merit, might have embarrassed Philip in
+      his choice if he had ever seriously thought of selecting either of them
+      for the appointment. But the pre-eminent qualities by which they supported
+      their claim to this office were the very cause of their rejection; and it
+      was precisely the ardent desire of the nation for their election to it
+      that irrevocably annulled their title to the appointment. Philip's purpose
+      would not be answered by a stadtholder in the Netherlands who could
+      command the good-will and the energies of the people. Egmont's descent
+      from the Duke of Gueldres made him an hereditary foe of the house of
+      Spain, and it seemed impolitic to place the supreme power in the hands of
+      a man to whom the idea might occur of revenging on the son of the
+      oppressor the oppression of his ancestor. The slight put on their
+      favorites could give no just offence either to the nation or to
+      themselves, for it might be pretended that the king passed over both
+      because he would not show a preference to either.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The disappointment of his hopes of gaining the regency did not deprive the
+      Prince of Orange of all expectation of establishing more firmly his
+      influence in the Netherlands. Among the other candidates for this office
+      was also Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and aunt of the king, who, as
+      mediatrix of the peace of Chateau-Cambray, had rendered important service
+      to the crown. William aimed at the hand of her daughter, and he hoped to
+      promote his suit by actively interposing his good offices for the mother;
+      but he did not reflect that through this very intercession he ruined her
+      cause. The Duchess Christina was rejected, not so much for the reason
+      alleged, namely, the dependence of her territories on France made her an
+      object of suspicion to the Spanish court, as because she was acceptable to
+      the people of the Netherlands and the Prince of Orange.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        MARGARET OF PARMA REGENT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      While the general expectation was on the stretch as to whom the fature
+      destines of the provinces would be committed, there appeared on the
+      frontiers of the country the Duchess Margaret of Parma, having been
+      summoned by the king from Italy to assume the government.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Margaret was a natural daughter of Charles V. and of a noble Flemish lady
+      named Vangeest, and born in 1522.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Out of regard for the honor of her mother's house she was at first
+      educated in obscurity; but her mother, who possessed more vanity than
+      honor, was not very anxious to preserve the secret of her origin, and a
+      princely education betrayed the daughter of the Emperor. While yet a child
+      she was entrusted to the Regent Margaret, her great-aunt, to be brought up
+      at Brussels under her eye. This guardian she lost in her eighth year, and
+      the care of her education devolved on Queen Mary of Hungary, the successor
+      of Margaret in the regency. Her father had already affianced her, while
+      yet in her fourth year, to a Prince of Ferrara; but this alliance being
+      subsequently dissolved, she was betrothed to Alexander de Medicis, the new
+      Duke of Florence, which marriage was, after the victorious return of the
+      Emperor from Africa, actually consummated in Naples. In the first year of
+      this unfortunate union, a violent death removed from her a husband who
+      could not love her, and for the third time her hand was disposed of to
+      serve the policy of her father. Octavius Farnese, a prince of thirteen
+      years of age and nephew of Paul III., obtained, with her person, the
+      Duchies of Parma and Piacenza as her portion. Thus, by a strange destiny,
+      Margaret at the age of maturity was contracted to a boy, as in the years
+      of infancy she had been sold to a man. Her disposition, which was anything
+      but feminine, made this last alliance still more unnatural, for her taste
+      and inclinations were masculine, and the whole tenor of her life belied
+      her sex. After the example of her instructress, the Queen of Hungary, and
+      her great-aunt, the Duchess Mary of Burgundy, who met her death in this
+      favorite sport, she was passionately fond of hunting, and had acquired in
+      this pursuit such bodily vigor that few men were better able to undergo
+      its hardships and fatigues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her gait itself was so devoid of grace that one was far more tempted to
+      take her for a disguised man than for a masculine woman; and Nature, whom
+      she had derided by thus transgressing the limits of her sex, revenged
+      itself finally upon her by a disease peculiar to men&mdash;the gout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These unusual qualities were crowned by a monkish superstition which was
+      infused into her mind by Ignatius Loyola, her confessor and teacher. Among
+      the charitable works and penances with which she mortified her vanity, one
+      of the most remarkable was that, during Passion-Week she yearly washed,
+      with her own hands, the feet of a number of poor men (who were most
+      strictly forbidden to cleanse themselves beforehand), waited on them at
+      table like a servant, and sent them away with rich presents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing more is requisite than this last feature in her character to
+      account for the preference which the king gave her over all her rivals;
+      but his choice was at the same time justified by excellent reasons of
+      state. Margaret was born and also educated in the Netherlands. She had
+      spent her early youth among the people, and had acquired much of their
+      national manners. Two regents (Duchess Margaret and Queen Mary of
+      Hungary), under whose eyes she had grown up, had gradually initiated her
+      into the maxims by which this peculiar people might be most easily
+      governed; and they would also serve her as models. She did not want either
+      in talents; and possessed, moreover, a particular turn for business, which
+      she had acquired from her instructors, and had afterwards carried to
+      greater perfection in the Italian school. The Netherlands had been for a
+      number of years accustomed to female government; and Philip hoped,
+      perhaps, that the sharp iron of tyranny which he was about to use against
+      them would cut more gently if wielded by the hands of a woman. Some regard
+      for his father, who at the time was still living, and was much attached to
+      Margaret, may have in a measure, as it is asserted, influenced this
+      choice; as it is also probable that the king wished to oblige the Duke of
+      Parma, through this mark of attention to his wife, and thus to compensate
+      for denying a request which he was just then compelled to refuse him. As
+      the territories of the duchess were surrounded by Philip's Italian states,
+      and at all times exposed to his arms, he could, with the less danger,
+      entrust the supreme power into her hands. For his full security her son,
+      Alexander Farnese, was to remain at his court as a pledge for her loyalty.
+      All these reasons were alone sufficiently weighty to turn the king's
+      decision in her favor; but they became irresistible when supported by the
+      Bishop of Arras and the Duke of Alva. The latter, as it appears, because
+      he hated or envied all the other competitors, the former, because even
+      then, in all probability, he anticipated from the wavering disposition of
+      this princess abundant gratification for his ambition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%;">
+      <img alt="1pb074 (125K)" src="images/1pb074.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip received the new regent on the frontiers with a splendid cortege,
+      and conducted her with magnificent pomp to Ghent, where the States General
+      had been convoked. As he did not intend to return soon to the Netherlands,
+      he desired, before he left them, to gratify the nation for once by holding
+      a solemn Diet, and thus giving a solemn sanction and the force of law to
+      his previous regulations. For the last time he showed himself to his
+      Netherlandish people, whose destinies were from henceforth to be dispensed
+      from a mysterious distance. To enhance the splendor of this solemn day,
+      Philip invested eleven knights with the Order of the Golden Fleece, his
+      sister being seated on a chair near himself, while he showed her to the
+      nation as their future ruler. All the grievances of the people, touching
+      the edicts, the Inquisition, the detention of the Spanish troops, the
+      taxes, and the illegal introduction of foreigners into the offices and
+      administration of the country were brought forward in this Diet, and were
+      hotly discussed by both parties; some of them were skilfully evaded, or
+      apparently removed, others arbitrarily repelled. As the king was
+      unacquainted with the language of the country, he addressed the nation
+      through the mouth of the Bishop of Arras, recounted to them with
+      vain-glorious ostentation all the benefits of his government, assured them
+      of his favor for the future, and once more recommended to the estates in
+      the most earnest manner the preservation of the Catholic faith and the
+      extirpation of heresy. The Spanish troops, he promised, should in a few
+      months evacuate the Netherlands, if only they would allow him time to
+      recover from the numerous burdens of the last war, in order that he might
+      be enabled to collect the means for paying the arrears of these troops;
+      the fundamental laws of the nation should remain inviolate, the imposts
+      should not be grievously burdensome, and the Inquisition should administer
+      its duties with justice and moderation. In the choice of a supreme
+      Stadtholder, he added, he had especially consulted the wishes of the
+      nation, and had decided for a native of the country, who had been brought
+      up in their manners and customs, and was attached to them by a love to her
+      native land. He exhorted them, therefore, to show their gratitude by
+      honoring his choice, and obeying his sister, the duchess, as himself.
+      Should, he concluded, unexpected obstacles oppose his return, he would
+      send in his place his son, Prince Charles, who should reside in Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few members of this assembly, more courageous than the rest, once more
+      ventured on a final effort for liberty of conscience. Every people, they
+      argued, ought to be treated according to their natural character, as every
+      individual must in accordance to his bodily constitution. Thus, for
+      example, the south may be considered happy under a certain degree of
+      constraint which would press intolerably on the north. Never, they added,
+      would the Flemings consent to a yoke under which, perhaps, the Spaniards
+      bowed with patience, and rather than submit to it would they undergo any
+      extremity if it was sought to force such a yoke upon them. This
+      remonstrance was supported by some of the king's counsellors, who strongly
+      urged the policy of mitigating the rigor of religious edicts. But Philip
+      remained inexorable. Better not reign at all, was his answer, than reign
+      over heretics!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      According to an arrangement already made by Charles V., three councils or
+      chambers were added to the regent, to assist her in the administration of
+      state affairs. As long as Philip was himself present in the Netherlands
+      these courts had lost much of their power, and the functions of the first
+      of them, the state council, were almost entirely suspended. Now that he
+      quitted the reins of government, they recovered their former importance.
+      In the state council, which was to deliberate upon war and peace, and
+      security against external foes, sat the Bishop of Arras, the Prince of
+      Orange, Count Egmont, the President of the Privy Council, Viglius Van
+      Zuichem Van Aytta, and the Count of Barlaimont, President of the Chamber
+      of Finance. All knights of the Golden Fleece, all privy counsellors and
+      counsellors of finance, as also the members of the great senate at
+      Malines, which had been subjected by Charles V. to the Privy Council in
+      Brussels, had a seat and vote in the Council of State, if expressly
+      invited by the regent. The management of the royal revenues and crown
+      lands was vested in the Chamber of Finance, and the Privy Council was
+      occupied with the administration of justice, and the civil regulation of
+      the country, and issued all letters of grace and pardon. The governments
+      of the provinces which had fallen vacant were either filled up afresh or
+      the former governors were confirmed. Count Egmont received Flanders and
+      Artois; the Prince of Orange, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, and West
+      Friesland; the Count of Aremberg, East Friesland, Overyssel, and
+      Groningen; the Count of Mansfeld, Luxemburg; Barlaimont, Namur; the
+      Marquis of Bergen, Hainault, Chateau-Cambray, and Valenciennes; the Baron
+      of Montigny, Tournay and its dependencies. Other provinces were given to
+      some who have less claim to our attention. Philip of Montmorency, Count of
+      Hoorn, who had been succeeded by the Count of Megen in the government of
+      Gueldres and Ziitphen, was confirmed as admiral of the Belgian navy. Every
+      governor of a province was at the same time a knight of the Golden Fleece
+      and member of the Council of State. Each had, in the province over which
+      he presided, the command of the military force which protected it, the
+      superintendence of the civil administration and the judicature; the
+      governor of Flanders alone excepted, who was not allowed to interfere with
+      the administration of justice. Brabant alone was placed under the
+      immediate jurisdiction of the regent, who, according to custom, chose
+      Brussels for her constant residence. The induction of the Prince of Orange
+      into his governments was, properly speaking, an infraction of the
+      constitution, since he was a foreigner; but several estates which he
+      either himself possessed in the provinces, or managed as guardian of his
+      son, his long residence in the country, and above all the unlimited
+      confidence the nation reposed in him, gave him substantial claims in
+      default of a real title of citizenship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The military force of the Low Countries consisted, in its full complement,
+      of three thousand horse. At present it did not much exceed two thousand,
+      and was divided into fourteen squadrons, over which, besides the governors
+      of the provinces, the Duke of Arschot, the Counts of Hoogstraten, Bossu,
+      Roeux, and Brederode held the chief command. This cavalry, which was
+      scattered through all the seventeen provinces, was only to be called out
+      on sudden emergencies. Insufficient as it was for any great undertaking,
+      it was, nevertheless, fully adequate for the maintenance of internal
+      order. Its courage had been approved in former wars, and the fame of its
+      valor was diffused through the whole of Europe. In addition to this
+      cavalry it was also proposed to levy a body of infantry, but hitherto the
+      states had refused their consent to it. Of foreign troops there were still
+      some German regiments in the service, which were waiting for their pay.
+      The four thousand Spaniards, respecting whom so many complaints had been
+      made, were under two Spanish generals, Mendoza and Romero, and were in
+      garrison in the frontier towns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the Belgian nobles whom the king especially distinguished in these
+      new appointments, the names of Count Egmont and William of Orange stand
+      conspicuous. However inveterate his hatred was of both, and particularly
+      of the latter, Philip nevertheless gave them these public marks of his
+      favor, because his scheme of vengeance was not yet fully ripe, and the
+      people were enthusiastic in their devotion to them. The estates of both
+      were declared exempt from taxes, the most lucrative governments were
+      entrusted to them, and by offering them the command of the Spaniards whom
+      he left behind in the country the king flattered them with a confidence
+      which he was very far from really reposing in them. But at the very time
+      when he obliged the prince with these public marks of his esteem he
+      privately inflicted the most cruel injury on him. Apprehensive lest an
+      alliance with the powerful house of Lorraine might encourage this
+      suspected vassal to bolder measures, he thwarted the negotiation for a
+      marriage between him and a princess of that family, and crushed his hopes
+      on the very eve of their accomplishment,&mdash;an injury which the prince
+      never forgave. Nay, his hatred to the prince on one occasion even got
+      completely the better of his natural dissimulation, and seduced him into a
+      step in which we entirely lose sight of Philip II. When he was about to
+      embark at Flushing, and the nobles of the country attended him to the
+      shore, he so far forgot himself as roughly to accost the prince, and
+      openly to accuse him of being the author of the Flemish troubles. The
+      prince answered temperately that what had happened had been done by the
+      provinces of their own suggestion and on legitimate grounds. No, said
+      Philip, seizing his hated, and shaking it violently, not the provinces,
+      but You! You! You! The prince stood mute with astonishment, and without
+      waiting for the king's embarkation, wished him a safe journey, and went
+      back to the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus the enmity which William had long harbored in his breast against the
+      oppressor of a free people was now rendered irreconcilable by private
+      hatred; and this double incentive accelerated the great enterprise which
+      tore from the Spanish crown seven of its brightest jewels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip had greatly deviated from his true character in taking so gracious
+      a leave of the Netherlands. The legal form of a diet, his promise to
+      remove the Spaniards from the frontiers, the consideration of the popular
+      wishes, which had led him to fill the most important offices of the
+      country with the favorites of the people, and, finally, the sacrifice
+      which he made to the constitution in withdrawing the Count of Feria from
+      the council of state, were marks of condescension of which his magnanimity
+      was never again guilty. But in fact he never stood in greater need of the
+      good-will of the states, that with their aid he might, if possible, clear
+      off the great burden of debt which was still attached to the Netherlands
+      from the former war. He hoped, therefore, by propitiating them through
+      smaller sacrifices to win approval of more important usurpations. He
+      marked his departure with grace, for he knew in what hands he left them.
+      The frightful scenes of death which he intended for this unhappy people
+      were not to stain the splendor of majesty which, like the Godhead, marks
+      its course only with beneficence; that terrible distinction was reserved
+      for his representatives. The establishment of the council of state was,
+      however, intended rather to flatter the vanity of the Belgian nobility
+      than to impart to them any real influence. The historian Strada (who drew
+      his information with regard to the regent from her own papers) has
+      preserved a few articles of the secret instructions which the Spanish
+      ministry gave her. Amongst other things it is there stated if she observed
+      that the councils were divided by factions, or, what would be far worse,
+      prepared by private conferences before the session, and in league with one
+      another, then she was to prorogue all the chambers and dispose arbitrarily
+      of the disputed articles in a more select council or committee. In this
+      select committee, which was called the Consulta, sat the Archbishop of
+      Arras, the President Viglius, and the Count of Barlaimont. She was to act
+      in the same manner if emergent cases required a prompt decision. Had this
+      arrangement not been the work of an arbitrary despotism it would perhaps
+      have been justified by sound policy, and republican liberty itself might
+      have tolerated it. In great assemblies where many private interests and
+      passions co-operate, where a numerous audience presents so great a
+      temptation to the vanity of the orator, and parties often assail one
+      another with unmannerly warmth, a decree can seldom be passed with that
+      sobriety and mature deliberation which, if the members are properly
+      selected, a smaller body readily admits of. In a numerous body of men,
+      too, there is, we must suppose, a greater number of limited than of
+      enlightened intellects, who through their equal right of vote frequently
+      turn the majority on the side of ignorance. A second maxim which the
+      regent was especially to observe, was to select the very members of
+      council who had voted against any decree to carry it into execution. By
+      this means not only would the people be kept in ignorance of the
+      originators of such a law, but the private quarrels also of the members
+      would be restrained, and a greater freedom insured in voting in compliance
+      with the wishes of the court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of all these precautions Philip would never have been able to
+      leave the Netherlands with a quiet mind so long as he knew that the chief
+      power in the council of state, and the obedience of the provinces, were in
+      the hands of the suspected nobles. In order, therefore, to appease his
+      fears from this quarter, and also at the same time to assure himself of
+      the fidelity of the regent, be subjected her, and through her all the
+      affairs of the judicature, to the higher control of the Bishop of Arras.
+      In this single individual he possessed an adequate counterpoise to the
+      most dreaded cabal. To him, as to an infallible oracle of majesty, the
+      duchess was referred, and in him there watched a stern supervisor of her
+      administration. Among all his contemporaries Granvella was the only one
+      whom Philip II. appears to have excepted from his universal distrust; as
+      long as he knew that this man was in Brussels he could sleep calmly in
+      Segovia. He left the Netherlands in September, 1559, was saved from a
+      storm which sank his fleet, and landed at Laredo in Biscay, and in his
+      gloomy joy thanked the Deity who had preserved him by a detestable vow. In
+      the hands of a priest and of a woman was placed the dangerous helm of the
+      Netherlands; and the dastardly tyrant escaped in his oratory at Madrid the
+      supplications, the complaints, and the curses of the people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK II.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CARDINAL GRANVELLA.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      ANTHONY PERENOT, Bishop of Arras, subsequently Archbishop of Malines, and
+      Metropolitan of all the Netherlands, who, under the name of Cardinal
+      Granvella, has been immortalized by the hatred of his contemporaries, was
+      born in the year 1516, at Besancon in Burgundy. His father, Nicolaus
+      Perenot, the son of a blacksmith, had risen by his own merits to be the
+      private secretary of Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, at that time regent of
+      the Netherlands. In this post he was noticed for his habits of business by
+      Charles V., who took him into his own service and employed him in several
+      important negotiations. For twenty years he was a member of the Emperor's
+      cabinet, and filled the offices of privy counsellor and keeper of the
+      king's seal, and shared in all the state secrets of that monarch. He
+      acquired a large fortune. His honors, his influence, and his political
+      knowledge were inherited by his son, Anthony Perenot, who in his early
+      years gave proofs of the great capacity which subsequently opened to him
+      so distinguished a career. Anthony had cultivated at several colleges the
+      talents with which nature had so lavishly endowed him, and in some
+      respects had an advantage over his father. He soon showed that his own
+      abilities were sufficient to maintain the advantageous position which the
+      merits of another had procured him. He was twenty-four years old when the
+      Emperor sent him as his plenipotentiary to the ecclesiastical council of
+      Trent, where he delivered the first specimen of that eloquence which in
+      the sequel gave him so complete an ascendancy over two kings. Charles
+      employed him in several difficult embassies, the duties of which he
+      fulfilled to the satisfaction of his sovereign, and when finally that
+      Emperor resigned the sceptre to his son he made that costly present
+      complete by giving him a minister who could help him to wield it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Granvella opened his new career at once with the greatest masterpiece of
+      political genius, in passing so easily from the favor of such a father
+      into equal consideration with such a son. And he soon proved himself
+      deserving of it. At the secret negotiations of which the Duchess of
+      Lorraine had, in 1558, been the medium between the French and Spanish
+      ministers at Peronne, he planned, conjointly with the Cardinal of
+      Lorraine, that conspiracy against the Protestants which was afterwards
+      matured, but also betrayed, at Chateau-Cambray, where Perenot likewise
+      assisted in effecting the so-called peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A deeply penetrating, comprehensive intellect, an unusual facility in
+      conducting great and intricate affairs, and the most extensive learning,
+      were wonderfully united in this man with persevering industry and
+      never-wearying patience, while his enterprising genius was associated with
+      thoughtful mechanical regularity. Day and night the state found him
+      vigilant and collected; the most important and the most insignificant
+      things were alike weighed by him with scrupulous attention. Not
+      unfrequently he employed five secretaries at one time, dictating to them
+      in different languages, of which he is said to have spoken seven. What his
+      penetrating mind had slowly matured acquired in his lips both force and
+      grace, and truth, set forth by his persuasive eloquence, irresistibly
+      carried away all hearers. He was tempted by none of the passions which
+      make slaves of most men. His integrity was incorruptible. With shrewd
+      penetration he saw through the disposition of his master, and could read
+      in his features his whole train of thought, and, as it were, the
+      approaching form in the shadow which outran it. With an artifice rich in
+      resources he came to the aid of Philip's more inactive mind, formed into
+      perfect thought his master's crude ideas while they yet hung on his lips,
+      and liberally allowed him the glory of the invention. Granvella understood
+      the difficult and useful art of depreciating his own talents; of making
+      his own genius the seeming slave of another; thus he ruled while he
+      concealed his sway. In this manner only could Philip II. be governed.
+      Content with a silent but real power, Granvella did not grasp insatiably
+      at new and outward marks of it, which with lesser minds are ever the most
+      coveted objects; but every new distinction seemed to sit upon him as
+      easily as the oldest. No wonder if such extraordinary endowments had alone
+      gained him the favor of his master; but a large and valuable treasure of
+      political secrets and experiences, which the active life of Charles V. had
+      accumulated, and had deposited in the mind of this man, made him
+      indispensable to his successor. Self-sufficient as the latter was, and
+      accustomeded to confide in his own understanding, his timid and crouching
+      policy was fain to lean on a superior mind, and to aid its own
+      irresolution not only by precedent but also by the influence and example
+      of another. No political matter which concerned the royal interest, even
+      when Philip himself was in the Netherlands, was decided without the
+      intervention of Granvella; and when the king embarked for Spain he made
+      the new regent the same valuable present of the minister which he himself
+      had received from the Emperor, his father.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Common as it is for despotic princes to bestow unlimited confidence on the
+      creatures whom they have raised from the dust, and of whose greatness they
+      themselves are, in a measure, the creators, the present is no ordinary
+      instance; pre-eminent must have been the qualities which could so far
+      conquer the selfish reserve of such a character as Philip's as to gain his
+      confidence, nay, even to win him into familiarity. The slightest
+      ebullition of the most allowable self-respect, which might have tempted
+      him to assert, however slightly, his claim to any idea which the king had
+      once ennobled as his own, would have cost him his whole influence. He
+      might gratify without restraint the lowest passions of voluptuousness, of
+      rapacity, and of revenge, but the only one in which he really took
+      delight, the sweet consciousness of his own superiority and power, he was
+      constrained carefully to conceal from the suspicious glance of the despot.
+      He voluntarily disclaimed all the eminent qualities, which were already
+      his own, in order, as it were, to receive them a second time from the
+      generosity of the king. His happiness seemed to flow from no other source,
+      no other person could have a claim upon his gratitude. The purple, which
+      was sent to him from Rome, was not assumed until the royal permission
+      reached him from Spain; by laying it down on the steps of the throne he
+      appeared, in a measure, to receive it first from the hands of majesty.
+      Less politic, Alva erected a trophy in Antwerp, and inscribed his own name
+      under the victory, which he had won as the servant of the crown&mdash;but
+      Alva carried with him to the grave the displeasure of his master. He had
+      invaded with audacious hand the royal prerogative by drawing immediately
+      at the fountain of immortality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three times Granvella changed his master, and three times he succeeded in
+      rising to the highest favor. With the same facility with which he had
+      guided the settled pride of an autocrat, and the sly egotism of a despot,
+      he knew how to manage the delicate vanity of a woman. His business between
+      himself and the regent, even when they were in the same house, was, for
+      the most part, transacted by the medium of notes, a custom which draws its
+      date from the times of Augustus and Tiberius. When the regent was in any
+      perplexity these notes were interchanged from hour to hour. He probably
+      adopted this expedient in the hope of eluding the watchful jealousy of the
+      nobility, and concealing from them, in part at least, his influence over
+      the regent. Perhaps, too, he also believed that by this means his advice
+      would become more permanent; and, in case of need, this written testimony
+      would be at hand to shield him from blame. But the vigilance of the nobles
+      made this caution vain, and it was soon known in all the provinces that
+      nothing was determined upon without the minister's advice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Granvella possessed all the qualities requisite for a perfect statesman in
+      a monarchy governed by despotic principles, but was absolutely unqualified
+      for republics which are governed by kings. Educated between the throne and
+      the confessional, he knew of no other relation between man and man than
+      that of rule and subjection; and the innate consciousness of his own
+      superiority gave him a contempt for others. His policy wanted pliability,
+      the only virtue which was here indispensable to its success. He was
+      naturally overbearing and insolent, and the royal authority only gave arms
+      to the natural impetuosity of his disposition and the imperiousness of his
+      order. He veiled his own ambition beneath the interests of the crown, and
+      made the breach between the nation and the king incurable, because it
+      would render him indispensable to the latter. He revenged on the nobility
+      the lowliness of his own origin; and, after the fashion of all those who
+      have risen by their own merits, he valued the advantages of birth below
+      those by which he had raised himself to distinction. The Protestants saw
+      in him their most implacable foe; to his charge were laid all the burdens
+      which oppressed the country, and they pressed the more heavily because
+      they came from him. Nay, he was even accused of having brought back to
+      severity the milder sentiments to which the urgent remonstrances of the
+      provinces had at last disposed the monarch. The Netherlands execrated him
+      as the most terrible enemy of their liberties, and the originator of all
+      the misery which subsequently came upon them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1559. Philip had evidently left the provinces too soon. The new measures
+      of the government were still strange to the people, and could receive
+      sanction and authority from his presence alone; the new machines which he
+      had brought into play required to be kept in motion by a dreaded and
+      powerful hand, and to have their first movements watched and regulated. He
+      now exposed his minister to all the angry passions of the people, who no
+      longer felt restrained by the fetters of the royal presence; and he
+      delegated to the weak arm of a subject the execution of projects in which
+      majesty itself, with all its powerful supports, might have failed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The land, indeed, flourished; and a general prosperity appeared to testify
+      to the blessings of the peace which had so lately been bestowed upon it.
+      An external repose deceived the eye, for within raged all the elements of
+      discord. If the foundations of religion totter in a country they totter
+      not alone; the audacity which begins with things sacred ends with things
+      profane. The successful attack upon the hierarchy had awakened a spirit of
+      boldness, and a desire to assail authority in general, and to test laws as
+      well as dogmas&mdash;duties as well as opinions. The fanatical boldness
+      with which men had learned to discuss and decide upon the affairs of
+      eternity might change its subject matter; the contempt for life and
+      property which religious enthusiasm had taught could metamorphose timid
+      citizens into foolhardy rebels. A female government of nearly forty years
+      had given the nation room to assert their liberty; continual wars, of
+      which the Netherlands had been the theatre, had introduced a license with
+      them, and the right of the stronger had usurped the place of law and
+      order. The provinces were filled with foreign adventurers and fugitives;
+      generally men bound by no ties of country, family, or property, who had
+      brought with them from their unhappy homes the seeds of insubordination
+      and rebellion. The repeated spectacles of torture and of death had rudely
+      burst the tenderer threads of moral feeling, and had given an unnatural
+      harshness to the national character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still the rebellion would have crouched timorously and silently on the
+      ground if it had not found a support in the nobility. Charles V. had
+      spoiled the Flemish nobles of the Netherlands by making them the
+      participators of his glory, by fostering their national pride, by the
+      marked preference he showed for them over the Castilian nobles, and by
+      opening an arena to their ambition in every part of his empire. In the
+      late war with France they had really deserved this preference from Philip;
+      the advantages which the king reaped from the peace of Chateau-Cambray
+      were for the most part the fruits of their valor, and they now sensibly
+      missed the gratitude on which they had so confidently reckoned. Moreover,
+      the separation of the German empire from the Spanish monarchy, and the
+      less warlike spirit of the new government, had greatly narrowed their
+      sphere of action, and, except in their own country, little remained for
+      them to gain. And Philip now appointed his Spaniards where Charles V. had
+      employed the Flemings. All the passions which the preceding government had
+      raised and kept employed still survived in peace; and in default of a
+      legitimate object these unruly feelings found, unfortunately, ample scope
+      in the grievances of their country. Accordingly, the claims and wrongs
+      which had been long supplanted by new passions were now drawn from
+      oblivion. By his late appointments the king had satisfied no party; for
+      those even who obtained offices were not much more content than those who
+      were entirely passed over, because they had calculated on something better
+      than they got. William of Orange had received four governments (not to
+      reckon some smaller dependencies which, taken together, were equivalent to
+      a fifth), but William had nourished hopes of Flanders and Brabant. He and
+      Count Egmont forgot what had really fallen to their share, and only
+      remembered that they had lost the regency. The majority of the nobles were
+      either plunged into debt by their own extravagance, or had willingly
+      enough been drawn into it by the government. Now that they were excluded
+      from the prospect of lucrative appointments, they at once saw themselves
+      exposed to poverty, which pained them the more sensibly when they
+      contrasted the splendor of the affluent citizens with their own
+      necessities. In the extremities to which they were reduced many would have
+      readily assisted in the commission even of crimes; how then could they
+      resist the seductive offers of the Calvinists, who liberally repaid them
+      for their intercession and protection? Lastly, many whose estates were
+      past redemption placed their last hope in a general devastation, and stood
+      prepared at the first favorable moment to cast the torch of discord into
+      the republic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This threatening aspect of the public mind was rendered still more
+      alarming by the unfortunate vicinity of France. What Philip dreaded for
+      the provinces was there already accomplished. The fate of that kingdom
+      prefigured to him the destiny of his Netherlands, and the spirit of
+      rebellion found there a seductive example. A similar state of things had
+      under Francis I. and Henry II. scattered the seeds of innovation in that
+      kingdom; a similar fury of persecution and a like spirit of faction had
+      encouraged its growth. Now Huguenots and Catholics were struggling in a
+      dubious contest; furious parties disorganized the whole monarchy, and were
+      violently hurrying this once-powerful state to the brink of destruction.
+      Here, as there, private interest, ambition, and party feeling might veil
+      themselves under the names of religion and patriotism, and the passions of
+      a few citizens drive the entire nation to take up arms. The frontiers of
+      both countries merged in Walloon Flanders; the rebellion might, like an
+      agitated sea, cast its waves as far as this: would a country be closed
+      against it whose language, manners, and character wavered between those of
+      France and Belgium? As yet the government had taken no census of its
+      Protestant subjects in these countries, but the new sect, it was aware,
+      was a vast, compact republic, which extended its roots through all the
+      monarchies of Christendom, and the slighest disturbance in any of its most
+      distant members vibrated to its centre. It was, as it were, a chain of
+      threatening volcanoes, which, united by subterraneous passages, ignite at
+      the same moment with alarming sympathy. The Netherlands were, necessarily,
+      open to all nations, because they derived their support from all. Was it
+      possible for Philip to close a commercial state as easily as he could
+      Spain? If he wished to purify these provinces from heresy it was necessary
+      for him to commence by extirpating it in France.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was in this state that Granvella found the Netherlands at the beginning
+      of his administration (1560).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To restore to these countries the uniformity of papistry, to break the
+      co-ordinate power of the nobility and the states, and to exalt the royal
+      authority on the ruins of republican freedom, was the great object of
+      Spanish policy and the express commission of the new minister. But
+      obstacles stood in the way of its accomplishment; to conquer these
+      demanded the invention of new resources, the application of new machinery.
+      The Inquisition, indeed, and the religious edicts appeared sufficient to
+      check the contagion of heresy; but the latter required superintendence,
+      and the former able instruments for its now extended jurisdiction. The
+      church constitution continued the same as it had been in earlier times,
+      when the provinces were less populous, when the church still enjoyed
+      universal repose, and could be more easily overlooked and controlled. A
+      succession of several centuries, which changed the whole interior form of
+      the provinces, had left the form of the hierarchy unaltered, which,
+      moreover, was protected from the arbitrary will of its ruler by the
+      particular privileges of the provinces. All the seventeen provinces were
+      parcelled out under four bishops, who had their seats at Arras, Tournay,
+      Cambray, and Utrecht, and were subject to the primates of Rheims and
+      Cologne. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had, indeed, meditated an
+      increase in the number of bishops to meet the wants of the increasing
+      population; but, unfortunately, in the excitement of a life of pleasure
+      had abandoned the project. Ambition and lust of conquest withdrew the mind
+      of Charles the Bold from the internal concerns of his kingdom, and
+      Maximilian had already too many subjects of dispute with the states to
+      venture to add to their number by proposing this change. A stormy reign
+      prevented Charles V. from the execution of this extensive plan, which
+      Philip II. now undertook as a bequest from all these princes. The moment
+      had now arrived when the urgent necessities of the church would excuse the
+      innovation, and the leisure of peace favored its accomplishment. With the
+      prodigious crowd of people from all the countries of Europe who were
+      crowded together in the towns of the Netherlands, a multitude of religious
+      opinions had also grown up; and it was impossible that religion could any
+      longer be effectually superintended by so few eyes as were formerly
+      sufficient. While the number of bishops was so small their districts must,
+      of necessity, have been proportionally extensive, and four men could not
+      be adequate to maintain the purity of the faith through so wide a
+      district.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The jurisdiction which the Archbishops of Cologne and Rheims exercised
+      over the Netherlands had long been a stumbling-block to the government,
+      which could not look on this territory as really its own property so long
+      as such an important branch of power was still wielded by foreign hands.
+      To snatch this prerogative from the alien archbishops; by new and active
+      agents to give fresh life and vigor to the superintendence of the faith,
+      and at the same time to strengthen the number of the partisans of
+      government at the diet, no more effectual means could be devised than to
+      increase the number of bishops. Resolved upon doing this Philip II.
+      ascended the throne; but he soon found that a change in the hierarchy
+      would inevitably meet with warm opposition from the provinces, without
+      whose consent, nevertheless, it would be vain to attempt it. Philip
+      foresaw that the nobility would never approve of a measure which would so
+      strongly augment the royal party, and take from the aristocracy the
+      preponderance of power in the diet. The revenues, too, for the maintenance
+      of these new bishops must be diverted from the abbots and monks, and these
+      formed a considerable part of the states of the realm. He had, besides, to
+      fear the opposition of the Protestants, who would not fail to act secretly
+      in the diet against him. On these accounts the whole affair was discussed
+      at Rome with the greatest possible secrecy. Instructed by, and as the
+      agent of, Granvella, Francis Sonnoi, a priest of Louvain, came before Paul
+      IV. to inform him how extensive the provinces were, how thriving and
+      populous, how luxurious in their prosperity. But, he continued, in the
+      immoderate enjoyment of liberty the true faith is neglected, and heretics
+      prosper. To obviate this evil the Romish See must have recourse to
+      extraordinary measures. It was not difficult to prevail on the Romish
+      pontiff to make a change which would enlarge the sphere of his own
+      jurisdiction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul IV. appointed a tribunal of seven cardinals to deliberate upon this
+      important matter; but death called him away, and he left to his successor,
+      Pius IV., the duty of carrying their advice into execution. The welcome
+      tidings of the pope's determination reached the king in Zealand when he
+      was just on the point of setting sail for Spain, and the minister was
+      secretly charged with the dangerous reform. The new constitution of the
+      hierarchy was published in 1560; in addition to the then existing four
+      bishoprics thirteen new ones were established, according to the number of
+      seventeen provinces, and four of them were raised into archbishoprics. Six
+      of these episcopal sees, viz., in Antwerp, Herzogenbusch, Ghent, Bruges,
+      Ypres, and Ruremonde, were placed under the Archbishopric of Malines; five
+      others, Haarlem, Middelburg, Leuwarden, Deventer, and Groningen, under the
+      Archbishopric of Utrecht; and the remaining four, Arras, Tournay, St.
+      Omer, and Namur, which lie nearest to France, and have language,
+      character, and manners in common with that country, under the
+      Archbishopric of Cambray. Malines, situated in the middle of Brabant and
+      in the centre of all the seventeen provinces, was made the primacy of all
+      the rest, and was, with several rich abbeys, the reward of Granvella. The
+      revenues of the new bishoprics were provided by an appropriation of the
+      treasures of the cloisters and abbeys which had accumulated from pious
+      benefactions during centuries. Some of the abbots were raised to the
+      episcopal throne, and with the possession of their cloisters and prelacies
+      retained also the vote at the diet which was attached to them. At the same
+      time to every bishopric nine prebends were attached, and bestowed on the
+      most learned juris-consultists and theologians, who were to support the
+      Inquisition and the bishop in his spiritual office. Of these, the two who
+      were most deserving by knowledge, experience, and unblemished life were to
+      be constituted actual inquisitors, and to have the first voice in the
+      Synods. To the Archbishop of Malines, as metropolitan of all the seventeen
+      provinces, the full authority was given to appoint, or at discretion
+      depose, archbishops and bishops; and the Romish See was only to give its
+      ratification to his acts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At any other period the nation would have received with gratitude and
+      approved of such a measure of church reform since it was fully called for
+      by circumstances, was conducive to the interests of religion, and
+      absolutely indispensable for the moral reformation of the monkhood. Now
+      the temper of the times saw in it nothing but a hateful change. Universal
+      was the indignation with which it was received. A cry was raised that the
+      constitution was trampled under foot, the rights of the nation violated,
+      and that the Inquisition was already at the door, and would soon open
+      here, as in Spain, its bloody tribunal. The people beheld with dismay
+      these new servants of arbitrary power and of persecution. The nobility saw
+      in it nothing but a strengthening of the royal authority by the addition
+      of fourteen votes in the states' assembly, and a withdrawal of the firmest
+      prop of their freedom, the balance of the royal and the civil power. The
+      old bishops complained of the diminution of their incomes and the
+      circumscription of their sees; the abbots and monks had not only lost
+      power and income, but had received in exchange rigid censors of their
+      morals. Noble and simple, laity and clergy, united against the common foe,
+      and while all singly struggled for some petty private interest, the cry
+      appeared to come from the formidable voice of patriotism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among all the provinces Brabant was loudest in its opposition. The
+      inviolability of its church constitution was one of the important
+      privileges which it had reserved in the remarkable charter of the "Joyful
+      Entry,"&mdash;statutes which the sovereign could not violate without
+      releasing the nation from its allegiance to him. In vain did the
+      university of Louvain assert that in disturbed times of the church a
+      privilege lost its power which had been granted in the period of its
+      tranquillity. The introduction of the new bishoprics into the constitution
+      was thought to shake the whole fabric of liberty. The prelacies, which
+      were now transferred to the bishops, must henceforth serve another rule
+      than the advantage of the province of whose states they had been members.
+      The once free patriotic citizens were to be instruments of the Romish See
+      and obedient tools of the archbishop, who again, as first prelate of
+      Brabant, had the immediate control over them. The freedom of voting was
+      gone, because the bishops, as servile spies of the crown, made every one
+      fearful. "Who," it was asked, "will after this venture to raise his voice
+      in parliament before such observers, or in their presence dare to protect
+      the rights of the nation against the rapacious hands of the government?
+      They will trace out the resources of the provinces, and betray to the
+      crown the secrets of our freedom and our property. They will obstruct the
+      way to all offices of honor; we shall soon see the courtiers of the king
+      succeed the present men; the children of foreigners will, for the future,
+      fill the parliament, and the private interest of their patron will guide
+      their venal votes." "What an act of oppression," rejoined the monks, "to
+      pervert to other objects the pious designs of our holy institutions, to
+      contemn the inviolable wishes of the dead, and to take that which a devout
+      charity had deposited in our chests for the relief of the unfortunate and
+      make it subservient to the luxury of the bishops, thus inflating their
+      arrogant pomp with the plunder of the poor?" Not only the abbots and
+      monks, who really did suffer by this act of appropriation, but every
+      family which could flatter itself with the slightest hope of enjoying, at
+      some time or other, even in the most remote posterity, the benefit of this
+      monastic foundation, felt this disappointment of their distant
+      expectations as much as if they had suffered an actual injury, and the
+      wrongs of a few abbot-prelates became the concern of a whole nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Historians have not omitted to record the covert proceedings of William of
+      Orange during this general commotion, who labored to conduct to one end
+      these various and conflicting passions. At his instigation the people of
+      Brabant petitioned the regent for an advocate and protector, since they
+      alone, of all his Flemish subjects, had the misfortune to unite, in one
+      and the same person, their counsel and their ruler. Had the demand been
+      granted, their choice could fall on no other than the Prince of Orange.
+      But Granvella, with his usual presence of mind, broke through the snare.
+      "The man who receives this office," he declared in the state council,
+      "will, I hope, see that he divides Brabant with the king!" The long delay
+      of the papal bull, which was kept back by a misunderstanding between the
+      Romish and Spanish courts, gave the disaffected an opportunity to combine
+      for a common object. In perfect secrecy the states of Brabant despatched
+      an extraordinary messenger to Pins IV. to urge their wishes in Rome
+      itself. The ambassador was provided with important letters of
+      recommendation from the Prince of Orange, and carried with him
+      considerable sums to pave his way to the father of the church. At the same
+      time a public letter was forwarded from the city of Antwerp to the King of
+      Spain containing the most urgent representations, and supplicating him to
+      spare that flourishing commercial town from the threatened innovation.
+      They knew, it was stated, that the intentions of the monarch were the
+      best, and that the institution of the new bishops was likely to be highly
+      conducive to the maintenance of true religion; but the foreigners could
+      not be convinced of this, and on them depended the prosperity of their
+      town. Among them the most groundless rumors would be as perilous as the
+      most true. The first embassy was discovered in time, and its object
+      disappointed by the prudence of the regent; by the second the town of
+      Antwerp gained so far its point that it was to remain without a bishop, at
+      least until the personal arrival of the king, which was talked of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The example and success of Antwerp gave the signal of opposition to all
+      the other towns for which a new bishop was intended. It is a remarkable
+      proof of the hatred to the Inquisition and the unanimity of the Flemish
+      towns at this date that they preferred to renounce all the advantages
+      which the residence of a bishop would necessarily bring to their local
+      trade rather than by their consent promote that abhorred tribunal, and
+      thus act in opposition to the interests of the whole nation. Deventer,
+      Ruremond, and Leuwarden placed themselves in determined opposition, and
+      (1561) successfully carried their point; in the other towns the bishops
+      were, in spite of all remonstrances, forcibly inducted. Utrecht, Haarlem,
+      St. Omer, and Middelburg were among the first which opened their gates to
+      them; the remaining towns followed their example; but in Malines and
+      Herzogenbusch the bishops were received with very little respect. When
+      Granvella made his solemn entry into the former town not a single nobleman
+      showed himself, and his triumph was wanting in everything that could make
+      it real, because those remained away over whom it was meant to be
+      celebrated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime, too, the period had elapsed within which the Spanish
+      troops were to have left the country, and as yet there was no appearance
+      of their being withdrawn. People perceived with terror the real cause of
+      the delay, and suspicion lent it a fatal connection with the Inquisition.
+      The detention of these troops, as it rendered the nation more vigilant and
+      distrustful, made it more difficult for the minister to proceed with the
+      other innovations, and yet he would fain not deprive himself of this
+      powerful and apparently indispensable aid in a country where all hated
+      him, and in the execution of a commission to which all were opposed. At
+      last, however, the regent saw herself compelled by the universal murmurs
+      of discontent, to urge most earnestly upon the king the necessity of the
+      withdrawal of the troops. "The provinces," she writes to Madrid, "have
+      unanimously declared that they would never again be induced to grant the
+      extraordinary taxes required by the government as long as word was not
+      kept with them in this matter. The danger of a revolt was far more
+      imminent than that of an attack by the French Protestants, and if a
+      rebellion was to take place in the Netherlands these forces would be too
+      weak to repress it, and there was not sufficient money in the treasury to
+      enlist new." By delaying his answer the king still sought at least to gain
+      time, and the reiterated representations of the regent would still have
+      remained ineffectual, if, fortunately for the provinces, a loss which he
+      had lately suffered from the Turks had not compelled him to employ these
+      troops in the Mediterranean. He, therefore, at last consented to their
+      departure: they were embarked in 1561 in Zealand, and the exulting shouts
+      of all the provinces accompanied their departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Granvella ruled in the council of state almost uncontrolled. All
+      offices, secular and spiritual, were given away through him; his opinion
+      prevailed against the unanimous voice of the whole assembly. The regent
+      herself was governed by him. He had contrived to manage so that her
+      appointment was made out for two years only, and by this expedient he kept
+      her always in his power. It seldom happened that any important affair was
+      submitted to the other members, and if it really did occur it was only
+      such as had been long before decided, to which it was only necessary for
+      formality's sake to gain their sanction. Whenever a royal letter was read
+      Viglius received instructions to omit all such passages as were underlined
+      by the minister. It often happened that this correspondence with Spain
+      laid open the weakness of the government, or the anxiety felt by the
+      regent, with which it was not expedient to inform the members, whose
+      loyalty was distrusted. If again it occurred that the opposition gained a
+      majority over the minister, and insisted with determination on an article
+      which he could not well put off any longer, he sent it to the ministry at
+      Madrid for their decision, by which he at least gained time, and in any
+      case was certain to find support.&mdash;With the exception of the Count of
+      Barlaimont, the President Viglius, and a few others, all the other
+      counsellors were but superfluous figures in the senate, and the minister's
+      behavior to them marked the small value which he placed upon their
+      friendship and adherence. No wonder that men whose pride had been so
+      greatly indulged by the flattering attentions of sovereign princes, and to
+      whom, as to the idols of their country, their fellow-citizens paid the
+      most reverential submission, should be highly indignant at this arrogance
+      of a plebeian. Many of them had been personally insulted by Granvella.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince of Orange was well aware that it was he who had prevented his
+      marriage with the Princess of Lorraine, and that he had also endeavored to
+      break off the negotiations for another alliance with the Princess of
+      Savoy. He had deprived Count Horn of the government of Gueldres and
+      Zutphen, and had kept for himself an abbey which Count Egmont had in vain
+      exerted himself to obtain for a relation. Confident of his superior power,
+      he did not even think it worth while to conceal from the nobility his
+      contempt for them, and which, as a rule, marked his whole administration;
+      William of Orange was the only one with whom he deemed it advisable to
+      dissemble. Although he really believed himself to be raised far above all
+      the laws of fear and decorum, still in this point, however, his confident
+      arrogance misled him, and he erred no less against policy than he shined
+      against propriety. In the existing posture of affairs the government could
+      hardly have adopted a worse measure than that of throwing disrespect on
+      the nobility. It had it in its power to flatter the prejudices and
+      feelings of the aristocracy, and thus artfully and imperceptibly win them
+      over to its plans, and through them subvert the edifice of national
+      liberty. Now it admonished them, most inopportunely, of their duties,
+      their dignity, and their power; calling upon them even to be patriots, and
+      to devote to the cause of true greatness an ambition which hitherto it had
+      inconsiderately repelled. To carry into effect the ordinances it required
+      the active co-operation of the lieutenant-governors; no wonder, however,
+      that the latter showed but little zeal to afford this assistance. On the
+      contrary, it is highly probable that they silently labored to augment the
+      difficulties of the minister, and to subvert his measures, and through his
+      ill-success to diminish the king's confidence in him, and expose his
+      administration to contempt. The rapid progress which in spite of those
+      horrible edicts the Reformation made during Granvella's administration in
+      the Netherlands, is evidently to be ascribed to the lukewarmness of the
+      nobility in opposing it. If the minister had been sure of the nobles he
+      might have despised the fury of the mob, which would have impotently
+      dashed itself against the dreaded barriers of the throne. The sufferings
+      of the citizens lingered long in tears and sighs, until the arts and the
+      example of the nobility called forth a louder expression of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the inquisitions into religion were carried on with renewed
+      vigor by the crowd of new laborers (1561, 1562), and the edicts against
+      heretics were enforced with fearful obedience. But the critical moment
+      when this detestable remedy might have been applied was allowed to pass
+      by; the nation had become too strong and vigorous for such rough
+      treatment. The new religion could now be extirpated only by the death of
+      all its professors. The present executions were but so many alluring
+      exhibitions of its excellence, so many scenes of its triumphs and radiant
+      virtue. The heroic greatness with which the victims died made converts to
+      the opinions for which they perished. One martyr gained ten new
+      proselytes. Not in towns only, or villages, but on the very highways, in
+      the boats and public carriages disputes were held touching the dignity of
+      the pope, the saints, purgatory, and indulgences, and sermons were
+      preached and men converted. From the country and from the towns the common
+      people rushed in crowds to rescue the prisoners of the Holy Tribunal from
+      the hands of its satellites, and the municipal officers who ventured to
+      support it with the civil forces were pelted with stones. Multitudes
+      accompanied the Protestant preachers whom the Inquisition pursued, bore
+      them on their shoulders to and from church, and at the risk of their lives
+      concealed them from their persecutors. The first province which was seized
+      with the fanatical spirit of rebellion was, as had been expected, Walloon
+      Flanders. A French Calvinist, by name Lannoi, set himself up in Tournay as
+      a worker of miracles, where he hired a few women to simulate diseases, and
+      to pretend to be cured by him. He preached in the woods near the town,
+      drew the people in great numbers after him, and scattered in their minds
+      the seeds of rebellion. Similar teachers appeared in Lille and
+      Valenciennes, but in the latter place the municipal functionaries
+      succeeded in seizing the persons of these incendiaries; while, however,
+      they delayed to execute them their followers increased so rapidly that
+      they became sufficiently strong to break open the prisons and forcibly
+      deprive justice of its victims. Troops at last were brought into the town
+      and order restored. But this trifling occurrence had for a moment
+      withdrawn the veil which had hitherto concealed the strength of the
+      Protestant party, and allowed the minister to compute their prodigious
+      numbers. In Tournay alone five thousand at one time had been seen
+      attending the sermons, and not many less in Valenciennes. What might not
+      be expected from the northern provinces, where liberty was greater, and
+      the seat of government more remote, and where the vicinity of Germany and
+      Denmark multiplied the sources of contagion? One slight provocation had
+      sufficed to draw from its concealment so formidable a multitude. How much
+      greater was, perhaps, the number of those who in their hearts acknowledged
+      the new sect, and only waited for a favorable opportunity to publish their
+      adhesion to it. This discovery greatly alarmed the regent. The scanty
+      obedience paid to the edicts, the wants of the exhausted treasury, which
+      compelled her to impose new taxes, and the suspicious movements of the
+      Huguenots on the French frontiers still further increased her anxiety. At
+      the same time she received a command from Madrid to send off two thousand
+      Flemish cavalry to the army of the Queen Mother in France, who, in the
+      distresses of the civil war, had recourse to Philip II. for assistance.
+      Every affair of faith, in whatever land it might be, was made by Philip
+      his own business. He felt it as keenly as any catastrophe which could
+      befall his own house, and in such cases always stood ready to sacrifice
+      his means to foreign necessities. If it were interested motives that here
+      swayed him they were at least kingly and grand, and the bold support of
+      his principles wins our admiration as much as their cruelty withholds our
+      esteem.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent laid before the council of state the royal will on the subject
+      of these troops, but with a very warm opposition on the part of the
+      nobility. Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange declared that the time was
+      illchosen for stripping the Netherlands of troops, when the aspect of
+      affairs rendered rather the enlistment of new levies advisable. The
+      movements of the troops in France momentarily threatened a surprise, and
+      the commotions within the provinces demanded, more than ever, the utmost
+      vigilance on the part of the government. Hitherto, they said, the German
+      Protestants had looked idly on during the struggles of their brethren in
+      the faith; but will they continue to do so, especially when we are lending
+      our aid to strengthen their enemy? By thus acting shall we not rouse their
+      vengeance against us, and call their arms into the northern Netherlands?
+      Nearly the whole council of state joined in this opinion; their
+      representations were energetic and not to be gainsaid. The regent herself,
+      as well as the minister, could not but feel their truth, and their own
+      interests appeared to forbid obedience to the royal mandate. Would it not
+      be impolitic to withdraw from the Inquisition its sole prop by removing
+      the larger portion of the army, and in a rebellious country to leave
+      themselves without defence, dependent on the arbitrary will of an arrogant
+      aristocracy? While the regent, divided between the royal commands, the
+      urgent importunity of her council, and her own fears, could not venture to
+      come to a decision, William of Orange rose and proposed the assembling of
+      the States General. But nothing could have inflicted a more fatal blow on
+      the supremacy of the crown than by yielding to this advice to put the
+      nation in mind of its power and its rights. No measure could be more
+      hazardous at the present moment. The danger which was thus gathering over
+      the minister did not escape him; a sign from him warned the regent to
+      break off the consultation and adjourn the council. "The government," he
+      writes to Madrid, "can do nothing more injurious to itself than to consent
+      to the assembling of the states. Such a step is at all times perilous,
+      because it tempts the nation to test and restrict the rights of the crown;
+      but it is many times more objectionable at the present moment, when the
+      spirit of rebellion is already widely spread amongst us; when the abbots,
+      exasperated at the loss of their income, will neglect nothing to impair
+      the dignity of the bishops; when the whole nobility and all the deputies
+      from the towns are led by the arts of the Prince of Orange, and the
+      disaffected can securely reckon on the assistance of the nation." This
+      representation, which at least was not wanting in sound sense, did not
+      fail in having the desired effect on the king's mind. The assembling of
+      the states was rejected once and forever, the penal statutes against the
+      heretics were renewed in all their rigor, and the regent was directed to
+      hasten the despatch of the required auxiliaries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to this the council of state would not consent. All that she obtained
+      was, instead of the troops, a supply of money for the Queen Mother, which
+      at this crisis was still more welcome to her. In place, however, of
+      assembling the states, and in order to beguile the nation with, at least,
+      the semblance of republican freedom, the regent summoned the governors of
+      the provinces and the knights of the Golden Fleece to a special congress
+      at Brussels, to consult on the present dangers and necessities of the
+      state. When the President, Viglius, had laid before them the matters on
+      which they were summoned to deliberate, three days were given to them for
+      consideration. During this time the Prince of Orange assembled them in his
+      palace, where he represented to them the necessity of coming to some
+      unanimous resolution before the next sitting, and of agreeing on the
+      measures which ought to be followed in the present dangerous state of
+      affairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The majority assented to the propriety of this course; only Barlaimont,
+      with a few of the dependents of the cardinal, had the courage to plead for
+      the interests of the crown and of the minister. "It did not behoove them,"
+      he said, "to interfere in the concerns of the government, and this
+      previous agreement of votes was an illegal and culpable assumption, in the
+      guilt of which he would not participate;"&mdash;a declaration which broke
+      up the meeting without any conclusion being come to. The regent, apprised
+      of it by the Count Barlaimont, artfully contrived to keep the knights so
+      well employed during their stay in the town that they could find no time
+      for coming to any further secret understanding; in this session, however,
+      it was arranged, with their concurrence, that Florence of Montmorency,
+      Lord of Montigny, should make a journey to Spain, in order to acquaint the
+      king with the present posture of affairs. But the regent sent before him
+      another messenger to Madrid, who previously informed the king of all that
+      had been debated between the Prince of Orange and the knights at the
+      secret conference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Flemish ambassador was flattered in Madrid with empty protestations of
+      the king's favor and paternal sentiments towards the Netherlands, while
+      the regent was commanded to thwart, to the utmost of her power, the secret
+      combinations of the nobility, and, if possible, to sow discord among their
+      most eminent members. Jealousy, private interest, and religious
+      differences had long divided many of the nobles; their share in the common
+      neglect and contempt with which they were treated, and a general hatred of
+      the minister had again united them. So long as Count Egmont and the Prince
+      of Orange were suitors for the regency it could not fail but that at times
+      their competing claims should have brought them into collision. Both had
+      met each other on the road to glory and before the throne; both again met
+      in the republic, where they strove for the same prize, the favor of their
+      fellow-citizens. Such opposite characters soon became estranged, but the
+      powerful sympathy of necessity as quickly reconciled them. Each was now
+      indispensable to the other, and the emergency united these two men
+      together with a bond which their hearts would never have furnished. But it
+      was on this very uncongeniality of disposition that the regent based her
+      plans; if she could fortunately succeed in separating them she would at
+      the same time divide the whole Flemish nobility into two parties. Through
+      the presents and small attentions by which she exclusively honored these
+      two she also sought to excite against them the envy and distrust of the
+      rest, and by appearing to give Count Egmont a preference over the Prince
+      of Orange she hoped to make the latter suspicious of Egmont's good faith.
+      It happened that at this very time she was obliged to send an
+      extraordinary ambassador to Frankfort, to be present at the election of a
+      Roman emperor. She chose for this office the Duke of Arschot, the avowed
+      enemy of the prince, in order in some degree to show in his case how
+      splendid was the reward which hatred against the latter might look for.
+      The Orange faction, however, instead of suffering any diminution, had
+      gained an important accession in Count Horn, who, as admiral of the
+      Flemish marine, had convoyed the king to Biscay, and now again took his
+      seat in the council of state. Horn's restless and republican spirit
+      readily met the daring schemes of Orange and Egmont, and a dangerous
+      Triumvirate was soon formed by these three friends, which shook the royal
+      power in the Netherlands, but which terminated very differently for each
+      of its members.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1562.) Meanwhile Montigny had returned from his embassy, and brought back
+      to the council of state the most gracious assurance of the monarch. But
+      the Prince of Orange had, through his own secret channels of intelligence,
+      received more credible information from Madrid, which entirely
+      contradicted this report. By these means be learnt all the ill services
+      which Granvella had done him and his friends with the king, and the odious
+      appellations which were there applied to the Flemish nobility. There was
+      no help for them so long as the minister retained the helm of government,
+      and to procure his dismissal was the scheme, however rash and adventurous
+      it appeared, which wholly occupied the mind of the prince. It was agreed
+      between him and Counts Horn and Egmont to despatch a joint letter to the
+      king, and, in the name of the whole nobility, formally to accuse the
+      minister, and press energetically for his removal. The Duke of Arschot, to
+      whom this proposition was communicated by Count Egmont, refused to concur
+      in it, haughtily declaring that he was not disposed to receive laws from
+      Egmont and Orange; that he had no cause of complaint against Granvella,
+      and that he thought it very presumptuous to prescribe to the king what
+      ministers he ought to employ. Orange received a similar answer from the
+      Count of Aremberg. Either the seeds of distrust which the regent had
+      scattered amongst the nobility had already taken root, or the fear of the
+      minister's power outweighed the abhorrence of his measures; at any rate,
+      the whole nobility shrunk back timidly and irresolutely from the proposal.
+      This disappointment did not, however, discourage them. The letter was
+      written and subscribed by all three (1563).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In it Granvella was represented as the prime cause of all the disorders in
+      the Netherlands. So long as the highest power should be entrusted to him
+      it would, they declared, be impossible for them to serve the nation and
+      king effectually; on the other hand, all would revert to its former
+      tranquillity, all opposition be discontinued, and the government regain
+      the affections of the people as soon as his majesty should be pleased to
+      remove this man from the helm of the state. In that case, they added,
+      neither exertion nor zeal would be wanting on their part to maintain in
+      these countries the dignity of the king and the purity of the faith, which
+      was no less sacred to them than to the cardinal, Granvella.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Secretly as this letter was prepared still the duchess was informed of it
+      in sufficient time to anticipate it by another despatch, and to counteract
+      the effect which it might have had on the king's mind. Some months passed
+      ere an answer came from Madrid. It was mild, but vague. "The king," such
+      was its import, "was not used to condemn his ministers unheard on the mere
+      accusations of their enemies. Common justice alone required that the
+      accusers of the cardinal should descend from general imputations to
+      special proofs, and if they were not inclined to do this in writing, one
+      of them might come to Spain, where he should be treated with all respect."
+      Besides this letter, which was equally directed to all three, Count Egmont
+      further received an autograph letter from the king, wherein his majesty
+      expressed a wish to learn from him in particular what in the common letter
+      had been only generally touched upon. The regent, also, was specially
+      instructed how she was to answer the three collectively, and the count
+      singly. The king knew his man. He felt it was easy to manage Count Egmont
+      alone; for this reason he sought to entice him to Madrid, where he would
+      be removed from the commanding guidance of a higher intellect. In
+      distinguishing him above his two friends by so flattering a mark of his
+      confidence, he made a difference in the relation in which they severally
+      stood to the throne; how could they, then, unite with equal zeal for the
+      same object when the inducements were no longer the same? This time,
+      indeed, the vigilance of Orange frustrated the scheme; but the sequel of
+      the history will show that the seed which was now scattered was not
+      altogether lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1563.) The king's answer gave no satisfaction to the three confederates;
+      they boldly determined to venture a second attempt. "It had," they wrote,
+      "surprised them not a little, that his majesty had thought their
+      representations so unworthy of attention. It was not as accusers of the
+      minister, but as counsellors of his majesty, whose duty it was to inform
+      their master of the condition of his states, that they had despatched that
+      letter to him. They sought not the ruin of the minister, indeed it would
+      gratify them to see him contented and happy in any other part of the world
+      than here in the Netherlands. They were, however, fully persuaded of this,
+      that his continued presence there was absolutely incompatible with the
+      general tranquillity. The present dangerous condition of their native
+      country would allow none of them to leave it, much less to take so long a
+      journey as to Spain on Granvella's account. If, therefore, his majesty did
+      not please to comply with their written request, they hoped to be excused
+      for the future from attendance in the senate, where they were only exposed
+      to the mortification of meeting the minister, and where they could be of
+      no service either to the king or the state, but only appeared contemptible
+      in their own sight. In conclusion, they begged his majesty would not take
+      ill the plain simplicity of their language, since persons of their
+      character set more value on acting well than on speaking finely." To the
+      same purport was a separate letter from Count Egmont, in which he returned
+      thanks for the royal autograph. This second address was followed by an
+      answer to the effect that "their representations should be taken into
+      consideration, meanwhile they were requested to attend the council of
+      state as heretofore."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was evident that the monarch was far from intending to grant their
+      request; they, therefore, from this tune forth absented themselves from
+      the state council, and even left Brussels. Not having succeeded in
+      removing the minister by lawful means they sought to accomplish this end
+      by a new mode from which more might be expected. On every occasion they
+      and their adherents openly showed the contempt which they felt for him,
+      and contrived to throw ridicule on everything he undertook. By this
+      contemptuous treatment they hoped to harass the haughty spirit of the
+      priest, and to obtain through his mortified self-love what they had failed
+      in by other means. In this, indeed, they did not succeed; but the
+      expedient on which they had fallen led in the end to the ruin of the
+      minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The popular voice was raised more loudly against him so soon as it was
+      perceived that he had forfeited the good opinion of the nobles, and that
+      men whose sentiments they had been used blindly to echo preceded them in
+      detestation of him. The contemptuous manner in which the nobility now
+      treated him devoted him in a measure to the general scorn and emboldened
+      calumny which never spares even what is holiest and purest, to lay its
+      sacrilegious hand on his honor. The new constitution of the church, which
+      was the great grievance of the nation, had been the basis of his fortunes.
+      This was a crime that could not be forgiven. Every fresh execution&mdash;and
+      with such spectacles the activity of the inquisitors was only too liberal&mdash;kept
+      alive and furnished dreadful exercise to the bitter animosity against him,
+      and at last custom and usage inscribed his name on every act of
+      oppression. A stranger in a land into which he had been introduced against
+      its will; alone among millions of enemies; uncertain of all his tools;
+      supported only by the weak arm of distant royalty; maintaining his
+      intercourse with the nation, which he had to gain, only by means of
+      faithless instruments, all of whom made it their highest object to falsify
+      his actions and misrepresent his motives; lastly, with a woman for his
+      coadjutor who could not share with him the burden of the general
+      execration&mdash;thus he stood exposed to the wantonness, the ingratitude,
+      the faction, the envy, and all the evil passions of a licentious,
+      insubordinate people. It is worthy of remark that the hatred which he had
+      incurred far outran the demerits which could be laid to his charge; that
+      it was difficult, nay impossible, for his accusers to substantiate by
+      proof the general condemnation which fell upon him from all sides. Before
+      and after him fanaticism dragged its victims to the altar; before and
+      after him civil blood flowed, the rights of men were made a mock of, and
+      men themselves rendered wretched. Under Charles V. tyranny ought to have
+      pained more acutely through its novelty; under the Duke of Alva it was
+      carried to far more unnatural lengths, insomuch that Granvella's
+      administration, in comparison with that of his successor, was even
+      merciful; and yet we do not find that his contemporaries ever evinced the
+      same degree of personal exasperation and spite against the latter in which
+      they indulged against his predecessor. To cloak the meanness of his birth
+      in the splendor of high dignities, and by an exalted station to place him
+      if possible above the malice of his enemies, the regent had made interest
+      at Rome to procure for him the cardinal's hat; but this very honor, which
+      connected him more closely with the papal court, made him so much the more
+      an alien in the provinces. The purple was a new crime in Brussels, and an
+      obnoxious, detested garb, which in a measure publicly held forth to view
+      the principles on which his future conduct would be governed. Neither his
+      honorable rank, which alone often consecrates the most infamous caitiff,
+      nor his talents, which commanded esteem, nor even his terrible
+      omnipotence, which daily revealed itself in so many bloody manifestations,
+      could screen him from derision. Terror and scorn, the fearful and the
+      ludicrous, were in his instance unnaturally blended.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The nobility, at the suggestion of Count Egmont, caused their
+   servants to wear a common livery, on which was embroidered a fool's
+   cap. All Brussels interpreted it for the cardinal's hat, and every
+   appearance of such a servant renewed their laughter; this badge of
+   a fool's cap, which was offensive to the court, was subsequently
+   changed into a bundle of arrows&mdash;an accidental jest which took a
+   very serious end, and probably was the origin of the arms of the
+   republic. Vit. Vigl. T. II. 35 Thuan. 489. The respect for the
+   cardinal sunk at last so low that a caricature was publicly placed
+   in his own hand, in which he was represented seated on a heap of
+   eggs, out of which bishops were crawling. Over him hovered a devil
+   with the inscription&mdash;"This is my son, hear ye him!"]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Odious rumors branded his honor; murderous attempts on the lives of Egmont
+      and Orange were ascribed to him; the most incredible things found
+      credence; the most monstrous, if they referred to him or were said to
+      emanate from him, surprised no longer. The nation had already become
+      uncivilized to that degree where the most contradictory sentiments prevail
+      side by side, and the finer boundary lines of decorum and moral feeling
+      are erased. This belief in extraordinary crimes is almost invariably their
+      immediate precursor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But with this gloomy prospect the strange destiny of this man opens at the
+      same time a grander view, which impresses the unprejudiced observer with
+      pleasure and admiration. Here he beholds a nation dazzled by no splendor,
+      and restrained by no fear, firmly, inexorably, and unpremeditatedly
+      unanimous in punishing the crime which had been committed against its
+      dignity by the violent introduction of a stranger into the heart of its
+      political constitution. We see him ever aloof and ever isolated, like a
+      foreign hostile body hovering over a surface which repels its contact. The
+      strong hand itself of the monarch, who was. his friend and protector,
+      could not support him against the antipathies of the nation which had once
+      resolved to withhold from him all its sympathy. The voice of national
+      hatred was all powerful, and was ready to forego even private interest,
+      its certain gains; his alms even were shunned, like the fruit of an
+      accursed tree. Like pestilential vapor, the infamy of universal
+      reprobation hung over him. In his case gratitude believed itself absolved
+      from its duties; his adherents shunned him; his friends were dumb in his
+      behalf. So terribly did the people avenge the insulted majesty of their
+      nobles and their nation on the greatest monarch of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      History has repeated this memorable example only once, in Cardinal
+      Mazarin; but the instance differed according to the spirit of the two
+      periods and nations. The highest power could not protect either from
+      derision; but if France found vent for its indignation in laughing at its
+      pantaloon, the Netherlands hurried from scorn to rebellion. The former,
+      after a long bondage under the vigorous administration of Richelieu, saw
+      itself placed suddenly in unwonted liberty; the latter had passed from
+      ancient hereditary freedom into strange and unusual servitude; it was as
+      natural that the Fronde should end again in subjection as that the Belgian
+      troubles should issue in republican independence. The revolt of the
+      Parisians was the offspring of poverty; unbridled, but not bold, arrogant,
+      but without energy, base and plebeian, like the source from which it
+      sprang. The murmur of the Netherlands was the proud and powerful voice of
+      wealth. Licentiousness and hunger inspired the former; revenge, life,
+      property, and religion were the animating motives of the latter. Rapacity
+      was Mazarin's spring of action; Granvella's lust of power. The former was
+      humane and mild; the latter harsh, imperious, cruel. The French minister
+      sought in the favor of his queen an asylum from the hatred of the magnates
+      and the fury of the people; the Netherlandish minister provoked the hatred
+      of a whole nation in order to please one man. Against Mazarin were only a
+      few factions and the mob they could arm; an entire and united nation
+      against Granvella. Under the former parliament attempted to obtain, by
+      stealth, a power which did not belong to them; under the latter it
+      struggled for a lawful authority which he insidiously had endeavored to
+      wrest from them. The former had to contend with the princes of the blood
+      and the peers of the realm, as the latter had with the native nobility and
+      the states, but instead of endeavoring, like the former, to overthrow the
+      common enemy, in the hope of stepping themselves into his place, the
+      latter wished to destroy the place itself, and to divide a power which no
+      single man ought to possess entire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While these feelings were spreading among the people the influence of the
+      minister at the court of the regent began to totter. The repeated
+      complaints against the extent of his power must at last have made her
+      sensible how little faith was placed in her own; perhaps, too, she began
+      to fear that the universal abhorrence which attached to him would soon
+      include herself also, or that his longer stay would inevitably provoke the
+      menaced revolt. Long intercourse with him, his instruction and example,
+      had qualified her to govern without him. His dignity began to be more
+      oppressive to her as he became less necessary, and his faults, to which
+      her friendship had hitherto lent a veil, became visible as it was
+      withdrawn. She was now as much disposed to search out and enumerate these
+      faults as she formerly had been to conceal them. In this unfavorable state
+      of her feelings towards the cardinal the urgent and accumulated
+      representations of the nobles began at last to find access to her mind,
+      and the more easily, as they contrived to mix up her own fears with their
+      own. "It was matter of great astonishment," said Count Egmont to her,
+      "that to gratify a man who was not even a Fleming, and of whom, therefore,
+      it must be well known that his happiness could not be dependent on the
+      prosperity of this country, the king could be content to see all his
+      Netherlandish subjects suffer, and this to please a foreigner, who if his
+      birth made him a subject of the Emperor, the purple had made a creature of
+      the court of Rome." "To the king alone," added the count, "was Granvella
+      indebted for his being still among the living; for the future, however, he
+      would leave that care of him to the regent, and he hereby gave her
+      warning." As the majority of the nobles, disgusted with the contemptuous
+      treatment which they met with in the council of state, gradually withdrew
+      from it, the arbitrary proceedings of the minister lost the last semblance
+      of republican deliberation which had hitherto softened the odious aspect,
+      and the empty desolation of the council chamber made his domineering rule
+      appear in all its obnoxiousness. The regent now felt that she had a master
+      over her, and from that moment the banishment of the minister was decided
+      upon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With this object she despatched her private secretary, Thomas Armenteros,
+      to Spain, to acquaint the king with the circumstances in which the
+      cardinal was placed, to apprise him of the intimations she had received of
+      the intentions of the nobles, and in this manner to cause the resolution
+      for his recall to appear to emanate from the king himself. What she did
+      not like to trust to a letter Armenteros was ordered ingeniously to
+      interweave in the oral communication which the king would probably require
+      from him. Armenteros fulfilled his commission with all the ability of a
+      consummate courtier; but an audience of four hours could not overthrow the
+      work of many years, nor destroy in Philip's mind his opinion of his
+      minister, which was there unalterably established. Long did the monarch
+      hold counsel with his policy and his interest, until Granvella himself
+      came to the aid of his wavering resolution and voluntarily solicited a
+      dismissal, which, he feared, could not much longer be deferred. What the
+      detestation of all the Netherlands could not effect the contemptuous
+      treatment of the nobility accomplished; he was at last weary of a power
+      which was no longer feared, and exposed him less to envy than to infamy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps as some have believed he trembled for his life, which was
+      certainly in more than imaginary danger; perhaps he wished to receive his
+      dismissal from the king under the shape of a boon rather than of a
+      sentence, and after the example of the Romans meet with dignity a fate
+      which he could no longer avoid. Philip too, it would appear, preferred
+      generously to accord to the nation a request rather than to yield at a
+      later period to a demand, and hoped at least to merit their thanks by
+      voluntarily conceding now what necessity would ere long extort. His fears
+      prevailed over his obstinacy, and prudence overcame pride.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Granvella doubted not for a moment what the decision of the king would be.
+      A few days after the return of Armenteros he saw humility and flattery
+      disappear from the few faces which had till then servilely smiled upon
+      him; the last small crowd of base flatterers and eyeservants vanished from
+      around his person; his threshold was forsaken; he perceived that the
+      fructifying warmth of royal favor had left him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Detraction, which had assailed him during his whole administration, did
+      not spare him even in the moment of resignation. People did not scruple to
+      assert that a short time before he laid down his office he had expressed a
+      wish to be reconciled to the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont, and even
+      offered, if their forgiveness could be hoped for on no other terms, to ask
+      pardon of them on his knees. It was base and contemptible to sully the
+      memory of a great and extraordinary man with such a charge, but it is
+      still more so to hand it down uncontradicted to posterity. Granvella
+      submitted to the royal command with a dignified composure. Already had he
+      written, a few months previously, to the Duke of Alva in Spain, to prepare
+      him a place of refuge in Madrid, in case of his having to quit the
+      Netherlands. The latter long bethought himself whether it was advisable to
+      bring thither so dangerous a rival for the favor of his king, or to deny
+      so important a friend such a valuable means of indulging his old hatred of
+      the Flemish nobles. Revenge prevailed over fear, and he strenuously
+      supported Granvella's request with the monarch. But his intercession was
+      fruitless. Armenteros had persuaded the king that the minister's residence
+      in Madrid would only revive, with increased violence, all the complaints
+      of the Belgian nation, to which his ministry had been sacrificed; for
+      then, he said, he would be suspected of poisoning the very source of that
+      power, whose outlets only he had hitherto been charged with corrupting. He
+      therefore sent him to Burgundy, his native place, for which a decent
+      pretext fortunately presented itself. The cardinal gave to his departure
+      from Brussels the appearance of an unimportant journey, from which he
+      would return in a few days. At the same time, however, all the state
+      counsellors, who, under his administration, had voluntarily excluded
+      themselves from its sittings, received a command from the court to resume
+      their seats in the senate at Brussels. Although the latter circumstance
+      made his return not very credible, nevertheless the remotest possibility
+      of it sobered the triumph which celebrated his departure. The regent
+      herself appears to have been undecided what to think about the report;
+      for, in a fresh letter to the king, she repeated all the representations
+      and arguments which ought to restrain him from restoring this minister.
+      Granvella himself, in his correspondence with Barlaimont and Viglius,
+      endeavored to keep alive this rumor, and at least to alarm with fears,
+      however unsubstantial, the enemies whom he could no longer punish by his
+      presence. Indeed, the dread of the influence of this extraordinary man was
+      so exceedingly great that, to appease it, he was at last driven even from
+      his home and his country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the death of Pius IV., Granvella went to Rome, to be present at the
+      election of a new pope, and at the same time to discharge some commissions
+      of his master, whose confidence in him remained unshaken. Soon after,
+      Philip made him viceroy of Naples, where he succumbed to the seductions of
+      the climate, and the spirit which no vicissitudes could bend
+      voluptuousness overcame. He was sixty-two years old when the king allowed
+      him to revisit Spain, where he continued with unlimited powers to
+      administer the affairs of Italy. A gloomy old age, and the self-satisfied
+      pride of a sexagenarian administration made him a harsh and rigid judge of
+      the opinions of others, a slave of custom, and a tedious panegyrist of
+      past times. But the policy of the closing century had ceased to be the
+      policy of the opening one. A new and younger ministry were soon weary of
+      so imperious a superintendent, and Philip himself began to shun the aged
+      counsellor, who found nothing worthy of praise but the deeds of his
+      father. Nevertheless, when the conquest of Portugal called Philip to
+      Lisbon, he confided to the cardinal the care of his Spanish territories.
+      Finally, on an Italian tour, in the town of Mantua, in the seventy-third
+      year of his life, Granvella terminated his long existence in the full
+      enjoyment of his glory, and after possessing for forty years the
+      uninterrupted confidence of his king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1564.) Immediately upon the departure of the minister, all the happy
+      results which were promised from his withdrawal were fulfilled. The
+      disaffected nobles resumed their seats in the council, and again devoted
+      themselves to the affairs of the state with redoubled zeal, in order to
+      give no room for regret for him whom they had driven away, and to prove,
+      by the fortunate administration of the state, that his services were not
+      indispensable. The crowd round the duchess was great. All vied with one
+      another in readiness, in submission, and zeal in her service; the hours of
+      night were not allowed to stop the transaction of pressing business of
+      state; the greatest unanimity existed between the three councils, the best
+      understanding between the court and the states. From the obliging temper
+      of the Flemish nobility everything was to be had, as soon as their pride
+      and self-will was flattered by confidence and obliging treatment. The
+      regent took advantage of the first joy of the nation to beguile them into
+      a vote of certain taxes, which, under the preceding administration, she
+      could not have hoped to extort. In this, the great credit of the nobility
+      effectually supported her, and she soon learned from this nation the
+      secret, which had been so often verified in the German diet&mdash;that
+      much must be demanded in order to get a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With pleasure did the regent see herself emancipated from her long
+      thraldom; the emulous industry of the nobility lightened for her the
+      burden of business, and their insinuating humility allowed her to feel the
+      full sweetness of power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (1564). Granvella had been overthrown, but his party still remained. His
+      policy lived in his creatures, whom he left behind him in the privy
+      council and in the chamber of finance. Hatred still smouldered amongst the
+      factious long after the leader was banished, and the names of the Orange
+      and Royalist parties, of the Patriots and Cardinalists still continued to
+      divide the senate and to keep up the flames of discord. Viglius Van
+      Zuichem Van Aytta, president of the privy council, state counsellor and
+      keeper of the seal, was now looked upon as the most important person in
+      the senate, and the most powerful prop of the crown and the tiara. This
+      highly meritorious old man, whom we have to thank for some valuable
+      contributions towards the history of the rebellion of the Low Countries,
+      and whose confidential correspondence with his friends has generally been
+      the guide of our narrative, was one of the greatest lawyers of his time,
+      as well as a theologian and priest, and had already, under the Emperor,
+      filled the most important offices. Familiar intercourse with the learned
+      men who adorned the age, and at the head of whom stood Erasmus of
+      Rotterdam, combined with frequent travels in the imperial service, had
+      extended the sphere of his information and experience, and in many points
+      raised him in his principles and opinions above his contemporaries. The
+      fame of his erudition filled the whole century in which he lived, and has
+      handed his name down to posterity. When, in the year 1548, the connection
+      of the Netherlands with the German empire was to be settled at the Diet of
+      Augsburg, Charles V. sent hither this statesman to manage the interests of
+      the provinces; and his ability principally succeeded in turning the
+      negotiations to the advantage of the Netherlands. After the death of the
+      Emperor, Viglius was one of the many eminent ministers bequeathed to
+      Philip by his father, and one of the few in whom he honored his memory.
+      The fortune of the minister, Granvella, with whom he was united by the
+      ties of an early acquaintance, raised him likewise to greatness; but he
+      did not share the fall of his patron, because he had not participated in
+      his lust of power; nor, consequently, the hatred which attached to him. A
+      residence of twenty years in the provinces, where the most important
+      affairs were entrusted to him, approved loyalty to his king, and zealous
+      attachment to the Roman Catholic tenets, made him one of the most
+      distinguished instruments of royalty in the Netherlands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Viglius was a man of learning, but no thinker; an experienced statesman,
+      but without an enlightened mind; of an intellect not sufficiently powerful
+      to break, like his friend Erasmus, the fetters of error, yet not
+      sufficiently bad to employ it, like his predecessor, Granvella, in the
+      service of his own passions. Too weak and timid to follow boldly the
+      guidance of his reason, he preferred trusting to the more convenient path
+      of conscience; a thing was just so soon as it became his duty; he belonged
+      to those honest men who are indispensable to bad ones; fraud reckoned on
+      his honesty. Half a century later he would have received his immortality
+      from the freedom which he now helped to subvert. In the privy council at
+      Brussels he was the servant of tyranny; in the parliament in London, or in
+      the senate at Amsterdam, he would have died, perhaps, like Thomas More or
+      Olden Barneveldt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the Count Barlaimont, the president of the council of finance, the
+      opposition had a no less formidable antagonist than in Viglius. Historians
+      have transmitted but little information regarding the services and the
+      opinions of this man. In the first part of his career the dazzling
+      greatness of Cardinal Granvella seems to have cast a shade over him; after
+      the latter had disappeared from the stage the superiority of the opposite
+      party kept him down, but still the little that we do find respecting him
+      throws a favorable light over his character. More than once the Prince of
+      Orange exerted himself to detach him from the interests of the cardinal,
+      and to join him to his own party&mdash;sufficient proof that he placed a
+      value on the prize. All his efforts failed, which shows that he had to do
+      with no vacillating character. More than once we see him alone, of all the
+      members of the council, stepping forward to oppose the dominant faction,
+      and protecting against universal opposition the interests of the crown,
+      which were in momentary peril of being sacrificed. When the Prince of
+      Orange had assembled the knights of the Golden Fleece in his own palace,
+      with a view to induce them to come to a preparatory resolution for the
+      abolition of the Inquisition, Barlaimont was the first to denounce the
+      illegality of this proceeding and to inform the regent of it. Some time
+      after the prince asked him if the regent knew of that assembly, and
+      Barlaitnont hesitated not a moment to avow to him the truth. All the steps
+      which have been ascribed to him bespeak a man whom neither influence nor
+      fear could tempt, who, with a firm courage and indomitable constancy,
+      remained faithful to the party which he had once chosen, but who, it must
+      at the same time be confessed, entertained too proud and too despotic
+      notions to have selected any other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amongst the adherents of the royal party at Brussels, we have, further,
+      the names of the Duke of Arschot, the Counts of Mansfeld, Megen, and
+      Aremberg&mdash;all three native Netherlanders; and therefore, as it
+      appeared, bound equally with the whole Netherlandish nobility to oppose
+      the hierarchy and the royal power in their native country. So much the
+      more surprised must we feel at their contrary behavior, and which is
+      indeed the more remarkable, since we find them on terms of friendship with
+      the most eminent members of the faction, and anything but insensible to
+      the common grievances of their country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they had not self-confidence or heroism enough to venture on an
+      unequal contest with so superior an antagonist. With a cowardly prudence
+      they made their just discontent submit to the stern law of necessity, and
+      imposed a hard sacrifice on their pride because their pampered vanity was
+      capable of nothing better. Too thrifty and too discreet to wish to extort
+      from the justice or the fear of their sovereign the certain good which
+      they already possessed from his voluntary generosity, or to resign a real
+      happiness in order to preserve the shadow of another, they rather employed
+      the propitious moment to drive a traffic with their constancy, which, from
+      the general defection of the nobility, had now risen in value. Caring
+      little for true glory, they allowed their ambition to decide which party
+      they should take; for the ambition of base minds prefers to bow beneath
+      the hard yoke of compulsion rather than submit to the gentle sway of a
+      superior intellect. Small would have been the value of the favor conferred
+      had they bestowed themselves on the Prince of Orange; but their connection
+      with royalty made them so much the more formidable as opponents. There
+      their names would have been lost among his numerous adherents and in the
+      splendor of their rival. On the almost deserted side of the court their
+      insignificant merit acquired lustre.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The families of Nassau and Croi (to the latter belonged the Duke of
+      Arschot) had for several reigns been competitors for influence and honor,
+      and their rivalry had kept up an old feud between their families, which
+      religious differences finally made irreconcilable. The house of Croi from
+      time immemorial had been renowned for its devout and strict observance of
+      papistic rites and ceremonies; the Counts of Nassau had gone over to the
+      new sect&mdash;sufficient reasons why Philip of Croi, Duke of Arschot,
+      should prefer a party which placed him the most decidedly in opposition to
+      the Prince of Orange. The court did not fail to take advantage of this
+      private feud, and to oppose so important an enemy to the increasing
+      influence of the house of Nassau in the republic. The Counts Mansfeld and
+      Megen had till lately been the confidential friends of Count Egmont. In
+      common with him they had raised their voice against the minister, had
+      joined him in resisting the Inquisition and the edicts, and had hitherto
+      held with him as far as honor and duty would permit. But at these limits
+      the three friends now separated. Egmont's unsuspecting virtue incessantly
+      hurried him forwards on the road to ruin; Mansfeld and Megen, admonished
+      of the danger, began in good time to think of a safe retreat. There still
+      exist letters which were interchanged between the Counts Egmont and
+      Mansfeld, and which, although written at a later period, give us a true
+      picture of their former friendship. "If," replied Count Mansfeld to his
+      friend, who in an amicable manner had reproved him for his defection to
+      the king, "if formerly I was of opinion that the general good made the
+      abolition of the Inquisition, the mitigation of the edicts, and the
+      removal of the Cardinal Granvella necessary, the king has now acquiesced
+      in this wish and removed the cause of complaint. We have already done too
+      much against the majesty of the sovereign and the authority of the church;
+      it is high time for us to turn, if we would wish to meet the king, when he
+      comes, with open brow and without anxiety. As regards my own person, I do
+      not dread his vengeance; with confident courage I would at his first
+      summons present myself in Spain, and boldly abide my sentence from his
+      justice and goodness. I do not say this as if I doubted whether Count
+      Egmont can assert the same, but he will act prudently in looking more to
+      his own safety, and in removing suspicion from his actions. If I hear," he
+      says, in conclusion, "that he has allowed my admonitions to have their due
+      weight, our friendship continues; if not, I feel myself in that case
+      strong enough to sacrifice all human ties to my duty and to honor."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The enlarged power of the nobility exposed the republic to almost a
+      greater evil than that which it had just escaped by the removal of the
+      minister. Impoverished by long habits of luxury, which at the same time
+      had relaxed their morals, and to which they were now too much addicted to
+      be able to renounce them, they yielded to the perilous opportunity of
+      indulging their ruling inclination, and of again repairing the expiring
+      lustre of their fortunes. Extravagance brought on the thirst for gain, and
+      this introduced bribery. Secular and ecclesiastical offices were publicly
+      put up to sale; posts of honor, privileges, and patents were sold to the
+      highest bidder; even justice was made a trade. Whom the privy council had
+      condemned was acquitted by the council of state, and what the former
+      refused to grant was to be purchased from the latter. The council of
+      state, indeed, subsequently retorted the charge on the two other councils,
+      but it forgot that it was its own example that corrupted them. The
+      shrewdness of rapacity opened new sources of gain. Life, liberty, and
+      religion were insured for a certain sum, like landed estates; for gold,
+      murderers and malefactors were free, and the nation was plundered by a
+      lottery. The servants and creatures of the state, counsellors and
+      governors of provinces, were, without regard to rank or merit, pushed into
+      the most important posts; whoever had a petition to present at court had
+      to make his way through the governors of provinces and their inferior
+      servants. No artifice of seduction was spared to implicate in these
+      excesses the private secretary of the duchess, Thomas Armenteros, a man up
+      to this time of irreproachable character. By pretended professions of
+      attachment and friendship a successful attempt was made to gain his
+      confidence, and by luxurious entertainments to undermine his principles;
+      the seductive example infected his morals, and new wants overcame his
+      hitherto incorruptible integrity. He was now blind to abuses in which he
+      was an accomplice, and drew a veil over the crimes of others in order at
+      the same time to cloak his own. With his knowledge the royal exchequer was
+      robbed, and the objects of the government were defeated through a corrupt
+      administration of its revenues. Meanwhile the regent wandered on in a fond
+      dream of power and activity, which the flattery of the nobles artfully
+      knew how to foster. The ambition of the factious played with the foibles
+      of a woman, and with empty signs and an humble show of submission
+      purchased real power from her. She soon belonged entirely to the faction,
+      and had imperceptibly changed her principles. Diametrically opposing all
+      her former proceedings, even in direct violation of her duty, she now
+      brought before the council of state, which was swayed by the faction, not
+      only questions which belonged to the other councils, but also the
+      suggestions which Viglius had made to her in private, in the same way as
+      formerly, under Granvella's administration, she had improperly neglected
+      to consult it at all. Nearly all business and all influence were now
+      diverted to the governors of provinces. All petitions were directed to
+      them, by them all lucrative appointments were bestowed. Their usurpations
+      were indeed carried so far that law proceedings were withdrawn from the
+      municipal authorities of the towns and brought before their own tribunals.
+      The respectability of the provincial courts decreased as theirs extended,
+      and with the respectability of the municipal functionaries the
+      administration of justice and civil order declined. The smaller courts
+      soon followed the example of the government of the country. The spirit
+      which ruled the council of state at Brussels soon diffused itself through
+      the provinces. Bribery, indulgences, robbery, venality of justice, were
+      universal in the courts of judicature of the country; morals degenerated,
+      and the new sects availed themselves of this all-pervading licentiousness
+      to propagate their opinions. The religious indifference or toleration of
+      the nobles, who, either themselves inclined to the side of the innovators,
+      or, at least, detested the Inquisition as an instrument of despotism, had
+      mitigated the rigor of the religious edicts, and through the letters of
+      indemnity, which were bestowed on many Protestants, the holy office was
+      deprived of its best victims. In no way could the nobility more agreeably
+      announce to the nation its present share in the government of the country
+      than by sacrificing to it the hated tribunal of the Inquisition&mdash;and
+      to this inclination impelled them still more than the dictates of policy.
+      The nation passed in a moment from the most oppressive constraint of
+      intolerance into a state of freedom, to which, however, it had already
+      become too unaccustomed to support it with moderation. The inquisitors,
+      deprived of the support of the municipal authorities, found themselves an
+      object of derision rather than of fear. In Bruges the town council caused
+      even some of their own servants to be placed in confinement, and kept on
+      bread and water, for attempting to lay hands upon a supposed heretic.
+      About this very time the mob in Antwerp, having made a futile, attempt to
+      rescue a person charged with heresy from the holy office, there was
+      placarded in the public market-place an inscription, written in blood, to
+      the effect that a number of persons had bound themselves by oath to avenge
+      the death of that innocent person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the corruption which pervaded the whole council of state, the privy
+      council, and the chamber of finance, in which Viglius and Barlaimont were
+      presidents, had as yet, for the most part, kept themselves pure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the faction could not succeed in insinuating their adherents into those
+      two councils the only course open to them was, if possible, to render both
+      inefficient, and to transfer their business to the council of state. To
+      carry out this design the Prince of Orange sought to secure the
+      co-operation of the other state counsellors. "They were called, indeed,
+      senators," he frequently declared to his adherents, "but others possessed
+      the power. If gold was wanted to pay the troops, or when the question was
+      how the spreading heresy was to be repressed, or the people kept in order,
+      then they were consulted; although in fact they were the guardians neither
+      of the treasury nor of the laws, but only the organs through which the
+      other two councils operated on the state. And yet alone they were equal to
+      the whole administration of the country, which had been uselessly
+      portioned out amongst three separate chambers. If they would among
+      themselves only agree to reunite to the council of state these two
+      important branches of government, which had been dissevered from it, one
+      soul might animate the whole body." A plan was preliminarily and secretly
+      agreed on, in accordance with which twelve new Knights of the Fleece were
+      to be added to the council of state, the administration of justice
+      restored to the tribunal at Malines, to which it originally belonged, the
+      granting of letters of grace, patents, and so forth, assigned to the
+      president, Viglius, while the management of the finances should be
+      committed to it. All the difficulties, indeed, which the distrust of the
+      court and its jealousy of the increasing power of the nobility would
+      oppose to this innovation were foreseen and provided against. In order to
+      constrain the regent's assent, some of the principal officers of the army
+      were put forward as a cloak, who were to annoy the court at Brussels with
+      boisterous demands for their arrears of pay, and in case of refusal to
+      threaten a rebellion. It was also contrived to have the regent assailed
+      with numerous petitions and memorials complaining of the delays of
+      justice, and exaggerating the danger which was to be apprehended from the
+      daily growth of heresy. Nothing was omitted to darken the picture of the
+      disorganized state of society, of the abuse of justice, and of the
+      deficiency in the finances, which was made so alarming that she awoke with
+      terror from the delusion of prosperity in which she had hitherto cradled
+      herself. She called the three councils together to consult them on the
+      means by which these disorders were to be remedied. The majority was in
+      favor of sending an extraordinary ambassador to Spain, who by a
+      circumstantial and vivid delineation should make the king acquainted with
+      the true position of affairs, and if possible prevail on him to adopt
+      efficient measures of reform. This proposition was opposed by Viglius,
+      who, however, had not the slighest suspicion of the secret designs of the
+      faction. "The evil complained of," he said, "is undoubtedly great, and one
+      which can no longer be neglected with impunity, but it is not irremediable
+      by ourselves. The administration of justice is certainly crippled, but the
+      blame of this lies with the nobles themselves; by their contemptuous
+      treatment they have thrown discredit on the municipal authorities, who,
+      moreover, are very inadequately supported by the governors of provinces.
+      If heresy is on the increase it is because the secular arm has deserted
+      the spiritual judges, and because the lower orders, following the example
+      of the nobles, have thrown off all respect for those in authority. The
+      provinces are undoubtedly oppressed by a heavy debt, but it has not been
+      accumulated, as alleged, by any malversation of the revenues, but by the
+      expenses of former wars and the king's present exigences; still wise and
+      prudent measures of finance might in a short time remove the burden. If
+      the council of state would not be so profuse of its indulgences, its
+      charters of immunity, and its exemptions; if it would commence the
+      reformation of morals with itself, show greater respect to the laws, and
+      do what lies in its power to restore to the municipal functionaries their
+      former consideration; in short, if the councils and the governors of
+      provinces would only fulfil their own duties the present grounds of
+      complaint would soon be removed. Why, then, send an ambassador to Spain,
+      when as yet nothing has occurred to justify so extraordinary an expedient?
+      If, however, the council thinks otherwise, he would not oppose the general
+      voice; only he must make it a condition of his concurrence that the
+      principal instruction of the envoy should be to entreat the king to make
+      them a speedy visit."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was but one voice as to the choice of an envoy. Of all the Flemish
+      nobles Count Egmont was the only one whose appointment would give equal
+      satisfaction to both parties. His hatred of the Inquisition, his patriotic
+      and liberal sentiments, and the unblemished integrity of his character,
+      gave to the republic sufficient surety for his conduct, while for the
+      reasons already mentioned he could not fail to be welcome to the king.
+      Moreover, Egmont's personal figure and demeanor were calculated on his
+      first appearance to make that favorable impression which goes co far
+      towards winning the hearts of princes; and his engaging carriage would
+      come to the aid of his eloquence, and enforce his petition with those
+      persuasive arts which are indispensable to the success of even the most
+      trifling suits to royalty. Egmont himself, too, wished for the embassy, as
+      it would afford him the opportunity of adjusting, personally, matters with
+      his sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About this time the Council, or rather synod, of Trent closed its
+      sittings, and published its decrees to the whole of Christendom. But these
+      canons, far from accomplishing the object for which the synod was
+      originally convened, and satisfying the expectation of religious parties,
+      had rather widened the breach between them, and made the schism
+      irremediable and eternal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The labors of the synod instead of purifying the Romish Church from its
+      corruptions had only reduced the latter to greater definiteness and
+      precision, and invested them with the sanction of authority. All the
+      subtilties of its teaching, all the arts and usurpations of the Roman See,
+      which had hitherto rested more on arbitrary usage, were now passed into
+      laws and raised into a system. The uses and abuses which during the
+      barbarous times of ignorance and superstition had crept into Christianity
+      were now declared essential parts of its worship, and anathemas were
+      denounced upon all who should dare to contradict the dogmas or neglect the
+      observances of the Romish communion. All were anathematized who should
+      either presume to doubt the miraculous power of relics, and refuse to
+      honor the bones of martyrs, or should be so bold as to doubt the availing
+      efficacy of the intercession of saints. The power of granting indulgences,
+      the first source of the defection from the See of Rome, was now propounded
+      in an irrefragable article of faith; and the principle of monasticism
+      sanctioned by an express decree of the synod, which allowed males to take
+      the vows at sixteen and females at twelve. And while all the opinions of
+      the Protestants were, without exception, condemned, no indulgence was
+      shown to their errors or weaknesses, nor a single step taken to win them
+      back by mildness to the bosom of the mother church. Amongst the
+      Protestants the wearisome records of the subtle deliberations of the
+      synod, and the absurdity of its decisions, increased, if possible, the
+      hearty contempt which they had long entertained for popery, and laid open
+      to their controversialists new and hitherto unnoticed points of attack. It
+      was an ill-judged step to bring the mysteries of the church too close to
+      the glaring torch of reason, and to fight with syllogisms for the tenets
+      of a blind belief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover, the decrees of the Council of Trent were not satisfactory even
+      to all the powers in communion with Rome. France rejected them entirely,
+      both because she did not wish to displease the Huguenots, and also because
+      she was offended by the supremacy which the pope arrogated to himself over
+      the council; some of the Roman Catholic princes of Germany likewise
+      declared against it. Little, however, as Philip II. was pleased with many
+      of its articles, which trenched too closely upon his own rights, for no
+      monarch was ever more jealous of his prerogative; highly as the pope's
+      assumption of control over the council, and its arbitrary, precipitate
+      dissolution had offended him; just as was his indignation at the slight
+      which the pope had put upon his ambassador; he nevertheless acknowledged
+      the decrees of the synod, even in its present form, because it favored his
+      darling object&mdash;the extirpation of heresy. Political considerations
+      were all postponed to this one religious object, and he commanded the
+      publication and enforcement of its canons throughout his dominions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The spirit of revolt, which was diffused through the Belgian provinces,
+      scarcely required this new stimulus. There the minds of men were in a
+      ferment, and the character of the Romish Church had sunk almost to the
+      lowest point of contempt in the general opinion. Under such circumstances
+      the imperious and frequently injudicious decrees of the council could not
+      fail of being highly offensive; but Philip II. could not belie his
+      religious character so far as to allow a different religion to a portion
+      of his subjects, even though they might live on a different soil and under
+      different laws from the rest. The regent was strictly enjoined to exact in
+      the Netherlands the same obedience to the decrees of Trent which was
+      yielded to them in Spain and Italy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%;">
+      <img alt="1pb124 (121K)" src="images/1pb124.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They met, however, with the warmest opposition in the council of state at
+      Brussels. "The nation," William of Orange declared, "neither would nor
+      could acknowledge them, since they were, for the most part, opposed to the
+      fundamental principles of their constitution; and, for similar reasons,
+      they had even been rejected by several Roman Catholic princes." The whole
+      council nearly was on the side of Orange; a decided majority were for
+      entreating the king either to recall the decrees entirely or at least to
+      publish them under certain limitations. This proposition was resisted by
+      Viglius, who insisted on a strict and literal obedience to the royal
+      commands. "The church," he said, "had in all ages maintained the purity of
+      its doctrines and the strictness of its discipline by means of such
+      general councils. No more efficacious remedy could be opposed to the
+      errors of opinion which had so long distracted their country than these
+      very decrees, the rejection of which is now urged by the council of state.
+      Even if they are occasionally at variance with the constitutional rights
+      of the citizens this is an evil which can easily be met by a judicious and
+      temperate application of them. For the rest it redounds to the honor of
+      our sovereign, the King of Spain, that he alone, of all the princes of his
+      time, refuses to yield his better judgment to necessity, and will not, for
+      any fear of consequences, reject measures which the welfare of the church
+      demands, and which the happiness of his subjects makes a duty."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the decrees also contained several matters which affected the rights
+      of the crown itself. Occasion was therefore taken of this fact to propose
+      that these sections at least should be omitted from the proclamation. By
+      this means the king might, it was argued, be relieved from these obnoxious
+      and degrading articles by a happy expedient; the national liberties of the
+      Netherlands might be advanced as the pretext for the omission, and the
+      name of the republic lent to cover this encroachment on the authority of
+      the synod. But the king had caused the decrees to be received and enforced
+      in his other dominions unconditionally; and it was not to be expected that
+      he would give the other Roman Catholic powers such an example of
+      opposition, and himself undermine the edifice whose foundation he had been
+      so assiduous in laying.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+             COUNT EGMONT IN SPAIN.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont was despatched to Spain to make a forcible representation to
+      the king on the subject of these decrees; to persuade him, if possible, to
+      adopt a milder policy towards his Protestant subjects, and to propose to
+      him the incorporation of the three councils, was the commission he
+      received from the malcontents. By the regent he was charged to apprise the
+      monarch of the refractory spirit of the people; to convince him of the
+      impossibility of enforcing these edicts of religion in their full
+      severity; and lastly to acquaint him with the bad state of the military
+      defences and the exhausted condition of the exchequer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The count's public instructions were drawn up by the President Viglius.
+      They contained heavy complaints of the decay of justice, the growth of
+      heresy, and the exhaustion of the treasury. He was also to press urgently
+      a personal visit from the king to the Netherlands. The rest was left to
+      the eloquence of the envoy, who received a hint from the regent not to let
+      so fair an opportunity escape of establishing himself in the favor of his
+      sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The terms in which the count's instructions and the representations which
+      he was to make to the king were drawn up appeared to the Prince of Orange
+      far too vague and general. "The president's statement," he said, "of our
+      grievances comes very far short of the truth. How can the king apply the
+      suitable remedies if we conceal from him the full extent of the evil? Let
+      us not represent the numbers of the heretics inferior to what it is in
+      reality. Let us candidly acknowledge that they swarm in every province and
+      in every hamlet, however small. Neither let us disguise from him the truth
+      that they despise the penal statutes and entertain but little reverence
+      for the government. What good can come of this concealment? Let us rather
+      openly avow to the king that the republic cannot long continue in its
+      present condition. The privy council indeed will perhaps pronounce
+      differently, for to them the existing disorders are welcome. For what else
+      is the source of the abuse of justice and the universal corruption of the
+      courts of law but its insatiable rapacity? How otherwise can the pomp and
+      scandalous luxury of its members, whom we have seen rise from the dust, be
+      supported if not by bribery? Do not the people daily complain that no
+      other key but gold can open an access to them; and do not even their
+      quarrels prove how little they are swayed by a care for the common weal?
+      Are they likely to consult the public good who are the slaves of their
+      private passions? Do they think forsooth that we, the governors of the
+      provinces are, with our soldiers, to stand ready at the beck and call of
+      an infamous lictor? Let them set bounds to their indulgences and free
+      pardons which they so lavishly bestow on the very persons to whom we think
+      it just and expedient to deny them. No one can remit the punishment of a
+      crime without sinning against the society and contributing to the increase
+      of the general evil. To my mind, and I have no hesitation to avow it, the
+      distribution amongst so many councils of the state secrets and the affairs
+      of government has always appeared highly objectionable. The council of
+      state is sufficient for all the duties of the administration; several
+      patriots have already felt this in silence, and I now openly declare it.
+      It is my decided conviction that the only sufficient remedy for all the
+      evils complained of is to merge the other two chambers in the council of
+      state. This is the point which we must endeavor to obtain from the king,
+      or the present embassy, like all others, will be entirely useless and
+      ineffectual." The prince now laid before the assembled senate the plan
+      which we have already described. Viglius, against whom this new
+      proposition was individually and mainly directed, and whose eyes were now
+      suddenly opened, was overcome by the violence of his vexation. The
+      agitation of his feelings was too much for his feeble body, and he was
+      found, on the following morning, paralyzed by apoplexy, and in danger of
+      his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His place was supplied by Jaachim Hopper, a member of the privy council at
+      Brussels, a man of old-fashioned morals and unblemished integrity, the
+      president's most trusted and worthiest friend.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Vita Vigl. 89. The person from whose memoirs I have already drawn
+   so many illustrations of the times of this epoch. His subsequent
+   journey to Spain gave rise to the correspondence between him and
+   the president, which is one of the most valuable documents for our
+   history.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      To meet the wishes of the Orange party he made some additions to the
+      instructions of the ambassador, relating chiefly to the abolition of the
+      Inquisition and the incorporation of the three councils, not so much with
+      the consent of the regent as in the absence of her prohibition. Upon Count
+      Egmont taking leave of the president, who had recovered from his attack,
+      the latter requested him to procure in Spain permission to resign his
+      appointment. His day, he declared, was past; like the example of his
+      friend and predecessor, Granvella, he wished to retire into the quiet of
+      private life, and to anticipate the uncertainty of fortune. His genius
+      warned him of impending storm, by which he could have no desire to be
+      overtaken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont embarked on his journey to Spain in January, 1565, and was
+      received there with a kindness and respect which none of his rank had ever
+      before experienced. The nobles of Castile, taught by the king's example to
+      conquer their feelings, or rather, true to his policy, seemed to have laid
+      aside their ancient grudge against the Flemish nobility, and vied with one
+      another in winning his heart by their affability. All his private matters
+      were immediately settled to his wishes by the king, nay, even his
+      expectations exceeded; and during the whole period of his stay he had
+      ample cause to boast of the hospitality of the monarch. The latter assured
+      him in the strongest terms of his love for his Belgian subjects, and held
+      out hopes of his acceding eventually to the general wish, and remitting
+      somewhat of the severity of the religious edicts. At the same time,
+      however, he appointed in Madrid a commission of theologians to whom he
+      propounded the question, "Is it necessary to grant to the provinces the
+      religious toleration they demand?" As the majority of them were of opinion
+      that the peculiar constitution of the Netherlands, and the fear of a
+      rebellion might well excuse a degree of forbearance in their case, the
+      question was repeated more pointedly. "He did not seek to know," he said,
+      "if he might do so, but if he must." When the latter question was answered
+      in the negative, he rose from his seat, and kneeling down before a
+      crucifix prayed in these words: "Almighty Majesty, suffer me not at any
+      time to fall so low as to consent to reign over those who reject thee!" In
+      perfect accordance with the spirit of this prayer were the measures which
+      he resolved to adopt in the Netherlands. On the article of religion this
+      monarch had taken his resolution once forever; urgent necessity might,
+      perhaps, have constrained him temporarily to suspend the execution of the
+      penal statutes, but never, formally, to repeal them entirely, or even to
+      modify them. In vain did Egmont represent to him that the public execution
+      of the heretics daily augmented the number of their followers, while the
+      courage and even joy with which they met their death filled the spectators
+      with the deepest admiration, and awakened in them high opinions of a
+      doctrine which could make such heroes of its disciples. This
+      representation was not indeed lost upon the king, but it had a very
+      different effect from what it was intended to produce. In order to prevent
+      these seductive scenes, without, however, compromising the severity of the
+      edicts, he fell upon an expedient, and ordered that in future the
+      executions should take place in private. The answer of the king on the
+      subject of the embassy was given to the count in writing, and addressed to
+      the regent. The king, when he granted him an audience to take leave, did
+      not omit to call him to account for his behavior to Granvella, and alluded
+      particularly to the livery invented in derision of the cardinal. Egmont
+      protested that the whole affair had originated in a convivial joke, and
+      nothing was further from their meaning than to derogate in the least from
+      the respect that was due to royalty. "If he knew," he said, "that any
+      individual among them had entertained such disloyal thoughts be himself
+      would challenge him to answer for it with his life."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At his departure the monarch made him a present of fifty thousand florins,
+      and engaged, moreover, to furnish a portion for his daughter on her
+      marriage. He also consigned to his care the young Farnese of Parma, whom,
+      to gratify the regent, his mother, he was sending to Brussels. The king's
+      pretended mildness, and his professions of regard for the Belgian nation,
+      deceived the open-hearted Fleming. Happy in the idea of being the bearer
+      of so much felicity to his native country, when in fact it was more remote
+      than ever, he quitted Madrid satisfied beyond measure to think of the joy
+      with which the provinces would welcome the message of their good king; but
+      the opening of the royal answer in the council of state at Brussels
+      disappointed all these pleasing hopes. "Although in regard to the
+      religious edicts," this was its tenor, "his resolve was firm and
+      immovable, and he would rather lose a thousand lives than consent to alter
+      a single letter of it, still, moved by the representations of Count
+      Egmont, he was, on the other hand, equally determined not to leave any
+      gentle means untried to guard the people against the delusions of heresy,
+      and so to avert from them that punishment which must otherwise infallibly
+      overtake them. As he had now learned from the count that the principal
+      source of the existing errors in the faith was in the moral depravity of
+      the clergy, the bad instruction and the neglected education of the young,
+      he hereby empowered the regent to appoint a special commission of three
+      bishops, and a convenient number of learned theologians, whose business it
+      should be to consult about the necessary reforms, in order that the people
+      might no longer be led astray through scandal, nor plunge into error
+      through ignorance. As, moreover, he had been informed that the public
+      executions of the heretics did but afford them an opportunity of
+      boastfully displaying a foolhardy courage, and of deluding the common herd
+      by an affectation of the glory of martyrdom, the commission was to devise
+      means for putting in force the final sentence of the Inquisition with
+      greater privacy, and thereby depriving condemned heretics of the honor of
+      their obduracy." In order, however, to provide against the commission
+      going beyond its prescribed limits Philip expressly required that the
+      Bishop of Ypres, a man whom he could rely on as a determined zealot for
+      the Romish faith, should be one of the body. Their deliberaations were to
+      be conducted, if possible, in secrecy, while the object publicly assigned
+      to them should be the introduction of the Tridentine decrees. For this his
+      motive seems to have been twofold; on the one hand, not to alarm the court
+      of Rome by the assembling of a private council; nor, on the other, to
+      afford any encouragement to the spirit of rebellion in the provinces. At
+      its sessions the duchess was to preside, assisted by some of the more
+      loyally disposed of her counsellors, and regularly transmit to Philip a
+      written account of its transactions. To meet her most pressing wants he
+      sent her a small supply in money. He also gave her hopes of a visit from
+      himself; first, however, it was necessary that the war with the Turks, who
+      were then expected in hostile force before Malta, should be terminated. As
+      to the proposed augmentation of the council of state, and its union with
+      the privy council and chamber of finance, it was passed over in perfect
+      silence. The Duke of Arschot, however, who is already known to us as a
+      zealous royalist, obtained a voice and seat in the latter. Viglius,
+      indeed, was allowed to retire from the presidency of the privy council,
+      but he was obliged, nevertheless, to continue to discharge its duties for
+      four more years, because his successor, Carl Tyssenaque, of the council
+      for Netherlandish affairs in Madrid, could not sooner be spared.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   SEVERER RELIGIOUS EDICTS&mdash;UNIVERSAL OPPOSITION OF THE NATION.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely was Egmont returned when severer edicts against heretics, which,
+      as it were, pursued him from Spain, contradicted the joyful tidings which
+      he had brought of a happy change in the sentiments of the monarch. They
+      were at the same time accompanied with a transcript of the decrees of
+      Trent, as they were acknowledged in Spain, and were now to be proclaimed
+      in the Netherlands also; with it came likewise the death warrants of some
+      Anabaptists and other kinds of heretics. "The count has been beguiled,"
+      William the Silent was now heard to say, "and deluded by Spanish cunning.
+      Self-love and vanity have blinded his penetration; for his own advantage
+      he has forgotten the general welfare." The treachery of the Spanish
+      ministry was now exposed, and this dishonest proceeding roused the
+      indignation of the noblest in the land. But no one felt it more acutely
+      than Count Egmont, who now perceived himself to have been the tool of
+      Spanish duplicity, and to have become unwittingly the betrayer of his own
+      country. "These specious favors then," he exclaimed, loudly and bitterly,
+      "were nothing but an artifice to expose me to the ridicule of my
+      fellow-citizens, and to destroy my good name. If this is the fashion after
+      which the king purposes to keep the promises which he made to me in Spain,
+      let who will take Flanders; for my part, I will prove by my retirement
+      from public business that I have no share in this breach of faith." In
+      fact, the Spanish ministry could not have adopted a surer method of
+      breaking the credit of so important a man&mdash;than by exhibiting him to
+      his fellow citizens, who adored him, as one whom they had succeeded in
+      deluding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the commission had been appointed, and had unanimously come to
+      the following decision: "Whether for the moral reformation of the clergy,
+      or for the religious instruction of the people, or for the education of
+      youth, such abundant provision had already been made in the decrees of
+      Trent that nothing now was requisite but to put these decrees in force as
+      speedily as possible. The imperial edicts against the heretics already
+      ought on no account to be recalled or modified; the courts of justice,
+      however, might be secretly instructed to punish with death none but
+      obstinate heretics or preachers, to make a difference between the
+      different sects, and to show consideration to the age, rank, sex, or
+      disposition of the accused. If it were really the case that public
+      executions did but inflame fanaticism, then, perhaps, the unheroic, less
+      observed, but still equally severe punishment of the galleys, would be
+      well-adapted to bring down all high notions of martyrdom. As to the
+      delinquencies which might have arisen out of mere levity, curiosity, and
+      thoughtlessness it would perhaps be sufficient to punish them by fines,
+      exile, or even corporal chastisement."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During these deliberations, which, moreover, it was requisite to submit to
+      the king at Madrid, and to wait for the notification of his approval of
+      them, the time passed away unprofitably, the proceedings against the
+      sectaries being either suspended, or at least conducted very supinely.
+      Since the recall of Granvella the disunion which prevailed in the higher
+      councils, and from thence had extended to the provincial courts of
+      justice, combined with the mild feelings generally of the nobles on the
+      subject of religion, had raised the courage of the sects, and allowed free
+      scope to the proselytizing mania of their apostles. The inquisitors, too,
+      had fallen into contempt in consequence of the secular arm withdrawing its
+      support, and in many places even openly taking their victims under its
+      protection. The Roman Catholic part of the nation. had formed great
+      expectations from the decrees of the synod of Trent, as well as from
+      Egmont's embassy to Spain; but in the latter case their hopes had scarcely
+      been justified by the joyous tidings which the count had brought back,
+      and, in the integrity of his heart, left nothing undone to make known as
+      widely as possible. The more disused the nation had become to severity in
+      matters pertaining to religion the more acutely was it likely to feel the
+      sudden adoption of even still more rigorous measures. In this position of
+      affairs the royal rescript arrived from Spain in answer to the proposition
+      of the bishops and the last despatches of the regent. "Whatever
+      interpretation (such was its tenor) Count Egmont may have given to the
+      king's verbal communications, it had never in the remotest manner entered
+      his mind to think of altering in the slightest degree the penal statutes
+      which the Emperor, his father, had five-and-thirty years ago published in
+      the provinces. These edicts he therefore commanded should henceforth be
+      carried rigidly into effect, the Inquisition should receive the most
+      active support from the secular arm, and the decrees of the council of
+      Trent be irrevocably and unconditionally acknowledged in all the provinces
+      of his Netherlands. He acquiesced fully in the opinion of the bishops and
+      canonists as to the sufficiency of the Tridentine decrees as guides in all
+      points of reformation of the clergy or instruction of the people; but he
+      could not concur with them as to the mitigation of punishment which they
+      proposed in consideration either of the age, sex, or character of
+      individuals, since he was of opinion that his edicts were in no degree
+      wanting in moderation. To nothing but want of zeal and disloyalty on the
+      part of judges could he ascribe the progress which heresy had already made
+      in the country. In future, therefore, whoever among them should be thus
+      wanting in zeal must be removed from his office and make room for a more
+      honest judge. The Inquisition ought to pursue its appointed path firmly,
+      fearlessly, and dispassionately, without regard to or consideration of
+      human feelings, and was to look neither before nor behind. He would always
+      be ready to approve of all its measures however extreme if it only avoided
+      public scandal."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter of the king, to which the Orange party have ascribed all the
+      subsequent troubles of the Netherlands, caused the most violent excitement
+      amongst the state counsellors, and the expressions which in society they
+      either accidentally or intentionally let fall from them with regard to it
+      spread terror and alarm amongst the people. The dread of the Spanish
+      Inquisition returned with new force, and with it came fresh apprehensions
+      of the subversion of their liberties. Already the people fancied they
+      could hear prisons building, chains and fetters forging, and see piles of
+      fagots collecting. Society was occupied with this one theme of
+      conversation, and fear kept no longer within bounds. Placards were affixed
+      to houses of the nobles in which they were called upon, as formerly Rome
+      called on her Brutus, to come forward and save expiring freedom. Biting
+      pasquinades were published against the new bishops&mdash;tormentors as
+      they were called; the clergy were ridiculed in comedies, and abuse spared
+      the throne as little as the Romish see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Terrified by the rumors which were afloat, the regent called together all
+      the counsellors of state to consult them on the course she ought to adopt
+      in this perilous crisis. Opinion varied and disputes were violent.
+      Undecided between fear and duty they hesitated to come to a conclusion,
+      until at last the aged senator, Viglius, rose and surprised the whole
+      assembly by his opinion. "It would," he said, "be the height of folly in
+      us to think of promulgating the royal edict at the present moment; the
+      king must be informed of the reception which, in all probability, it will
+      now meet. In the meantime the inquisitors must be enjoined to use their
+      power with moderation, and to abstain from severity." But if these words
+      of the aged president surprised the whole assembly, still greater was the
+      astonishment when the Prince of Orange stood up and opposed his advice.
+      "The royal will," he said, "is too clearly and too precisely stated; it is
+      the result of too long and too mature deliberation for us to venture to
+      delay its execution without bringing on ourselves the reproach of the most
+      culpable obstinacy." "That I take on myself," interrupted Viglius; "I
+      oppose myself to, his displeasure. If by this delay we purchase for him
+      the peace of the Netherlands our opposition will eventually secure for us
+      the lasting gratitude of the king." The regent already began to incline to
+      the advice of Viglius, when the prince vehemently interposing, "What," he
+      demanded, "what have the many representations which we have already made
+      effected? of what avail was the embassy we so lately despatched? Nothing!
+      And what then do we wait for more? Shall we, his state counsellors, bring
+      upon ourselves the whole weight of his displeasure by determining, at our
+      own peril, to render him a service for which he will never thank us?"
+      Undecided and uncertain the whole assembly remained silent; but no one had
+      courage enough to assent to or reply to him. But the prince had appealed
+      to the fears of the regent, and these left her no choice. The consequences
+      of her unfortunate obedience to the king's command will soon appear. But,
+      on the other hand, if by a wise disobedience she had avoided these fatal
+      consequences, is it clear that the result would not have been the same?
+      However she had adopted the most fatal of the two counsels: happen what
+      would the royal ordinance was to be promulgated. This time, therefore,
+      faction prevailed, and the advice of the only true friend of the
+      government, who, to serve his monarch, was ready to incur his displeasure,
+      was disregarded. With this session terminated the peace of the regent:
+      from this day the Netherlands dated all the trouble which uninterruptedly
+      visited their country. As the counsellors separated the Prince of Orange
+      said to one who stood nearest to him, "Now will soon be acted a great
+      tragedy."
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The conduct of the Prince of Orange in this meeting of the council
+   has been appealed to by historians of the Spanish party as a proof
+   of his dishonesty, and they have availed themselves over and over
+   again to blacken his character. "He," say they, "who had,
+   invariably up to this period, both by word and deed, opposed the
+   measures of the court so long as he had any ground to fear that the
+   king's measures could be successfully carried out, supported them
+   now for the first time when he was convinced that a scrupulous
+   obedience to the royal orders would inevitably prejudice him. In
+   order to convince the king of his folly in disregarding his
+   warnings; in order to be able to boast, 'this I foresaw,' and 'I
+   foretold that,' he was willing to risk the welfare of his nation,
+   for which alone he had hitherto professed to struggle. The whole
+   tenor of his previous conduct proved that he held the enforcement
+   of the edicts to be an evil; nevertheless, he at once becomes false
+   to his own convictions and follows an opposite course; although, so
+   far as the nation was concerned, the same grounds existed as had
+   dictated his former measures; and he changed his conduct simply
+   that the result might be different to the king." "It is clear,
+   therefore," continue his adversaries, "that the welfare of the
+   nation had less weight with him than his animosity to his
+   sovereign. In order to gratify his hatred to the latter he does
+   not hesitate to sacrifice the former." But is it then true that by
+   calling for the promulgation of these edicts he sacrificed the
+   nation? or, to speak more correctly, did he carry the edicts into
+   effect by insisting on their promulgation? Can it not, on the
+   contrary, be shown with far more probability that this was really
+   the only way effectually to frustrate them? The nation was in a
+   ferment, and the indignant people would (there was reason to
+   expect, and as Viglius himself seems to have apprehended) show so
+   decided a spirit of opposition as must compel the king to yield.
+   "Now," says Orange, "my country feels all the impulse necessary for
+   it to contend successfully with tyranny! If I neglect the present
+   moment the tyrant will, by secret negotiation and intrigue, find
+   means to obtain by stealth what by open force he could not. The
+   some object will be steadily pursued, only with greater caution and
+   forbearance; but extremity alone can combine the people to unity of
+   purpose, and move them to bold measures." It is clear, therefore,
+   that with regard to the king the prince did but change his language
+   only; but that as far as the people was concerned his conduct was
+   perfectly consistent. And what duties did he owe the king apart
+   from those he owed the republic? Was he to oppose an arbitrary act
+   in the very moment when it was about to entail a just retribution
+   on its author? Would he have done his duty to his country if he
+   had deterred its oppressor from a precipitate step which alone
+   could save it from its otherwise unavoidable misery?]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      An edict, therefore, was issued to all the governors of provinces,
+      commanding them rigorously to enforce the mandates of the Emperor against
+      heretics, as well as those which had been passed under the present
+      government, the decrees of the council of Trent, and those of the
+      episcopal commission, which had lately sat to give all the aid of the
+      civil force to the Inquisition, and also to enjoin a similar line of
+      conduct on the officers of government under them. More effectually to
+      secure their object, every governor was to select from his own council an
+      efficient officer who should frequently make the circuit of the province
+      and institute strict inquiries into the obedience shown by the inferior
+      officers to these commands, and then transmit quarterly, to the capital an
+      exact report of their visitation. A copy of the Tridentine decrees,
+      according to the Spanish original, was also sent to the archbishops and
+      bishops, with an intimation that in case of their needing the assistance
+      of the secular power, the governors of their diocese, with their troops,
+      were placed at their disposal. Against these decrees no privilege was to
+      avail; however, the king willed and commanded that the particular
+      territorial rights of the provinces and towns should in no case be
+      infringed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These commands, which were publicly read in every town by a herald,
+      produced an effect on the people which in the fullest manner verified the
+      fears of the President Viglius and the hopes of the Prince of Orange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearly all the governors of provinces refused compliance with them, and
+      threatened to throw up their appointments if the attempt should be made to
+      compel their obedience. "The ordinance," they wrote back, "was based on a
+      statement of the numbers of the sectaries, which was altogether false."
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The number of the heretics was very unequally computed by the two
+   parties according as the interests and passions of either made its
+   increase or diminution desirable, and the same party often
+   contradicted itself when its interest changed. If the question
+   related to new measures of oppression, to the introduction of the
+   inquisitional tribunals, etc., the numbers of the Protestants were
+   countless and interminable. If, on the other hand, the question
+   was of lenity towards them, of ordinances to their advantage, they
+   were now reduced to such an insignificant number that it would not
+   repay the trouble of making an innovation for this small body of
+   ill-minded people.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "Justice was appalled at the prodigious crowd of victims which daily
+      accumulated under its hands; to destroy by the flames fifty thousand or
+      sixty thousand persons from their districts was no commission for them."
+      The inferior clergy too, in particular, were loud in their outcries
+      against the decrees of Trent, which cruelly assailed their ignorance and
+      corruption, and which moreover threatened them with a reform they so much
+      detested. Sacrificing, therefore, the highest interests of their church to
+      their own private advantage, they bitterly reviled the decrees and the
+      whole council, and with liberal hand scattered the seeds of revolt in the
+      minds of the people. The same outcry was now revived which the monks had
+      formerly raised against the new bishops. The Archbishop of Cambray
+      succeeded at last, but not without great opposition, in causing the
+      decrees to be proclaimed. It cost more labor to effect this in Malines and
+      Utrect, where the archbishops were at strife with their clergy, who, as
+      they were accused, preferred to involve the whole church in ruin rather
+      than submit to a reformation of morals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of all the provinces Brabant raised its voice the loudest. The states of
+      this province appealed to their great privilege, which protected their
+      members from being brought before a foreign court of justice. They spoke
+      loudly of the oath by which the king had bound himself to observe all
+      their statutes, and of the conditions under which they alone had sworn
+      allegiance to him. Louvain, Antwerp, Brussels, and Herzogenbusch solemnly
+      protested against the decrees, and transmitted their protests in distinct
+      memorials to the regent. The latter, always hesitating and wavering, too
+      timid to obey the king, and far more afraid to disobey him, again summoned
+      her council, again listened to the arguments for and against the question,
+      and at last again gave her assent to the opinion which of all others was
+      the most perilous for her to adopt. A new reference to the king in Spain
+      was proposed; the next moment it was asserted that so urgent a crisis did
+      not admit of so dilatory a remedy; it was necessary for the regent to act
+      on her own responsibility, and either defy the threatening aspect of
+      despair, or to yield to it by modifying or retracting the royal ordinance.
+      She finally caused the annals of Brabant to be examined in order to
+      discover if possible a precedent for the present case in the instructions
+      of the first inquisitor whom Charles V. had appointed to the province.
+      These instructions indeed did not exactly correspond with those now given;
+      but had not the king declared that he introduced no innovation? This was
+      precedent enough, and it was declared that the new edicts must also be
+      interpreted in accordance with the old and existing statutes of the
+      province. This explanation gave indeed no satisfaction to the states of
+      Brabant, who had loudly demanded the entire abolition of the inquisition,
+      but it was an encouragement to the other provinces to make similar
+      protests and an equally bold opposition. Without giving the duchess time
+      to decide upon their remonstrances they, on their own authority, ceased to
+      obey the inquisition, and withdrew their aid from it. The inquisitors, who
+      had so recently been expressly urged to a more rigid execution of their
+      duties now saw themselves suddenly deserted by the secular arm, and robbed
+      of all authority, while in answer to their application for assistance the
+      court could give them only empty promises. The regent by thus endeavoring
+      to satisfy all parties had displeased all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During these negotiations between the court, the councils, and the states
+      a universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation. Men began to
+      investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the prerogative
+      of kings. "The Netherlanders were not so stupid," many were heard to say
+      with very little attempt at secrecy, "as not to know right well what was
+      due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king to the subject;
+      and that perhaps means would yet be found to repel force with force,
+      although at present there might be no appearance of it." In Antwerp a
+      placard was set up in several places calling upon the town council to
+      accuse the King of Spain before the supreme court at Spires of having
+      broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country, for, Brabant
+      being a portion of the Burgundian circle, was included in the religious
+      peace of Passau and Augsburg. About this time too the Calvinists published
+      their confession of faith, and in a preamble addressed to the king,
+      declared that they, although a hundred thousand strong, kept themselves
+      nevertheless quiet, and like the rest of his subjects, contributed to all
+      the taxes of the country; from which it was evident, they added, that of
+      themselves they entertained no ideas of insurrection. Bold and incendiary
+      writings were publicly disseminated, which depicted the Spanish tyranny in
+      the most odious colors, and reminded the nation of its privileges, and
+      occasionally also of its powers.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The regent mentioned to the king a number (three thousand) of
+   these writings. Strada 117. It is remarkable how important a part
+   printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of the
+   Netherlands. Through this organ one restless spirit spoke to
+   millions. Besides the lampoons, which for the most part were
+   composed with all the low scurrility and brutality which was the
+   distinguishing character of most of the Protestant polemical
+   writings of the time, works were occasionally published which
+   defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The warlike preparations of Philip against the Porte, as well as those
+      which, for no intelligible reason, Eric, Duke of Brunswick, about this
+      time made in the vicinity, contributed to strengthen the general suspicion
+      that the Inquisition was to be forcibly imposed on the Netherlands. Many
+      of the most eminent merchants already spoke of quitting their houses and
+      business to seek in some other part of the world the liberty of which they
+      were here deprived; others looked about for a leader, and let fall hints
+      of forcible resistance and of foreign aid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That in this distressing position of affairs the regent might be left
+      entirely without an adviser and without support, she was now deserted by
+      the only person who was at the present moment indispensable to her, and
+      who had contributed to plunge her into this embarrassment. "Without
+      kindling a civil war," wrote to her William of Orange, "it was absolutely
+      impossible to comply now with the orders of the king. If, however,
+      obedience was to be insisted upon, he must beg that his place might be
+      supplied by another who would better answer the expectations of his
+      majesty, and have more power than he had over the minds of the nation. The
+      zeal which on every other occasion he had shown in the service of the
+      crown, would, he hoped, secure his present proceeding from
+      misconstruction; for, as the case now stood, he had no alternative between
+      disobeying the king and injuring his country and himself." From this time
+      forth William of Orange retired from the council of state to his town of
+      Breda, where in observant but scarcely inactive repose he watched the
+      course of affairs. Count Horn followed his example. Egmont, ever
+      vacillating between the republic and the throne, ever wearying himself in
+      the vain attempt to unite the good citizen with the obedient subject&mdash;Egmont,
+      who was less able than the rest to dispense with the favor of the monarch,
+      and to whom, therefore, it was less an object of indifference, could not
+      bring himself to abandon the bright prospects which were now opening for
+      him at the court of the regent. The Prince of Orange had, by his superior
+      intellect, gained an influence over the regent&mdash;which great minds
+      cannot fail to command from inferior spirits. His retirement had opened a
+      void in her confidence which Count Egmont was now to fill by virtue of
+      that sympathy which so naturally subsists between timidity, weakness, and
+      good-nature. As she was as much afraid of exasperating the people by an
+      exclusive confidence in the adherents to the crown, as she was fearful of
+      displeasing the king by too close an understanding with the declared
+      leaders of the faction, a better object for her confidence could now
+      hardly be presented than this very Count Egmont, of whom it could not be
+      said that he belonged to either of the two conflicting parties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK III.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CONSPIRACY OF THE NOBLES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      1565. Up to this point the general peace had it appears been the sincere
+      wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and their
+      friends. They had pursued the true interests of their sovereign as much as
+      the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions had been as
+      little at variance with the former as with the latter. Nothing bad as yet
+      occurred to make their motives suspected, or to manifest in them a
+      rebellious spirit. What they had done they had done in discharge of their
+      bounden duty as members of a free state, as the representatives of the
+      nation, as advisers of the king, as men of integrity and honor. The only
+      weapons they had used to oppose the encroachments of the court had been
+      remonstrances, modest complaints, petitions. They had never allowed
+      themselves to be so far carried away by a just zeal for their good cause
+      as to transgress the limits of prudence and moderation which on many
+      occasions are so easily overstepped by party spirit. But all the nobles of
+      the republic did not now listen to the voice of that prudence; all did not
+      abide within the bounds of moderation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While in the council of state the great question was discussed whether the
+      nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies summoned to
+      their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity, and while the
+      middle-classes and the people contented themselves with empty complaints,
+      menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of all seemed least
+      called upon, and on whose support least reliance had been placed, began to
+      take more active measures. We have already described a class of the
+      nobility whose services and wants Philip at his accession had not
+      considered it necessary to remember. Of these by far the greater number
+      had asked for promotion from a much more urgent reason than a love of the
+      mere honor. Many of them were deeply sunk in debt, from which by their own
+      resources they could not hope to emancipate themselves. When then, in
+      filling up appointments, Philip passed them over he wounded them in a
+      point far more sensitive than their pride. In these suitors he had by his
+      neglect raised up so many idle spies and merciless judges of his actions,
+      so many collectors and propagators of malicious rumor. As their pride did
+      not quit them with their prosperity, so now, driven by necessity, they
+      trafficked with the sole capital which they could not alienate&mdash;their
+      nobility and the political influence of their names; and brought into
+      circulation a coin which only in such a period could have found currency&mdash;their
+      protection. With a self-pride to which they gave the more scope as it was
+      all they could now call their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong
+      intermediate power between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed
+      themselves called upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state,
+      which looked imploringly to them for succor. This idea was ludicrous only
+      so far as their self-conceit was concerned in it; the advantages which
+      they contrived to draw from it were substantial enough. The Protestant
+      merchants, who held in their hands the chief part of the wealth of the
+      Netherlands, and who believed they could not at any price purchase too
+      dearly the undisturbed exercise of their religion, did not fail to make
+      use of this class of people who stood idle in the market and ready to be
+      hired. These very men whom at any other time the merchants, in the pride
+      of riches, would most probably have looked down upon, now appeared likely
+      to do them good service through their numbers, their courage, their credit
+      with the populace, their enmity to the government, nay, through their
+      beggarly pride itself and their despair. On these grounds they zealously
+      endeavored to form a close union with them, and diligently fostered the
+      disposition for rebellion, while they also used every means to keep alive
+      their high opinions of themselves, and, what was most important, lured
+      their poverty by well-applied pecuniary assistance and glittering
+      promises. Few of them were so utterly insignificant as not to possess some
+      influence, if not personally, yet at least by their relationship with
+      higher and more powerful nobles; and if united they would be able to raise
+      a formidable voice against the crown. Many of them had either already
+      joined the new sect or were secretly inclined to it; and even those who
+      were zealous Roman Catholics had political or private grounds enough to
+      set them against the decrees of Trent and the Inquisition. All, in fine,
+      felt the call of vanity sufficiently powerful not to allow the only moment
+      to escape them in which they might possibly make some figure in the
+      republic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But much as might be expected from the co-operation of these men in a body
+      it would have been futile and ridiculous to build any hopes on any one of
+      them singly; and the great difficulty was to effect a union among them.
+      Even to bring them together some unusual occurrence was necessary, and
+      fortunately such an incident presented itself. The nuptials of Baron
+      Montigny, one of the Belgian nobles, as also those of the Prince Alexander
+      of Parma, which took place about this time in Brussels, assembled in that
+      town a great number of the Belgian nobles. On this occasion relations met
+      relations; new friendships were formed and old renewed; and while the
+      distress of the country was the topic of conversation wine and mirth
+      unlocked lips and hearts, hints were dropped of union among themselves,
+      and of an alliance with foreign powers. These accidental meetings soon led
+      to concealed ones, and public discussions gave rise to secret
+      consultations. Two German barons, moreover, a Count of Holle and a Count
+      of Schwarzenberg, who at this time were on a visit to the Netherlands,
+      omitted nothing to awaken expectations of assistance from their neighbors.
+      Count Louis of Nassau, too, had also a short time before visited several
+      German courts to ascertain their sentiments.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [It was not without cause that the Prince of Orange suddenly
+   disappeared from Brussels in order to be present at the election of
+   a king of Rome in Frankfort. An assembly of so many German princes
+   must have greatly favored a negotiation.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It has even been asserted that secret emissaries of the Admiral Coligny
+      were seen at this time in Brabant, but this, however, may be reasonably
+      doubted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If ever a political crisis was favorable to an attempt at revolution it
+      was the present. A woman at the helm of government; the governors of
+      provinces disaffected themselves and disposed to wink at insubordination
+      in others; most of the state counsellors quite inefficient; no army to
+      fall back upon; the few troops there were long since discontented on
+      account of the outstanding arrears of pay, and already too often deceived
+      by false promises to be enticed by new; commanded, moreover, by officers
+      who despised the Inquisition from their hearts, and would have blushed to
+      draw a sword in its behalf; and, lastly, no money in the treasury to
+      enlist new troops or to hire foreigners. The court at Brussels, as well as
+      the three councils, not only divided by internal dissensions, but in the
+      highest degree&mdash;venal and corrupt; the regent without full powers to
+      act on the spot, and the king at a distance; his adherents in the
+      provinces few, uncertain, and dispirited; the faction numerous and
+      powerful; two-thirds of the people irritated against popery and desirous
+      of a change&mdash;such was the unfortunate weakness of the government, and
+      the more unfortunate still that this weakness was so well known to its
+      enemies!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to unite so many minds in the prosecution of a common object a
+      leader was still wanting, and a few influential names to give political
+      weight to their enterprise. The two were supplied by Count Louis of Nassau
+      and Henry Count Brederode, both members of the most illustrious houses of
+      the Belgian nobility, who voluntarily placed themselves at the head of the
+      undertaking. Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of Orange, united many
+      splendid qualities which made him worthy of appearing on so noble and
+      important a stage. In Geneva, where he studied, he had imbibed at once a
+      hatred to the hierarchy and a love to the new religion, and on his return
+      to his native country had not failed to enlist proselytes to his opinions.
+      The republican bias which his mind had received in that school kindled in
+      him a bitter hatred of the Spanish name, which animated his whole conduct
+      and only left him with his latest breath. Popery and Spanish rule were in
+      his mind identical&mdash; as indeed they were in reality&mdash;and the
+      abhorrence which he entertained for the one helped to strengthen his
+      dislike for the other. Closely as the brothers agreed in their
+      inclinations and aversions the ways by which each sought to gratify them
+      were widely dissimilar. Youth and an ardent temperament did not allow the
+      younger brother to follow the tortuous course through which the elder
+      wound himself to his object. A cold, calm circumspection carried the
+      latter slowly but surely to his aim, and with a pliable subtilty he made
+      all things subserve his purpose; with a foolhardy impetuosity which
+      overthrew all obstacles, the other at times compelled success, but oftener
+      accelerated disaster. For this reason William was a general and Louis
+      never more than an adventurer; a sure and powerful arm if only it were
+      directed by a wise head. Louis' pledge once given was good forever; his
+      alliances survived every vicissitude, for they were mostly formed in the
+      pressing moment of necessity, and misfortune binds more firmly than
+      thoughtless joy. He loved his brother as dearly as he did his cause, and
+      for the latter he died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry of Brederode, Baron of Viane and Burgrave of Utrecht, was descended
+      from the old Dutch counts who formerly ruled that province as sovereign
+      princes. So ancient a title endeared him to the people, among whom the
+      memory of their former lords still survived, and was the more treasured
+      the less they felt they had gained by the change. This hereditary splendor
+      increased the self-conceit of a man upon whose tongue the glory of his
+      ancestors continually hung, and who dwelt the more on former greatness,
+      even amidst its ruins, the more unpromising the aspect of his own
+      condition became. Excluded from the honors and employments to which, in
+      his opinion, his own merits and his noble ancestry fully entitled him (a
+      squadron of light cavalry being all which was entrusted to him), he hated
+      the government, and did not scruple boldly to canvass and to rail at its
+      measures. By these means he won the hearts of the people. He also favored
+      in secret the evangelical belief; less, however, as a conviction of his
+      better reason than as an opposition to the government. With more loquacity
+      than eloquence, and more audacity than courage, he was brave rather from
+      not believing in danger than from being superior to it. Louis of Nassau
+      burned for the cause which he defended, Brederode for the glory of being
+      its defender; the former was satisfied in acting for his party, the latter
+      discontented if he did not stand at its head. No one was more fit to lead
+      off the dance in a rebellion, but it could hardly have a worse
+      ballet-master. Contemptible as his threatened designs really were, the
+      illusion of the multitude might have imparted to them weight and terror if
+      it had occurred to them to set up a pretender in his person. His claim to
+      the possessions of his ancestors was an empty name; but even a name was
+      now sufficient for the general disaffection to rally round. A pamphlet
+      which was at the time disseminated amongst the people openly called him
+      the heir of Holland; and his engraved portrait, which was publicly
+      exhibited, bore the boastful inscription:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        Sum Brederodus ego, Batavae non infima gentis
+        Gloria, virtutem non unica pagina claudit.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      (1565.) Besides these two, there were others also from among the most
+      illustrious of the Flemish nobles the young Count Charles of Mansfeld, a
+      son of that nobleman whom we have found among the most zealous royalists;
+      the Count Kinlemburg; two Counts of Bergen and of Battenburg; John of
+      Marnix, Baron of Toulouse; Philip of Marnix, Baron of St. Aldegonde; with
+      several others who joined the league, which, about the middle of November,
+      in the year 1565, was formed at the house of Von Hanimes, king at arms of
+      the Golden Fleece. Here it was that six men decided the destiny of their
+      country as formerly a few confederates consummated the liberty of
+      Switzerland, kindled the torch of a forty years' war, and laid the basis
+      of a freedom which they themselves were never to enjoy. The objects of the
+      league were set forth in the following declaration, to which Philip of
+      Marnix was the first to subscribe his name: "Whereas certain ill-disposed
+      persons, under the mask of a pious zeal, but in reality under the impulse
+      of avarice and ambition, have by their evil counsels persuaded our most
+      gracious sovereign the king to introduce into these countries the
+      abominable tribunal of the Inquisition, a tribunal diametrically opposed
+      to all laws, human and divine, and in cruelty far surpassing the barbarous
+      institutions of heathenism; which raises the inquisitors above every other
+      power, and debases man to a perpetual bondage, and by its snares exposes
+      the honest citizen to a constant fear of death, inasmuch as any one
+      (priest, it may be, or a faithless friend, a Spaniard or a reprobate), has
+      it in his power at any moment to cause whom he will to be dragged before
+      that tribunal, to be placed in confinement, condemned, and executed
+      without the accused ever being allowed to face his accuser, or to adduce
+      proof of his innocence; we, therefore, the undersigned, have bound
+      ourselves to watch over the safety of our families, our estates, and our
+      own persons. To this we hereby pledge ourselves, and to this end bind
+      ourselves as a sacred fraternity, and vow with a solemn oath to oppose to
+      the best of our power the introduction of this tribunal into these
+      countries, whether it be attempted openly or secretly, and under whatever
+      name it may be disguised. We at the same time declare that we are far from
+      intending anything unlawful against the king our sovereign; rather is it
+      our unalterable purpose to support and defend the royal prerogative, and
+      to maintain peace, and, as far as lies in our power, to put down all
+      rebellion. In accordance with this purpose we have sworn, and now again
+      swear, to hold sacred the government, and to respect it both in word and
+      deed, which witness Almighty God!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all times
+      and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles which are
+      set forth in this covenant. We hereby bind ourselves that no accusation of
+      any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed, whether
+      rebellion, sedition, or otherwise, shall avail to annul our oath towards
+      the accused, or absolve us from our obligation towards him. No act which
+      is directed against the Inquisition can deserve the name of a rebellion.
+      Whoever, therefore, shall be placed in arrest on any such charge, we here
+      pledge ourselves to assist him to the utmost of our ability, and to
+      endeavor by every allowable means to effect his liberation. In this,
+      however, as in all matters, but especially in the conduct of all measures
+      against the tribunal of the Inquisition, we submit ourselves to the
+      general regulations of the league, or to the decision of those whom we may
+      unanimously appoint our counsellors and leaders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "In witness hereof, and in confirmation of this our common league and
+      covenant, we call upon the holy name of the living God, maker of heaven
+      and earth, and of all that are therein, who searches the hearts, the
+      consciences, and the thoughts, and knows the purity of ours. We implore
+      the aid of the Holy Spirit, that success and honor may crown our
+      undertaking, to the glory of His name, and to the peace and blessing of
+      our country!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This covenant was immediately translated into several languages, and
+      quickly disseminated through the provinces. To swell the league as
+      speedily as possible each of the confederates assembled all his friends,
+      relations, adherents, and retainers. Great banquets were held, which
+      lasted whole days&mdash;irresistible temptations for a sensual, luxurious
+      people, in whom the deepest wretchedness could not stifle the propensity
+      for voluptuous living. Whoever repaired to these banquets&mdash;and every
+      one was welcome&mdash;was plied with officious assurances of friendship,
+      and, when heated with wine, carried away by the example of numbers, and
+      overcome by the fire of a wild eloquence. The hands of many were guided
+      while they subscribed their signatures; the hesitating were derided, the
+      pusillanimous threatened, the scruples of loyalty clamored down; some even
+      were quite ignorant what they were signing, and were ashamed afterwards to
+      inquire. To many whom mere levity brought to the entertainment the general
+      enthusiasm left no choice, while the splendor of the confederacy allured
+      the mean, and its numbers encouraged the timorous. The abettors of the
+      league had not scrupled at the artifice of counterfeiting the signature
+      and seals of the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, Mcgen, and others,
+      a trick which won them hundreds of adherents. This was done especially
+      with a view of influencing the officers of the army, in order to be safe
+      in this quarter, if matters should come at last to violence. The device
+      succeeded with many, especially with subalterns, and Count Brederode even
+      drew his sword upon an ensign who wished time for consideration. Men of
+      all classes and conditions signed it. Religion made no difference. Roman
+      Catholic priests even were associates of the league. The motives were not
+      the same with all, but the pretext was similar. The Roman Catholics
+      desired simply the abolition of the Inquisition, and a mitigation of the
+      edicts; the Protestants aimed at unlimited freedom of conscience. A few
+      daring spirits only entertained so bold a project as the overthrow of the
+      present government, while the needy and indigent based the vilest hopes on
+      a general anarchy. A farewell entertainment, which about this time was
+      given to the Counts Schwarzenberg and Holle in Breda, and another shortly
+      afterwards in Hogstraten, drew many of the principal nobility to these two
+      places, and of these several had already signed the covenant. The Prince
+      of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, and Megen were present at the latter
+      banquet, but without any concert or design, and without having themselves
+      any share in the league, although one of Egmont's own secretaries and some
+      of the servants of the other three noblemen had openly joined it. At this
+      entertainment three hundred persons gave in their adhesion to the
+      covenant, and the question was mooted whether the whole body should
+      present themselves before the regent armed or unarmed, with a declaration
+      or with a petition? Horn and Orange (Egmont would not countenance the
+      business in any way) were called in as arbiters upon this point, and they
+      decided in favor of the more moderate and submissive procedure. By taking
+      this office upon them they exposed themselves to the charge of having in
+      no very covert manner lent their sanction to the enterprise of the
+      confederates. In compliance, therefore, with their advice, it was
+      determined to present their address unarmed, and in the form of a
+      petition, and a day was appointed on which they should assemble in
+      Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first intimation the regent received of this conspiracy of the nobles
+      was given by the Count of Megen soon after his return to the capital.
+      "There was," he said, "an enterprise on foot; no less than three hundred
+      of the nobles were implicated in it; it referred to religion; the members
+      of it had bound themselves together by an oath; they reckoned much on
+      foreign aid; she would soon know more about it." Though urgently pressed,
+      he would give her no further information. "A nobleman," he said, "had
+      confided it to him under the seal of secrecy, and he had pledged his word
+      of honor to him." What really withheld him from giving her any further
+      explanation was, in all probability, not so much any delicacy about his
+      honor, as his hatred of the Inquisition, which he would not willingly do
+      anything to advance. Soon after him, Count Egmont delivered to the regent
+      a copy of the covenant, and also gave her the names of the conspirators,
+      with some few exceptions. Nearly about the same time the Prince of Orange
+      wrote to her: "There was, as he had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred
+      officers were already named, and twenty thousand men would presently
+      appear in arms." Thus the rumor was intentionally exaggerated, and the
+      danger was multiplied in every mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent, petrified with alarm at the first announcement of these
+      tidings, and guided solely by her fears, hastily called together all the
+      members of the council of state who happened to be then in Brussels, and
+      at the same time sent a pressing summons to the Prince of Orange and Count
+      Horn, inviting them to resume their seats in the senate. Before the latter
+      could arrive she consulted with Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont what course
+      was to be adopted in the present dangerous posture of affairs. The
+      question debated was whether it would be better to have recourse to arms
+      or to yield to the emergency and grant the demands of the confederates; or
+      whether they should be put off with promises, and an appearance of
+      compliance, in order to gain time for procuring instructions from Spain,
+      and obtaining money and troops? For the first plan the requisite supplies
+      were wanting, and, what was equally requisite, confidence in the army, of
+      which there seemed reason to doubt whether it had not been already gained
+      by the conspirators. The second expedient would it was quite clear never
+      be sanctioned by the king; besides it would serve rather to raise than
+      depress the courage of the confederates; while, on the other hand, a
+      compliance with their reasonable demands and a ready unconditional pardon
+      of the past would in all probability stifle the rebellion in the cradle.
+      The last opinion was supported by Megen and Egmont but opposed by
+      Barlaimont. "Rumor," said the latter, "had exaggerated the matter; it is
+      impossible that so formidable an armament could have been prepared so
+      secretly and, so rapidly. It was but a band of a few outcasts and
+      desperadoes, instigated by two or three enthusiasts, nothing more. All
+      will be quiet after a few heads have been struck off." The regent
+      determined to await the opinion of the council of state, which was shortly
+      to assemble; in the meanwhile, however, she was not inactive. The
+      fortifications in the most important places were inspected and the
+      necessary repairs speedily executed; her ambassadors at foreign courts
+      received orders to redouble their vigilance; expresses were sent off to
+      Spain. At the same time she caused the report to be revived of the near
+      advent of the king, and in her external deportment put on a show of that
+      imperturbable firmness which awaits attack without intending easily to
+      yield to it. At the end of March (four whole months consequently from the
+      framing of the covenant), the whole state council assembled in Brussels.
+      There were present the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Arschot, Counts
+      Egmont, Bergen, Megen, Aremberg, Horn, Hosstraten, Barlaimont, and others;
+      the Barons Montigny and Hachicourt, all the knights of the Golden Fleece,
+      with the President Viglius, State Counsellor Bruxelles, and the other
+      assessors of the privy council. Several letters were produced which gave a
+      clearer insight into the nature and objects of the conspiracy. The
+      extremity to which the regent was reduced gave the disaffected a power
+      which on the present occasion they did not neglect to use. Venting their
+      long suppressed indignation, they indulged in bitter complaints against
+      the court and against the government. "But lately," said the Prince of
+      Orange, "the king sent forty thousand gold florins to the Queen of
+      Scotland to support her in her undertakings against England, and he allows
+      his Netherlands to be burdened with debt. Not to mention the
+      unseasonableness of this subsidy and its fruitless expenditure, why should
+      he bring upon us the resentment of a queen, who is both so important to us
+      as a friend and as an enemy so much to be dreaded?" The prince did not
+      even refrain on the present occasion from glancing at the concealed hatred
+      which the king was suspected of cherishing against the family of Nassau
+      and against him in particular. "It is well known," he said, "that he has
+      plotted with the hereditary enemies of my house to take away my life, and
+      that he waits with impatience only for a suitable opportunity." His
+      example opened the lips of Count Horn also, and of many others besides,
+      who with passionate vehemence descanted on their own merits and the
+      ingratitude of the king. With difficulty did the regent succeed in
+      silencing the tumult and in recalling attention to the proper subject of
+      the debate. The question was whether the confederates, of whom it was now
+      known that they intended to appear at court with a petition, should be
+      admitted or not? The Duke of Arschot, Counts Aremberg, Megen, and
+      Barlaimont gave their negative to the proposition. "What need of five
+      hundred persons," said the latter, "to deliver a small memorial? This
+      paradox of humility and defiance implies no good. Let them send to us one
+      respectable man from among their number without pomp, without assumption,
+      and so submit their application to us. Otherwise, shut the gates upon
+      them, or if some insist on their admission let them be closely watched,
+      and let the first act of insolence which any one of them shall be guilty
+      of be punished with death." In this advice concurred Count Mansfeld, whose
+      own son was among the conspirators; he had even threatened to disinherit
+      his son if he did not quickly abandon the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Counts Megen, also, and Aremberg hesitated to receive the petition; the
+      Prince of Orange, however, Counts Egmont, Horn, Hogstraten, and others
+      voted emphatically for it. "The confederates," they declared, "were known
+      to them as men of integrity and honor; a great part of them were connected
+      with themselves by friendship and relationship, and they dared vouch for
+      their behavior. Every subject was allowed to petition; a right which was
+      enjoyed by the meanest individual in the state could not without injustice
+      be denied to so respectable a body of men." It was therefore resolved by a
+      majority of votes to admit the confederates on the condition that they
+      should appear unarmed and conduct themselves temperately. The squabbles of
+      the members of council had occupied the greater part of the sitting, so
+      that it was necessary to adjourn the discussion to the following day. In
+      order that the principal matter in debate might not again be lost sight of
+      in useless complaints the regent at once hastened to the point:
+      "Brederode, we are informed," she said, "is coming to us, with an address
+      in the name of the league, demanding the abolition of the Inquisition and
+      a mitigation of the edicts. The advice of my senate is to guide me in my
+      answer to him; but before you give your opinions on this point permit me
+      to premise a few words. I am told that there are many even amongst
+      yourselves who load the religious edicts of the Emperor, my father, with
+      open reproaches, and describe them to the people as inhuman and barbarous.
+      Now I ask you, lords and gentlemen, knights of the Fleece, counsellors of
+      his majesty and of the state, whether you did not yourselves vote for
+      these edicts, whether the states of the realm have not recognized them as
+      lawful? Why is that now blamed, which was formerly declared right? Is it
+      because they have now become even more necessary than they then were?
+      Since when is the Inquisition a new thing in the Netherlands? Is it not
+      full sixteen years ago since the Emperor established it? And wherein is it
+      more cruel than the edicts? If it be allowed that the latter were the work
+      of wisdom, if the universal consent of the states has sanctioned them&mdash;
+      why this opposition to the former, which is nevertheless far more humane
+      than the edicts, if they are to be observed to the letter? Speak now
+      freely; I am not desirous of fettering your decision; but it is your
+      business to see that it is not misled by passion and prejudice." The
+      council of state was again, as it always had been, divided between two
+      opinions; but the few who spoke for the Inquisition and the literal
+      execution of the edicts were outvoted by the opposite party with the
+      Prince of Orange at its head. "Would to heaven," he began,&mdash;"that my
+      representations had been then thought worthy of attention, when as yet the
+      grounds of apprehension were remote; things would in that case never have
+      been carried so far as to make recourse to extreme measures indispensable,
+      nor would men have been plunged deeper in error by the very means which
+      were intended to beguile them from their delusion. We are all unanimous on
+      the one main point. We all wish to see the Catholic religion safe; if this
+      end can be secured without the aid of the Inquisition, it is well, and we
+      offer our wealth and our blood to its service; but on this very point it
+      is that our opinions are divided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There are two kinds of inquisition: the see of Rome lays claim to one,
+      the other has, from time immemorial, been exercised by the bishops. The
+      force of prejudice and of custom has made the latter light and supportable
+      to us. It will find little opposition in the Netherlands, and the
+      augmented numbers of the bishops will make it effective. To what purpose
+      then insist on the former, the mere name of which is revolting to all the
+      feelings of our minds? When so many nations exist without it why should it
+      be imposed on us? Before Luther appeared it was never heard of; but the
+      troubles with Luther happened at a time when there was an inadequate
+      number of spiritual overseers, and when the few bishops were, moreover,
+      indolent, and the licentiousness of the clergy excluded them from the
+      office of judges. Now all is changed; we now count as many bishops as
+      there are provinces. Why should not the policy of the government adjust
+      itself to the altered circumstances of the times? We want leniency, not
+      severity. The repugnance of the people is manifest&mdash;this we must seek
+      to appease if we would not have it burst out into rebellion. With the
+      death of Pius IV. the full powers of the inquisitors have expired; the new
+      pope has as yet sent no ratification of their authority, without which no
+      one formerly ventured to exercise his office. Now, therefore, is the time
+      when it can be suspended without infringing the rights of any party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What I have stated with regard to the Inquisition holds equally good in
+      respect to the edicts also. The exigency of the times called them forth,
+      but are not those times passed? So long an experience of them ought at
+      last to have taught us that against hersey no means are less successful
+      than the fagot and sword. What incredible progress has not the new
+      religion made during only the last few years in the provinces; and if we
+      investigate the cause of this increase we shall find it principally in the
+      glorious constancy of those who have fallen sacrifices to the truth of
+      their opinions. Carried away by sympathy and admiration, men begin to
+      weigh in silence whether what is maintained with such invincible courage
+      may not really be the truth. In France and in England the same severities
+      may have been inflicted on the Protestants, but have they been attended
+      with any better success there than here? The very earliest Christians
+      boasted that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. The
+      Emperor Julian, the most terrible enemy that Christianity ever
+      experienced, was fully persuaded of this. Convinced that persecution did
+      but kindle enthusiasm he betook himself to ridicule and derision, and
+      found these weapons far more effective than force. In the Greek empire
+      different teachers of heresy have arisen at different times. Arius under
+      Constantine, Aetius under Constantius, Nestorius under Theodosius. But
+      even against these arch-heretics and their disciples such cruel measures
+      were never resorted to as are thought necessary against our unfortunate
+      country&mdash;and yet where are all those sects now which once a whole
+      world, I had almost said, could not contain? This is the natural course of
+      heresy. If it is treated with contempt it crumbles into insignificance. It
+      is as iron, which, if it lies idle, corrodes, and only becomes sharp by
+      use. Let no notice be paid to it, and it loses its most powerful
+      attraction, the magic of what is new and what is forbidden. Why will we
+      not content ourselves with the measures which have been approved of by the
+      wisdom of such great rulers? Example is ever the safest guide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what need to go to pagan antiquity for guidance and example when we
+      have near at hand the glorious precedent of Charles V., the greatest of
+      kings, who taught at last by experience, abandoned the bloody path of
+      persecution, and for many years before his abdication adopted milder
+      measures. And Philip himself, our most gracious sovereign, seemed at first
+      strongly inclined to leniency until the counsels of Granvella and of
+      others like him changed these views; but with what right or wisdom they
+      may settle between themselves. To me, however, it has always appeared
+      indispensable that legislation to be wise and successful must adjust
+      itself to the manners and maxims of the times. In conclusion, I would beg
+      to remind you of the close understanding which subsists between the
+      Huguenots and the Flemish Protestants. Let us beware of exasperating them
+      any further. Let us not act the part of French Catholics towards them,
+      lest they should play the Huguenots against us, and, like the latter,
+      plunge their country into the horrors of a civil war."
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [No one need wonder, says Burgundias (a vehement stickler for the
+   Roman Catholic religion and the Spanish party), that the speech of
+   this prince evinced so much acquaintance with philosophy; he had
+   acquired it in his intercourse with Balduin. 180. Barry, 174-178.
+   Hopper, 72. Strada, 123,124.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It was, perhaps, not so much the irresistible truth of his arguments,
+      which, moreover, were supported by a decisive majority in the senate, as
+      rather the ruinous state of the military resources, and the exhaustion of
+      the treasury, that prevented the adoption of the opposite opinion which
+      recommended an appeal to the force of arms that the Prince of Orange had
+      chiefly to thank for the attention which now at last was paid to his
+      representations. In order to avert at first the violence of the storm, and
+      to gain time, which was so necessary to place the government in a better
+      sate of preparation, it was agreed that a portion of the demands should be
+      accorded to the confederates. It was also resolved to mitigate the penal
+      statutes of the Emperor, as he himself would certainly mitigate them, were
+      he again to appear among them at that day &mdash;and as, indeed, he had
+      once shown under circumstances very similar to the present that he did not
+      think it derogatory to his high dignity to do. The Inquisition was not to
+      be introduced in any place where it did not already exist, and where it
+      had been it should adopt a milder system, or even be entirely suspended,
+      especially since the inquisitors had not yet been confirmed in their
+      office by the pope. The latter reason was put prominently forward, in
+      order to deprive the Protestants of the gratification of ascribing the
+      concessions to any fear of their own power, or to the justice of their
+      demands. The privy council was commissioned to draw out this decree of the
+      senate without delay. Thus prepared the confederates were awaited.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                THE GUEUX.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The members of the senate had not yet dispersed, when all Brussels
+      resounded with the report that the confederates were approaching the town.
+      They consisted of no more than two hundred horse, but rumor greatly
+      exaggerated their numbers. Filled with consternation, the regent consulted
+      with her ministers whether it was best to close the gates on the
+      approaching party or to seek safety in flight? Both suggestions were
+      rejected as dishonorable; and the peaceable entry of the nobles soon
+      allayed all fears of violence. The first morning after their arrival they
+      assembled at Kuilemberg house, where Brederode administered to them a
+      second oath, binding them before all other duties to stand by one another,
+      and even with arms if necessary. At this meeting a letter from Spain was
+      produced, in which it was stated that a certain Protestant, whom, they all
+      knew and valued, had been burned alive in that country by a slow fire.
+      After these and similar preliminaries he called on them one after another
+      by name to take the new oath and renew the old one in their own names and
+      in those of the absent. The next day, the 5th of April, 1556, was fixed
+      for the presentation of the petition. Their numbers now amounted to
+      between three and four hundred. Amongst them were many retainers of the
+      high nobility, as also several servants of the king himself and of the
+      duchess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the Counts of Nassau and Brederode at their head, and formed in ranks
+      of four by four, they advanced in procession to the palace; all Brussels
+      attended the unwonted spectacle in silent astonishment. Here were to be
+      seen a body of men advancing with too much boldness and confidence to look
+      like supplicants, and led by two men who were not wont to be petitioners;
+      and, on the other hand, with so much order and stillness as do not usually
+      accompany rebellion. The regent received the procession surrounded by all
+      her counsellors and the Knights of the Fleece. "These noble
+      Netherlanders," thus Brederode respectfully addressed her, "who here
+      present themselves before your highness, wish in their own name, and of
+      many others besides who are shortly to arrive, to present to you a
+      petition of whose importance as well as of their own humility this solemn
+      procession must convince you. I, as speaker of this body, entreat you to
+      receive our petition, which contains nothing but what is in unison with
+      the laws of our country and the honor of the king."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If this petition," replied Margaret, "really contains nothing which is at
+      variance either with the good of the country, or with the authority of the
+      king, there is no doubt that it will be favorably considered." "They had
+      learnt," continued the spokesman, "with indignation and regret that
+      suspicious objects had been imputed to their association, and that
+      interested parties had endeavored to prejudice her highness against him;
+      they therefore craved that she would name the authors of so grave an
+      accusation, and compel them to bring their charges publicly, and in due
+      form, in order that he who should be found guilty might suffer the
+      punishment of his demerits." "Undoubtedly," replied the regent, "she had
+      received unfavorable rumors of their designs and alliance. She could not
+      be blamed, if in consequence she had thought it requisite to call the
+      attention of the governors of the provinces to the matter; but, as to
+      giving up the names of her informants to betray state secrets," she added,
+      with an appearance of displeasure, "that could not in justice be required
+      of her." She then appointed the next day for answering their petition; and
+      in the meantime she proceeded to consult the members of her council upon
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Never" (so ran the petition which, according to some, was drawn up by the
+      celebrated Balduin), "never had they failed in their loyalty to their
+      king, and nothing now could be farther from their hearts; but they would
+      rather run the risk of incurring the displeasure of their sovereign than
+      allow him to remain longer in ignorance of the evils with which their
+      native country was menaced, by the forcible introduction of the
+      Inquisition and the continued enforcement of the edicts. They had long
+      remained consoling themselves with the expectation that a general assembly
+      of the states would be summoned to remedy these grievances; but now that
+      even this hope was extinguished, they held it to be their duty to give
+      timely warning to the regent. They, therefore, entreated her highness to
+      send to Madrid an envoy, well disposed, and fully acquainted with the
+      state and temper of the times, who should endeavor to persuade the king to
+      comply with the demands of the whole nation, and abolish the Inquisition,
+      to revoke the edicts, and in their stead cause new and more humane ones to
+      be drawn up at a general assembly of the states. But, in the meanwhile,
+      until they could learn the king's decision, they prayed that the edicts
+      and the operations of the Inquisition be suspended." "If," they concluded,
+      "no attention should be paid to their humble request, they took God, the
+      king, the regent, and all her counsellors to witness that they had done
+      their part, and were not responsible for any unfortunate result that might
+      happen."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following day the confederates, marching in the same order of
+      procession, but in still greater numbers (Counts Bergen and Kuilemberg
+      having, in the interim, joined them with their adherents), appeared before
+      the regent in order to receive her answer. It was written on the margin of
+      the petition, and was to the effect, "that entirely to suspend the
+      Inquisition and the edicts, even temporarily, was beyond her powers; but
+      in compliance with the wishes of the confederates she was ready to
+      despatch one of the nobles to the king in Spain, and also to support their
+      petition with all her influence. In the meantime, she would recommend the
+      inquisitors to administer their office with moderation; but in return she
+      should expect on the part of the league that they should abstain from all
+      acts of violence, and undertake nothing to the prejudice of the Catholic
+      faith." Little as these vague and general promises satisfied the
+      confederates, they were, nevertheless, as much as they could have
+      reasonably expected to gain at first. The granting or refusing of the
+      petition had nothing to do with the primary object of the league. Enough
+      for them at present that it was once recognized, enough that it was now,
+      as it were, an established body, which by its power and threats might, if
+      necessary, overawe the government. The confederates, therefore, acted
+      quite consistently with their designs, in contenting themselves with this
+      answer, and referring the rest to the good pleasure of the king. As,
+      indeed, the whole pantomime of petitioning had only been invented to cover
+      the more daring plan of the league, until it should have strength enough
+      to show itself in its true light, they felt that much more depended on
+      their being able to continue this mask, and on the favorable reception of
+      their petition, than on its speedily being granted. In a new memorial,
+      which they delivered three days after, they pressed for an express
+      testimonial from the regent that they had done no more than their duty,
+      and been guided simply by their zeal for the service of the king. When the
+      duchess evaded a declaration, they even sent a person to repeat this
+      request in a private interview. "Time alone and their future behavior,"
+      she replied to this person, "would enable her to judge of their designs."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The league had its origin in banquets, and a banquet gave it form and
+      perfection. On the very day that the second petition was presented
+      Brederode entertained the confederates in Kuilemberg house. About three
+      hundred guests assembled; intoxication gave them courage, and their
+      audacity rose with their numbers. During the conversation one of their
+      number happened to remark that he had overheard the Count of Barlaimont
+      whisper in French to the regent, who was seen to turn pale on the delivery
+      of the petitions, that "she need not be afraid of a band of beggars
+      (gueux);" (in fact, the majority of them had by their bad management of
+      their incomes only too well deserved this appellation.) Now, as the very
+      name for their fraternity was the very thing which had most perplexed
+      them, an expression was eagerly caught up, which, while it cloaked the
+      presumption of their enterprise in humility, was at the same time
+      appropriate to them as petitioners. Immediately they drank to one another
+      under this name, and the cry "long live the Gueux!" was accompanied with a
+      general shout of applause. After the cloth had been removed Brederode appeared
+      with a wallet over his shoulder similar to that which the vagrant pilgrims
+      and mendicant monks of the time used to carry, and after returning thanks
+      to all for their accession to the league, and boldly assuring them that he
+      was ready to venture life and limb for every individual present, he drank
+      to the health of the whole company out of a wooden beaker. The cup went
+      round and every one uttered the same vow as be set it to his lips. Then
+      one after the other they received the beggar's purse, and each hung it on
+      a nail which he had appropriated to himself. The shouts and uproar
+      attending this buffoonery attracted the Prince of Orange and Counts Egmont
+      and Horn, who by chance were passing the spot at the very moment, and on
+      entering the house were boisterously pressed by Brederode, as host, to
+      remain and drink a glass with them.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   ["But," Egmont asserted in his written defence "we drank only one
+   single small glass, and thereupon they cried 'long live the king
+   and the Gueux!' This was the first time that I heard that
+   appellation, and it certainly did not please me. But the times
+   were so bad that one was often compelled to share in much that was
+   against one's inclination, and I knew not but I was doing an
+   innocent thing." Proces criminels des Comtes d'Egmont, etc.. 7. 1.
+   Egmont's defence, Hopper, 94. Strada, 127-130. Burgund., 185,
+   187.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The entrance of three such influential personages renewed the mirth of the
+      guests, and their festivities soon passed the bounds of moderation. Many
+      were intoxicated; guests and attendants mingled together without
+      distinction; the serious and the ludicrous, drunken fancies and affairs of
+      state were blended one with another in a burlesque medley; and the
+      discussions on the general distress of the country ended in the wild
+      uproar of a bacchanalian revel. But it did not stop here; what they had
+      resolved on in the moment of intoxication they attempted when sober to
+      carry into execution. It was necessary to manifest to the people in some
+      striking shape the existence of their protectors, and likewise to fan the
+      zeal of the faction by a visible emblem; for this end nothing could be
+      better than to adopt publicly this name of Gueux, and to borrow from it
+      the tokens of the association. In a few days the town of Brussels swarmed
+      with ash-gray garments such as were usually worn by mendicant friars and
+      penitents. Every confederate put his whole family and domestics in this
+      dress. Some carried wooden bowls thinly overlaid with plates of silver,
+      cups of the same kind, and wooden knives; in short the whole paraphernalia
+      of the beggar tribe, which they either fixed around their hats or
+      suspended from their girdles: Round the neck they wore a golden or silver
+      coin, afterwards called the Geusen penny, of which one side bore the
+      effigy of the king, with the inscription, "True to the king;" on the other
+      side were seen two hands folded together holding a wallet, with the words
+      "as far as the beggar's scrip." Hence the origin of the name "Gueux,"
+      which was subsequently borne in the Netherlands by all who seceded from
+      popery and took up arms against the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the confederates separated and dispersed among the provinces they
+      presented themselves once more before the duchess, in order to remind her
+      of the necessity of leniency towards the heretics until the arrival of the
+      king's answer from Spain, if she did not wish to drive the people to
+      extremities. "If, however," they added, "a contrary behavior should give
+      rise to any evils they at least must be regarded as having done their
+      duty."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this the regent replied, "she hoped to be able to adopt such measures
+      as would render it impossible for disorders to ensue; but if,
+      nevertheless, they did occur, she could ascribe them to no one but the
+      confederates. She therefore earnestly admonished them on their part to
+      fulfil their engagements, but especially to receive no new members into
+      the league, to hold no more private assemblies, and generally not to
+      attempt any novel and unconstitutional measures." And in order to
+      tranquillize their minds she commanded her private secretary, Berti, to
+      show them the letters to the inquisitors and secular judges, wherein they
+      were enjoined to observe moderation towards all those who had not
+      aggravated their heretical offences by any civil crime. Before their
+      departure from Brussels they named four presidents from among their number
+      who were to take care of the affairs of the league, and also particular
+      administrators for each province. A few were left behind in Brussels to
+      keep a watchful eye on all the movements of the court. Brederode,
+      Kuilemberg, and Bergen at last quitted the town, attended by five hundred
+      and fifty horsemen, saluted it once more beyond the walls with a discharge
+      of musketry, and then the three leaders parted, Brederode taking the road
+      to Antwerp, and the two others to Guelders. The regent had sent off an
+      express to Antwerp to warn the magistrate of that town against him. On his
+      arrival more than a thousand persons thronged to the hotel where he had
+      taken up his abode. Showing himself at a window, with a full wineglass in
+      his hand, he thus addressed them: "Citizens of Antwerp! I am here at the
+      hazard of my life and my property to relieve you from the oppressive
+      burden of the Inquisition. If you are ready to share this enterprise with
+      me, and to acknowledge me as your leader, accept the health which I here
+      drink to you, and hold up your hands in testimony of your approbation."
+      Hereupon he drank to their health, and all hands were raised amidst
+      clamorous shouts of exultation. After this heroic deed he quitted Antwerp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately after the delivery of the "petition of the nobles," the regent
+      had caused a new form of the edicts to be drawn up in the privy council,
+      which should keep the mean between the commands of the king and the
+      demands of the confederates. But the next question that arose was to
+      determine whether it would be advisable immediately to promulgate this
+      mitigated form, or moderation, as it was commonly called, or to submit it
+      first to the king for his ratification. The privy council who maintained
+      that it would be presumptuous to take a step so important and so contrary
+      to the declared sentiments of the monarch without having first obtained
+      his sanction, opposed the vote of the Prince of Orange who supported the
+      former proposition. Besides, they urged, there was cause to fear that it
+      would not even content the nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A "moderation" devised with the assent of the states was what they
+      particularly insisted on. In order, therefore, to gain the consent of the
+      states, or rather to obtain it from them by stealth, the regent artfully
+      propounded the question to the provinces singly, and first of all to those
+      which possessed the least freedom, such as Artois, Namur, and Luxemburg.
+      Thus she not only prevented one province encouraging another in
+      opposition, but also gained this advantage by it, that the freer
+      provinces, such as Flanders and Brabant, which were prudently reserved to
+      the last, allowed themselves to be carried away by the example of the
+      others. By a very illegal procedure the representatives of the towns were
+      taken by surprise, and their consent exacted before they could confer with
+      their constituents, while complete silence was imposed upon them with
+      regard to the whole transaction. By these means the regent obtained the
+      unconditional consent of some of the provinces to the "moderation," and,
+      with a few slight changes, that of other provinces. Luxemburg and Namur
+      subscribed it without scruple. The states of Artois simply added the
+      condition that false informers should be subjected to a retributive
+      penalty; those of Hainault demanded that instead of confiscation of the
+      estates, which directly militated against their privileges, another
+      discretionary punishment should be introduced. Flanders called for the
+      entire abolition of the Inquisition, and desired that the accused might be
+      secured in right of appeal to their own province. The states of Brabant
+      were outwitted by the intrigues of the court. Zealand, Holland, Utrecht,
+      Guelders, and Friesland as being provinces which enjoyed the most
+      important privileges, and which, moreover, watched over them with the
+      greatest jealousy, were never asked for their opinion. The provincial
+      courts of judicature had also been required to make a report on the
+      projected amendment of the law, but we may well suppose that it was
+      unfavorable, as it never reached Spain. From the principal cause of this
+      "moderation," which, however, really deserved its name, we may form a
+      judgment of the general character of the edicts themselves. "Sectarian
+      writers," it ran, "the heads and teachers of sects, as also those who
+      conceal heretical meetings, or cause any other public scandal, shall be
+      punished with the gallows, and their estates, where the law of the
+      province permit it, confiscated; but if they abjure their errors, their
+      punishment shall be commuted into decapitation with the sword, and their
+      effects shall be preserved to their families." A cruel snare for parental
+      affection! Less grievous heretics, it was further enacted, shall, if
+      penitent, be pardoned; and if impenitent shall be compelled to leave the
+      country, without, however, forfeiting their estates, unless by continuing
+      to lead others astray they deprive themselves of the benefit of this
+      provision. The Anabaptists, however, were expressly excluded from
+      benefiting by this clause; these, if they did not clear themselves by the
+      most thorough repentance, were to forfeit their possessions; and if, on
+      the other hand, they relapsed after penitence, that is, were backsliding
+      heretics, they were to be put to death without mercy. The greater regard
+      for life and property which is observable in this ordinance as compared
+      with the edicts, and which we might be tempted to ascribe to a change of
+      intention in the Spanish ministry, was nothing more than a compulsory step
+      extorted by the determined opposition of the nobles. So little, too, were
+      the people in the Netherlands satisfied by this "moderation," which
+      fundamentally did not remove a single abuse, that instead of "moderation"
+      (mitigation), they indignantly called it "moorderation," that is,
+      murdering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the consent of the states had in this manner been extorted from
+      them, the "moderation" was submitted to the council of the state, and,
+      after receiving their signatures, forwarded to the king in Spain in order
+      to receive from his ratification the force of law.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The embassy to Madrid, which had been agreed upon with the confederates,
+      was at the outset entrusted to the Marquis of Bergen, who, however, from a
+      distrust of the present disposition of the king, which was only too well
+      grounded, and from reluctance to engage alone in so delicate a business,
+      begged for a coadjutor.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [This Marquis of Bergen is to be distinguished from Count William
+   of Bergen, who was among the first who subscribed the covenant.
+   Vigi. ad Hopper, Letter VII.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      He obtained one in the Baron of Montigny, who had previously been employed
+      in a similar duty, and had discharged it with high credit. As, however,
+      circumstances had since altered so much that he had just anxiety as to his
+      present reception in Madrid for his greater safety, he stipulated with the
+      duchess that she should write to the monarch previously; and that he, with
+      his companion, should, in the meanwhile, travel slowly enough to give time
+      for the king's answer reaching him en route. His good genius wished, as it
+      appeared, to save him from the terrible fate which awaited him in Madrid,
+      for his departure was delayed by an unexpected obstacle, the Marquis of
+      Bergen being disabled from setting out immediately through a wound which
+      he received from the blow of a tennis-ball. At last, however, yielding to
+      the pressing importunities of the regent, who was anxious to expedite the
+      business, he set out alone, not, as he hoped, to carry the cause of his
+      nation, but to die for it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime the posture of affairs had changed so greatly in the
+      Netherlands, the step which the nobles had recently taken had so nearly
+      brought on a complete rupture with the government, that it seemed
+      impossible for the Prince of Orange and his friends to maintain any longer
+      the intermediate and delicate position which they had hitherto held
+      between the country and the court, or to reconcile the contradictory
+      duties to which it gave rise. Great must have been the restraint which,
+      with their mode of thinking, they had to put on themselves not to take
+      part in this contest; much, too, must their natural love of liberty, their
+      patriotism, and their principles of toleration have suffered from the
+      constraint which their official station imposed upon them. On the other
+      hand, Philip's distrust, the little regard which now for a long time had
+      been paid to their advice, and the marked slights which the duchess
+      publicly put upon them, had greatly contributed to cool their zeal for the
+      service, and to render irksome the longer continuance of a part which they
+      played with so much repugnance and with so little thanks. This feeling was
+      strengthened by several intimations they received from Spain which placed
+      beyond doubt the great displeasure of the king at the petition of the
+      nobles, and his little satisfaction with their own behavior on that
+      occasion, while they were also led to expect that he was about to enter
+      upon measures, to which, as favorable to the liberties of their country,
+      and for the most part friends or blood relations of the confederates; they
+      could never lend their countenance or support. On the name which should be
+      applied in Spain to the confederacy of the nobles it principally depended
+      what course they should follow for the future. If the petition should be
+      called rebellion no alternative would be left them but either to come
+      prematurely to a dangerous explanation with the court, or to aid it in
+      treating as enemies those with whom they had both a fellow-feeling and a
+      common interest. This perilous alternative could only be avoided by
+      withdrawing entirely from public affairs; this plan they had once before
+      practically adopted, and under present circumstances it was something more
+      than a simple expedient. The whole nation had their eyes upon them. An
+      unlimited confidence in their integrity, and the universal veneration for
+      their persons, which closely bordered on idolatry, would ennoble the cause
+      which they might make their own and ruin that which they should abandon.
+      Their share in the administration of the state, though it were nothing
+      more than nominal, kept the opposite party in check; while they attended
+      the senate violent measures were avoided because their continued presence
+      still favored some expectations of succeeding by gentle means. The
+      withholding of their approbation, even if it did not proceed from their
+      hearts, dispirited the faction, which, on the contrary, would exert its
+      full strength so soon as it could reckon even distantly on obtaining so
+      weighty a sanction. The very measures of the government which, if they
+      came through their hands, were certain of a favorable reception and issue,
+      would without them prove suspected and futile; even the royal concessions,
+      if they were not obtained by the mediation of these friends of the people,
+      would fail of the chief part of their efficacy. Besides, their retirement
+      from public affairs would deprive the regent of the benefit of their
+      advice at a time when counsel was most indispensable to her; it would,
+      moreover, leave the preponderance with a party which, blindly dependent on
+      the court, and ignorant of the peculiarities of republican character,
+      would neglect nothing to aggravate the evil, and to drive to extremity the
+      already exasperated mind of the public.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these motives (and it is open to every one, according to his good or
+      bad opinion of the prince, to say which was the most influential) tended
+      alike to move him to desert the regent, and to divest himself of all share
+      in public affairs. An opportunity for putting this resolve into execution
+      soon presented itself. The prince had voted for the immediate promulgation
+      of the newly-revised edicts; but the regent, following the suggestion of
+      her privy council, had determined to transmit them first to the king. "I
+      now see clearly," he broke out with well-acted vehemence, "that all the
+      advice which I give is distrusted. The king requires no servants whose
+      loyalty he is determined to doubt; and far be it from me to thrust my
+      services upon a sovereign who is unwilling to receive them. Better,
+      therefore, for him and me that I withdraw from public affairs." Count Horn
+      expressed himself nearly to the same effect. Egmont requested permission
+      to visit the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle, the use of which had been
+      prescribed to him by his physician, although (as it is stated in his
+      accusation) he appeared health itself. The regent, terrified at the
+      consequences which must inevitably follow this step, spoke sharply to the
+      prince. "If neither my representations, nor the general welfare can
+      prevail upon you, so far as to induce you to relinquish this intention,
+      let me advise you to be more careful, at least, of your own reputation.
+      Louis of Nassau is your brother; he and Count Brederode, the heads of the
+      confederacy, have publicly been your guests. The petition is in substance
+      identical with your own representations in the council of state. If you
+      now suddenly desert the cause of your king will it not be universally said
+      that you favor the conspiracy?" We do not find it anywhere stated whether
+      the prince really withdrew at this time from the council of state; at all
+      events, if he did, he must soon have altered his mind, for shortly after
+      he appears again in public transactions. Egmont allowed himself to be
+      overcome by the remonstrances of the regent; Horn alone actually withdrew
+      himself to one of his estates,&mdash;[Where he remained three months
+      inactive.]&mdash;with the resolution of never more serving either emperor
+      or king. Meanwhile the Gueux had dispersed themselves through the
+      provinces, and spread everywhere the most favorable reports of their
+      success. According to their assertions, religious freedom was finally
+      assured; and in order to confirm their statements they helped themselves,
+      where the truth failed, with falsehood. For example, they produced a
+      forged letter of the Knights of the Fleece, in which the latter were made
+      solemnly to declare that for the future no one need fear imprisonment, or
+      banishment, or death on account of religion, unless he also committed a
+      political crime; and even in that case the confederates alone were to be
+      his judges; and this regulation was to be in force until the king, with
+      the consent and advice of the states of the realm, should otherwise
+      dispose. Earnestly as the knights applied themselves upon the first
+      information of the fraud to rescue the nation from their delusion, still
+      it had already in this short interval done good service to the faction. If
+      there are truths whose effect is limited to a single instant, then
+      inventions which last so long can easily assume their place. Besides, the
+      report, however false, was calculated both to awaken distrust between the
+      regent and the knights, and to support the courage of the Protestants by
+      fresh hopes, while it also furnished those who were meditating innovation
+      an appearance of right, which, however unsubstantial they themselves knew
+      it to be, served as a colorable pretext for their proceedings. Quickly as
+      this delusion was dispelled, still, in the short space of time that it
+      obtained belief, it had occasioned so many extravagances, had introduced
+      so much irregularity and license, that a return to the former state of
+      things became impossible, and continuance in the course already commenced
+      was rendered necessary as well by habit as by despair. On the very first
+      news of this happy result the fugitive Protestants had returned to their
+      homes, which they had so unwillingly abandoned; those who had been in
+      concealment came forth from their hiding-places; those who had hitherto
+      paid homage to the new religion in their hearts alone, emboldened by these
+      pretended acts of toleration, now gave in their adhesion to it publicly
+      and decidedly. The name of the "Gueux" was extolled in all the provinces;
+      they were called the pillars of religion and liberty; their party
+      increased daily, and many of the merchants began to wear their insignia.
+      The latter made an alteration in the "Gueux" penny, by introducing two
+      travellers' staffs, laid crosswise, to intimate that they stood prepared
+      and ready at any instant to forsake house and hearth for the sake of
+      religion. The Gueux league, in short, had now given to things an entirely
+      different form. The murmurs of the people, hitherto impotent and despised,
+      as being the cries of individuals, had, now that they were concentrated,
+      become formidable; and had gained power, direction, and firmness through
+      union. Every one who was rebelliously disposed now looked on himself as
+      the member of a venerable and powerful body, and believed that by carrying
+      his own complaints to the general stock of discontent he secured the free
+      expression of them. To be called an important acquisition to the league
+      flattered the vain; to be lost, unnoticed, and irresponsible in the crowd
+      was an inducement to the timid. The face which the confederacy showed to
+      the nation was very unlike that which it had turned to the court. But had
+      its objects been the purest, had it really been as well disposed towards
+      the throne as it wished to appear, still the multitude would have regarded
+      only what was illegal in its proceedings, and upon them its better
+      intentions would have been entirely lost.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+              PUBLIC PREACHING.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      No moment could be more favorable to the Huguenots and the German
+      Protestants than the present to seek a market for their dangerous
+      commodity in the Netherlands. Accordingly, every considerable town now
+      swarmed with suspicious arrivals, masked spies, and the apostles of every
+      description of heresy. Of the religious parties, which had sprung up by
+      secession from the ruling church, three chiefly had made considerable
+      progress in the provinces. Friesland and the adjoining districts were
+      overrun by the Anabaptists, who, however, as the most indigent, without
+      organization and government, destitute of military resources, and moreover
+      at strife amongst themselves, awakened the least apprehension. Of far more
+      importance were the Calvanists, who prevailed in the southern provinces,
+      and above all in Flanders, who were powerfully supported by their
+      neighbors the Huguenots, the republic of Geneva, the Swiss Cantons, and
+      part of Germany, and whose opinions, with the exception of a slight
+      difference, were also held by the throne in England. They were also the
+      most numerous party, especially among the merchants and common citizens.
+      The Huguenots, expelled from France, had been the chief disseminators of
+      the tenets of this party. The Lutherans were inferior both in numbers and
+      wealth, but derived weight from having many adherents among the nobility.
+      They occupied, for the most part, the eastern portion of the Netherlands,
+      which borders on Germany, and were also to be found in some of the
+      northern territories. Some of the most powerful princes of Germany were
+      their allies; and the religious freedom of that empire, of which by the
+      Burgundian treaty the Netherlands formed an integral part, was claimed by
+      them with some appearance of right. These three religious denominations
+      met together in Antwerp, where the crowded population concealed them, and
+      the mingling of all nations favored liberty. They had nothing in common,
+      except an equally inextinguishable hatred of popery, of the Inquisition in
+      particular, and of the Spanish government, whose instrument it was; while,
+      on the other hand, they watched each other with a jealousy which kept
+      their zeal in exercise, and prevented the glowing ardor of fanaticism from
+      waxing dull.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent, in expectation that the projected "moderation" would be
+      sanctioned by the king, had, in the meantime, to gratify the Gueux,
+      recommended the governors and municipal officers of the provinces to be as
+      moderate as possible in their proceedings against heretics; instructions
+      which were eagerly followed, and interpreted in the widest sense by the
+      majority, who had hitherto administered the painful duty of punishment
+      with extreme repugnance. Most of the chief magistrates were in their
+      hearts averse to the Inquisition and the Spanish tyranny, and many were
+      even secretly attached to one or other of the religious parties; even the
+      others were unwilling to inflict punishment on their countrymen to gratify
+      their sworn enemies, the Spaniards. All, therefore, purposely
+      misunderstood the regent, and allowed the Inquisition and the edicts to
+      fall almost entirely into disuse. This forbearance of the government,
+      combined with the brilliant representations of the Gueux, lured from their
+      obscurity the Protestants, who, however, had now grown too powerful to be
+      any longer concealed. Hitherto they had contented themselves with secret
+      assemblies by night; now they thought themselves numerous and formidable
+      enough to venture to these meetings openly and publicly. This license
+      commenced somewhere between Oudenarde and Ghent, and soon spread through
+      the rest of Flanders. A certain Herrnann Stricker, born at Overyssel,
+      formerly a monk, a daring enthusiast of able mind, imposing figure, and
+      ready tongue, was the first who collected the people for a sermon in the
+      open air. The novelty of the thing gathered together a crowd of about
+      seven thousand persons. A magistrate of the neighborhood, more courageous
+      than wise, rushed amongst the crowd with his drawn sword, and attempted to
+      seize the preacher, but was so roughly handled by the multitude, who for
+      want of other weapons took up stones and felled him to the ground, that he
+      was glad to beg for his life.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The unheard-of foolhardiness of a single man rushing into the
+   midst of a fanatical crowd of seven thousand people to seize before
+   their eyes one whom they adored, proves, more than all that can be
+   said on the subject the insolent contempt with which the Roman
+   Catholics of the time looked down upon the so-called heretics as an
+   inferior race of beings.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%;">
+      <img alt="1pb174 (139K)" src="images/1pb174.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This success of the first attempt inspired courage for a second. In the
+      vicinity of Aalst they assembled again in still greater numbers; but on
+      this occasion they provided themselves with rapiers, firearms, and
+      halberds, placed sentries at all the approaches, which they also
+      barricaded with carts and carriages. All passers-by were obliged, whether
+      willing or otherwise, to take part in the religious service, and to
+      enforce this object lookout parties were posted at certain distances round
+      the place of meeting. At the entrance booksellers stationed themselves,
+      offering for sale Protestant catechisms, religious tracts, and pasquinades
+      on the bishops. The preacher, Hermann Stricker, held forth from a pulpit
+      which was hastily constructed for the occasion out of carts and trunks of
+      trees. A canvas awning drawn over it protected him from the sun and the
+      rain; the preacher's position was in the quarter of the wind that the
+      people might not lose any part of his sermon, which consisted principally
+      of revilings against popery. Here the sacraments were administered after
+      the Calvinistic fashion, and water was procured from the nearest river to
+      baptize infants without further ceremony, after the practice, it was
+      pretended, of the earliest times of Christianity. Couples were also united
+      in wedlock, and the marriage ties dissolved between others. To be present
+      at this meeting half the population of Ghent had left its gates; their
+      example was soon followed in other parts, and ere long spread over the
+      whole of East Flanders. In like manner Peter Dathen, another renegade
+      monk, from Poperingen, stirred up West Flanders; as many as fifteen
+      thousand persons at a time attended his preaching from the villages and
+      hamlets; their number made them bold, and they broke into the prisons,
+      where some Anabaptists were reserved for martyrdom. In Tournay the
+      Protestants were excited to a similar pitch of daring by Ambrosius Ville,
+      a French Calvinist. They demanded the release of the prisoners of their
+      sect, and repeatedly threatened if their demands were not complied with to
+      deliver up the town to the French. It was entirely destitute of a
+      garrison, for the commandant, from fear of treason, had withdrawn it into
+      the castle, and the soldiers, moreover, refused to act against their
+      fellow-citizens. The sectarians carried their audacity to such great
+      lengths as to require one of the churches within the town to be assigned
+      to them; and when this was refused they entered into a league with
+      Valenciennes and Antwerp to obtain a legal recognition of their worship,
+      after the example of the other towns, by open force. These three towns
+      maintained a close connection with each other, and the Protestant party
+      was equally powerful in all. While, however, no one would venture singly
+      to commence the disturbance, they agreed simultaneously to make a
+      beginning with public preaching. Brederode's appearance in Antwerp at last
+      gave them courage. Six thousand persons, men and women, poured forth from
+      the town on an appointed day, on which the same thing happened in Tournay
+      and Valenciennes. The place of meeting was closed in with a line of
+      vehicles, firmly fastened together, and behind them armed men were
+      secretly posted, with a view to protect the service from any surprise. Of
+      the preachers, most of whom were men of the very lowest class&mdash;some
+      were Germans, some were Huguenots&mdash;and spoke in the Walloon dialect;
+      some even of the citizens felt themselves called upon to take a part in
+      this sacred work, now that no fears of the officers of justice alarmed
+      them. Many were drawn to the spot by mere curiosity to hear what kind of
+      new and unheard-of doctrines these foreign teachers, whose arrival had
+      caused so much talk, would set forth. Others were attracted by the melody
+      of the psalms, which were sung in a French version, after the custom in
+      Geneva. A great number came to hear these sermons as so many amusing
+      comedies such was the buffoonery with which the pope, the fathers of the
+      ecclesiastical council of Trent, purgatory, and other dogmas of the ruling
+      church were abused in them. And, in fact, the more extravagant was this
+      abuse and ridicule the more it tickled the ears of the lower orders; and a
+      universal clapping of hands, as in a theatre, rewarded the speaker who had
+      surpassed others in the wildness of his jokes and denunciations. But the
+      ridicule which was thus cast upon the ruling church was, nevertheless, not
+      entirely lost on the minds of the hearers, as neither were the few grains
+      of truth or reason which occasionally slipped in among it; and many a one,
+      who had sought from these sermons anything but conviction, unconsciously
+      carried away a little also of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These assemblies were several times repeated, and each day augmented the
+      boldness of the sectarians; till at last they even ventured, after
+      concluding the service to conduct their preachers home in triumph, with an
+      escort of armed horsemen, and ostentatiously to brave the law. The town
+      council sent express after express to the duchess, entreating her to visit
+      them in person, and if possible to reside for a short time in Antwerp, as
+      the only expedient to curb the arrogance of the populace; and assuring her
+      that the most eminent merchants, afraid of being plundered, were already
+      preparing to quit it. Fear of staking the royal dignity on so hazardous a
+      stroke of policy forbade her compliance; but she despatched in her stead
+      Count Megen, in order to treat with the magistrate for the introduction of
+      a garrison. The rebellious mob, who quickly got an inkling of the object
+      of his visit, gathered around him with tumultuous cries, shouting, "He was
+      known to them as a sworn enemy of the Gueux; that it was notorious he was
+      bringing upon them prisons and the Inquisition, and that he should leave
+      the town instantly." Nor was the tumult quieted till Megen was beyond the
+      gates. The Calvinists now handed in to the magistrate a memorial, in which
+      they showed that their great numbers made it impossible for them
+      henceforward to assemble in secrecy, and requested a separate place of
+      worship to be allowed them inside the town. The town council renewed its
+      entreaties to the duchess to assist, by her personal presence, their
+      perplexities, or at least to send to them the Prince of Orange, as the
+      only person for whom the people still had any respect, and, moreover, as
+      specially bound to the town of Antwerp by his hereditary title of its
+      burgrave. In order to escape the greater evil she was compelled to consent
+      to the second demand, however much against her inclination to entrust
+      Antwerp to the prince. After allowing himself to be long and fruitlessly
+      entreated, for he had all at once resolved to take no further share in
+      public affairs, he yielded at last to the earnest persuasions of the
+      regent and the boisterous wishes of the people. Brederode, with a numerous
+      retinue, came half a mile out of the town to meet him, and both parties
+      saluted each other with a discharge of pistols. Antwerp appeared to have
+      poured out all her inhabitants to welcome her deliverer. The high road
+      swarmed with multitudes; the roofs were taken off the houses in order that
+      they might accommodate more spectators; behind fences, from churchyard
+      walls, even out of graves started up men. The attachment of the people to
+      the prince showed itself in childish effusions. "Long live the Gueux!" was
+      the shout with which young and old received him. "Behold," cried others,
+      "the man who shall give us liberty." "He brings us," cried the Lutherans,
+      "the Confession of Augsburg!" "We don't want the Gueux now!" exclaimed
+      others; "we have no more need of the troublesome journey to Brussels. He
+      alone is everything to us!" Those who knew not what to say vented their
+      extravagant joy in psalms, which they vociferously chanted as they moved
+      along. He, however, maintained his gravity, beckoned for silence, and at
+      last, when no one would listen to him, exclaimed with indignation, half
+      real and half affected, "By God, they ought to consider what they did, or
+      they would one day repent what they had now done." The shouting increased
+      even as he rode into the town. The first conference of the prince with the
+      heads of the different religious sects, whom he sent for and separately
+      interrogated, presently convinced him that the chief source of the evil
+      was the mutual distrust of the several parties, and the suspicions which
+      the citizens entertained of the designs of the government, and that
+      therefore it must be his first business to restore confidence among them
+      all. First of all he attempted, both by persuasion and artifice, to induce
+      the Calvinists, as the most numerous body, to lay down their weapons, and
+      in this he at last, with much labor, succeeded. When, however, some wagons
+      were soon afterwards seen laden with ammunition in Malines, and the high
+      bailiff of Brabant showed himself frequently in the neighborhood of
+      Antwerp with an armed force, the Calvinists, fearing hostile interruption
+      of their religious worship, besought the prince to allot them a place
+      within the walls for their sermons, which should be secure from a
+      surprise. He succeeded once more in pacifying them, and his presence
+      fortunately prevented an outbreak on the Assumption of the Virgin, which,
+      as usual, had drawn a crowd to the town, and from whose sentiments there
+      was but too much reason for alarm. The image of the Virgin was, with the
+      usual pomp, carried round the town without interruption; a few words of
+      abuse, and a suppressed murmur about idolatry, was all that the
+      disapproving multitudes indulged in against the procession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. While the regent received from one province after another the most
+      melancholy accounts of the excesses of the Protestants, and while she
+      trembled for Antwerp, which she was compelled to leave in the dangerous
+      hands of the Prince of Orange, a new terror assailed her from another
+      quarter. Upon the first authentic tidings of the public preaching she
+      immediately called upon the league to fulfil its promises and to assist
+      her in restoring order. Count Brederode used this pretext to summon a
+      general meeting of the whole league, for which he could not have selected
+      a more dangerous moment than the present. So ostentatious a display of the
+      strength of the league, whose existence and protection had alone
+      encouraged the Protestant mob to go the length it had already gone, would
+      now raise the confidence of the sectarians, while in the same degree it
+      depressed the courage of the regent. The convention took place in the town
+      of Liege St. Truyen, into which Brederode and Louis of Nassau had thrown
+      themselves at the head of two thousand confederates. As the long delay of
+      the royal answer from Madrid seemed to presage no good from that quarter,
+      they considered it advisable in any case to extort from the regent a
+      letter of indemnity for their persons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those among them who were conscious of a disloyal sympathy with the
+      Protestant mob looked on its licentiousness as a favorable circumstance
+      for the league; the apparent success of those to whose degrading
+      fellowship they had deigned to stoop led them to alter their tone; their
+      former laudable zeal began to degenerate into insolence and defiance. Many
+      thought that they ought to avail themselves of the general confusion and
+      the perplexity of the duchess to assume a bolder tone and heap demand upon
+      demand. The Roman Catholic members of the league, among whom many were in
+      their hearts still strongly inclined to the royal cause, and who had been
+      drawn into a connection with the league by occasion and example, rather
+      than from feeling and conviction, now heard to their astonishment
+      propositions for establishing universal freedom of religion, and were not
+      a little shocked to discover in how perilous an enterprise they had
+      hastily implicated themselves. On this discovery the young Count Mansfeld
+      withdrew immediately from it, and internal dissensions already began to
+      undermine the work of precipitation and haste, and imperceptibly to loosen
+      the joints of the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont and William of Orange were empowered by the regent to treat
+      with the confederates. Twelve of the latter, among whom were Louis of
+      Nassau, Brederode, and Kuilemberg, conferred with them in Duffle, a
+      village near Malines. "Wherefore this new step?" demanded the regent by
+      the mouth of these two noblemen. "I was required to despatch ambassadors
+      to Spain; and I sent them. The edicts and the Inquisition were complained
+      of as too rigorous; I have rendered both more lenient. A general assembly
+      of the states of the realm was proposed; I have submitted this request to
+      the king because I could not grant it from my own authority. What, then,
+      have I unwittingly either omitted or done that should render necessary
+      this assembling in St. Truyen? Is it perhaps fear of the king's anger and
+      of its consequences that disturbs the confederates? The provocation
+      certainly is great, but his mercy is even greater. Where now is the
+      promise of the league to excite no disturbances amongst the people? Where
+      those high-sounding professions that they were ready to die at my feet
+      rather, than offend against any of the prerogatives of the crown? The
+      innovators already venture on things which border closely on rebellion,
+      and threaten the state with destruction; and it is to the league that they
+      appeal. If it continues silently to tolerate this it will justly bring on
+      itself the charge of participating in the guilt of their offences; if it
+      is honestly disposed towards the sovereign it cannot remain longer
+      inactive in this licentiousness of the mob. But, in truth, does it not
+      itself outstrip the insane population by its dangerous example,
+      concluding, as it is known to do, alliances with the enemies of the
+      country, and confirming the evil report of its designs by the present
+      illegal meeting?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Against these reproaches the league formally justified itself in a
+      memorial which it deputed three of its members to deliver to the council
+      of state at Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All," it commenced, "that your highness has done in respect to our
+      petition we have felt with the most lively gratitude; and we cannot
+      complain of any new measure, subsequently adopted, inconsistent with your
+      promise; but we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the orders of
+      your highness are by the judicial courts, at least, very little regarded;
+      for we are continually hearing&mdash;and our own eyes attest to the truth
+      of the report&mdash;that in all quarters our fellow-citizens are in spite
+      of the orders of your highness still mercilessly dragged before the courts
+      of justice and condemned to death for religion. What the league engaged on
+      its part to do it has honestly fulfilled; it has, too, to the utmost of
+      its power endeavored to prevent the public preachings; but it certainly is
+      no wonder if the long delay of an answer from Madrid fills the mind of the
+      people with distrust, and if the disappointed hopes of a general assembly
+      of the states disposes them to put little faith in any further assurances.
+      The league has never allied, nor ever felt any temptation to ally, itself
+      with the enemies of the country. If the arms of France were to appear in
+      the provinces we, the confederates, would be the first to mount and drive
+      them back again. The league, however, desires to be candid with your
+      highness. We thought we read marks of displeasure in your countenance; we
+      see men in exclusive possession of your favor who are notorious for their
+      hatred against us. We daily hear that persons are warned from associating
+      with us, as with those infected with the plague, while we are denounced
+      with the arrival of the king as with the opening of a day of judgment&mdash;what
+      is more natural than that such distrust shown to us should at last rouse
+      our own? That the attempt to blacken our league with the reproach of
+      treason, that the warlike preparations of the Duke of Savoy and of other
+      princes, which, according to common report, are directed against
+      ourselves; the negotiations of the king with the French court to obtain a
+      passage through that kingdom for a Spanish army, which is destined, it is
+      said, for the Netherlands&mdash;what wonder if these and similar
+      occurrences should have stimulated us to think in time of the means of
+      self-defence, and to strengthen ourselves by an alliance with our friends
+      beyond the frontier? On a general, uncertain, and vague rumor we are
+      accused of a share in this licentiousness of the Protestant mob; but who
+      is safe from general rumor? True it is, certainly, that of our numbers
+      some are Protestants, to whom religious toleration would be a welcome
+      boon; but even they have never forgotten what they owe to their sovereign.
+      It is not fear of the king's anger which instigated us to hold this
+      assembly. The king is good, and we still hope that he is also just. It
+      cannot, therefore, be pardon that we seek from him, and just as little can
+      it be oblivion that we solicit for our actions, which are far from being
+      the least considerable of the services we have at different times rendered
+      his majesty. Again, it is true, that the delegates of the Lutherans and
+      Calvinists are with us in St. Truyen; nay, more, they have delivered to us
+      a petition which, annexed to this memorial, we here present to your
+      highness. In it they offer to go unarmed to their preachings if the league
+      will tender its security to them, and be willing to engage for a general
+      meeting of the states. We have thought it incumbent upon us to communicate
+      both these matters to you, for our guarantee can have no force unless it
+      is at the same time confirmed by your highness and some of your principal
+      counsellors. Among these no one can be so well acquainted with the
+      circumstances of our cause, or be so upright in intention towards us, as
+      the Prince of Orange and Counts Horn and Egmont. We gladly accept these
+      three as meditators if the necessary powers are given to them, and
+      assurance is afforded us that no troops will be enlisted without their
+      knowledge. This guarantee, however, we only require for a given period,
+      before the expiration of which it will rest with the king whether he will
+      cancel or confirm it for the future. If the first should be his will it
+      will then be but fair that time should be allowed us to place our persons
+      and our property in security; for this three weeks will be sufficient.
+      Finally, and in conclusion, we on our part also pledge ourselves to
+      undertake nothing new without the concurrence of those three persons, our
+      mediators."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The league would not have ventured to hold such bold language if it had
+      not reckoned on powerful support and protection; but the regent was as
+      little in a condition to concede their demands as she was incapable of
+      vigorously opposing them. Deserted in Brussels by most of her counsellors
+      of state, who had either departed to their provinces, or under some
+      pretext or other had altogether withdrawn from public affairs; destitute
+      as well of advisers as of money (the latter want had compelled her, in the
+      first instance, to appeal to the liberality of the clergy; when this
+      proved insufficient, to have recourse to a lottery), dependent on orders
+      from Spain, which were ever expected and never received, she was at last
+      reduced to the degrading expedient of entering into a negotiation with the
+      confederates in St. Truyen, that they should wait twenty-four days longer
+      for the king's resolution before they took any further steps. It was
+      certainly surprising that the king still continued to delay a decisive
+      answer to the petition, although it was universally known that he had
+      answered letters of a much later date, and that the regent earnestly
+      importuned him on this head. She had also, on the commencement of the
+      public preaching, immediately despatched the Marquis of Bergen after the
+      Baron of Montigny, who, as an eye-witness of these new occurrences, could
+      confirm her written statements, to move the king to an earlier decision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. In the meanwhile, the Flemish ambassador, Florence of Montigny, had
+      arrived in Madrid, where he was received with a great show of
+      consideration. His instructions were to press for the abolition of the
+      Inquisition and the mitigation of the edicts; the augmentation of the
+      council of state, and the incorporation with it of the two other councils;
+      the calling of a general assembly of the states, and, lastly, to urge the
+      solicitations of the regent for a personal visit from the king. As the
+      latter, however, was only desirous of gaining time, Montigny was put off
+      with fair words until the arrival of his coadjutor, without whom the king
+      was not willing to come to any final determination. In the meantime,
+      Montigny had every day and at any hour that he desired, an audience with
+      the king, who also commanded that on all occasions the despatches of the
+      duchess and the answers to them should be communicated to himself. He was,
+      too, frequently admitted to the council for Belgian affairs, where he
+      never omitted to call the king's attention to the necessity of a general
+      assembly of the states, as being the only means of successfully meeting
+      the troubles which had arisen, and as likely to supersede the necessity of
+      any other measure. He moreover impressed upon him that a general and
+      unreserved indemnity for the past would alone eradicate the distrust,
+      which was the source of all existing complaints, and would always
+      counteract the good effects of every measure, however well advised. He
+      ventured, from a thorough acquaintance with circumstances and accurate
+      knowledge of the character of his countrymen, to pledge himself to the
+      king for their inviolable loyalty, as soon as they should be convinced of
+      the honesty of his intentions by the straightforwardness of his
+      proceedings; while, on the contrary, he assured him that there would be no
+      hopes of it as long as they were not relieved of the fear of being made
+      the victims of the oppression, and sacrificed to the envy of the Spanish
+      nobles. At last Montigny's coadjutor made his appearance, and the objects
+      of their embassy were made the subject of repeated deliberations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. The king was at that time at his palace at Segovia, where also he
+      assembled his state council. The members were: the Duke of Alva; Don Gomez
+      de Figueroa; the Count of Feria; Don Antonio of Toledo, Grand Commander of
+      St. John; Don John Manriquez of Lara, Lord Steward to the Queen; Ruy
+      Gomez, Prince of Eboli and Count of Melito; Louis of Quixada, Master of
+      the Horse to the Prince; Charles Tyssenacque, President of the Council for
+      the Netherlands; Hopper, State Counsellor and Keeper of the Seal; and
+      State Counsellor Corteville. The sitting of the council was protracted for
+      several days; both ambassadors were in attendance, but the king was not
+      himself present. Here, then, the conduct of the Belgian nobles was
+      examined by Spanish eyes; step by step it was traced back to the most
+      distant source; circumstances were brought into relation with others
+      which, in reality, never had any connection; and what had been the
+      offspring of the moment was made out to be a well-matured and far-sighted
+      plan. All the different transactions and attempts of the nobles which had
+      been governed solely by chance, and to which the natural order of events
+      alone assigned their particular shape and succession, were said to be the
+      result of a preconcerted scheme for introducing universal liberty in
+      religion, and for placing all the power of the state in the hands of the
+      nobles. The first step to this end was, it was said, the violent expulsion
+      of the minister Granvella, against whom nothing could be charged, except
+      that he was in possession of an authority which they preferred to exercise
+      themselves. The second step was sending Count Egmont to Spain to urge the
+      abolition of the Inquisition and the mitigation of the penal statutes, and
+      to prevail on the king to consent to an augmentation of the council of
+      state. As, however, this could not be surreptitiously obtained in so quiet
+      a manner, the attempt was made to extort it from the court by a third and
+      more daring step&mdash;by a formal conspiracy, the league of the Gueux.
+      The fourth step to the same end was the present embassy, which at length
+      boldly cast aside the mask, and by the insane proposals which they were
+      not ashamed to make to their king, clearly brought to light the object to
+      which all the preceding steps had tended. Could the abolition of the
+      Inquisition, they exclaimed, lead to anything less than a complete freedom
+      of belief? Would not the guiding helm of conscience be lost with it? Did
+      not the proposed "moderation" introduce an absolute impunity for all
+      heresies? What was the project of augmenting the council of state and of
+      suppressing the two other councils but a complete remodelling of the
+      government of the country in favor of the nobles?&mdash;a general
+      constitution for all the provinces of the Netherlands? Again, what was
+      this compact of the ecclesiastics in their public preachings but a third
+      conspiracy, entered into with the very same objects which the league of
+      the nobles in the council of state and that of the Gueux had failed to
+      effect?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, it was confessed that whatever might be the source of the evil it
+      was not on that account the less important and imminent. The immediate
+      personal presence of the king in Brussels was, indubitably, the most
+      efficacious means speedily and thoroughly to remedy it. As, however, it
+      was already so late in the year, and the preparations alone for the
+      journey would occupy the short tine which was to elapse before the winter
+      set in; as the stormy season of the year, as well as the danger from
+      French and English ships, which rendered the sea unsafe, did not allow of
+      the king's taking the northern route, which was the shorter of the two; as
+      the rebels themselves meanwhile might become possessed of the island of
+      Walcheren, and oppose the lauding of the king; for all these reasons, the
+      journey was not to be thought of before the spring, and in absence of the
+      only complete remedy it was necessary to rest satisfied with a partial
+      expedient. The council, therefore, agreed to propose to the king, in the
+      first place, that he should recall the papal Inquisition from the
+      provinces and rest satisfied with that of the bishops; in the second
+      place, that a new plan for the mitigation of the edicts should be
+      projected, by which the honor of religion and of the king would be better
+      preserved than it had been in the transmitted "moderation;" thirdly, that
+      in order to reassure the minds of the people, and to leave no means
+      untried, the king should impart to the regent full powers to extend free
+      grace and pardon to all those who had not already committed any heinous
+      crime, or who had not as yet been condemned by any judicial process; but
+      from the benefit of this indemnity the preachers and all who harbored them
+      were to be excepted. On the other hand, all leagues, associations, public
+      assemblies, and preachings were to be henceforth prohibited under heavy
+      penalties; if, however, this prohibition should be infringed, the regent
+      was to be at liberty to employ the regular troops and garrisons for the
+      forcible reduction of the refractory, and also, in case of necessity, to
+      enlist new troops, and to name the commanders over them according as
+      should be deemed advisable. Finally, it would have a good effect if his
+      majesty would write to the most eminent towns, prelates, and leaders of
+      the nobility, to some in his own hand, and to all in a gracious tone, in
+      order to stimulate their zeal in his service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this resolution of his council of state was submitted to the king his
+      first measure was to command public processions and prayers in all the
+      most considerable places of the kingdom and also of the Netherlands,
+      imploring the Divine guidance in his decision. He appeared in his own
+      person in the council of state in order to approve this resolution and
+      render it effective. He declared the general assembly of the states to be
+      useless and entirely abolished it. He, however, bound himself to retain
+      some German regiments in his pay, and, that they might serve with the more
+      zeal, to pay them their long-standing arrears. He commanded the regent in
+      a private letter to prepare secretly for war; three thousand horse and ten
+      thousand infantry were to be assembled by her in Germany, to which end he
+      furnished her with the necessary letters and transmitted to her a sum of
+      three hundred thousand gold florins. He also accompanied this resolution
+      with several autograph letters to some private individuals and towns, in
+      which he thanked them in the most gracious terms for the zeal which they
+      had already displayed in his service and called upon them to manifest the
+      same for the future. Notwithstanding that he was inexorable on the most
+      important point, and the very one on which the nation most particularly
+      insisted&mdash;the convocation of the states, notwithstanding that his
+      limited and ambiguous pardon was as good as none, and depended too much on
+      arbitrary will to calm the public mind; notwithstanding, in fine, that he
+      rejected, as too lenient, the proposed "moderation," but which, on the
+      part of the people, was complained of as too severe; still he had this
+      time made an unwonted step in the favor of the nation; he had sacrificed
+      to it the papal Inquisition and left only the episcopal, to which it was
+      accustomed. The nation had found more equitable judges in the Spanish
+      council than they could reasonably have hoped for. Whether at another time
+      and under other circumstances this wise concession would have had the
+      desired effect we will not pretend to say. It came too late; when (1566)
+      the royal letters reached Brussels the attack on images had already
+      commenced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK IV.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE ICONOCLASTS.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be sought
+      for so far back as many historians affect to trace them. It is certainly
+      possible, and very probable, that the French Protestants did industriously
+      exert themselves to raise in the Netherlands a nursery for their religion,
+      and to prevent by all means in their power an amicable adjustment of
+      differences between their brethren in the faith in that quarter and the
+      King of Spain, in order to give that implacable foe of their party enough
+      to do in his own country. It is natural, therefore, to suppose that their
+      agents in the provinces left nothing undone to encourage their oppressed
+      brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their animosity against the ruling
+      church, and by exaggerating the oppression under which they sighed to
+      hurry them imperceptibly into illegal courses. It is possible, too, that
+      there were many among the confederates who thought to help out their own
+      lost cause by increasing the number of their partners in guilt; who
+      thought they could not otherwise maintain the legal character of their
+      league unless the unfortunate results against which they had warned the
+      king really came to pass, and who hoped in the general guilt of all to
+      conceal their own individual criminality. It is, however, incredible that
+      the outbreak of the Iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan,
+      preconcerted, as it is alleged, at the convent of St. Truyen. It does not
+      seem likely that in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of
+      whom the greater part were the adherents of popery, an individual should
+      be found insane enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not
+      so much injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under
+      foot all respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and
+      which could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate.
+      Besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in its
+      execution altogether, too monstrous to have been anything more than the
+      offspring of the moment in which it saw the light; it seemed to flow so
+      naturally from the circumstances which preceded it that it does not
+      require to be traced far back to remount to its origin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, made brutal by
+      harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town,
+      scared from place to place and driven almost to despair, were compelled to
+      worship their God, and to hide like a work of darkness the universal,
+      sacred privilege of humanity. Before their eyes proudly rose the temples
+      of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged in ease
+      their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven from the
+      walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced, here in
+      the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful secrecy to
+      worship the same God; cast out from civil society into a state of nature,
+      and reminded in one dread moment of the rights of that state! The greater
+      their superiority of numbers the more unnatural did their lot appear; with
+      wonder they perceive the truth. The free heaven, the arms lying ready, the
+      frenzy in their brains and fury in their hearts combine to aid the
+      suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the occasion calls; no
+      premeditation is necessary where all eyes at once declare consent; the
+      resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely uttered; ready for any
+      unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what, the furious band rushes
+      onwards. The smiling prosperity of the hostile religion insults the
+      poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized temples casts contempt on
+      their proscribed belief; every cross they set up upon the highway, every
+      image of the saints that they meet, is a trophy erected over their own
+      humiliation, and they all must be removed by their avenging hands.
+      Fanaticism suggests these detestable proceedings, but base passions carry
+      them into execution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1566. The commencement of the attack on images took place in West Flanders
+      and Artois, in the districts between Lys and the sea. A frantic herd of
+      artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes, beggars,
+      vagabonds, and thieves, about three hundred in number, furnished with
+      clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords (a few only were provided with
+      swords or fire arms), cast themselves, with fanatical fury, into the
+      villages and hamlets near St. Omer, and breaking open the gates of such
+      churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow everywhere the
+      altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and trample them under
+      foot. With their excitement increased by its indulgence, and reinforced by
+      newcomers, they press on by the direct road to Ypres, where they can count
+      on the support of a strong body of Calvinists. Unopposed, they break into
+      the cathedral, and mounting on ladders they hammer to pieces the pictures,
+      hew down with axes the pulpits and pews, despoil the altars of their
+      ornaments, and steal the holy vessels. This example was quickly followed
+      in Menin, Comines, Verrich, Lille, and Oudenard; in a few days the same
+      fury spreads through the whole of Flanders. At the very time when the
+      first tidings of this occurrence arrived Antwerp was swarming with a crowd
+      of houseless people, which the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin had
+      brought together in that city. Even the presence of the Prince of Orange
+      was hardly sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned to
+      imitate the doings of their brethren in St. Omer; but an order from the
+      court which summoned him to Brussels, where the regent was just assembling
+      her council of state, in order to lay before them the royal letters,
+      obliged him to abandon Antwerp to the outrages of this band. His departure
+      was the signal for tumult. Apprehensive of the lawless violence of which,
+      on the very first day of the festival, the mob had given indications in
+      derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying about the image of the
+      Virgin for a short time, brought it for safety to the choir, without, as
+      formerly, setting it up in the middle of the church. This incited some
+      mischievous boys from among the people to pay it a visit there, and
+      jokingly inquire why she had so soon absented herself from among them?
+      Others mounting the pulpit, mimicked the preacher, and challenged the
+      papists to a dispute. A Roman Catholic waterman, indignant at this jest,
+      attempted to pull them down, and blows were exchanged in the preacher's
+      seat. Similar scenes occurred on the following evening. The numbers
+      increased, and many came already provided with suspicious implements and
+      secret weapons. At last it came into the head of one of them to cry, "Long
+      live the Gueux!" immediately the whole band took up the cry, and the image
+      of the Virgin was called upon to do the same. The few Roman Catholics who
+      were present, and who had given up the hope of effecting anything against
+      these desperadoes, left the church after locking all the doors except one.
+      So soon as they found themselves alone it was proposed to sing one of the
+      psalms in the new version, which was prohibited by the government. While
+      they were yet singing they all, as at a given signal, rushed furiously
+      upon the image of the Virgin, piercing it with swords and daggers, and
+      striking off its head; thieves and prostitutes tore the great wax-lights
+      from the altar, and lighted them to the work. The beautiful organ of the
+      church, a masterpiece of the art of that period, was broken to pieces, all
+      the paintings were effaced, the statues smashed to atoms. A crucifix, the
+      size of life, which was set up between the two thieves, opposite the high
+      altar, an ancient and highly valued piece of workmanship, was pulled to
+      the ground with cords, and cut to pieces with axes, while the two
+      malefactors at its side were respectfully spared. The holy wafers were
+      strewed on the ground and trodden under foot; in the wine used for the
+      Lord's Supper, which was accidentally found there, the health of the Gueux
+      was drunk, while with the holy oil they rubbed their shoes. The very tombs
+      were opened, and the half-decayed corpses torn up and trampled on. All
+      this was done with as much wonderful regularity as if each had previously
+      had his part assigned to him; every one worked into his neighbor's hands;
+      no one, dangerous as the work was, met with injury; in the midst of thick
+      darkness, which the tapers only served to render more sensible, with heavy
+      masses falling on all sides, and though on the very topmost steps of the
+      ladders, they scuffled with each other for the honors of demolition&mdash;yet
+      no one suffered the least injury. In spite of the many tapers which
+      lighted them below in their villanous work not a single individual was
+      recognized. With incredible rapidity was the dark deed accomplished; a
+      number of men, at most a hundred, despoiled in a few hours a temple of
+      seventy altars&mdash;after St. Peter's at Rome, perhaps the largest and
+      most magnificent in Christendom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The devastation of the cathedral did not content them; with torches and
+      tapers purloined from it they set out at midnight to perform a similar
+      work of havoc on the remaining churches, cloisters, and chapels. The
+      destructive hordes increased with every fresh exploit of infamy, and
+      thieves were allured by the opportunity. They carried away whatever they
+      found of value&mdash;the consecrated vessels, altar-cloths, money, and
+      vestments; in the cellars of the cloisters they drank to intoxication; to
+      escape greater indignities the monks and nuns abandoned everything to
+      them. The confused noises of these riotous acts had startled the citizens
+      from their first sleep; but night made the danger appear more alarming
+      than it really was, and instead of hastening to defend their churches the
+      citizens fortified themselves in their houses, and in terror and anxiety
+      awaited the dawn of morning. The rising sun at length revealed the
+      devastation which had been going on during the night; but the havoc did
+      not terminate with the darkness. Some churches and cloisters still
+      remained uninjured; the same fate soon overtook them also. The work of
+      destruction lasted three whole days. Alarmed at last lest the frantic mob,
+      when it could no longer find anything sacred to destroy, should make a
+      similar attack on lay property and plunder their ware houses; and
+      encouraged, too, by discovering how small was the number of the
+      depredators, the wealthier citizens ventured to show themselves in arms at
+      the doors of their houses. All the gates of the town were locked but one,
+      through which the Iconoclasts broke forth to renew the same atrocities in
+      the rural districts. On one occasion only during all this time did the
+      municipal officers venture to exert their authority, so strongly were they
+      held in awe by the superior power of the Calvinists, by whom, as it was
+      believed, this mob of miscreants was hired. The injury inflicted by this
+      work of devastation was incalculable. In the church of the Virgin it was
+      estimated at not less than four hundred thousand gold florins. Many
+      precious works of art were destroyed; many valuable manuscripts; many
+      monuments of importance to history and to diplomacy were thereby lost. The
+      city magistrate ordered the plundered articles to be restored on pain of
+      death; in enforcing this restitution he was effectually assisted by the
+      preachers of the Reformers, who blushed for their followers. Much was in
+      this manner recovered, and the ringleaders of the mob, less animated,
+      perhaps, by the desire of plunder than by fanaticism and revenge, or
+      perhaps being ruled by some unseen head, resolved for the future to guard
+      against these excesses, and to make their attacks in regular bands and in
+      better order.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The town of Ghent, meanwhile, trembled for a like destiny. Immediately on
+      the first news of the outbreak of the Iconoclasts in Antwerp the
+      magistrate of the former town with the most eminent citizens had bound
+      themselves to repel by force the church spoilers; when this oath was
+      proposed to the commonalty also the voices were divided, and many declared
+      openly that they were by no means disposed to hinder so devout a work. In
+      this state of affairs the Roman Catholic clergy found it advisable to
+      deposit in the citadel the most precious movables of their churches, and
+      private families were permitted in like manner to provide for the safety
+      of offerings which had been made by their ancestors. Meanwhile all the
+      services were discontinued, the courts of justice were closed; and, like a
+      town in momentary danger of being stormed by the enemy, men trembled in
+      expectation of what was to come. At last an insane band of rioters
+      ventured to send delegates to the governor with this impudent message:
+      "They were ordered," they said, "by their chiefs to take the images out of
+      the churches, as had been done in the other towns. If they were not
+      opposed it should be done quietly and with as little injury as possible,
+      but otherwise they would storm the churches;" nay, they went so far in
+      their audacity as to ask the aid of the officers of justice therein. At
+      first the magistrate was astounded at this demand; upon reflection,
+      however, and in the hope that the presence of the officers of law would
+      perhaps restrain their excesses, he did not scruple to grant their
+      request.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Tournay the churches were despoiled of their ornaments within sight of
+      the garrison, who could not be induced to march against the Iconoclasts.
+      As the latter had been told that the gold and silver vessels and other
+      ornaments of the church were buried underground, they turned up the whole
+      floor, and exposed, among others, the body of the Duke Adolph of Gueldres,
+      who fell in battle at the head of the rebellious burghers of Ghent, and
+      had been buried herein Tournay. This Adolph had waged war against his
+      father, and had dragged the vanquished old man some miles barefoot to
+      prison&mdash;an indignity which Charles the Bold afterwards retaliated on
+      him. And now, again, after more than half a century fate avenged a crime
+      against nature by another against religion; fanaticism was to desecrate
+      that which was holy in order to expose once more to execration the bones
+      of a parricide. Other Iconoclasts from Valenciennes united themselves with
+      those of Tournay to despoil all the cloisters of the surrounding district,
+      during which a valuable library, the accumulation of centuries, was
+      destroyed by fire. The evil soon penetrated into Brabant, also Malines,
+      Herzogenbusch, Breda, and Bergen-op-Zoom experienced the same fate. The
+      provinces, Namur and Luxemburg, with a part of Artois and of Hainault, had
+      alone the good fortune to escape the contagion of those outrages. In the
+      short period of four or five days four hundred cloisters were plundered in
+      Brabant and Flanders alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The northern Netherlands were soon seized with the same mania which had
+      raged so violently through the southern. The Dutch towns, Amsterdam,
+      Leyden, and Gravenhaag, had the alternative of either voluntarily
+      stripping their churches of their ornaments, or of seeing them violently
+      torn from there; the determination of their magistrates saved Delft,
+      Haarlem, Gouda, and Rotterdam from the devastation. The same acts of
+      violence were practised also in the islands of Zealand; the town of
+      Utrecht and many places in Overyssel and Groningen suffered the same
+      storms. Friesland was protected by the Count of Aremberg, and Gueldres by
+      the Count of Megen from a like fate. An exaggerated report of these
+      disturbances which came in from the provinces spread the alarm to
+      Brussels, where the regent had just made preparations for an extraordinary
+      session of the council of state. Swarms of Iconoclasts already penetrated
+      into Brabant; and the metropolis, where they were certain of powerful
+      support, was threatened by them with a renewal of the same atrocities then
+      under the very eyes of majesty. The regent, in fear for her personal
+      safety, which, even in the heart of the country, surrounded by provincial
+      governors and Knights of the Fleece, she fancied insecure, was already
+      meditating a flight to Mons, in Hainault, which town the Duke of Arschot
+      held for her as a place of refuge, that she might not be driven to any
+      undignified concession by falling into the power of the Iconoclasts. In
+      vain did the knights pledge life and blood for her safety, and urgently
+      beseech her not to expose them to disgrace by so dishonorable a flight, as
+      though they were wanting in courage or zeal to protect their princess; to
+      no purpose did the town of Brussels itself supplicate her not to abandon
+      them in this extremity, and vainly did the council of state make the most
+      impressive representations that so pusillanimous a step would not fail to
+      encourage still more the insolence of the rebels; she remained immovable
+      in this desperate condition. As messenger after messenger arrived to warn
+      her that the Iconoclasts were advancing against the metropolis, she issued
+      orders to hold everything in readiness for her flight, which was to take
+      place quietly with the first approach of morning. At break of day the aged
+      Viglius presented himself before her, whom, with the view of gratifying
+      the nobles, she had been long accustomed to neglect. He demanded to know
+      the meaning of the preparations he observed, upon which she at last
+      confessed that she intended to make her escape, and assured him that he
+      would himself do well to secure his own safety by accompanying her. "It is
+      now two years," said the old man to her, "that you might have anticipated
+      these results. Because I have spoken more freely than your courtiers you
+      have closed your princely ear to me, which has been open only to
+      pernicious suggestions." The regent allowed that she had been in fault,
+      and had been blinded by an appearance of probity; but that she was now
+      driven by necessity. "Are you resolved," answered Viglius, "resolutely to
+      insist upon obedience to the royal commands?" "I am," answered the
+      duchess. "Then have recourse to the great secret of the art of government,
+      to dissimulation, and pretend to join the princes until, with their
+      assistance, you have repelled this storm. Show them a confidence which you
+      are far from feeling in your heart. Make them take an oath to you that
+      they will make common cause in resisting these disorders. Trust those as
+      your friends who show themselves willing to do it; but be careful to avoid
+      frightening away the others by contemptuous treatment." Viglius kept the
+      regent engaged in conversation until the princes arrived, who he was quite
+      certain would in nowise consent to her flight. When they appeared he
+      quietly withdrew in order to issue commands to the town council to close
+      the gates of the city and prohibit egress to every one connected with the
+      court. This last measure effected more than all the representations had
+      done. The regent, who saw herself a prisoner in her own capital, now
+      yielded to the persuasions of the nobles, who pledged themselves to stand
+      by her to the last drop of blood. She made Count Mansfeld commandant of
+      the town, who hastily increased the garrison and armed her whole court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The state council was now held, who finally came to a resolution that it
+      was expedient to yield to the emergency; to permit the preachings in those
+      places where they had already commenced; to make known the abolition of
+      the papal Inquisition; to declare the old edicts against the heretics
+      repealed, and before all things to grant the required indemnity to the
+      confederate nobles, without limitation or condition. At the same time the
+      Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Horn, with some others, were appointed
+      to confer on this head with the deputies of the league. Solemnly and in
+      the most unequivocal terms the members of the league were declared free
+      from all responsibility by reason of the petition which had been
+      presented, and all royal officers and authorities were enjoined to act in
+      conformity with this assurance, and neither now nor for the future to
+      inflict any injury upon any of the confederates on account of the said
+      petition. In return, the confederates bound themselves to be true and
+      loyal servants of his majesty, to contribute to the utmost of their power
+      to the re-establishment of order and the punishment of the Iconiclasts, to
+      prevail on the people to lay down their arms, and to afford active
+      assistance to the king against internal and foreign enemies. Securities,
+      formally drawn up and subscribed by the plenipotentiaries of both sides,
+      were exchanged between them; the letter of indemnity, in particular, was
+      signed by the duchess with her own hand and attested by her seal. It was
+      only after a severe struggle, and with tears in her eyes, that the regent,
+      as she tremblingly confessed to the king, was at last induced to consent
+      to this painful step. She threw the whole blame upon the nobles, who had
+      kept her a prisoner in Brussels and compelled her to it by force. Above
+      all she complained bitterly of the Prince of Orange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This business accomplished, all the governors hastened to their provinces;
+      Egmont to Flanders, Orange to Antwerp. In the latter city the Protestants
+      had seized the despoiled and plundered churches, and, as if by the rights
+      of war, had taken possession of them. The prince restored them to their
+      lawful owners, gave orders for their repair, and re-established in them
+      the Roman Catholic form of worship. Three of the Iconoclasts, who had been
+      convicted, paid the penalty of their sacrilege on the gallows; some of the
+      rioters were banished, and many others underwent punishment. Afterwards he
+      assembled four deputies of each dialect, or nations, as they were termed,
+      and agreed with them that, as the approaching winter made preaching in the
+      open air impossible, three places within the town should be granted then,
+      where they might either erect new churches, or convert private houses to
+      that purpose. That they should there perform their service every Sunday
+      and holiday, and always at the same hour, but on no other days. If,
+      however, no holiday happened in the week, Wednesday should be kept by them
+      instead. No religious party should maintain more than two clergymen, and
+      these must be native Netherlanders, or at least have received
+      naturalization from some considerable town of the provinces. All should
+      take an oath to submit in civil matters to the municipal authorities and
+      the Prince of Orange. They should be liable, like the other citizens, to
+      all imposts. No one should attend sermons armed; a sword, however, should
+      be allowed to each. No preacher should assail the ruling religion from the
+      pulpit, nor enter upon controverted points, beyond what the doctrine
+      itself rendered unavoidable, or what might refer to morals. No psalm
+      should be sung by them out of their appointed district. At the election of
+      their preachers, churchwardens, and deacons, as also at all their other
+      consistorial meetings, a person from the government should on each
+      occasion be present to report their proceedings to the prince and the
+      magistrate. As to all other points they should enjoy the same protection
+      as the ruling religion. This arrangement was to hold good until the king,
+      with consent of the states, should determine otherwise; but then it should
+      be free to every one to quit the country with his family and his property.
+      From Antwerp the prince hastened to Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, in
+      order to make there similar arrangements for the restoration of peace;
+      Antwerp, however, was, during his absence, entrusted to the
+      superintendence of Count Howstraten, who was a mild man, and although an
+      adherent of the league, had never failed in loyalty to the king. It is
+      evident that in this agreement the prince had far overstepped the powers
+      entrusted to him, and though in the service of the king had acted exactly
+      like a sovereign lord. But he alleged in excuse that it would be far
+      easier to the magistrate to watch these numerous and powerful sects if he
+      himself interfered in their worship, and if this took place under his
+      eyes, than if he were to leave the sectarians to themselves in the open
+      air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Gueldres Count Megen showed more severity, and entirely suppressed the
+      Protestant sects and banished all their preachers. In Brussels the regent
+      availed herself of the advantage derived from her personal presence to put
+      a stop to the public preaching, even outside the town. When, in reference
+      to this, Count Nassau reminded her in the name of the confederates of the
+      compact which had been entered into, and demanded if the town of Brussels
+      had inferior rights to the other towns? she answered, if there were public
+      preachings in Brussels before the treaty, it was not her work if they were
+      now discontinued. At the same time, however, she secretly gave the
+      citizens to understand that the first who should venture to attend a
+      public sermon should certainly be hung. Thus she kept the capital at least
+      faithful to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was more difficult to quiet Tournay, which office was committed to
+      Count Horn, in the place of Montigny, to whose government the town
+      properly belonged. Horn commanded the Protestants to vacate the churches
+      immediately, and to content themselves with a house of worship outside the
+      walls. To this their preachers objected that the churches were erected for
+      the use of the people, by which terms, they said, not the heads but the
+      majority were meant. If they were expelled from the Roman Catholic
+      churches it was at least fair that they should be furnished with money for
+      erecting churches of their own. To this the magistrate replied even if the
+      Catholic party was the weaker it was indisputably the better. The erection
+      of churches should not be forbidden them; they could not, however, after
+      the injury which the town had already suffered from their brethren, the
+      Iconoclasts, very well expect that it should be further burdened by the
+      erection of their churches. After long quarrelling on both sides, the
+      Protestants contrived to retain possession of some churches, which, for
+      greater security, they occupied with guards. In Valenciennes, too, the
+      Protestants refused submission to the conditions which were offered to
+      them through Philip St. Aldegonde, Baron of Noircarmes, to whom, in the
+      absence of the Marquis of Bergen, the government of that place was
+      entrusted. A reformed preacher, La Grange, a Frenchman by birth, who by
+      his eloquence had gained a complete command over them, urged them to
+      insist on having churches of their own within the town, and to threaten in
+      case of refusal to deliver it up to the Huguenots. A sense of the superior
+      numbers of the Calvinists, and of their understanding with the Huguenots,
+      prevented the governor adopting forcible measures against them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Count Egmont, also to manifest his zeal for the king's service, did
+      violence to his natural kind-heartedness. Introducing a garrison into the
+      town of Ghent, he caused some of the most refractory rebels to be put to
+      death. The churches were reopened, the Roman Catholic worship renewed, and
+      all foreigners, without exception, ordered to quit the province. To the
+      Calvinists, but to them alone, a site was granted outside the town for the
+      erection of a church. In return they were compelled to pledge themselves
+      to the most rigid obedience to the municipal authorities, and to active
+      co-operation in the proceedings against the Iconoclasts. He pursued
+      similar measures through all Flanders and Artois. One of his noblemen,
+      John Cassembrot, Baron of Beckerzeel, and a leaguer, pursuing the
+      Iconoclasts at the head of some horsemen of the league, surprised a band
+      of them just as they were about to break into a town of Hainault, near
+      Grammont, in Flanders, and took thirty of them prisoners, of whom
+      twenty-two were hung upon the spot, and the rest whipped out of the
+      province.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Services of such importance one would have thought scarcely deserved to be
+      rewarded with the displeasure of the king; what Orange, Egmont, and Horn
+      performed on this occasion evinced at least as much zeal and had as
+      beneficial a result as anything that was accomplished by Noircarmes,
+      Megen, and Aremberg, to whom the king vouchsafed to show his gratitude
+      both by words and deeds. But their zeal, their services came too late.
+      They had spoken too loudly against his edicts, had been too vehement in
+      their opposition to his measures, had insulted him too grossly in the
+      person of his minister Granvella, to leave room for forgiveness. No time,
+      no repentance, no atonement, however great, could efface this one offence
+      from the memory of their sovereign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philip lay sick at Segovia when the news of the outbreak of the
+      Iconoclasts and the uncatholic agreement entered into with the Reformers
+      reached him. At the same time the regent renewed her urgent entreaty for
+      his personal visit, of which also all the letters treated, which the
+      President Viglius exchanged with his friend Hopper. Many also of the
+      Belgian nobles addressed special letters to the king, as, for instance,
+      Egmont, Mansfeld, Megen, Aremberg, Noircarmes, and Barlaimont, in which
+      they reported the state of their provinces, and at once explained and
+      justified the arrangements they had made with the disaffected. Just at
+      this period a letter arrived from the German Emperor, in which he
+      recommended Philip to act with clemency towards his Belgian subjects, and
+      offered his mediation in the matter. He had also written direct to the
+      regent herself in Brussels, and added letters to the several leaders of
+      the nobility, which, however, were never delivered. Having conquered the
+      first anger which this hateful occurrence had excited, the king referred
+      the whole matter to his council.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The party of Granvella, which had the preponderance in the council, was
+      diligent in tracing a close connection between the behavior of the Flemish
+      nobles and the excesses of the church desecrators, which showed itself in
+      similarity of the demands of both parties, and especially the time which
+      the latter chose for their outbreak. In the same month, they observed, in
+      which the nobles had sent in their three articles of pacification, the
+      Iconoclasts had commenced their work; on the evening of the very day that
+      Orange quitted Antwerp the churches too were plundered. During the whole
+      tumult not a finger was lifted to take up arms; all the expedients
+      employed were invariably such as turned to the advantage of the sects,
+      while, on the contrary, all others were neglected which tended to the
+      maintenance of the pure faith. Many of the Iconoclasts, it was further
+      said, had confessed that all that they had done was with the knowledge and
+      consent of the princes; though surely nothing was more natural, than for
+      such worthless wretches to seek to screen with great names a crime which
+      they had undertaken solely on their own account. A writing also was
+      produced in which the high nobility were made to promise their services to
+      the "Gueux," to procure the assembly of the states general, the
+      genuineness of which, however, the former strenuously denied. Four
+      different seditious parties were, they said, to be noticed in the
+      Netherlands, which were all more or less connected with one another, and
+      all worked towards a common end. One of these was those bands of
+      reprobates who desecrated the churches; a second consisted of the various
+      sects who had hired the former to perform their infamous acts; the
+      "Gueux," who had raised themselves to be the defenders of the sects were
+      the third; and the leading nobles who were inclined to the "Gueux" by
+      feudal connections, relationship, and friendship, composed the fourth.
+      All, consequently, were alike fatally infected, and all equally guilty.
+      The government had not merely to guard against a few isolated members; it
+      had to contend with the whole body. Since, then, it was ascertained that
+      the people were the seduced party, and the encouragement to rebellion came
+      from higher quarters, it would be wise and expedient to alter the plan
+      hitherto adopted, which now appeared defective in several respects.
+      Inasmuch as all classes had been oppressed without distinction, and as
+      much of severity shown to the lower orders as of contempt to the nobles,
+      both had been compelled to lend support to one another; a party had been
+      given to the latter and leaders to the former. Unequal treatment seemed an
+      infallible expedient to separate them; the mob, always timid and indolent
+      when not goaded by the extremity of distress, would very soon desert its
+      adored protectors and quickly learn to see in their fate well-merited
+      retribution if only it was not driven to share it with them. It was
+      therefore proposed to the king to treat the great multitude for the future
+      with more leniency, and to direct all measures of severity against the
+      leaders of the faction. In order, however, to avoid the appearance of a
+      disgraceful concession, it was considered advisable to accept the
+      mediation of the Emperor, and to impute to it alone and not to the justice
+      of their demands, that the king out of pure generosity had granted to his
+      Belgian subjects as much as they asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The question of the king's personal visit to the provinces was now again
+      mooted, and all the difficulties which had formerly been raised on this
+      head appeared to vanish before the present emergency. "Now," said
+      Tyssenacque and Hopper, "the juncture has really arrived at which the
+      king, according to his own declaration formerly made to Count Egmont, will
+      be ready to risk a thousand lives. To restore quiet to Ghent Charles V.
+      had undertaken a troublesome and dangerous journey through an enemy's
+      country. This was done for the sake of a single town; and now the peace,
+      perhaps even the possession, of all the United Provinces was at stake."
+      This was the opinion of the majority; and the journey of the king was
+      looked upon as a matter from which he could not possibly any longer
+      escape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The question now was, whether he should enter upon it with a numerous body
+      of attendants or with few; and here the Prince of Eboli and Count Figueroa
+      were at issue with the Duke of Alva, as their private interests clashed.
+      If the king journeyed at the head of an army the presence of the Duke of
+      Alva would be indispensable, who, on the other hand, if matters were
+      peaceably adjusted, would be less required, and must make room for his
+      rivals. "An army," said Figueroa, who spoke first, "would alarm the
+      princes through whose territories it must march, and perhaps even be
+      opposed by them; it would, moreover, unnecessarily burden the provinces
+      for whose tranquillization it was intended, and add a new grievance to the
+      many which had already driven the people to such lengths. It would press
+      indiscriminately upon all of the king's subjects, whereas a court of
+      justice, peaceably administering its office, would observe a marked
+      distinction between the innocent and the guilty. The unwonted violence of
+      the former course would tempt the leaders of the faction to take a more
+      alarming view of their behavior, in which wantonness and levity had the
+      chief share, and consequently induce them to proceed with deliberation and
+      union; the thought of having forced the king to such lengths would plunge
+      them into despair, in which they would be ready to undertake anything. If
+      the king placed himself in arms against the rebels he would forfeit the
+      most important advantage which he possessed over them, namely, his
+      authority as sovereign of the country, which would prove the more powerful
+      in proportion as he showed his reliance upon that alone. He would place
+      himself thereby, as it were, on a level with the rebels, who on their side
+      would not be at a loss to raise an army, as the universal hatred of the
+      Spanish forces would operate in their favor with the nation. By this
+      procedure the king would exchange the certain advantage which his position
+      as sovereign of the country conferred upon him for the uncertain result of
+      military operations, which, result as they might, would of necessity
+      destroy a portion of his own subjects. The rumor of his hostile approach
+      would outrun him time enough to allow all who were conscious of a bad
+      cause to place themselves in a posture of defence, and to combine and
+      render availing both their foreign and domestic resources. Here again the
+      general alarm would do them important service; the uncertainty who would
+      be the first object of this warlike approach would drive even the less
+      guilty to the general mass of the rebels, and force those to become
+      enemies to the king who otherwise would never have been so. If, however,
+      he was coming among them without such a formidable accompaniment; if his
+      appearance was less that of a sanguinary judge than of an angry parent,
+      the courage of all good men would rise, and the bad would perish in their
+      own security. They would persuade themselves what had happened was
+      unimportant; that it did not appear to the king of sufficient moment to
+      call for strong measures. They wished if they could to avoid the chance of
+      ruining, by acts of open violence, a cause which might perhaps yet be
+      saved; consequently, by this quiet, peaceable method everything would be
+      gained which by the other would be irretrievably lost; the loyal subject
+      would in no degree be involved in the same punishment with the culpable
+      rebel; on the latter alone would the whole weight of the royal indignation
+      descend. Lastly, the enormous expenses would be avoided which the
+      transport of a Spanish army to those distant regions would occasion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But," began the Duke of Alva, "ought the injury of some few citizens to
+      be considered when danger impends over the whole? Because a few of the
+      loyally-disposed may suffer wrong are the rebels therefore not to be
+      chastised? The offence has been universal, why then should not the
+      punishment be the same? What the rebels have incurred by their actions the
+      rest have incurred equally by their supineness. Whose fault is it but
+      theirs that the former have so far succeeded? Why did they not promptly
+      oppose their first attempts? It is said that circumstances were not so
+      desperate as to justify this violent remedy; but who will insure us that
+      they will not be so by the time the king arrives, especially when,
+      according to every fresh despatch of the regent, all is hastening with
+      rapid strides to a-ruinous consummation? Is it a hazard we ought to run to
+      leave the king to discover on his entrance into the provinces the
+      necessity of his having brought with him a military force? It is a fact
+      only too well-established that the rebels have secured foreign succors,
+      which stand ready at their command on the first signal; will it then be
+      time to think of preparing for war when the enemy pass the frontiers? Is
+      it a wise risk to rely for aid upon the nearest Belgian troops when their
+      loyalty is so little to be depended upon? And is not the regent
+      perpetually reverting in her despatches to the fact that nothing but the
+      want of a suitable military force has hitherto hindered her from enforcing
+      the edicts, and stopping the progress of the rebels? A well-disciplined
+      and formidable army alone will disappoint all their hopes of maintaining
+      themselves in opposition to their lawful sovereign, and nothing but the
+      certain prospect of destruction will make them lower their demands.
+      Besides, without an adequate force, the king cannot venture his person in
+      hostile countries; he cannot enter into any treaties with his rebellious
+      subjects which would not be derogatory to his honor."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The authority of the speaker gave preponderance to his arguments, and the
+      next question was, when the king should commence his journey and what road
+      he should take. As the voyage by sea was on every account extremely
+      hazardous, he had no other alternative but either to proceed thither
+      through the passes near Trent across. Germany, or to penetrate from Savoy
+      over the Apennine Alps. The first route would expose him to the danger of
+      the attack of the German Protestants, who were not likely to view with
+      indifference the objects of his journey, and a passage over the Apennines
+      was at this late season of the year not to be attempted. Moreover, it
+      would be necessary to send for the requisite galleys from Italy, and
+      repair them, which would take several months. Finally, as the assembly of
+      the Cortes of Castile, from which he could not well be absent, was already
+      appointed for December, the journey could not be undertaken before the
+      spring. Meanwhile the regent pressed for explicit instructions how she was
+      to extricate herself from her present embarrassment, without compromising
+      the royal dignity too far; and it was necessary to do something in the
+      interval till the king could undertake to appease the troubles by his
+      personal presence. Two separate letters were therefore despatched to the
+      duchess; one public, which she could lay before the states and the council
+      chambers, and one private, which was intended for herself alone. In the
+      first, the king announced to her his restoration to health, and the
+      fortunate birth of the Infanta Clara Isabella Eugenia, afterwards wife of
+      the Archduke Albert of Austria and Princess of the Netherlands. He
+      declared to her his present firm intention to visit the Netherlands in
+      person, for which he was already making the necessary preparations. The
+      assembling of the states he refused, as he had previously done. No mention
+      was made in this letter of the agreement which she had entered into with
+      the Protestants and with the league, because he did not deem it advisable
+      at present absolutely to reject it, and he was still less disposed to
+      acknowledge its validity. On the other hand, he ordered her to reinforce
+      the army, to draw together new regiments from Germany, and to meet the
+      refractory with force. For the rest, he concluded, he relied upon the
+      loyalty of the leading nobility, among whom he knew many who were sincere
+      in their attachment both to their religion and their king. In the secret
+      letter she was again enjoined to do all in her power to prevent the
+      assembling of the states; but if the general voice should become
+      irresistible, and she was compelled to yield, she was at least to manage
+      so cautiously that the royal dignity should not suffer, and no one learn
+      the king's consent to their assembly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While these consultations were held in Spain the Protestants in the
+      Netherlands made the most extensive use of the privileges which had been
+      compulsorily granted to them. The erection of churches wherever it was
+      permitted was completed with incredible rapidity; young and old, gentle
+      and simple, assisted in carrying stones; women sacrificed even their
+      ornaments in order to accelerate the work. The two religious parties
+      established in several towns consistories, and a church council of their
+      own, the first move of the kind being made in Antwerp, and placed their
+      form of worship on a well-regulated footing. It was also proposed to raise
+      a common fund by subscription to meet any sudden emergency of the
+      Protestant church in general. In Antwerp a memorial was presented by the
+      Calvinists of that town to the Count of Hogstraten, in which they offered
+      to pay three millions of dollars to secure the free exercise of their
+      religion. Many copies of this writing were circulated in the Netherlands;
+      and in order to stimulate others, many had ostentatiously subscribed their
+      names to large sums. Various interpretations of this extravagant offer
+      were made by the enemies of the Reformers, and all had some appearance of
+      reason. For instance, it was urged that under the pretext of collecting
+      the requisite sum for fulfilling this engagement they hoped, without
+      suspicion, to raise funds for military purposes; for whether they should
+      be called upon to contribute for or against they would, it was thought, be
+      more ready to burden themselves with a view of preserving peace than for
+      an oppressive and devasting war. Others saw in this offer nothing more
+      than a temporary stratagem of the Protestants by which they hoped to bind
+      the court and keep it irresolute until they should have gained sufficient
+      strength to confront it. Others again declared it to be a downright
+      bravado in order to alarm the regent, and to raise the courage of their
+      own party by the display of such rich resources. But whatever was the true
+      motive of this proposition, its originators gained little by it; the
+      contributions flowed in scantily and slowly, and the court answered the
+      proposal with silent contempt. The excesses, too, of the Iconoclasts, far
+      from promoting the cause of the league and advancing the Protestants
+      interests, had done irreparable injury to both. The sight of their ruined
+      churches, which, in the language of Viglius, resembled stables more than
+      houses of God, enraged the Roman Catholics, and above all the clergy. All
+      of that religion, who had hitherto been members of the league, now forsook
+      it, alleging that even if it had not intentionally excited and encouraged
+      the excesses of the Iconoclasts it had beyond question remotely led to
+      them. The intolerance of the Calvinists who, wherever they were the ruling
+      party, cruelly oppressed the Roman Catholics, completely expelled the
+      delusion in which the latter had long indulged, and they withdrew their
+      support from a party from which, if they obtained the upper hand, their
+      own religion had so much cause to fear. Thus the league lost many of its
+      best members; the friends and patrons, too, which it had hitherto found
+      amongst the well-disposed citizens now deserted it, and its character
+      began perceptibly to decline. The severity with which some of its members
+      had acted against the Iconoclasts in order to prove their good disposition
+      towards the regent, and to remove the suspicion of any connection with the
+      malcontents, had also injured them with the people who favored the latter,
+      and thus the league was in danger of ruining itself with both parties at
+      the same time. The regent had no sooner became acquainted with this change
+      in the public mind than she devised a plan by which she hoped gradually to
+      dissolve the whole league, or at least to enfeeble it through internal
+      dissensions. For this end she availed herself of the private letters which
+      the king had addressed to some of the nobles, and enclosed to her with
+      full liberty to use them at her discretion. These letters, which
+      overflowed with kind expressions were presented to those for whom they
+      were intended, with an attempt at secrecy, which designedly miscarried, so
+      that on each occasion some one or other of those who had received nothing
+      of the sort got a hint of them. In order to spread suspicion the more
+      widely numerous copies of the letters were circulated. This artifice
+      attained its object. Many members of the league began to doubt the honesty
+      of those to whom such brilliant promises were made; through fear of being
+      deserted by their principal members and supporters, they eagerly accepted
+      the conditions which were offered them by the regent, and evinced great
+      anxiety for a speedy reconciliation with the court. The general rumor of
+      the impending visit of the king, which the regent took care to have widely
+      circulated, was also of great service to her in this matter; many who
+      could not augur much good to themselves from the royal presence did not
+      hesitate to accept a pardon, which, perhaps, for what they could tell, was
+      offered them for the last time. Among those who thus received private
+      letters were Egmont and Prince of Orange. Both had complained to the king
+      of the evil reports with which designing persons in Spain had labored to
+      brand their names, and to throw suspicion on their motives and intentions;
+      Egmont, in particular, with the honest simplicity which was peculiar to
+      his character, had asked the monarch only to point out to him what he most
+      desired, to determine the particular action by which his favor could be
+      best obtained and zeal in his service evinced, and it should, he assured
+      him, be done. The king in reply caused the president, Von Tyssenacque, to
+      tell him that he could do nothing better to refute his traducers than to
+      show perfect submission to the royal orders, which were so clearly and
+      precisely drawn up, that no further exposition of them was required, nor
+      any particular instruction. It was the sovereign's part to deliberate, to
+      examine, and to decide; unconditionally to obey was the duty of the
+      subject; the honor of the latter consisted in his obedence. It did not
+      become a member to hold itself wiser than the head. He was assuredly to be
+      blamed for not having done his utmost to curb the unruliness of his
+      sectarians; but it was even yet in his power to make up for past
+      negligence by at least maintaining peace and order until the actual
+      arrival of the king. In thus punishing Count Egmont with reproofs like a
+      disobedient child, the king treated him in accordance with what he knew of
+      his character; with his friend he found it necessary to call in the aid of
+      artifice and deceit. Orange, too, in his letter, had alluded to the
+      suspicions which the king entertained of his loyalty and attachment, but
+      not, like Egmont, in the vain hope of removing them; for this, he had long
+      given up; but in order to pass from these complaints to a request for
+      permission to resign his offices. He had already frequently made this
+      request to the regent, but had always received from her a refusal,
+      accompanied with the strongest assurance of her regard. The king also, to
+      whom he now at last addressed a direct application, returned him the same
+      answer, graced with similar strong assurances of his satisfaction and
+      gratitude. In particular he expressed the high satisfaction he entertained
+      of his services, which he had lately rendered the crown in Antwerp, and
+      lamented deeply that the private affairs of the prince (which the latter
+      had made his chief plea for demanding his dismissal) should have fallen
+      into such disorder; but ended with the declaration that it was impossible
+      for him to dispense with his valuable services at a crisis which demanded
+      the increase, rather than diminution, of his good and honest servants. He
+      had thought, he added, that the prince entertained a better opinion of him
+      than to suppose him capable of giving credit to the idle talk of certain
+      persons, who were friends neither to the prince nor to himself. But, at
+      the same time, to give him a proof of his sincerity, he complained to him
+      in confidence of his brother, the Count of Nassau, pretended to ask his
+      advice in the matter, and finally expressed a wish to have the count
+      removed for a period from the Netherlands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Philip had here to do with a head which in cunning was superior to his
+      own. The Prince of Orange had for a long time held watch over him and his
+      privy council in Madrid and Segovia, through a host of spies, who reported
+      to him everything of importance that was transacted there. The court of
+      this most secret of all despots had become accessible to his intriguing
+      spirit and his money; in this manner he had gained possession of several
+      autograph letters of the regent, which she had secretly written to Madrid,
+      and had caused copies to be circulated in triumph in Brussels, and in a
+      measure under her own eyes, insomuch that she saw with astonishment in
+      everybody's hands what she thought was preserved with so much care, and
+      entreated the king for the future to destroy her despatches immediately
+      they were read. William's vigilance did not confine itself simply to the
+      court of Spain; he had spies in France, and even at more distant courts.
+      He is also charged with not being over scrupulous as to the means by which
+      he acquired his intelligence. But the most important disclosure was made
+      by an intercepted letter of the Spanish ambassador in France, Francis Von
+      Alava, to the duchess, in which the former descanted on the fair
+      opportunity which was now afforded to the king, through the guilt of the
+      Netherlandish people, of establishing an arbitrary power in that country.
+      He therefore advised her to deceive the nobles by the very arts which they
+      had hitherto employed against herself, and to secure them through smooth
+      words and an obliging behavior. The king, he concluded, who knew the
+      nobles to be the hidden springs of all the previous troubles, would take
+      good care to lay hands upon them at the first favorable opportunity, as
+      well as the two whom he had already in Spain; and did not mean to let them
+      go again, having sworn to make an example in them which should horrify the
+      whole of Christendom, even if it should cost him his hereditary dominions.
+      This piece of evil news was strongly corroborated by the letters which
+      Bergen and Montigny wrote from Spain, and in which they bitterly
+      complained of the contemptuous behavior of the grandees and the altered
+      deportment of the monarch towards them; and the Prince of Orange was now
+      fully sensible what he had to expect from the fair promises of the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The letter of the minister, Alava, together with some others from Spain,
+      which gave a circumstantial account of the approaching warlike visit of
+      the king, and of his evil intentions against the nobles, was laid by the
+      prince before his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, Counts Egmont, Horn, and
+      Hogstraten, at a meeting at Dendermonde in Flanders, whither these five
+      knights had repaired to confer on the measures necessary for their
+      security. Count Louis, who listened only to his feelings of indignation,
+      foolhardily maintained that they ought, without loss of time, to take up
+      arms and seize some strongholds. That they ought at all risks to prevent
+      the king's armed entrance into the provinces. That they should endeavor to
+      prevail on the Swiss, the Protestant princes of Germany, and the Huguenots
+      to arm and obstruct his passage through their territories; and if,
+      notwithstanding, he should force his way through these impediments, that
+      the Flemings should meet him with an army on the frontiers. He would take
+      upon himself to negotiate a defensive alliance in France, in Switzerland,
+      and in Germany, and to raise in the latter empire four thousand horse,
+      together with a proportionate body of infantry. Pretexts would not be
+      wanting for collecting the requisite supplies of money, and the merchants
+      of the reformed sect would, he felt assured, not fail them. But William,
+      more cautious and more wise, declared himself against this proposal,
+      which, in the execution, would be exposed to numberless difficulties, and
+      had as yet nothing to justify it. The Inquisition, he represented, was in
+      fact abolished, the edicts were nearly sunk into oblivion, and a fair
+      degree of religious liberty accorded. Hitherto, therefore, there existed
+      no valid or adequate excuse for adopting this hostile method; he did not
+      doubt, however, that one would be presented to them before long, and in
+      good time for preparation. His own opinion consequently was that they
+      should await this opportunity with patience, and in the meanwhile still
+      keep a watchful eye upon everything, and contrive to give the people a
+      hint of the threatened danger, that they might be ready to act if
+      circumstances should call for their co-operation. If all present had
+      assented to the opinion of the Prince of Orange, there is no doubt but so
+      powerful a league, formidable both by the influence and the high character
+      of its members, would have opposed obstacles to the designs of the king
+      which would have compelled him to abandon them entirely. But the
+      determination of the assembled knights was much shaken by the declaration
+      with which Count Egmont surprised them. "Rather," said he, "may all that
+      is evil befall me than that I should tempt fortune so rashly. The idle
+      talk of the Spaniard, Alava, does not move me; how should such a person be
+      able to read the mind of a sovereign so reserved as Philip, and to
+      decipher his secrets? The intelligence which Montigny gives us goes to
+      prove nothing more than that the king has a very doubtful opinion of our
+      zeal for his service, and believes he has cause to distrust our loyalty;
+      and for this I for my part must confess that we have given him only too
+      much cause. And it is my serious purpose, by redoubling my zeal, to regain
+      his good opinion, and by my future behavior to remove, if possible, the
+      distrust which my actions have hitherto excited. How could I tear myself
+      from the arms of my numerous and dependent family to wander as an exile at
+      foreign courts, a burden to every one who received me, the slave of every
+      one who condescended to assist me, a servant of foreigners, in order to
+      escape a slight degree of constraint at home? Never can the monarch act
+      unkindly towards a servant who was once beloved and dear to him, and who
+      has established a well-grounded claim to his gratitude. Never shall I be
+      persuaded that he who has expressed such favorable, such gracious
+      sentiments towards his Belgian subjects, and with his own mouth gave me
+      such emphatic, such solemn assurances, can be now devising, as it is
+      pretended, such tyrannical schemes against them. If we do but restore to
+      the country its former repose, chastise the rebels, and re-establish the
+      Roman Catholic form of worship wherever it has been violently suppressed,
+      then, believe me, we shall hear no more of Spanish troops. This is the
+      course to which I now invite you all by my counsel and my example, and to
+      which also most of our brethren already incline. I, for my part, fear
+      nothing from the anger of the king. My conscience acquits me. I trust my
+      fate and fortunes to his justice and clemency." In vain did Nassau, Horn,
+      and Orange labor to shake his resolution, and to open his eyes to the near
+      and inevitable danger. Egmont was really attached to the king; the royal
+      favors, and the condescension with which they were conferred, were still
+      fresh in his remembrance. The attentions with which the monarch had
+      distinguished him above all his friends had not failed of their effect. It
+      was more from false shame than from party spirit that he had defended the
+      cause of his countrymen against him; more from temperament and natural
+      kindness of heart than from tried principles that he had opposed the
+      severe measures of the government. The love of the nation, which
+      worshipped him as its idol, carried him away. Too vain to renounce a title
+      which sounded so agreeable, he had been compelled to do something to
+      deserve it; but a single look at his family, a harsher designation applied
+      to his conduct, a dangerous inference drawn from it, the mere sound of
+      crime, terrified him from his self-delusion, and scared him back in haste
+      and alarm to his duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Orange's whole plan was frustrated by Egmont's withdrawal. The latter
+      possessed the hearts of the people and the confidence of the army, without
+      which it was utterly impossible to undertake anything effective. The rest
+      had reckoned with so much certainty upon him that his unexpected defection
+      rendered the whole meeting nugatory. They therefore separated without
+      coming to a determination. All who had met in Dendermonde were expected in
+      the council of state in Brussels; but Egmont alone repaired thither. The
+      regent wished to sift him on the subject of this conference, but she could
+      extract nothing further from him than the production of the letter of
+      Alava, of which he had purposely taken a copy, and which, with the
+      bitterest reproofs, he laid before her. At first she changed color at
+      sight of it, but quickly recovering herself, she boldly declared that it
+      was a forgery. "How can this letter," she said, "really come from Alava,
+      when I miss none? And would he who pretends to have intercepted it have
+      spared the other letters? Nay, how can it be true, when not a single
+      packet has miscarried, nor a single despatch failed to come to hand? How,
+      too, can it be thought likely that the king would have made Alava master
+      of a secret which he has not communicated even to me?"
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                CIVIL WAR
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      1566. Meanwhile the regent hastened to take advantage of the schism
+      amongst the nobles to complete the ruin of the league, which was already
+      tottering under the weight of internal dissensions. Without loss of time
+      she drew from Germany the troops which Duke Eric of Brunswick was holding
+      in readiness, augmented the cavalry, and raised five regiments of
+      Walloons, the command of which she gave to Counts Mansfeld, Megen,
+      Aremberg, and others. To the prince, likewise, she felt it necessary to
+      confide troops, both because she did not wish, by withholding them
+      pointedly, to insult him, and also because the provinces of which he was
+      governor were in urgent need of them; but she took the precaution of
+      joining with him a Colonel Waldenfinger, who should watch all his steps
+      and thwart his measures if they appeared dangerous. To Count Egmont the
+      clergy in Flanders paid a contribution of forty thousand gold florins for
+      the maintenance of fifteen hundred men, whom he distributed among the
+      places where danger was most apprehended. Every governor was ordered to
+      increase his military force, and to provide himself with ammunition. These
+      energetic preparations, which were making in all places, left no doubt as
+      to the measures which the regent would adopt in future. Conscious of her
+      superior force, and certain of this important support, she now ventured to
+      change her tone, and to employ quite another language with the rebels. She
+      began to put the most arbitrary interpretation on the concessions which,
+      through fear and necessity, she had made to the Protestants, and to
+      restrict all the liberties which she had tacitly granted them to the mere
+      permission of their preaching. All other religious exercises and rites,
+      which yet appeared to be involved in the former privilege, were by new
+      edicts expressly forbidden, and all offenders in such matters were to be
+      proceeded against as traitors. The Protestants were permitted to think
+      differently from the ruling church upon the sacrament, but to receive it
+      differently was a crime; baptism, marriage, burial, after their fashion,
+      were probibited under pain of death. It was a cruel mockery to allow them
+      their religion, and forbid the exercise of it; but this mean artifice of
+      the regent to escape from the obligation of her pledged word was worthy of
+      the pusillanimity with which she had submitted to its being extorted from
+      her. She took advantage of the most trifling innovations and the smallest
+      excesses to interrupt the preachings; and some of the preachers, under the
+      charge of having performed their office in places not appointed to them,
+      were brought to trial, condemned, and executed. On more than one occasion
+      the regent publicly declared that the confederates had taken unfair
+      advantage of her fears, and that she did not feel herself bound by an
+      engagement which had been extorted from her by threats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of all the Belgian towns which had participated in the insurrection of the
+      Iconoclasts none had caused the regent so much alarm as the town of
+      Valenciennes, in Hainault. In no other was the party of the Calvinists so
+      powerful, and the spirit of rebellion for which the province of Hainault
+      had always made itself conspicuous, seemed to dwell here as in its native
+      place. The propinquity of France, to which, as well by language as by
+      manners, this town appeared to belong, rather than to the Netherlands, had
+      from the first led to its being governed with great mildness and
+      forbearance, which, however, only taught it to feel its own importance. At
+      the last outbreak of the church-desecrators it had been on the point of
+      surrendering to the Huguenots, with whom it maintained the closest
+      understanding. The slightest excitement night renew this danger. On this
+      account Valenciennes was the first town to which the regent proposed, as
+      soon as should be in her power, to send a strong garrison. Philip of
+      Noircarmes, Baron of St. Aldegonde, Governor of Hainault in the place of
+      the absent Marquis of Bergen, had received this charge, and now appeared
+      at the head of an army before its walls. Deputies came to meet him on the
+      part of the magistrate from the town, to petition against the garrison,
+      because the Protestant citizens, who were the superior number, had
+      declared against it. Noircarnes acquainted them with the will of the
+      regent, and gave them the choice between the garrison or a siege. He
+      assured them that not more than four squadrons of horse and six companies
+      of foot should be imposed upon the town; and for this he would give them
+      his son as a hostage. These terms were laid before the magistrate, who,
+      for his part, was much inclined to accept them. But Peregrine Le Grange,
+      the preacher, and the idol of the populace, to whom it was of vital
+      importance to prevent a submission of which he would inevitably become the
+      victim, appeared at the head of his followers, and by his powerful
+      eloquence excited the people to reject the conditions. When their answer
+      was brought to Noircarmes, contrary to all law of nations, he caused the
+      messengers to be placed in irons, and carried them away with him as
+      prisoners; he was, however, by express command of the regent, compelled to
+      set them free again. The regent, instructed by secret orders from Madrid
+      to exercise as much forbearance as possible, caused the town to be
+      repeatedly summoned to receive the garrison; when, however, it obstinately
+      persisted in its refusal, it was declared by public edict to be in
+      rebellion, and Noircarmes was authorized to commence the siege in form.
+      The other provinces were forbidden to assist this rebellious town with
+      advice, money, or arms. All the property contained in it was confiscated.
+      In order to let it see the war before it began in earnest, and to give it
+      time for rational reflection, Noircarmes drew together troops from all
+      Hainault and Cambray (1566), took possession of St. Amant, and placed
+      garrisons in all adjacent places.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The line of conduct adopted towards Valenciennes allowed the other towns
+      which were similarly situated to infer the fate which was intended for
+      them also, and at once put the whole league in motion. An army of the
+      Gueux, between three thousand and four thousand strong, which was hastily
+      collected from the rabble of fugitives, and the remaining bands of the
+      Iconoclasts, appeared in the territories of Tournay and Lille, in order to
+      secure these two towns, and to annoy the enemy at Valenciennes. The
+      commandant of Lille was fortunate enough to maintain that place by routing
+      a detachment of this army, which, in concert with the Protestant
+      inhabitants, had made an attempt to get possession of it. At the same time
+      the army of the Gueux, which was uselessly wasting its time at Lannoy, was
+      surprised by Noircarmes and almost entirely annihilated. The few who with
+      desperate courage forced their way through the enemy, threw themselves
+      into the town of Tournay, which was immediately summoned by the victor to
+      open its gates and admit a garrison. Its prompt obedience obtained for it
+      a milder fate. Noircarmes contented himself with abolishing the Protestant
+      consistory, banishing the preachers, punishing the leaders of the rebels,
+      and again re-establishing the Roman Catholic worship, which he found
+      almost entirely suppressed. After giving it a steadfast Roman Catholic as
+      governor, and leaving in it a sufficient garrison, he again returned with
+      his victorious army to Valenciennes to press the siege.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This town, confident in its strength, actively prepared for defence,
+      firmly resolved to allow things to come to extremes before it surrendered.
+      The inhabitants had not neglected to furnish themselves with ammunition
+      and provisions for a long siege; all who could carry arms (the very
+      artisans not excepted), became soldiers; the houses before the town, and
+      especially the cloisters, were pulled down, that the besiegers might not
+      avail themselves of them to cover their attack. The few adherents of the
+      crown, awed by the multitude, were silent; no Roman Catholic ventured to
+      stir himself. Anarchy and rebellion had taken the place of good order, and
+      the fanaticism of a foolhardy priest gave laws instead of the legal
+      dispensers of justice. The male population was numerous, their courage
+      confirmed by despair, their confidence unbounded that the siege would be
+      raised, while their hatred against the Roman Catholic religion was excited
+      to the highest pitch. Many had no mercy to expect; all abhorred the
+      general thraldom of an imperious garrison. Noircarmes, whose army had
+      become formidable through the reinforcements which streamed to it from all
+      quarters, and was abundantly furnished with all the requisites for a long
+      blockade, once more attempted to prevail on the town by gentle means, but
+      in vain. At last he caused the trenches to be opened and prepared to
+      invest the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meanwhile the position of the Protestants had grown as much worse
+      as that of the regent had improved. The league of the nobles had gradually
+      melted away to a third of its original number. Some of its most important
+      defenders, Count Egmont, for instance, had gone over to the king; the
+      pecuniary contributions which had been so confidently reckoned upon came
+      in but slowly and scantily; the zeal of the party began perceptibly to
+      cool, and the close of the fine season made it necessary to discontinue
+      the public preachings, which, up to this time, had been continued. These
+      and other reasons combined induced the declining party to moderate its
+      demands, and to try every legal expedient before it proceeded to
+      extremities. In a general synod of the Protestants, which was held for
+      this object in Antwerp, and which was also attended by some of the
+      confederates, it was resolved to send deputies to the regent to
+      remonstrate with her upon this breach of faith, and to remind her of her
+      compact. Brederode undertook this office, but was obliged to submit to a
+      harsh and disgraceful rebuff, and was shut out of Brussels. He had now
+      recourse to a written memorial, in which,&mdash;in the name of the whole
+      league, he complained that the duchess had, by violating her word,
+      falsified in sight of all the Protestants the security given by the
+      league, in reliance on which all of them had laid down their arms; that by
+      her insincerity she had undone all the good which the confederates had
+      labored to effect; that she had sought to degrade the league in the eyes
+      of the people, had excited discord among its members, and had even caused
+      many of them to be persecuted as criminals. He called upon her to recall
+      her late ordinances, which deprived the Protestants of the free exercise
+      of their religion, but above all to raise the siege of Valenciennes, to
+      disband the troops newly enlisted, and ended by assuring her that on these
+      conditions and these alone the league would be responsible for the general
+      tranquillity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this the regent replied in a tone very different from her previous
+      moderation. "Who these confederates are who address me in this memorial
+      is, indeed, a mystery to me. The confederates with whom I had formerly to
+      do, for ought I know to the contrary, have dispersed. All at least cannot
+      participate in this statement of grievances, for I myself know of many,
+      who, satisfied in all their demands, have returned to their duty. But
+      still, whoever he may be, who without authority and right, and without
+      name addresses me, he has at least given a very false interpretation to my
+      word if he asserts that I guaranteed to the Protestants complete religious
+      liberty. No one can be ignorant how reluctantly I was induced to permit
+      the preachings in the places where they had sprung up unauthorized, and
+      this surely cannot be counted for a concession of freedom in religion. Is
+      it likely that I should have entertained the idea of protecting these
+      illegal consistories, of tolerating this state within a state? Could I
+      forget myself so far as to grant the sanction of law to an objectionable
+      sect; to overturn all order in the church and in the state, and abominably
+      to blaspheme my holy religion? Look to him who has given you such
+      permission, but you must not argue with me. You accuse me of having
+      violated the agreement which gave you impunity and security. The past I am
+      willing to look over, but not what may be done in future. No advantage was
+      to be taken of you on account of the petition of last April, and to the
+      best of my knowledge nothing of the kind has as yet been done; but whoever
+      again offends in the same way against the majesty of the king must be
+      ready to bear the consequences of his crime. In fine, how can you presume
+      to remind me of an agreement which you have been the first to break? At
+      whose instigation were the churches plundered, the images of the saints
+      thrown down, and the towns hurried into rebellion? Who formed alliances
+      with foreign powers, set on foot illegal enlistments, and collected
+      unlawful taxes from the subjects of the king? These are the reasons which
+      have impelled me to draw together my troops, and to increase the severity
+      of the edicts. Whoever now asks me to lay down my arms cannot mean well to
+      his country or his king, and if ye value your own lives, look to it that
+      your own actions acquit you, instead of judging mine."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the hopes which the confederates might have entertained of an amicable
+      adjustment sank with this high-toned declaration. Without being confident
+      of possessing powerful support, the regent would not, they argued, employ
+      such language. An army was in the field, the enemy was before
+      Valenciennes, the members who were the heart of the league had abandoned
+      it, and the regent required unconditional submission. Their cause was now
+      so bad that open resistance could not make it worse. If they gave
+      themselves up defenceless into the hands of their exasperated sovereign
+      their fate was certain; an appeal to arms could at least make it a matter
+      of doubt; they, therefore, chose the latter, and began seriously to take
+      steps for their defence. In order to insure the assistance of the German
+      Protestants, Louis of Nassau attempted to persuade the towns of Amsterdam,
+      Antwerp, Tournay, and Valenciennes to adopt the confession of Augsburg,
+      and in this manner to seal their alliance with a religious union. But the
+      proposition was not successful, because the hatred of the Calvinists to
+      the Lutherans exceeded, if possible, that which they bore to popery.
+      Nassau also began in earnest to negotiate for supplies from France, the
+      Palatinate, and Saxony. The Count of Bergen fortified his castles;
+      Brederode threw himself with a small force into his strong town of Vianne
+      on the Leek, over which he claimed the rights of sovereignty, and which he
+      hastily placed in a state of defense, and there awaited a reinforcement
+      from the league, and the issue of Nassua's negotiations. The flag of war
+      was now unfurled, everywhere the drum was heard to beat; in all parts
+      troops were seen on the march, contributions collected, and soldiers
+      enlisted. The agents of each party often met in the same place, and hardly
+      had the collectors and recruiting officers of the regent quitted a town
+      when it had to endure a similar visit from the agents of the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From Valenciennes the regent directed her attention to Herzogenbusch,
+      where the Iconoclasts had lately committed fresh excesses, and the party
+      of the Protestants had gained a great accession of strength. In order to
+      prevail on the citizens peaceably to receive a garrison, she sent thither,
+      as ambassador, the Chancellor Scheiff, from Brabant, with counsellor
+      Merode of Petersheim, whom she appointed governor of the town; they were
+      instructed to secure the place by judicious means, and to exact from the
+      citizens a new oath of allegiance. At the same time the Count of Megen,
+      who was in the neighborhood with a body of troops, was ordered to support
+      the two envoys in effecting their commission, and to afford the means of
+      throwing in a garrison immediately. But Brederode, who obtained
+      information of these movements in Viane, had already sent thither one of
+      his creatures, a certain Anton von Bomber,&mdash; a hot Calvinist, but
+      also a brave soldier, in order to raise the courage of his party, and to
+      frustrate the designs of the regent. This Bomberg succeeded in getting
+      possession of the letters which the chancellor brought with him from the
+      duchess, and contrived to substitute in their place counterfeit ones,
+      which, by their harsh and imperious language, were calculated to
+      exasperate the minds of the citizens. At the same time he attempted to
+      throw suspicion on both the ambassadors of the duchess as having evil
+      designs upon the town. In this he succeeded so well with the mob that in
+      their mad fury they even laid hands on the ambassadors and placed them in
+      confinement. He himself, at the head of eight thousand men, who had
+      adopted him as their leader, advanced against the Count of Megen, who was
+      moving in order of battle, and gave him so warm a reception, with some
+      heavy artillery, that he was compelled to retire without accomplishing his
+      object. The regent now sent an officer of justice to demand the release of
+      her ambassadors, and in case of refusal to threaten the place with siege;
+      but Bomberg with his party surrounded the town hall and forced the
+      magistrate to deliver to him the key of the town. The messenger of the
+      regent was ridiculed and dismissed, and an answer sent through him that
+      the treatment of the prisoners would depend upon Brederode's orders. The
+      herald, who was remaining outside before the town, now appeared to declare
+      war against her, which, however, the chancellor prevented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After his futile attempt on Herzogenhusch the Count of Megen threw himself
+      into Utrecht in order to prevent the execution of a design which Count
+      Brederode had formed against that town. As it had suffered much from the
+      army of the confederates, which was encamped in its immediate
+      neighborhood, near Viane, it received Megen with open arms as its
+      protector, and conformed to all the alterations which he made in the
+      religious worship. Upon this he immediately caused a redoubt to be thrown
+      up on the bank of the Leek, which would command Viane. Brederode, not
+      disposed to await his attack, quitted that rendezvous with the best part
+      of his army and hastened to Amsterdam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However unprofitably the Prince of Orange appeared to be losing his time
+      in Antwerp during these operations he was, nevertheless, busily employed.
+      At his instigation the league had commenced recruiting, and Brederode had
+      fortified his castles, for which purpose he himself presented him with
+      three cannons which he had had cast at Utrecht. His eye watched all the
+      movements of the court, and he kept the league warned of the towns which
+      were next menaced with attack. But his chief object appeared to be to get
+      possession of the principal places in the districts under his own
+      government, to which end he with all his power secretly assisted
+      Brederode's plans against Utrecht and Amsterdam. The most important place
+      was the Island of Walcheren, where the king was expected to land; and he
+      now planned a scheme for the surprise of this place, the conduct of which
+      was entrusted to one of the confederate nobles, an intimate friend of the
+      Prince of Orange, John of Marnix, Baron of Thoulouse, and brother of
+      Philip of Aldegonde.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      1567. Thoulouse maintained a secret understanding with the late mayor of
+      Middleburg, Peter Haak, by which he expected to gain an opportunity of
+      throwing a garrison into Middleburg and Flushing. The recruiting, however,
+      for this undertaking, which was set on foot in Antwerp, could not be
+      carried on so quietly as not to attract the notice of the magistrate. In
+      order, therefore, to lull the suspicions of the latter, and at the same
+      time to promote the success of the scheme, the prince caused the herald by
+      public proclamation to order all foreign soldiers and strangers who were
+      in the service of the state, or employed in other business, forthwith to
+      quit the town. He might, say his adversaries, by closing the gates have
+      easily made himself master of all these suspected recruits; but be
+      expelled them from the town in order to drive them the more quickly to the
+      place of their destination. They immediately embarked on the Scheldt, and
+      sailed down to Rammekens; as, however, a market-vessel of Antwerp, which
+      ran into Flushing a little before them had given warning of their design
+      they were forbidden to enter the port. They found the same difficulty at
+      Arnemuiden, near Middleburg, although the Protestants in that place
+      exerted themselves to raise an insurrection in their favor. Thoulouse,
+      therefore, without having accomplished anything, put about his ships and
+      sailed back down the Scheldt as far as Osterweel, a quarter of a mile from
+      Antwerp, where he disembarked his people and encamped on the shore, with
+      the hope of getting men from Antwerp, and also in order to revive by his
+      presence the courage of his party, which had been cast down by the
+      proceedings of the magistrate. By the aid of the Calvinistic clergy, who
+      recruited for him, his little army increased daily, so that at last he
+      began to be formidable to the Antwerpians, whose whole territory he laid
+      waste. The magistrate was for attacking him here with the militia, which,
+      however, the Prince of Orange successfully opposed by the pretext that it
+      would not be prudent to strip the town of soldiers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the regent had hastily brought together a small army under the
+      command of Philip of Launoy, which moved from Brussels to Antwerp by
+      forced marches. At the same time Count Megen managed to keep the army of
+      the Gueux shut up and employed at Viane, so that it could neither hear of
+      these movements nor hasten to the assistance of its confederates. Launoy,
+      on his arrival attacked by surprise the dispersed crowds, who, little
+      expecting an enemy, had gone out to plunder, and destroyed them in one
+      terrible carnage. Thoulouse threw himself with the small remnant of his
+      troops into a country house, which had served him as his headquarters, and
+      for a long time defended himself with the courage of despair, until
+      Launoy, finding it impossible to dislodge him, set fire to the house. The
+      few who escaped the flames fell on the swords of the enemy or were drowned
+      in the Scheldt. Thoulouse himself preferred to perish in the flames rather
+      than to fall into the hands of the enemy. This victory, which swept off
+      more than a thousand of the enemy, was purchased by the conqueror cheaply
+      enough, for he did not lose more than two men. Three hundred of the
+      leaguers who surrendered were cut down without mercy on the spot, as a
+      sally from Antwerp was momentarily dreaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the battle actually commenced no anticipation of such an event had
+      been entertained at Antwerp. The Prince of Orange, who had got early
+      information of it, had taken the precaution the day before of causing the
+      bridge which unites the town with Osterweel to be destroyed, in order, as
+      he gave out, to prevent the Calvinists within the town going out to join
+      the army of Thoulouse. A more probable motive seems to have been a fear
+      lest the Catholics should attack the army of the Gueux general in the
+      rear, or lest Launoy should prove victorious, and try to force his way
+      into the town. On the same pretext the gates of the city were also shut by
+      his orders, arnd the inhabitants, who did not comprehend the meaning of
+      all these movements, fluctuated between curiosity and alarm, until the
+      sound of artillery from Osterweel announced to them what there was going
+      on. In clamorous crowds they all ran to the walls and ramparts, from
+      which, as the wind drove the smoke from the contending armies, they
+      commanded a full view of the whole battle. Both armies were so near to the
+      town that they could discern their banners, and clearly distinguish the
+      voices of the victors and the vanquished. More terrible even than the
+      battle itself was the spectacle which this town now presented. Each of the
+      conflicting armies had its friends and its enemies on the wall. All that
+      went on in the plain roused on the ramparts exultation or dismay; on the
+      issue of the conflict the fate of each spectator seemed to depend. Every
+      movement on the field could be read in the faces of the townsmen; defeat
+      and triumph, the terror of the conquered, and the fury of the conqueror.
+      Here a painful but idle wish to support those who are giving way, to rally
+      those who fly; there an equally futile desire to overtake them, to slay
+      them, to extirpate them. Now the Gueux fly, and ten thousand men rejoice;
+      Thoulouse's last place and refuge is in flames, and the hopes of twenty
+      thousand citizens are consumed with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the first bewilderment of alarm soon gave place to a frantic desire of
+      revenge. Shrieking aloud, wringing her hands and with dishevelled hair,
+      the widow of the slain general rushed amidst the crowds to implore their
+      pity and help. Excited by their favorite preacher, Hermann, the Calvinists
+      fly to arms, determined to avenge their brethren, or to perish with them;
+      without reflection, without plan or leader, guided by nothing but their
+      anguish, their delirium, they rush to the Red Gate of the city which leads
+      to the field of battle; but there is no egress, the gate is shut and the
+      foremost of the crowd recoil on those that follow. Thousands and thousands
+      collect together, a dreadful rush is made to the Meer Bridge. We are
+      betrayed! we are prisoners! is the general cry. Destruction to the
+      papists, death to him who has betrayed us!&mdash;a sullen murmur,
+      portentous of a revolt, runs through the multitude. They begin to suspect
+      that all that has taken place has been set on foot by the Roman Catholics
+      to destroy the Calvinists. They had slain their defenders, and they would
+      now fall upon the defenceless. With fatal speed this suspicion spreads
+      through the whole of Antwerp. Now they can, they think, understand the
+      past, and they fear something still worse in the background; a frightful
+      distrust gains possession of every mind. Each party dreads the other;
+      every one sees an enemy in his neighbor; the mystery deepens the alarm and
+      horror; a fearful condition for a populous town, in which every accidental
+      concourse instantly becomes tumult, every rumor started amongst them
+      becomes a fact, every small spark a blazing flame, and by the force of
+      numbers and collision all passions are furiously inflamed. All who bore
+      the name of Calvinists were roused by this report. Fifteen thousand of
+      them take possession of the Meer Bridge, and plant heavy artillery upon
+      it, which they had taken by force from the arsenal; the same thing also
+      happens at another bridge; their number makes them formidable, the town is
+      in their hands; to escape an imaginary danger they bring all Antwerp to
+      the brink of ruin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately on the commencement of the tumult the Prince of Orange
+      hastened to the Meer Bridge, where, boldly forcing his way through the
+      raging crowd, he commanded peace and entreated to be heard. At the other
+      bridge Count Hogstraten, accompanied by the Burgomaster Strahlen, made the
+      same attempt; but not possessing a sufficient share either of eloquence or
+      of popularity to command attention, he referred the tumultuous crowd to
+      the prince, around whom all Antwerp now furiously thronged. The gate, he
+      endeavored to explain to them, was shut simply to keep off the victor,
+      whoever he might be, from the city, which would otherwise become the prey
+      of an infuriated soldiery. In vain! the frantic people would not listen,
+      and one more daring than the rest presented his musket at him, calling him
+      a traitor. With tumultuous shouts they demanded the key of the Red Gate,
+      which he was ultimately forced to deliver into the hands of the preacher
+      Hermann. But, he added with happy presence of mind, they must take heed
+      what they were doing; in the suburbs six hundred of the enemy's horse were
+      waiting to receive them. This invention, suggested by the emergency, was
+      not so far removed from the truth as its author perhaps imagined; for no
+      sooner had the victorious general perceived the commotion in Antwerp than
+      he caused his whole cavalry to mount in the hope of being able, under
+      favor of the disturbance, to break into the town. I, at least, continued
+      the Prince of Orange, shall secure my own safety in time, and he who
+      follows my example will save himself much future regret. These words
+      opportunely spoken and immediately acted upon had their effect. Those who
+      stood nearest followed him, and were again followed by the next, so that
+      at last the few who had already hastened out of the city when they saw no
+      one coming after them lost the desire of coping alone with the six hundred
+      horse. All accordingly returned to the Meer Bridge, where they posted
+      watches and videttes, and the night was passed tumultuously under arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The town of Antwerp was now threatened with fearful bloodshed and pillage.
+      In this pressing emergency Orange assembled an extraordinary senate, to
+      which were summoned all the best-disposed citizens of the four nations. If
+      they wished, said he, to repress the violence of the Calvinists they must
+      oppose them with an army strong enough and prepared to meet them. It was
+      therefore resolved to arm with speed the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the
+      town, whether natives, Italians, or Spaniards, and, if possible, to induce
+      the Lutherans also to join them. The haughtiness of the Calvinists, who,
+      proud of their wealth and confident in their numbers, treated every other
+      religious party with contempt, had long made the Lutherans their enemies,
+      and the mutual exasperation of these two Protestant churches was even more
+      implacable than their common hatred of the dominant church. This jealousy
+      the magistrate had turned to advantage, by making use of one party to curb
+      the other, and had thus contrived to keep the Calvinists in check, who,
+      from their numbers and insolence, were most to be feared. With this view,
+      he had tacitly taken into his protection the Lutherans, as the weaker and
+      more peaceable party, having moreover invited for them, from Germany,
+      spiritual teachers, who, by controversial sermons, might keep up the
+      mutual hatred of the two bodies. He encouraged the Lutherans in the vain
+      idea that the king thought more favorably of their religious creed than
+      that of the Calvinists, and exhorted them to be careful how they damaged
+      their good cause by any understanding with the latter. It was not,
+      therefore, difficult to bring about, for the moment, a union with the
+      Roman Catholics and the Lutherans, as its object was to keep down their
+      detested rivals. At dawn of day an army was opposed to the Calvinists
+      which was far superior in force to their own. At the head of this army,
+      the eloquence of Orange had far greater effect, and found far more
+      attention than on the preceding evening, unbacked by such strong
+      persuasion. The Calvinists, though in possession of arms and artillery,
+      yet, alarmed at the superior numbers arrayed against them, were the first
+      to send envoys, and to treat for an amicable adjustment of differences,
+      which by the tact and good temper of the Prince of Orange, he concluded to
+      the satisfaction of all parties. On the proclamation of this treaty the
+      Spaniards and Italians immediately laid down their arms. They were
+      followed by the Calvinists, and these again by the Roman Catholics; last
+      of all the Lutherans disarmed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days and two nights Antwerp had continued in this alarming state.
+      During the tumult the Roman Catholics had succeeded in placing barrels of
+      gunpowder under the Meer Bridge, and threatened to blow into the air the
+      whole army of the Calvinists, who had done the same in other places to
+      destroy their adversaries. The destruction of the town hung on the issue
+      of a moment, and nothing but the prince's presence of mind saved it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noircarmes, with his army of Walloons, still lay before Valenciennes,
+      which, in firm reliance on being relieved by the Gueux, obstinately
+      refused to listen to all the representations of the regent, and rejected
+      every idea of surrender. An order of the court had expressly forbidden the
+      royalist general to press the siege until he should receive reinforcements
+      from Germany. Whether from forbearance or fear, the king regarded with
+      abhorrence the violent measure of storming the place, as necessarily
+      involving the innocent in the fate of the guilty, and exposing the loyal
+      subject to the same ill-treatment as the rebel. As, however, the
+      confidence of the besieged augmented daily, and emboldened by the
+      inactivity of the besiegers, they annoyed him by frequent sallies, and
+      after burning the cloisters before the town, retired with the plunder&mdash;as
+      the time uselessly lost before this town was put to good use by the rebels
+      and their allies, Noircarmes besought the duchess to obtain immediate
+      permission from the king to take it by storm. The answer arrived more
+      quickly than Philip was ever before wont to reply. As yet they must be
+      content, simply to make the necessary preparations, and then to wait
+      awhile to allow terror to have its effect; but if upon this they did not
+      appear ready to capitulate, the storming might take place, but, at the
+      same time, with the greatest possible regard for the lives of the
+      inhabitants. Before the regent allowed Noircarmes to proceed to this
+      extremity she empowered Count Egmont, with the Duke Arschot, to treat once
+      more with the rebels amicably. Both conferred with the deputies of the
+      town, and omitted no argument calculated to dispel their delusion. They
+      acquainted them with the defeat of Thoulouse, their sole support, and with
+      the fact that the Count of Megen had cut off the army of the Gueux from
+      the town, and assured them that if they had held out so long they owed it
+      entirely to the king's forbearance. They offered them full pardon for the
+      past; every one was to be free to prove his innocence before whatever
+      tribunal he should chose; such as did not wish to avail themselves of this
+      privilege were to be allowed fourteen days to quit the town with all their
+      effects. Nothing was required of the townspeople but the admission of the
+      garrison. To give time to deliberate on these terms an armistice of three
+      days was granted. When the deputies returned they found their
+      fellow-citizens less disposed than ever to an accommodation, reports of
+      new levies by the Gueux having, in the meantime, gained currency.
+      Thoulouse, it was pretended, had conquered, and was advancing with a
+      powerful army to relieve the place. Their confidence went so far that they
+      even ventured to break the armistice, and to fire upon the besiegers. At
+      last the burgomaster, with difficulty, succeeded in bringing matters so
+      far towards a peaceful settlement that twelve of the town counsellors were
+      sent into the camp with the following conditions: The edict by which
+      Valenciennes had been charged with treason and declared an enemy to the
+      country was required to be recalled, the confiscation of their goods
+      revoked, and the prisoners on both sides restored to liberty; the garrison
+      was not to enter the town before every one who thought good to do so had
+      placed himself and his property in security; and a pledge to be given that
+      the inhabitants should not be molested in any manner, and that their
+      expenses should be paid by the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Noircarmes was so indignant with these conditions that he was almost on
+      the point of ill-treating the deputies. If they had not come, he told
+      them, to give up the place, they might return forthwith, lest he should
+      send them home with their hands tied behind their backs. Upon this the
+      deputies threw the blame on the obstinacy of the Calvinists, and entreated
+      him, with tears in their eyes, to keep them in the camp, as they did not,
+      they said, wish to have anything more to do with their rebellious
+      townsmen, or to be joined in their fate. They even knelt to beseech the
+      intercession of Egmont, but Noircarmes remained deaf to all their
+      entreaties, and the sight of the chains which he ordered to be brought out
+      drove them reluctantly enough back to Valenciennes. Necessity, not
+      severity, imposed this harsh procedure upon the general. The detention of
+      ambassadors had on a former occasion drawn upon him the reprimand of the
+      duchess; the people in the town would not have failed to have ascribed the
+      non-appearance of their present deputies to the same cause as in the
+      former case had detained them. Besides, he was loath to deprive the town
+      of any out of the small residue of well-disposed citizens, or to leave it
+      a prey to a blind, foolhardy mob. Egmont was so mortified at the bad
+      report of his embassy that he the night following rode round to
+      reconnoitre its fortifications, and returned well satisfied to have
+      convinced himself that it was no longer tenable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Valenciennes stretches down a gentle acclivity into the level plain, being
+      built on a site as strong as it is delightful. On one side enclosed by the
+      Scheldt and another smaller river, and on the other protected by deep
+      ditches, thick walls, and towers, it appears capable of defying every
+      attack. But Noircarmes had discovered a few points where neglect had
+      allowed the fosse to be filled almost up to the level of the natural
+      surface, and of these he determined to avail himself in storming. He drew
+      together all the scattered corps by which he had invested the town, and
+      during a tempestuous night carried the suburb of Berg without the loss of
+      a single man. He then assigned separate points of attack to the Count of
+      Bossu, the young Charles of Mansfeld, and the younger Barlaimont, and
+      under a terrible fire, which drove the enemy from his walls, his troops
+      were moved up with all possible speed. Close before the town, and opposite
+      the gate under the eyes of the besiegers, and with very little loss, a
+      battery was thrown up to an equal height with the fortifications. From
+      this point the town was bombarded with an unceasing fire for four hours.
+      The Nicolaus tower, on which the besieged had planted some artillery, was
+      among the first that fell, and many perished under its ruins. The guns
+      were directed against all the most conspicuous buildings, and a terrible
+      slaughter was made amongst the inhabitants. In a few hours their principal
+      works were destroyed, and in the gate itself so extensive a breach was
+      made that the besieged, despairing of any longer defending themselves,
+      sent in haste two trumpeters to entreat a parley. This was granted, but
+      the storm was continued without intermission. The ambassador entreated
+      Noircarmes to grant them the same terms which only two days before they
+      had rejected. But circumstances had now changed, and the victor would hear
+      no more of conditions. The unceasing fire left the inhabitants no time to
+      repair the ramparts, which filled the fosse with their debris, and opened
+      many a breach for the enemy to enter by. Certain of utter destruction,
+      they surrendered next morning at discretion after a bombardment of
+      six-and-thirty hours without intermission, and three thousand bombs had
+      been thrown into the city. Noircarmes marched into the town with his
+      victorious army under the strictest discipline, and was received by a
+      crowd of women and children, who went to meet him, carrying green boughs,
+      and beseeching his pity. All the citizens were immediately disarmed, the
+      commandant and his son beheaded; thirty-six of the most guilty of the
+      rebels, among whom were La Grange and another Calvinistic preacher, Guido
+      de Bresse, atoned for their obstinacy at the gallows; all the municipal
+      functionaries were deprived of their offices, and the town of all its
+      privileges. The Roman Catholic worship was immediately restored in full
+      dignity, and the Protestant abolished. The Bishop of Arras was obliged to
+      quit his residence in the town, and a strong garrison placed in it to
+      insure its future obedience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fate of Valenciennes, towards which all eyes had been turned, was a
+      warning to the other towns which had similarly offended. Noircarmes
+      followed up his victory, and marched immediately against Maestricht, which
+      surrendered without a blow, and received a garrison. From thence he
+      marched to Tornhut to awe by his presence the people of Herzogenbusch and
+      Antwerp. The Gueux in this place, who under the command of Bomberg had
+      carried all things before them, were now so terrified at his approach that
+      they quitted the town in haste. Noircarmes was received without
+      opposition. The ambassadors of the duchess were immediately set at
+      liberty. A strong garrison was thrown into Tornhut. Cambray also opened
+      its gates, and joyfully recalled its archbishop, whom the Calvinists had
+      driven from his see, and who deserved this triumph as he did not stain his
+      entrance with blood. Ghent, Ypres, and Oudenarde submitted and received
+      garrisons. Gueldres was now almost entirely cleared of the rebels and
+      reduced to obedience by the Count of Megen. In Friesland and Groningen the
+      Count of Aremberg had eventually the same success; but it was not obtained
+      here so rapidly or so easily, since the count wanted consistency and
+      firmness, and these warlike republicans maintained more pertinaciously
+      their privileges, and were greatly supported by the strength of their
+      position. With the exception of Holland all the provinces had yielded
+      before the victorious arms of the duchess. The courage of the disaffected
+      sunk entirely, and nothing was left to them but flight or submission.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          RESIGNATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Ever since the establishment of the Guesen league, but more perceptibly
+      since the outbreak of the Iconoclasts, the spirit of rebellion and
+      disaffection had spread so rapidly among all classes, parties had become
+      so blended and confused, that the regent had difficulty in distinguishing
+      her own adherents, and at last hardly knew on whom to rely. The lines of
+      demarcation between the loyal and the disaffected had grown gradually
+      fainter, until at last they almost entirely vanished. The frequent
+      alterations, too, which she had been obliged to make in the laws, and
+      which were at most the expedients and suggestions of the moment, had taken
+      from them their precision and binding force, and had given full scope to
+      the arbitrary will of every individual whose office it was to interpret
+      them. And at last, amidst the number and variety of the interpretations,
+      the spirit was lost and the intention of the lawgiver baffled. The close
+      connection which in many cases subsisted between Protestants and Roman
+      Catholics, between Gueux and Royalists, and which not unfrequently gave
+      them a common interest, led the latter to avail themselves of the loophole
+      which the vagueness of the laws left open, and in favor of their
+      Protestant friends and associates evaded by subtle distinctions all
+      severity in the discharge of their duties. In their minds it was enough
+      not to be a declared rebel, not one of the Gueux, or at least not a
+      heretic, to be authorized to mould their duties to their inclinations, and
+      to set the most arbitrary limits to their obedience to the king. Feeling
+      themselves irresponsible, the governors of the provinces, the civil
+      functionaries, both high and low, the municipal officers, and the military
+      commanders had all become extremely remiss in their duty, and presuming
+      upon this impunity showed a pernicious indulgence to the rebels and their
+      adherents which rendered abortive all the regent's measures of coercion.
+      This general indifference and corruption of so many servants of the state
+      had further this injurious result, that it led the turbulent to reckon on
+      far stronger support than in reality they had cause for, and to count on
+      their own side all who were but lukewarm adherents of the court. This way
+      of thinking, erroneous as it was, gave them greater courage and
+      confidence; it had the same effect as if it had been well founded; and the
+      uncertain vassals of the king became in consequence almost as injurious to
+      him as his declared enemies, without at the same time being liable to the
+      same measures of severity. This was especially the case with the Prince of
+      Orange, Counts Egmont, Bergen, Hogstraten, Horn, and several others of the
+      higher nobility. The regent felt the necessity of bringing these doubtful
+      subjects to an explanation, in order either to deprive the rebels of a
+      fancied support or to unmask the enemies of the king. And the latter
+      reason was of the more urgent moment when being obliged to send an army
+      into the field it was of the utmost importance to entrust the command of
+      the troops to none but those of whose fidelity she was fully assured. She
+      caused, therefore, an oath to be drawn up which bound all who took it to
+      advance the Roman Catholic faith, to pursue and punish the Iconoclasts,
+      and to help by every means in their power in extirpating all kinds of
+      heresy. It also pledged them to treat the king's enemies as their own, and
+      to serve without distinction against all whom the regent in the king's
+      name should point out. By this oath she did not hope so much to test their
+      sincerity, and still less to secure them, as rather to gain a pretext for
+      removing the suspected parties if they declined to take it, and for
+      wresting from their hands a power which they abused, or a legitimate
+      ground for punishing them if they took it and broke it. This oath was
+      exacted from all Knights of the Fleece, all civil functionaries and
+      magistrates, all officers of the army&mdash;from every one in short who
+      held any appointment in the state. Count Mansfeld was the first who
+      publicly took it in the council of state at Brussels; his example was
+      followed by the Duke of Arschot, Counts Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont.
+      Hogstraten and Horn endeavored to evade the necessity. The former was
+      offended at a proof of distrust which shortly before the regent had given
+      him. Under the pretext that Malines could not safely be left any longer
+      without its governor, but that the presence of the count was no less
+      necessary in Antwerp, she had taken from him that province and given it to
+      another whose fidelity she could better reckon upon. Hostraten expressed
+      his thanks that she had been pleased to release him from one of his
+      burdens, adding that she would complete the obligation if she would
+      relieve him from the other also. True to his determination Count Horn was
+      living on one of his estates in the strong town of Weerdt, having retired
+      altogether from public affairs. Having quitted the service of the state,
+      he owed, he thought, nothing more either to the republic or to the king,
+      and declined the oath, which in his case appears at last to have been
+      waived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Count of Brederode was left the choice of either taking the prescribed
+      oath or resigning the command of his squadron of cavalry. After many
+      fruitless attempts to evade the alternative, on the plea that he did not
+      hold office in the state, he at last resolved upon the latter course, and
+      thereby escaped all risk of perjuring himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vain were all the attempts to prevail on the Prince of Orange to take the
+      oath, who, from the suspicion which had long attached to him, required
+      more than any other this purification; and from whom the great power which
+      it had been necessary to place in his hands fully justified the regent in
+      exacting it. It was not, however, advisable to proceed against him with
+      the laconic brevity adopted towards Brederode and the like; on the other
+      hand, the voluntary resignation of all his offices, which he tendered, did
+      not meet the object of the regent, who foresaw clearly enough how really
+      dangerous he would become, as soon as he should feel himself independent,
+      and be no longer checked by any external considerations of character or
+      duty in the prosecution of his secret designs. But ever since the
+      consultation in Dendermonde the Prince of Orange had made up his mind to
+      quit the service of the King of Spain on the first favorable opportunity,
+      and till better days to leave the country itself. A very disheartening
+      experience had taught him how uncertain are hopes built on the multitude,
+      and how quickly their zeal is cooled by the necessity of fulfilling its
+      lofty promises. An army was already in the field, and a far stronger one
+      was, he knew, on its road, under the command of the Duke of Alva. The time
+      for remonstrances was past; it was only at the head of an army that an
+      advantageous treaty could now be concluded with the regent, and by
+      preventing the entrance of the Spanish general. But now where was he to
+      raise this army, in want as he was of money, the sinews of warfare, since
+      the Protestants had retracted their boastful promises and deserted him in
+      this pressing emergency?
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [How valiant the wish, and how sorry the deed was, is proved by the
+   following instance amongst others. Some friends of the national
+   liberty, Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, had solemnly
+   engaged in Amsterdam to subscribe to a common fund the hundredth
+   penny of their estates, until a sum of eleven thousand florins
+   should be collected, which was to be devoted to the common cause
+   and interests. An alms-box, protected by three locks, was prepared
+   for the reception of these contributions. After the expiration of
+   the prescribed period it was opened, and a sum was found amounting
+   to seven hundred florins, which was given to the hostess of the
+   Count of Brederode, in part payment of his unliquidated score.
+   Univ. Hist. of the N., vol. 3.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Religious jealousy and hatred, moreover, separated the two Protestant
+      churches, and stood in the way of every salutary combination against the
+      common enemy of their faith. The rejection of the Confession of Augsburg
+      by the Calvinists had exasperated all the Protestant princes of Germany,
+      so that no support was to be looked for from the empire. With Count Egmont
+      the excellent army of Walloons was also lost to the cause, for they
+      followed with blind devotion the fortunes of their general, who had taught
+      them at St. Quentin and Gravelines to be invincible. And again, the
+      outrages which the Iconoclasts had perpetrated on the churches and
+      convents had estranged from the league the numerous, wealthy, and powerful
+      class of the established clergy, who, before this unlucky episode, were
+      already more than half gained over to it; while, by her intrigues, the
+      regent daily contrived to deprive the league itself of some one or other
+      of its most influential members.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these considerations combined induced the prince to postpone to a more
+      favorable season a project for which the present juncture was little
+      suited, and to leave a country where his longer stay could not effect any
+      advantage for it, but must bring certain destruction on himself. After
+      intelligence gleaned from so many quarters, after so many proofs of
+      distrust, so many warnings from Madrid, he could be no longer doubtful of
+      the sentiments of Philip towards him. If even he had any doubt, his
+      uncertainty would soon have been dispelled by the formidable armament
+      which was preparing in Spain, and which was to have for its leader, not
+      the king, as was falsely given out, but, as he was better informed, the
+      Duke of Alva, his personal enemy, and the very man he had most cause to
+      fear. The prince had seen too deeply into Philip's heart to believe in the
+      sincerity of his reconciliation after having once awakened his fears. He
+      judged his own conduct too justly to reckon, like his friend Egmont, on
+      reaping a gratitude from the king to which he had not sown. He could
+      therefore expect nothing but hostility from him, and prudence counselled
+      him to screen himself by a timely flight from its actual outbreak. He had
+      hitherto obstinately refused to take the new oath, and all the written
+      exhortations of the regent had been fruitless. At last she sent to him at
+      Antwerp her private secretary, Berti, who was to put the matter
+      emphatically to his conscience, and forcibly remind him of all the evil
+      consequences which so sudden a retirement from the royal service would
+      draw upon the country, as well as the irreparable injury it would do to
+      his own fair fame. Already, she informed him by her ambassador, his
+      declining the required oath had cast a shade upon his honor, and imparted
+      to the general voice, which accused him of an understanding with the
+      rebels, an appearance of truth which this unconditional resignation would
+      convert to absolute certainty. It was for the sovereign to discharge his
+      servants, but it did not become the servant to abandon his sovereign. The
+      envoy of the regent found the prince in his palace at Antwerp, already, as
+      it appeared, withdrawn from the public service, and entirely devoted to
+      his private concerns. The prince told him, in the presence of Hogstraten,
+      that he had refused to take the required oath because he could not find
+      that such a proposition had ever before been made to a governor of a
+      province; because he had already bound himself, once for all, to the king,
+      and therefore, by taking this new oath, he would tacitly acknowledge that
+      he had broken the first. He had also refused because the old oath enjoined
+      him to protect the rights and privileges of the country, but he could not
+      tell whether this new one might not impose upon him duties which would
+      contravene the first; because, too, the clause which bound him to serve,
+      if required, against all without distinction, did not except even the
+      emperor, his feudal lord, against whom, however, he, as his vassal, could
+      not conscientiously make war. He had refused to take this oath because it
+      might impose upon him the necessity of surrendering his friends and
+      relations, his children, nay, even his wife, who was a Lutheran, to
+      butchery. According to it, moreover, he must lend himself to every thing
+      which it should occur to the king's fancy or passion to demand. But the
+      king might thus exact from him things which he shuddered even to think of,
+      and even the severities which were now, and had been all along, exercised
+      upon the Protestants, were the most revolting to his heart. This oath, in
+      short, was repugnant to his feelings as a man, and he could not take it.
+      In conclusion, the name of the Duke of Alva dropped from his lips in a
+      tone of bitterness, and he became immediately silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these objections were answered, point by point, by Berti. Certainly
+      such an oath had never been required from a governor before him, because
+      the provinces had never been similarly circumstanced. It was not exacted
+      because the governors had broken the first, but in order to remind them
+      vividly of their former vows, and to freshen their activity in the present
+      emergency. This oath would not impose upon him anything which offended
+      against the rights and privileges of the country, for the king had sworn
+      to observe these as well as the Prince of Orange. The oath did not, it was
+      true, contain any reference to a war with the emperor, or any other
+      sovereign to whom the prince might be related; and if he really had
+      scruples on this point, a distinct clause could easily be inserted,
+      expressly providing against such a contingency. Care would be taken to
+      spare him any duties which were repugnant to his feelings as a man, and no
+      power on earth would compel him to act against his wife or against his
+      children. Berti was then passing to the last point, which related to the
+      Duke of Alva, but the prince, who did not wish to have this part of his
+      discourse canvassed, interrupted him. "The king was coming to the
+      Netherlands," he said, "and he knew the king. The king would not endure
+      that one of his servants should have wedded a Lutheran, and he had
+      therefore resolved to go with his whole family into voluntary banishment
+      before he was obliged to submit to the same by compulsion. But," he
+      concluded, "wherever he might be, he would always conduct himself as a
+      subject of the king." Thus far-fetched were the motives which the prince
+      adduced to avoid touching upon the single one which really decided him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Berti had still a hope of obtaining, through Egmont's eloquence, what by
+      his own he despaired of effecting. He therefore proposed a meeting with
+      the latter (1567), which the prince assented to the more willingly as he
+      himself felt a desire to embrace his friend once more before his
+      departure, and if possible to snatch the deluded man from certain
+      destruction. This remarkable meeting, at which the private secretary,
+      Berti, and the young Count Mansfeld, were also present, was the last that
+      the two friends ever held, and took place in Villebroeck, a village on the
+      Rupel, between Brussels and Antwerp. The Calvinists, whose last hope
+      rested on the issue of this conference, found means to acquaint themselves
+      of its import by a spy, who concealed himself in the chimney of the
+      apartment where it was held. All three attempted to shake the
+      determination of the prince, but their united eloquence was unable to move
+      him from his purpose. "It will cost you your estates, Orange, if you
+      persist in this intention," said the Prince of Gaure, as he took him aside
+      to a window. "And you your life, Egmont, if you change not yours," replied
+      the former. "To me it will at least be a consolation in my misfortunes
+      that I desired, in deed as well as in word, to help my country and my
+      friends in the hour of need; but you, my friend, you are dragging friends
+      and country with you to destruction." And saying these words, he once
+      again exhorted him, still more urgently than ever, to return to the cause
+      of his country, which his arm alone was yet able to preserve; if not, at
+      least for his own sake to avoid the tempest which was gathering against
+      him from Spain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all the arguments, however lucid, with which a far-discerning prudence
+      supplied him, and however urgently enforced, with all the ardor and
+      animation which the tender anxiety of friendship could alone inspire, did
+      not avail to destroy the fatal confidence which still fettered Egmont's
+      better reason. The warning of Orange seemed to come from a sad and
+      dispirited heart; but for Egmont the world still smiled. To abandon the
+      pomp and affluence in which he had grown up to youth and manhood; to part
+      with all the thousand conveniences of life which alone made it valuable to
+      him, and all this to escape an evil which his buoyant spirit regarded as
+      remote, if not imaginary; no, that was not a sacrifice which could be
+      asked from Egmont. But had he even been less given to indulgence than he
+      was, with what heart could he have consigned a princess, accustomed by
+      uninterrupted prosperity to ease and comfort, a wife who loved him as
+      dearly as she was beloved, the children on whom his soul hung in hope and
+      fondness, to privations at the prospect of which his own courage sank, and
+      which a sublime philosophy alone can enable sensuality to undergo. "You
+      will never persuade me, Orange," said Egmont, "to see things in the gloomy
+      light in which they appear to thy mournful prudence. When I have succeeded
+      in abolishing the public preachings, and chastising the Iconoclasts, in
+      crushing the rebels, and restoring peace and order in the provinces, what
+      can the king lay to my charge? The king is good and just; I have claims
+      upon his gratitude, and I must not forget what I owe to myself." "Well,
+      then," cried Orange, indignantly and with bitter anguish, "trust, if you
+      will, to this royal gratitude; but a mournful presentiment tells me&mdash;and
+      may Heaven grant that I am deceived!&mdash;that you, Egmont, will be the
+      bridge by which the Spaniards will pass into our country to destroy it."
+      After these words, he drew him to his bosom, ardently clasping him in his
+      arms. Long, as though the sight was to serve for the remainder of his
+      life, did he keep his eyes fixed upon him; the tears fell; they saw each
+      other no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The very next day the Prince of Orange wrote his letter of resignation to
+      the regent, in which he assured her of his perpetual esteem, and once
+      again entreated her to put the best interpretation on his present step. He
+      then set off with his three brothers and his whole family for his own town
+      of Breda, where he remained only as long as was requisite to arrange some
+      private affairs. His eldest son, Prince Philip William, was left behind at
+      the University of Louvain, where he thought him sufficiently secure under
+      the protection of the privileges of Brabant and the immunities of the
+      academy; an imprudence which, if it was really not designed, can hardly be
+      reconciled with the just estimate which, in so many other cases, he had
+      taken of the character of his adversary. In Breda the heads of the
+      Calvinists once more consulted him whether there was still hope for them,
+      or whether all was irretrievably lost. "He had before advised them,"
+      replied the prince, "and must now do so again, to accede to the Confession
+      of Augsburg; then they might rely upon aid from Germany. If they would
+      still not consent to this, they must raise six hundred thousand florins,
+      or more, if they could." "The first," they answered, "was at variance with
+      their conviction and their conscience; but means might perhaps be found to
+      raise the money if he would only let them know for what purpose he would
+      use it." "No!" cried he, with the utmost displeasure, "if I must tell you
+      that, it is all over with the use of it." With these words he immediately
+      broke off the conference and dismissed the deputies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince of Orange was reproached with having squandered his fortune,
+      and with favoring the innovations on account of his debts; but he asserted
+      that he still enjoyed sixty thousand florins yearly rental. Before his
+      departure he borrowed twenty thousand florins from the states of Holland
+      on the mortgage of some manors. Men could hardly persuade themselves that
+      he would have succumbed to necessity so entirely, and without an effort at
+      resistance given up all his hopes and schemes. But what he secretly
+      meditated no one knew, no one had read in his heart. Being asked how he
+      intended to conduct himself towards the King of Spain, "Quietly," was his
+      answer, "unless he touches my honor or my estates." He left the
+      Netherlands soon afterwards, and betook himself in retirement to the town
+      of Dillenburg, in Nassau, at which place he was born. He was accompanied
+      to Germany by many hundreds, either as his servants or as volunteers, and
+      was soon followed by Counts Hogstraten, Kuilemberg, and Bergen, who
+      preferred to share a voluntary exile with him rather than recklessly
+      involve themselves in an uncertain destiny. In his departure the nation
+      saw the flight of its guardian angel; many had adored, all had honored
+      him. With him the last stay of the Protestants gave way; they, however,
+      had greater hopes from this man in exile than from all the others together
+      who remained behind. Even the Roman Catholics could not witness his
+      departure without regret. Them also had he shielded from tyranny; he had
+      not unfrequently protected them against the oppression of their own
+      church, and he had rescued many of them from the sanguinary jealousy of
+      their religious opponents. A few fanatics among the Calvinists, who were
+      offended with his proposal of an alliance with their brethren, who avowed
+      the Confession of Augsburg, solemnized with secret thanksgivings the day
+      on which the enemy left them. (1567).
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        DECAY AND DISPERSION OF THE GEUSEN LEAGUE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Immediately after taking leave of his friend, the Prince of Gaure hastened
+      back to Brussels, to receive from the regent the reward of his firmness,
+      and there, in the excitement of the court and in the sunshine of his good
+      fortune, to dispel the light cloud which the earnest warnings of the
+      Prince of Orange had cast over his natural gayety. The flight of the
+      latter now left him in possession of the stage. He had now no longer any
+      rival in the republic to dim his glory. With redoubled zeal he wooed the
+      transient favor of the court, above which he ought to have felt himself
+      far exalted. All Brussels must participate in his joy. He gave splendid
+      banquets and public entertainments, at which, the better to eradicate all
+      suspicion from his mind, the regent herself frequently attended. Not
+      content with having taken the required oath, he outstripped the most
+      devout in devotion; outran the most zealous in zeal to extirpate the
+      Protestant faith, and to reduce by force of arms the refractory towns of
+      Flanders. He declared to his old friend, Count Hogstraten, as also to the
+      rest of the Gueux, that he would withdraw from them his friendship forever
+      if they hesitated any longer to return into the bosom of the church, and
+      reconcile themselves with their king. All the confidential letters which
+      had been exchanged between him and them were returned, and by this last
+      step the breach between them was made public and irreparable. Egmont's
+      secession, and the flight of the Prince of Orange, destroyed the last hope
+      of the Protestants and dissolved the whole league of the Gueux. Its
+      members vied with each other in readiness&mdash;nay, they could not soon
+      enough abjure the covenant and take the new oath proposed to them by the
+      government. In vain did the Protestant merchants exclaim at this breach of
+      faith on the part of the nobles; their weak voice was no longer listened
+      to, and all the sums were lost with which they had supplied the league.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most important places were quickly reduced and garrisoned; the rebels
+      had fled, or perished by the hand of the executioner; in the provinces no
+      protector was left. All yielded to the fortune of the regent, and her
+      victorious army was advancing against Antwerp. After a long and obstinate
+      contest this town had been cleared of the worst rebels; Hermann and his
+      adherents took to flight; the internal storms had spent their rage. The
+      minds of the people became gradually composed, and no longer excited at
+      will by every furious fanatic, began to listen to better counsels. The
+      wealthier citizens earnestly longed for peace to revive commerce and
+      trade, which had suffered severely from the long reign of anarchy. The
+      dread of Alva's approach worked wonders; in order to prevent the miseries
+      which a Spanish army would inflict upon the country, the people hastened
+      to throw themselves on the gentler mercies of the regent. Of their own
+      accord they despatched plenipotentiaries to Brussels to negotiate for a
+      treaty and to hear her terms. Agreeably as the regent was surprised by
+      this voluntary step, she did not allow herself to be hurried away by her
+      joy. She declared that she neither could nor would listen to any overtures
+      or representations until the town had received a garrison. Even this was
+      no longer opposed, and Count Mansfeld marched in the day after with
+      sixteen squadrons in battle array. A solemn treaty was now made between
+      the town and duchess, by which the former bound itself to prohibit the
+      Calvinistic form of worship, to banish all preachers of that persuasion,
+      to restore the Roman Catholic religion to its former dignity, to decorate
+      the despoiled churches with their former ornaments, to administer the old
+      edicts as before, to take the new oath which the other towns had sworn to,
+      and, lastly, to deliver into the hands of justice all who been guilty of
+      treason, in bearing arms, or taking part in the desecration of the
+      churches. On the other hand, the regent pledged herself to forget all that
+      had passed, and even to intercede for the offenders with the king. All
+      those who, being dubious of obtaining pardon, preferred banishment, were
+      to be allowed a month to convert their property into money, and place
+      themselves in safety. From this grace none were to be excluded but such as
+      had been guilty of a capital offence, and who were excepted by the
+      previous article. Immediately upon the conclusion of this treaty all
+      Calvinist and Lutheran preachers in Antwerp, and the adjoining territory,
+      were warned by the herald to quit the country within twenty-four hours.
+      All the streets and gates were now thronged with fugitives, who for the
+      honor of their God abandoned what was dearest to them, and sought a more
+      peaceful home for their persecuted faith. Here husbands were taking an
+      eternal farewell of their wives, fathers of their children; there whole
+      families were preparing to depart. All Antwerp resembled a house of
+      mourning; wherever the eye turned some affecting spectacle of painful
+      separation presented itself. A seal was set on the doors of the Protestant
+      churches; the whole worship seemed to be extinct. The 10th of April (1567)
+      was the day appointed for the departure of the preachers. In the town
+      hall, where they appeared for the last time to take leave of the
+      magistrate, they could not command their grief; but broke forth into
+      bitter reproaches. They had been sacrificed, they exclaimed, they had been
+      shamefully betrayed; but a time would come when Antwerp would pay dearly
+      enough for this baseness. Still more bitter were the complaints of the
+      Lutheran clergy, whom the magistrate himself had invited into the country
+      to preach against the Calvinists. Under the delusive representation that
+      the king was not unfavorable to their religion they had been seduced into
+      a combination against the Calvinists, but as soon as the latter had been
+      by their co-operation brought under subjection, and their own services
+      were no longer required, they were left to bewail their folly, which had
+      involved themselves and their enemies in common ruin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few days afterwards the regent entered Antwerp in triumph, accompanied
+      by a thousand Walloon horse, the Knights of the Golden Fleece, all the
+      governors and counsellors, a number of municipal officers, and her whole
+      court. Her first visit was to the cathedral, which still bore lamentable
+      traces of the violence of the Iconoclasts, and drew from her many and
+      bitter tears. Immediately afterwards four of the rebels, who had been
+      overtaken in their flight, were brought in and executed in the public
+      market-place. All the children who had been baptized after the Protestant
+      rites were rebaptized by Roman Catholic priests; all the schools of
+      heretics were closed, and their churches levelled to the ground. Nearly
+      all the towns in the Netherlands followed the example of Antwerp and
+      banished the Protestant preachers. By the end of April the Roman Catholic
+      churches were repaired and embellished more splendidly than ever, while
+      all the Protestant places of worship were pulled down, and every vestige
+      of the proscribed belief obliterated in the seventeen provinces. The
+      populace, whose sympathies are generally with the successful party, was
+      now as active in accelerating the ruin of the unfortunate as a short time
+      before it had been furiously zealous in its cause; in Ghent a large and
+      beautiful church which the Calvinists had erected was attacked, and in
+      less than an hour had wholly disappeared. From the beams of the roofless
+      churches gibbets were erected for those who had profaned the sanctuaries
+      of the Roman Catholics. The places of execution were filled with corpses,
+      the prisons with condemned victims, the high roads with fugitives.
+      Innumerable were the victims of this year of murder; in the smallest towns
+      fifty at least, in several of the larger as many as three hundred, were
+      put to death, while no account was kept of the numbers in the open country
+      who fell into the hands of the provost-marshal and were immediately strung
+      up as miscreants, without trial and without mercy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regent was still in Antwerp when ambassadors presented themselves from
+      the Electors of Brandenburg, Saxony, Hesse, Wurtemberg, and Baden to
+      intercede for their fugitive brethren in the faith. The expelled preachers
+      of the Augsburg Confession had claimed the rights assured to them by the
+      religious peace of the Germans, in which Brabant, as part of the empire,
+      participated, and had thrown themselves on the protection of those
+      princes. The arrival of the foreign ministers alarmed the regent, and she
+      vainly endeavored to prevent their entrance into Antwerp; under the guise,
+      however, of showing them marks of honor, she continued to keep them
+      closely watched lest they should encourage the malcontents in any attempts
+      against the peace of the town. From the high tone which they most
+      unreasonably adopted towards the regent it might almost be inferred that
+      they were little in earnest in their demand. "It was but reasonable," they
+      said, "that the Confession of Augsburg, as the only one which met the
+      spirit of the gospel, should be the ruling faith in the Netherlands; but
+      to persecute it by such cruel edicts as were in force was positively
+      unnatural and could not be allowed. They therefore required of the regent,
+      in the name of religion, not to treat the people entrusted to her rule
+      with such severity." She replied through the Count of Staremberg, her
+      minister for German affairs, that such an exordium deserved no answer at
+      all. From the sympathy which the German princes had shown for the Belgian
+      fugitives it was clear that they gave less credit to the letters of the
+      king, in explanation of his measures, than to the reports of a few
+      worthless wretches who, in the desecrated churches, had left behind them a
+      worthier memorial of their acts and characters. It would far more become
+      them to leave to the King of Spain the care of his own subjects, and
+      abandon the attempt to foster a spirit of rebellion in foreign countries,
+      from which they would reap neither honor nor profit. The ambassadors left
+      Antwerp in a few days without having effected anything. The Saxon
+      minister, indeed, in a private interview with the regent even assured her
+      that his master had most reluctantly taken this step.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The German ambassadors had not quitted Antwerp when intelligence from
+      Holland completed the triumph of the regent. From fear of Count Megen
+      Count Brederode had deserted his town of Viane, and with the aid of the
+      Protestants inhabitants had succeeded in throwing himself into Amsterdam,
+      where his arrival caused great alarm to the city magistrate, who had
+      previously found difficulty in preventing a revolt, while it revived the
+      courage of the Protestants. Here Brederode's adherents increased daily,
+      and many noblemen flocked to him from Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen,
+      whence the victorious arms of Megen and Aremberg had driven them. Under
+      various disguises they found means to steal into the city, where they
+      gathered round Brederode, and served him as a strong body-guard. The
+      regent, apprehensive of a new outbreak, sent one of her private
+      secretaries, Jacob de la Torre, to the council of Amsterdam, and ordered
+      them to get rid of Count Brederode on any terms and at any risk. Neither
+      the magistrate nor de la Torre himself, who visited Brederode in person to
+      acquaint him with the will of the duchess, could prevail upon him to
+      depart. The secretary was even surprised in his own chamber by a party of
+      Brederode's followers, and deprived of all his papers, and would, perhaps,
+      have lost his life also if he had not contrived to make his escape.
+      Brederode remained in Amsterdam a full month after this occurrence, a
+      powerless idol of the Protestants, and an oppressive burden to the Roman
+      Catholics; while his fine army, which he had left in Viane, reinforced by
+      many fugitives from the southern provinces, gave Count Megen enough to do
+      without attempting to harass the Protestants in their flight. At last
+      Brederode resolved to follow the example of Orange, and, yielding to
+      necessity, abandon a desperate cause. He informed the town council that he
+      was willing to leave Amsterdam if they would enable him to do so by
+      furnishing him with the pecuniary means. Glad to get quit of him, they
+      hastened to borrow the money on the security of the town council.
+      Brederode quitted Amsterdam the same night, and was conveyed in a gunboat
+      as far as Vlie, from whence he fortunately escaped to Embden. Fate treated
+      him more mildly than the majority of those he had implicated in his
+      foolhardy enterprise; he died the year after, 1568, at one of his castles
+      in Germany, from the effects of drinking, by which he sought ultimately to
+      drown his grief and disappointments. His widow, Countess of Moers in her
+      own right, was remarried to the Prince Palatine, Friedrich III. The
+      Protestant cause lost but little by his demise; the work which he had
+      commenced, as it had not been kept alive by him, so it did not die with
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The little army, which in his disgraceful flight he had deserted, was bold
+      and valiant, and had a few resolute leaders. It disbanded, indeed, as soon
+      as he, to whom it looked for pay, had fled; but hunger and courage kept
+      its parts together some time longer. One body, under command of Dietrich
+      of Battenburgh, marched to Amsterdam in the hope of carrying that town;
+      but Count Megen hastened with thirteen companies of excellent troops to
+      its relief, and compelled the rebels to give up the attempt. Contenting
+      themselves with plundering the neighboring cloisters, among which the
+      abbey of Egmont in particular was hardly dealt with, they turned off
+      towards Waaterland, where they hoped the numerous swamps would protect
+      them from pursuit. But thither Count Megen followed them, and compelled
+      them in all haste to seek safety in the Zuyderzee. The brothers Van
+      Battenburg, and two Friesan nobles, Beima and Galama, with a hundred and
+      twenty men and the booty they had taken from the monasteries, embarked
+      near the town of Hoorne, intending to cross to Friesland, but through the
+      treachery of the steersman, who ran the vessel on a sand-bank near
+      Harlingen, they fell into the hands of one of Aremberg's captains, who
+      took them all prisoners. The Count of Aremberg immediately pronounced
+      sentence upon all the captives of plebeian rank, but sent his noble
+      prisoners to the regent, who caused seven of them to be beheaded. Seven
+      others of the most noble, including the brothers Van Battenburg and some
+      Frieslanders, all in the bloom of youth, were reserved for the Duke of
+      Alva, to enable him to signalize the commencement of his administration by
+      a deed which was in every way worthy of him. The troops in four other
+      vessels which set sail from Medenhlick, and were pursued by Count Megen in
+      small boats, were more successful. A contrary wind had forced them out of
+      their course and driven them ashore on the coast of Gueldres, where they
+      all got safe to land; crossing the Rhine, near Heusen, they fortunately
+      escaped into Cleves, where they tore their flags in pieces and dispersed.
+      In North Holland Count Megen overtook some squadrons who had lingered too
+      long in plundering the cloisters, and completely overpowered them. He
+      afterwards formed a junction with Noircarmes and garrisoned Amsterdam. The
+      Duke Erich of Brunswick also surprised three companies, the last remains
+      of the army of the Gueux, near Viane, where they were endeavoring to take
+      a battery, routed them and captured their leader, Rennesse, who was
+      shortly afterwards beheaded at the castle of Freudenburg, in Utrecht.
+      Subsequently, when Duke Erich entered Viane, he found nothing but deserted
+      streets, the inhabitants having left it with the garrison on the first
+      alarm. He immediately razed the fortifications, and reduced this arsenal
+      of the Gueux to an open town without defences. All the originators of the
+      league were now dispersed; Brederode and Louis of Nassau had fled to
+      Germany, and Counts Hogstraten, Bergen, and Kuilemberg had followed their
+      example. Mansfeld had seceded, the brothers Van Battenburg awaited in
+      prison an ignomonious fate, while Thoulouse alone had found an honorable
+      death on the field of battle. Those of the confederates who had escaped
+      the sword of the enemy and the axe of the executioner had saved nothing
+      but their lives, and thus the title which they had assumed for show became
+      at last a terrible reality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the inglorious end of the noble league, which in its beginning
+      awakened such fair hopes and promised to become a powerful protection
+      against oppression. Unanimity was its strength, distrust and internal
+      dissension its ruin. It brought to light and developed many rare and
+      beautiful virtues, but it wanted the most indispensable of all, prudence
+      and moderation, without which any undertaking must miscarry, and all the
+      fruits of the most laborious industry perish. If its objects had been as
+      pure as it pretended, or even had they remained as pure as they really
+      were at its first establishment, it might have defied the unfortunate
+      combination of circumstances which prematurely overwhelmed it, and even if
+      unsuccessful it would still have deserved an honorable mention in history.
+      But it is too evident that the confederate nobles, whether directly or
+      indirectly, took a greater share in the frantic excesses of the
+      Iconoclasts than comported with the dignity and blamelessness of their
+      confederation, and many among them openly exchanged their own good cause
+      for the mad enterprise of these worthless vagabonds. The restriction of
+      the Inquisition and a mitigation of the cruel inhumanity of the edicts
+      must be laid to the credit of the league; but this transient relief was
+      dearly purchased, at the cost of so many of the best and bravest citizens,
+      who either lost their lives in the field, or in exile carried their wealth
+      and industry to another quarter of the world; and of the presence of Alva
+      and the Spanish arms. Many, too, of its peaceable citizens, who without
+      its dangerous temptations would never have been seduced from the ranks of
+      peace and order, were beguiled by the hope of success into the most
+      culpable enterprises, and by their failure plunged into ruin and misery.
+      But it cannot be denied that the league atoned in some measure for these
+      wrongs by positive benefits. It brought together and emboldened many whom
+      a selfish pusillanimity kept asunder and inactive; it diffused a salutary
+      public spirit amongst the Belgian people, which the oppression of the
+      government had almost entirely extinguished, and gave unanimity and a
+      common voice to the scattered members of the nation, the absence of which
+      alone makes despots bold. The attempt, indeed, failed, and the knots, too
+      carelessly tied, were quickly unloosed; but it was through such failures
+      that the nation was eventually to attain to a firm and lasting union,
+      which should bid defiance to change.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The total destruction of the Geusen army quickly brought the Dutch towns
+      also back to their obedience, and in the provinces there remained not a
+      single place which had not submitted to the regent; but the increasing
+      emigration, both of the natives and the foreign residents, threatened the
+      country with depopulation. In Amsterdam the crowd of fugitives was so
+      great that vessels were wanting to convey them across the North Sea and
+      the Zuyderzee, and that flourishing emporium beheld with dismay the
+      approaching downfall of its prosperity. Alarmed at this general flight,
+      the regent hastened to write letters to all the towns, to encourage the
+      citizens to remain, and by fair promises to revive a hope of better and
+      milder measures. In the king's name she promised to all who would freely
+      swear to obey the state and the church complete indemnity, and by public
+      proclamation invited the fugitives to trust to the royal clemency and
+      return to their homes. She engaged also to relieve the nation from the
+      dreaded presence of a Spanish army, even if it were already on the
+      frontiers; nay, she went so far as to drop hints that, if necessary, means
+      might be found to prevent it by force from entering the provinces, as she
+      was fully determined not to relinquish to another the glory of a peace
+      which it had cost her so much labor to effect. Few, however, returned in
+      reliance upon her word, and these few had cause to repent it in the
+      sequel; many thousands had already quitted the country, and several
+      thousands more quickly followed them. Germany and England were filled with
+      Flemish emigrants, who, wherever they settled, retained their usages and
+      manners, and even their costume, unwilling to come to the painful
+      conclusion that they should never again see their native land, and to give
+      up all hopes of return. Few carried with them any remains of their former
+      affluence; the greater portion had to beg their way, and bestowed on their
+      adopted country nothing but industrious skill and honest citizens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now the regent hastened to report to the king tidings such as, during
+      her whole administration, she had never before been able to gratify him
+      with. She announced to him that she had succeeded in restoring quiet
+      throughout the provinces, and that she thought herself strong enough to
+      maintain it. The sects were extirpated, and the Roman Catholic worship
+      re-established in all its former splendor; the rebels had either already
+      met with, or were awaiting in prison, the punishment they deserved; the
+      towns were secured by adequate garrisons. There was therefore no necessity
+      for sending Spanish troops into the Netherlands, and nothing to justify
+      their entrance. Their arrival would tend to destroy the existing repose,
+      which it had cost so much to establish, would check the much-desired
+      revival of commerce and trade, and, while it would involve the country in
+      new expenses, would at the same time deprive them of the only means of
+      supporting them. The mere rumor of the approach of a Spanish army had
+      stripped the country of many thousands of its most valuable citizens; its
+      actual appearance would reduce it to a desert. As there was no longer any
+      enemy to subdue, or rebellion to suppress, the people would see no motive
+      for the march of this army but punishment and revenge, and under this
+      supposition its arrival would neither be welcomed nor honored. No longer
+      excused by necessity, this violent expedient would assume the odious
+      aspect of oppression, would exasperate the national mind afresh, drive the
+      Protestants to desperation, and arm their brethren in other countries in
+      their defence. The regent, she said, had in the king's name promised the
+      nation it should be relieved from this foreign army, and to this
+      stipulation she was principally indebted for the present peace; she could
+      not therefore guarantee its long continuance if her pledge was not
+      faithfully fulfilled. The Netherlands would receive him as their
+      sovereign, the king, with every mark of attachment and veneration, but he
+      must come as a father to bless, not as a despot to chastise them. Let him
+      come to enjoy the peace which she had bestowed on the country, but not to
+      destroy it afresh.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+      ALVA'S ARMAMENT AND EXPEDITION TO THE NETHERLANDS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      But it was otherwise determined in the council at Madrid. The minister,
+      Granvella, who, even while absent himself, ruled the Spanish cabinet by
+      his adherents; the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor, Spinosa, and the Duke of
+      Alva, swayed respectively by hatred, a spirit of persecution, or private
+      interest, had outvoted the milder councils of the Prince Ruy Gomes of
+      Eboli, the Count of Feria, and the king's confessor, Fresneda. The
+      insurrection, it was urged by the former, was indeed quelled for the
+      present, but only because the rebels were awed by the rumor of the king's
+      armed approach; it was to fear of punishment alone, and not to sorrow for
+      their crime, that the present calm was to be ascribed, and it would soon
+      again be broken if that feeling were allowed to subside. In fact, the
+      offences of the people fairly afforded the king the opportunity he had so
+      long desired of carrying out his despotic views with an appearance of
+      justice. The peaceable settlement for which the regent took credit to
+      herself was very far from according with his wishes, which sought rather
+      for a legitimate pretext to deprive the provinces of their privileges,
+      which were so obnoxious to his despotic temper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With an impenetrable dissimulation Philip had hitherto fostered the
+      general delusion that he was about to visit the provinces in person, while
+      all along nothing could have been more remote from his real intentions.
+      Travelling at any time ill suited the methodical regularity of his life,
+      which moved with the precision of clockwork; and his narrow and sluggish
+      intellect was oppressed by the variety and multitude of objects with which
+      new scenes crowded it. The difficulties and dangers which would attend a
+      journey to the Netherlands must, therefore, have been peculiarly alarming
+      to his natural timidity and love of ease. Why should he, who, in all that
+      he did, was accustomed to consider himself alone, and to make men
+      accommodate themselves to his principles, not his principles to men,
+      undertake so perilous an expedition, when he could see neither the
+      advantage nor necessity of it. Moreover, as it had ever been to him an
+      utter impossibility to separate, even for a moment, his person from his
+      royal dignity, which no prince ever guarded so tenaciously and
+      pedantically as himself, so the magnificence and ceremony which in his
+      mind were inseparably connected with such a journey, and the expenses
+      which, on this account, it would necessarily occasion, were of themselves
+      sufficient motives to account for his indisposition to it, without its
+      being at all requisite to call in the aid of the influence of his
+      favorite, Ruy Gomes, who is said to have desired to separate his rival,
+      the Duke of Alva, from the king. Little, however, as be seriously intended
+      this journey, he still deemed it advisable to keep up the expectation of
+      it, as well with a view of sustaining the courage of the loyal as of
+      preventing a dangerous combination of the disaffected, and stopping the
+      further progress of the rebels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to carry on the deception as long as possible, Philip made
+      extensive preparations for his departure, and neglected nothing which
+      could be required for such an event. He ordered ships to be fitted out,
+      appointed the officers and others to attend him. To allay the suspicion
+      such warlike preparations might excite in all foreign courts, they were
+      informed through his ambassadors of his real design. He applied to the
+      King of France for a passage for himself and attendants through that
+      kingdom, and consulted the Duke of Savoy as to the preferable route. He
+      caused a list to be drawn up of all the towns and fortified places that
+      lay in his march, and directed all the intermediate distances to be
+      accurately laid down. Orders were issued for taking a map and survey of
+      the whole extent of country between Savoy and Burgundy, the duke being
+      requested to furnish the requisite surveyors and scientific officers. To
+      such lengths was the deception carried that the regent was commanded to
+      hold eight vessels at least in readiness off Zealand, and to despatch them
+      to meet the king the instant she heard of his having sailed from Spain;
+      and these ships she actually got ready, and caused prayers to be offered
+      up in all the churches for the king's safety during the voyage, though in
+      secret many persons did not scruple to remark that in his chamber at
+      Madrid his majesty would not have much cause to dread the storms at sea.
+      Philip played his part with such masterly skill that the Belgian
+      ambassadors at Madrid, Lords Bergen and Montigny, who at first had
+      disbelieved in the sincerity of his pretended journey, began at last to be
+      alarmed, and infected their friends in Brussels with similar
+      apprehensions. An attack of tertian ague, which about this time the king
+      suffered, or perhaps feigned, in Segovia, afforded a plausible pretence
+      for postponing his journey, while meantime the preparations for it were
+      carried on with the utmost activity. At last, when the urgent and repeated
+      solicitations of his sister compelled him to make a definite explanation
+      of his plans, he gave orders that the Duke of Alva should set out
+      forthwith with an army, both to clear the way before him of rebels, and to
+      enhance the splendor of his own royal arrival. He did not yet venture to
+      throw off the mask and announce the duke as his substitute. He had but too
+      much reason to fear that the submission which his Flemish nobles would
+      cheerfully yield to their sovereign would be refused to one of his
+      servants, whose cruel character was well known, and who, moreover, was
+      detested as a foreigner and the enemy of their constitution. And, in fact,
+      the universal belief that the king was soon to follow, which long survived
+      Alva's entrance into the country, restrained the outbreak of disturbances
+      which otherwise would assuredly have been caused by the cruelties which
+      marked the very opening of the duke's government.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergy of Spain, and especially the Inquisition, contributed richly
+      towards the expenses of this expedition as to a holy war. Throughout Spain
+      the enlisting was carried on with the utmost zeal. The viceroys and
+      governors of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Milan received orders to select
+      the best of their Italian and Spanish troops in the garrisons and despatch
+      them to the general rendezvous in the Genoese territory, where the Duke of
+      Alva would exchange them for the Spanish recruits which he should bring
+      with him. At the same time the regent was commanded to hold in readiness a
+      few more regiments of German infantry in Luxembourg, under the command of
+      the Counts Eberstein, Schaumburg, and Lodrona, and also some squadrons of
+      light cavalry in the Duchy of Burgundy to reinforce the Spanish general
+      immediately on his entrance into the provinces. The Count of Barlaimont
+      was commissioned to furnish the necessary provision for the armament, and
+      a sum of two hundred thousand gold florins was remitted to the regent to
+      enable her to meet these expenses and to maintain her own troops.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The French court, however, under pretence of the danger to be apprehended
+      from the Huguenots, had refused to allow the Spanish army to pass through
+      France. Philip applied to the Dukes of Savoy and Lorraine, who were too
+      dependent upon him to refuse his request. The former merely stipulated
+      that he should be allowed to maintain two thousand infantry and a squadron
+      of horse at the king's expense in order to protect his country from the
+      injuries to which it might otherwise be exposed from the passage of the
+      Spanish army. At the same time he undertook to provide the necessary
+      supplies for its maintenance during the transit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rumor of this arrangement roused the Huguenots, the Genevese, the
+      Swiss, and the Grisons. The Prince of Conde and the Admiral Coligny
+      entreated Charles IX. not to neglect so favorable a moment of inflicting a
+      deadly blow on the hereditary foe of France. With the aid of the Swiss,
+      the Genevese, and his own Protestant subjects, it would, they alleged, be
+      an easy matter to destroy the flower of the Spanish troops in the narrow
+      passes of the Alpine mountains; and they promised to support him in this
+      undertaking with an army of fifty thousand Huguenots. This advice,
+      however, whose dangerous object was not easily to be mistaken, was
+      plausibly declined by Charles IX., who assured them that he was both able
+      and anxious to provide for the security of his kingdom. He hastily
+      despatched troops to cover the French frontiers; and the republics of
+      Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and the Grisons followed his example, all ready to
+      offer a determined opposition to the dreaded enemy of their religion and
+      their liberty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the 5th of May, 1567, the Duke of Alva set sail from Carthagena with
+      thirty galleys, which had been furnished by Andrew Doria and the Duke
+      Cosmo of Florence, and within eight days landed at Genoa, where the four
+      regiments were waiting to join him. But a tertian ague, with which he was
+      seized shortly after his arrival, compelled him to remain for some days
+      inactive in Lombardy&mdash;a delay of which the neighboring powers availed
+      themselves to prepare for defence. As soon as the duke recovered he held
+      at Asti, in Montferrat, a review of all his troops, who were more
+      formidable by their valor than by their numbers, since cavalry and
+      infantry together did not amount to much above ten thousand men. In his
+      long and perilous march he did not wish to encumber himself with useless
+      supernumeraries, which would only impede his progress and increase the
+      difficulty of supporting his army. These ten thousand veterans were to
+      form the nucleus of a greater army, which, according as circumstances and
+      occasion might require, he could easily assemble in the Netherlands
+      themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This array, however, was as select as it was small. It consisted of the
+      remains of those victorious legions at whose head Charles V. had made
+      Europe tremble; sanguinary, indomitable bands, in whose battalions the
+      firmness of the old Macedonian phalanx lived again; rapid in their
+      evolutions from long practice, hardy and enduring, proud of their leader's
+      success, and confident from past victories, formidable by their
+      licentiousness, but still more so by their discipline; let loose with all
+      the passions of a warmer climate upon a rich and peaceful country, and
+      inexorable towards an enemy whom the church had cursed. Their fanatical
+      and sanguinary spirit, their thirst for glory and innate courage was aided
+      by a rude sensuality, the instrument by which the Spanish general firmly
+      and surely ruled his otherwise intractable troops. With a prudent
+      indulgence he allowed riot and voluptuousness to reign throughout the
+      camp. Under his tacit connivance Italian courtezans followed the
+      standards; even in the march across the Apennines, where the high price of
+      the necessaries of life compelled him to reduce his force to the smallest
+      possible number, he preferred to have a few regiments less rather than to
+      leave behind these instruments of voluptuousness.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The bacchanalian procession of this army contrasted strangely
+   enough with the gloomy seriousness and pretended sanctity of his
+   aim. The number of these women was so great that to restrain the
+   disorders and quarrelling among themselves they hit upon the
+   expedient of establishing a discipline of their own. They ranged
+   themselves under particular flags, marched in ranks and sections,
+   and in admirable military order, after each battalion, and classed
+   themselves with strict etiquette according to their rank and pay.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      But industriously as Alva strove to relax the morals of his soldiers, he
+      enforced the more rigidly a strict military discipline, which was
+      interrupted only by a victory or rendered less severe by a battle. For all
+      this he had, he said, the authority of the Athenian General Iphicrates,
+      who awarded the prize of valor to the pleasure-loving and rapacious
+      soldier. The more irksome the restraint by which the passions of the
+      soldiers were kept in check, the greater must have been the vehemence with
+      which they broke forth at the sole outlet which was left open to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The duke divided his infantry, which was about nine thousand strong, and
+      chiefly Spaniards, into four brigades, and gave the command of them to
+      four Spanish officers. Alphonso of Ulloa led the Neapolitan brigade of
+      nine companies, amounting to three thousand two hundred and thirty men;
+      Sancho of Lodogno commanded the Milan brigade, three thousand two hundred
+      men in ten companies; the Sicilian brigade, with the same number of
+      companies, and consisting of sixteen hundred men, was under Julian Romero,
+      an experienced warrior, who had already fought on Belgian ground.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The same officer who commanded one of the Spanish regiments about
+   which so much complaint had formerly been made in the States-
+   General.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Gonsalo of Braccamonte headed that of Sardinia, which was raised by three
+      companies of recruits to the full complement of the former. To every
+      company, moreover, were added fifteen Spanish musqueteers. The horse, in
+      all twelve hundred strong, consisted of three Italian, two Albanian, and
+      seven Spanish squadrons, light and heavy cavalry, and the chief command
+      was held by Ferdinand and Friedrich of Toledo, the two sons of Alva.
+      Chiappin Vitelli, Marquis of Cetona, was field-marshal; a celebrated
+      general whose services had been made over to the King of Spain by Cosmo of
+      Florence; and Gabriel Serbellon was general of artillery. The Duke of
+      Savoy lent Alva an experienced engineer, Francis Pacotto, of Urbino, who
+      was to be employed in the erection of new fortifications. His standard was
+      likewise followed by a number of volunteers, and the flower of the Spanish
+      nobility, of whom the greater part had fought under Charles V. in Germany,
+      Italy, and before Tunis. Among these were Christopher Mondragone, one of
+      the ten Spanish heroes who, near Mithlberg, swam across the Elbe with
+      their swords between their teeth, and, under a shower of bullets from the
+      enemy, brought over from the opposite shore the boats which the emperor
+      required for the construction of a bridge. Sancho of Avila, who had been
+      trained to war under Alva himself, Camillo of Monte, Francis Ferdugo, Karl
+      Davila, Nicolaus Basta, and Count Martinego, all fired with a noble ardor,
+      either to commence their military career under so eminent a leader, or by
+      another glorious campaign under his command to crown the fame they had
+      already won. After the review the army marched in three divisions across
+      Mount Cenis, by the very route which sixteen centuries before Hannibal is
+      said to have taken. The duke himself led the van; Ferdinand of Toledo,
+      with whom was associated Lodogno as colonel, the centre; and the Marquis
+      of Cetona the rear. The Commissary General, Francis of Ibarra, was sent
+      before with General Serbellon to open the road for the main body, and get
+      ready the supplies at the several quarters for the night. The places which
+      the van left in the morning were entered in the evening by the centre,
+      which in its turn made room on the following day for the rear. Thus the
+      army crossed the Alps of Savoy by regular stages, and with the fourteenth
+      day completed that dangerous passage. A French army of observation
+      accompanied it side by side along the frontiers of Dauphins, and the
+      course of the Rhone, and the allied army of the Genevese followed it on
+      the right, and was passed by it at a distance of seven miles. Both these
+      armies of observation carefully abstained from any act of hostility, and
+      were merely intended to cover their own frontiers. As the Spanish legions
+      ascended and descended the steep mountain crags, or while they crossed the
+      rapid Iser, or file by file wound through the narrow passes of the rocks,
+      a handful of men would have been sufficient to put an entire stop to their
+      march, and to drive them back into the mountains, where they would have
+      been irretrievably lost, since at each place of encampment supplies were
+      provided for no more than a single day, and for a third part only of the
+      whole force. But a supernatural awe and dread of the Spanish name appeared
+      to have blinded the eyes of the enemy so that they did not perceive their
+      advantage, or at least did not venture to profit by it. In order to give
+      them as little opportunity as possible of remembering it, the Spanish
+      general hastened through this dangerous pass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Convinced, too, that if his troops gave the slightest umbrage he was lost,
+      the strictest discipline was maintained during the march; not a single
+      peasant's hut, not a single field was injured; and never, perhaps, in the
+      memory of man was so numerous an army led so far in such excellent order.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Once only on entering Lorraine three horsemen ventured to drive
+   away a few sheep from a flock, of which circumstance the duke was
+   no sooner informed than he sent back to the owner what had been
+   taken from him and sentenced the offenders to be hung. This
+   sentence was, at the intercession of the Lorraine general, who had
+   come to the frontiers to pay his respects to the duke, executed on
+   only one of the three, upon whom the lot fell at the drum-head.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Destined as this army was for vengeance and murder, a malignant and
+      baleful star seemed to conduct it safe through all dangers; and it would
+      be difficult to decide whether the prudence of its general or the
+      blindness of its enemies is most to be wondered at.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Franche Comte, four squadrons of Burgundian cavalry, newly-raised,
+      joined the main army, which, at Luxembourg, was also reinforced by three
+      regiments of German infantry under the command of Counts Eberstein,
+      Schaumburg, and Lodrona. From Thionville, where he halted a few days, Alva
+      sent his salutations to the regent by Francis of Ibarra, who was, at the
+      same time, directed to consult her on the quartering of the troops. On her
+      part, Noircarmes and Barlairnont were despatched to the Spanish camp to
+      congratulate the duke on his arrival, and to show him the customary marks
+      of honor. At the same time they were directed to ask him to produce the
+      powers entrusted to him by the king, of which, however, he only showed a
+      part. The envoys of the regent were followed by swarms of the Flemish
+      nobility, who thought they could not hasten soon enough to conciliate the
+      favor of the new viceroy, or by a timely submission avert the vengeance
+      which was preparing. Among them was Count Egmont. As he came forward the
+      duke pointed him out to the bystanders. "Here comes an arch-heretic," he
+      exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by Egmont himself, who, surprised at
+      these words, stopped and changed color. But when the duke, in order to
+      repair his imprudence, went up to him with a serene countenance, and
+      greeted him with a friendly embrace, the Fleming was ashamed of his fears,
+      and made light of this warning, by putting some frivolous interpretation
+      upon it. Egmont sealed this new friendship with a present of two valuable
+      chargers, which Alva accepted with a grave condescension.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upon the assurance of the regent that the provinces were in the enjoyment
+      of perfect peace, and that no opposition was to be apprehended from any
+      quarter, the duke discharged some German regiments, which had hitherto
+      drawn their pay from the Netherlands. Three thousand six hundred men,
+      under the command of Lodrona, were quartered in Antwerp, from which town
+      the Walloon garrison, in which full reliance could not be placed, was
+      withdrawn; garrisons proportionably stronger were thrown into Ghent and
+      other important places; Alva himself marched with the Milan brigade
+      towards Brussels, whither he was accompanied by a splendid cortege of the
+      noblest in the land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, as in all the other towns of the Netherlands, fear and terror had
+      preceded him, and all who were conscious of any offences, and even those
+      who were sensible of none, alike awaited his approach with a dread similar
+      to that with which criminals see the coming of their day of trial. All who
+      could tear themselves from the ties of family, property, and country had
+      already fled, or now at last took to flight. The advance of the Spanish
+      army had already, according to the report of the regent, diminished the
+      population of the provinces by the loss of one hundred thousand citizens,
+      and this general flight still continued. But the arrival of the Spanish
+      general could not be more hateful to the people of the Netherlands than it
+      was distressing and dispiriting to the regent. At last, after so many
+      years of anxiety, she had begun to taste the sweets of repose, and that
+      absolute-authority, which had been the long-cherished object of eight
+      years of a troubled and difficult administration. This late fruit of so
+      much anxious industry, of so many cares and nightly vigils, was now to be
+      wrested from her by a stranger, who was to be placed at once in possession
+      of all the advantages which she had been forced to extract from adverse
+      circumstances, by a long and tedious course of intrigue and patient
+      endurance. Another was lightly to bear away the prize of promptitude, and
+      to triumph by more rapid success over her superior but less glittering
+      merits. Since the departure of the minister, Granvella, she had tasted to
+      the full the pleasures of independence. The flattering homage of the
+      nobility, which allowed her more fully to enjoy the shadow of power, the
+      more they deprived her of its substance, had, by degrees, fostered her
+      vanity to such an extent, that she at last estranged by her coldness even
+      the most upright of all her servants, the state counsellor Viglius, who
+      always addressed her in the language of truth. All at once a censor of her
+      actions was placed at her side, a partner of her power was associated with
+      her, if indeed it was not rather a master who was forced upon her, whose
+      proud, stubborn, and imperious spirit, which no courtesy could soften,
+      threatened the deadliest wounds to her self-love and vanity. To prevent
+      his arrival she had, in her representations to the king, vainly exhausted
+      every political argument. To no purpose had she urged that the utter ruin
+      of the commerce of the Netherlands would be the inevitable consequence of;
+      this introduction of the Spanish troops; in vain had she assured the king
+      that peace was universally restored, and reminded him of her own services
+      in procuring it, which deserved, she thought, a better guerdon than to see
+      all the fruits of her labors snatched from her and given to a foreigner,
+      and more than all, to behold all the good which she had effected destroyed
+      by a new and different line of conduct. Even when the duke had already
+      crossed Mount Cenis she made one more attempt, entreating him at least to
+      diminish his army; but that also failed, for the duke insisted upon acting
+      up to the powers entrusted to him. In poignant grief she now awaited his
+      approach, and with the tears she shed for her country were mingled those
+      of offended self-love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%;">
+      <img alt="1pb262 (139K)" src="images/1pb262.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the 22d of August, 1567, the Duke of Alva appeared before the gates of
+      Brussels. His army immediately took up their quarters in the suburbs, and
+      he himself made it his first duty to pay his respects to the sister of his
+      king. She gave him a private audience on the plea of suffering from
+      sickness. Either the mortification she had undergone had in reality a
+      serious effect upon her health, or, what is not improbable, she had
+      recourse to this expedient to pain his haughty spirit, and in some degree
+      to lessen his triumph. He delivered to her letters from the king, and laid
+      before her a copy of his own appointment, by which the supreme command of
+      the whole military force of the Netherlands was committed to him, and from
+      which, therefore, it would appear, that the administration of civil
+      affairs remained, as heretofore, in the hands of the regent. But as soon
+      as he was alone with her he produced a new commission, which was totally
+      different from the former. According to this, the power was delegated to
+      him of making war at his discretion, of erecting fortifications, of
+      appointing and dismissing at pleasure the governors of provinces, the
+      commandants of towns, and other officers of the king; of instituting
+      inquiries into the past troubles, of punishing those who originated them,
+      and of rewarding the loyal. Powers of this extent, which placed him almost
+      on a level with a sovereign prince, and far surpassed those of the regent
+      herself, caused her the greatest consternation, and it was with difficulty
+      that she could conceal her emotion. She asked the duke whether he had not
+      even a third commission, or some special orders in reserve which went
+      still further, and were drawn up still more precisely, to which he replied
+      distinctly enough in the affirmative, but at the same time gave her to
+      understand that this commission might be too full to suit the present
+      occasion, and would be better brought into play hereafter with due regard
+      to time and circumstances. A few days after his arrival he caused a copy
+      of the first instructions to be laid before the several councils and the
+      states, and had them printed to insure their rapid circulation. As the
+      regent resided in the palace, he took up his quarters temporarily in
+      Kuilemberg house, the same in which the association of the Gueux had
+      received its name, and before which, through a wonderful vicissitude,
+      Spanish tyranny now planted its flag.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A dead silence reigned in Brussels, broken only at times by the unwonted
+      clang of arms. The duke had entered the town but a few hours when his
+      attendants, like bloodhounds that have been slipped, dispersed themselves
+      in all directions. Everywhere foreign faces were to be seen; the streets
+      were empty, all the houses carefully closed, all amusements suspended, all
+      public places deserted. The whole metropolis resembled a place visited by
+      the plague. Acquaintances hurried on without stopping for their usual
+      greeting; all hastened on the moment a Spaniard showed himself in the
+      streets. Every sound startled them, as if it were the knock of the
+      officials of justice at their doors; the nobility, in trembling anxiety,
+      kept to their houses; they shunned appearing in public lest their presence
+      should remind the new viceroy of some past offence. The two nations now
+      seemed to have exchanged characters. The Spaniard had become the talkative
+      man and the Brabanter taciturn; distrust and fear had scared away the
+      spirit of cheerfulness and mirth; a constrained gravity fettered even the
+      play of the features. Every moment the impending blow was looked for with
+      dread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This general straining of expectation warned the duke to hasten the
+      accomplishment of his plans before they should be anticipated by the
+      timely flight of his victims. His first object was to secure the suspected
+      nobles, in order, at once and forever, to deprive the faction of its
+      leaders, and the nation, whose freedom was to be crushed, of all its
+      supporters. By a pretended affability he had succeeded in lulling their
+      first alarm, and in restoring Count Egmont in particular to his former
+      perfect confidence, for which purpose he artfully employed his sons,
+      Ferdinand and Friedrich of Toledo, whose companionableness and youth
+      assimilated more easily with the Flemish character. By this skilful advice
+      he succeeded also in enticing Count Horn to Brussels, who had hitherto
+      thought it advisable to watch the first measures of the duke from a
+      distance, but now suffered himself to be seduced by the good fortune of
+      his friend. Some of the nobility, and Count Egmont at the head of them,
+      even resumed their former gay style of living. But they themselves did not
+      do so with their whole hearts, and they had not many imitators. Kuilemberg
+      house was incessantly besieged by a numerous crowd, who thronged around
+      the person of the new viceroy, and exhibited an affected gayety on their
+      countenances, while their hearts were wrung with distress and fear. Egmont
+      in particular assumed the appearance of a light heart, entertaining the
+      duke's sons, and being feted by them in return. Meanwhile, the duke was
+      fearful lest so fair an opportunity for the accomplishment of his plans
+      might not last long, and lest some act of imprudence might destroy the
+      feeling of security which had tempted both his victims voluntarily to put
+      themselves into his power; he only waited for a third; Hogstraten also was
+      to be taken in the same net. Under a plausible pretext of business he
+      therefore summoned him to the metropolis. At the same time that he
+      purposed to secure the three counts in Brussels, Colonel Lodrona was to
+      arrest the burgomaster, Strahlen, in Antwerp, an intimate friend of the
+      Prince of Orange, and suspected of having favored the Calvinists; another
+      officer was to seize the private secretary of Count Egmont, whose name was
+      John Cassembrot von Beckerzeel, as also some secretaries of Count Horn,
+      and was to possess themselves of their papers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the day arrived which had been fixed upon for the execution of this
+      plan, the duke summoned all the counsellors and knights before him to
+      confer with them upon matters of state. On this occasion the Duke of
+      Arschot, the Counts Mansfeld, Barlaimont, and Aremberg attended on the
+      part of the Netherlands, and on the part of the Spaniards besides the
+      duke's sons, Vitelli, Serbellon, and Ibarra. The young Count Mansfeld, who
+      likewise appeared at the meeting, received a sign from his father to
+      withdraw with all speed, and by a hasty flight avoid the fate which was
+      impending over him as a former member of the Geusen league. The duke
+      purposely prolonged the consultation to give time before he acted for the
+      arrival of the couriers from Antwerp, who were to bring him the tidings of
+      the arrest of the other parties. To avoid exciting any suspicion, the
+      engineer, Pacotto, was required to attend the meeting to lay before it the
+      plans for some fortifications. At last intelligence was brought him that
+      Lodrona had successfully executed his commission. Upon this the duke
+      dexterously broke off the debate and dismissed the council. And now, as
+      Count Egmont was about to repair to the apartment of Don Ferdinand, to
+      finish a game that he had commenced with him, the captain of the duke's
+      body guard, Sancho D'Avila, stopped him, and demanded his sword in the
+      king's name. At the same time he was surrounded by a number of Spanish
+      soldiers, who, as had been preconcerted, suddenly advanced from their
+      concealment. So unexpected a blow deprived Egmont for some moments of all
+      powers of utterance and recollection; after a while, however, he collected
+      himself, and taking his sword from his side with dignified composure,
+      said, as he delivered it into the hands of the Spaniard, "This sword has
+      before this on more than one occasion successfully defended the king's
+      cause." Another Spanish officer arrested Count Horn as he was returning to
+      his house without the least suspicion of danger. Horn's first inquiry was
+      after Egmont. On being told that the same fate had just happened to his
+      friend he surrendered himself without resistance. "I have suffered myself
+      to be guided by him," he exclaimed, "it is fair that I should share his
+      destiny." The two counts were placed in confinement in separate
+      apartments. While this was going on in the interior of Kuilemberg house
+      the whole garrison were drawn out under arms in front of it. No one knew
+      what had taken place inside, a mysterious terror diffused itself
+      throughout Brussels until rumor spread the news of this fatal event. Each
+      felt as if he himself were the sufferer; with many indignation at Egmont's
+      blind infatuation preponderated over sympathy for his fate; all rejoiced
+      that Orange had escaped. The first question of the Cardinal Granvella,
+      too, when these tidings reached him in Rome, is said to have been, whether
+      they had taken the Silent One also. On being answered in the negative he
+      shook his head "then as they have let him escape they have got nothing."
+      Fate ordained better for the Count of Hogstraten. Compelled by ill-health
+      to travel slowly, he was met by the report of this event while he was yet
+      on his way. He hastily turned back, and fortunately escaped destruction.
+      Immediately after Egmont's seizure a writing was extorted from him,
+      addressed to the commandant of the citadel of Ghent, ordering that officer
+      to deliver the fortress to the Spanish Colonel Alphonso d'Ulloa. Upon this
+      the two counts were then (after they had been for some weeks confined in
+      Brussels) conveyed under a guard of three thousand Spaniards to Ghent,
+      where they remained imprisoned till late in the following year. In the
+      meantime all their papers had been seized. Many of the first nobility who,
+      by the pretended kindness of the Duke of Alva, had allowed themselves to
+      be cajoled into remaining experienced the same fate. Capital punishment
+      was also, without further delay, inflicted on all who before the duke's
+      arrival had been taken with arms in their hands. Upon the news of Egmont's
+      arrest a second body of about twenty thousand inhabitants took up the
+      wanderer's staff, besides the one hundred thousand who, prudently
+      declining to await the arrival of the Spanish general, had already placed
+      themselves in safety.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [A great part of these fugitives helped to strengthen the army of
+   the Huguenots, who had taken occasion, from the passage of the
+   Spanish army through Lorraine, to assemble their forces, and now
+   pressed Charles IX. hard. On these grounds the French court
+   thought it had a right to demand aid from the regent of the
+   Netherlands. It asserted that the Huguenots had looked upon the
+   march of the Spanish army as the result of a preconcerted plan
+   which had been formed against them by the two courts at Bayonne and
+   that this had roused them from their slumber. That consequently it
+   behooved the Spanish court to assist in extricating the French king
+   from difficulties into which the latter had been brought simply by
+   the march of the Spanish troops. Alva actually sent the Count of
+   Aremberg with a considerable force to join the army of the Queen
+   Mother in France, and even offered to command these subsidiaries in
+   person, which, however, was declined. Strada, 206. Thuan, 541.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      After so noble a life had been assailed no one counted himself safe any
+      longer; but many found cause to repent that they had so long deferred this
+      salutary step; for every day flight was rendered more difficult, for the
+      duke ordered all the ports to be closed, and punished the attempt at
+      emigration with death. The beggars were now esteemed fortunate, who had
+      abandoned country and property in order to preserve at least their liberty
+      and their lives.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   ALVA'S FIRST MEASURES, AND DEPARTURE OF THE DUCHESS OF PARMA.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Alva's first step, after securing the most suspected of the nobles, was to
+      restore the Inquisition to its former authority, to put the decrees of
+      Trent again in force, abolish the "moderation," and promulgate anew the
+      edicts against heretics in all their original severity. The court of
+      Inquisition in Spain had pronounced the whole nation of the Netherlands
+      guilty of treason in the highest degree, Catholics and heterodox,
+      loyalists and rebels, without distinction; the latter as having offended
+      by overt acts, the former as having incurred equal guilt by their
+      supineness. From this sweeping condemnation a very few were excepted,
+      whose names, however, were purposely reserved, while the general sentence
+      was publicly confirmed by the king. Philip declared himself absolved from
+      all his promises, and released from all engagements which the regent in
+      his name had entered into with the people of the Netherlands, and all the
+      justice which they had in future to expect from him must depend on his own
+      good-will and pleasure. All who had aided in the expulsion of the
+      minister, Granvella, who had taken part in the petition of the confederate
+      nobles, or had but even spoken in favor of it; all who had presented a
+      petition against the decrees of Trent, against the edicts relating to
+      religion, or against the installation of the bishops; all who had
+      permitted the public preachings, or had only feebly resisted them; all who
+      had worn the insignia of the Gueux, had sung Geusen songs, or who in any
+      way whatsoever had manifested their joy at the establishment of the
+      league; all who had sheltered or concealed the reforming preachers,
+      attended Calvinistic funerals, or had even merely known of their secret
+      meetings, and not given information of them; all who had appealed to the
+      national privileges; all, in fine, who had expressed an opinion that they
+      ought to obey God rather than man; all these indiscriminately were
+      declared liable to the penalties which the law imposed upon any violation
+      of the royal prerogative, and upon high treason; and these penalties were,
+      according to the instruction which Alva had received, to be executed on
+      the guilty persons without forbearance or favor; without regard to rank,
+      sex, or age, as an example to posterity, and for a terror to all future
+      times. According to this declaration there was no longer an innocent
+      person to be found in the whole Netherlands, and the new viceroy had it in
+      his power to make a fearful choice of victims. Property and life were
+      alike at his command, and whoever should have the good fortune to preserve
+      one or both must receive them as the gift of his generosity and humanity.
+      By this stroke of policy, as refined as it was detestable, the nation was
+      disarmed, and unanimity rendered impossible. As it absolutely depended on
+      the duke's arbitrary will upon whom the sentence should be carried in
+      force which had been passed without exception upon all, each individual
+      kept himself quiet, in order to escape, if possible, the notice of the
+      viceroy, and to avoid drawing the fatal choice upon himself. Every one, on
+      the other hand, in whose favor he was pleased to make an exception stood
+      in a degree indebted to him, and was personally under an obligation which
+      must be measured by the value he set upon his life and property. As,
+      however, this penalty could only be executed on the smaller portion of the
+      nation, the duke naturally secured the greater by the strongest ties of
+      fear and gratitude, and for one whom he sought out as a victim he gained
+      ten others whom he passed over. As long as he continued true to this
+      policy he remained in quiet possession of his rule, even amid the streams
+      of blood which he caused to flow, and did not forfeit this advantage till
+      the want of money compelled him to impose a burden upon the nation which
+      oppressed all indiscriminately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to be equal to this bloody occupation, the details of which were
+      fast accumulating, and to be certain of not losing a single victim through
+      the want of instruments; and, on the other hand, to render his proceedings
+      independent of the states, with whose privileges they were so much at
+      variance, and who, indeed, were far too humane for him, he instituted an
+      extraordinary court of justice. This court consisted of twelve criminal
+      judges, who, according to their instructions, to the very letter of which
+      they must adhere, were to try and pronounce sentence upon those implicated
+      in the past disturbances. The mere institution of such a board was a
+      violation of the liberties of the country, which expressly stipulated that
+      no citizen should be tried out of his own province; but the duke filled up
+      the measure of his injustice when, contrary to the most sacred privileges
+      of the nation, he proceeded to give seats and votes in that court to
+      Spaniards, the open and avowed enemies of Belgian liberty. He himself was
+      the president of this court, and after him a certain licentiate, Vargas, a
+      Spaniard by birth, of whose iniquitous character the historians of both
+      parties are unanimous; cast out like a plague-spot from his own country,
+      where he had violated one of his wards, he was a shameless, hardened
+      villain, in whose mind avarice, lust, and the thirst for blood struggled
+      for ascendancy. The principal members were Count Aremberg, Philip of
+      Noircarmes, and Charles of Barlaimont, who, however, never sat in it;
+      Hadrian Nicolai, chancellor of Gueldres; Jacob Mertens and Peter Asset,
+      presidents of Artois and Flanders; Jacob Hesselts and John de la Porte,
+      counsellors of Ghent; Louis del Roi, doctor of theology, and by birth a
+      Spaniard; John du Bois, king's advocate; and De la'Torre, secretary of the
+      court. In compliance with the representations of Viglius the privy council
+      was spared any part in this tribunal; nor was any one introduced into it
+      from the great council at Malines. The votes of the members were only
+      recommendatory, not conclusive, the final sentence being reserved by the
+      duke to himself. No particular time was fixed for the sitting of the
+      court; the members, however, assembled at noon, as often as the duke
+      thought good. But after the expiration of the third month Alva began to be
+      less frequent in his attendance, and at last resigned his place entirely
+      to his favorite, Vargas, who filled it with such odious fitness that in a
+      short time all the members, with the exception merely of the Spanish
+      doctor, Del Rio, and the secretary, De la Torre, weary of the atrocities
+      of which they were compelled to be both eyewitnesses and accomplices,
+      remained away from the assembly.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The sentences passed upon the most eminent persons (for example,
+   the sentence of death passed upon Strahlen, the burgomaster of
+   Antwerp), were signed only by Vargas, Del Rio, and De la Torre.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It is revolting to the feelings to think how the lives of the noblest and
+      best were thus placed at the mercy of Spanish vagabonds, and how even the
+      sanctuaries of the nation, its deeds and charters, were unscrupulously
+      ransacked, the seals broken, and the most secret contracts between the
+      sovereign and the state profaned and exposed.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [For an example of the unfeeling levity with which the most
+   important matters, even decisions in cases of life and death, were
+   treated in this sanguinary council, it may serve to relate what is
+   told of the Counsellor Hesselts. He was generally asleep during
+   the meeting, and when his turn came to vote on a sentence of death
+   he used to cry out, still half asleep: "Ad patibulum! Ad
+   patibulum!" so glibly did his tongue utter this word. It is
+   further to be remarked of this Hesselts, that his wife, a daughter
+   of the President Viglius, had expressly stipulated in the marriage-
+   contract that he should resign the dismal office of attorney for
+   the king, which made him detested by the whole nation. Vigl. ad
+   Hopp. lxvii., L.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      From the council of twelve (which, from the object of its institution, was
+      called the council for disturbances, but on account of its proceedings is
+      more generally known under the appellation of the council of blood, a name
+      which the nation in their exasperation bestowed upon it), no appeal was
+      allowed. Its proceedings could not be revised. Its verdicts were
+      irrevocable and independent of all other authority. No other tribunal in
+      the country could take cognizance of cases which related to the late
+      insurrection, so that in all the other courts justice was nearly at a
+      standstill. The great council at Malines was as good as abolished; the
+      authority of the council of state entirely ceased, insomuch that its
+      sittings were discontinued. On some rare occasions the duke conferred with
+      a few members of the late assembly, but even when this did occur the
+      conference was held in his cabinet, and was no more than a private
+      consultation, without any of the proper forms being observed. No
+      privilege, no charter of immunity, however carefully protected, had any
+      weight with the council for disturbances.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Vargas, in a few words of barbarous Latin, demolished at once the
+   boasted liberties of the Netherlands. "Non curamus vestros
+   privilegios," he replied to one who wished to plead the immunities
+   of the University of Louvain.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It compelled all deeds and contracts to be laid before it, and often
+      forced upon them the most strained interpetations and alterations. If the
+      duke caused a sentence to be drawn out which there was reason to fear
+      might be opposed by the states of Brabant, it was legalized without the
+      Brabant seal. The most sacred rights of individuals were assailed, and a
+      tyranny without example forced its arbitrary will even into the circle of
+      domestic life. As the Protestants and rebels had hitherto contrived to
+      strengthen their party so much by marriages with the first families in the
+      country, the duke issued an edict forbidding all Netherlanders, whatever
+      might be their rank or office, under pain of death and confiscation of
+      property, to conclude a marriage without previously obtaining his
+      permission.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All whom the council for disturbances thought proper to summon before it
+      were compelled to appear, clergy as well as laity; the most venerable
+      heads of the senate, as well as the reprobate rabble of the Iconoclasts.
+      Whoever did not present himself, as indeed scarcely anybody did, was
+      declared an outlaw, and his property was confiscated; but those who were
+      rash or foolish enough to appear, or who were so unfortunate as to be
+      seized, were lost without redemption. Twenty, forty, often fifty were
+      summoned at the same time and from the same town, and the richest were
+      always the first on whom the thunderbolt descended. The meaner citizens,
+      who possessed nothing that could render their country and their homes dear
+      to them, were taken unawares and arrested without any previous citation.
+      Many eminent merchants, who had at their disposal fortunes of from sixty
+      thousand to one hundred thousand florins, were seen with their hands tied
+      behind their backs, dragged like common vagabonds at the horse's tail to
+      execution, and in Valenciennes fifty-five persons were decapitated at one
+      time. All the prisons&mdash;and the duke immediately on commencing his
+      administration had built a great number of them&mdash;were crammed full
+      with the accused; hanging, beheading, quartering, burning were the
+      prevailing and ordinary occupations of the day; the punishment of the
+      galleys and banishment were more rarely heard of, for there was scarcely
+      any offence which was reckoned too trival to be punished with death.
+      Immense sums were thus brought into the treasury, which, however, served
+      rather to stimulate the new viceroy's and his colleagues' thirst for gold
+      than to quench it. It seemed to be his insane purpose to make beggars of
+      the whole people, and to throw all their riches into the hands of the king
+      and his servants. The yearly income derived from these confiscations was
+      computed to equal the revenues of the first kingdoms of Europe; it is said
+      to have been estimated, in a report furnished to the king, at the
+      incredible amount of twenty million of dollars. But these proceedings were
+      the more inhuman, as they often bore hardest precisely upon the very
+      persons who were the most peaceful subjects, and most orthodox Roman
+      Catholics, whom they could not want to injure. Whenever an estate was
+      confiscated all the creditors who had claims upon it were defrauded. The
+      hospitals, too, and public institutions, which such properties had
+      contributed to support, were now ruined, and the poor, who had formerly
+      drawn a pittance from this source, were compelled to see their only spring
+      of comfort dried up. Whoever ventured to urge their well-grounded claims
+      on the forfeited property before the council of twelve (for no other
+      tribunal dared to interfere with these inquiries), consumed their
+      substance in tedious and expensive proceedings, and were reduced to
+      beggary before they saw the end of them. The histories of civilized states
+      furnish but one instance of a similar perversion of justice, of such
+      violation of the rights of property, and of such waste of human life; but
+      Cinna, Sylla, and Marius entered vanquished Rome as incensed victors, and
+      practised without disguise what the viceroy of the Netherlands performed
+      under the venerable veil of the laws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up to the end of the year 1567 the king's arrival had been confidently
+      expected, and the well-disposed of the people had placed all their last
+      hopes on this event. The vessels, which Philip had caused to be equipped
+      expressly for the purpose of meeting him, still lay in the harbor of
+      Flushing, ready to sail at the first signal; and the town of Brussels had
+      consented to receive a Spanish garrison, simply because the king, it was
+      pretended, was to reside within its walls. But this hope gradually
+      vanished, as he put off the journey from one season to the next, and the
+      new viceroy very soon began to exhibit powers which announced him less as
+      a precursor of royalty than as an absolute minister, whose presence made
+      that of the monarch entirely superfluous. To compete the distress of the
+      provinces their last good angel was now to leave them in the person of the
+      regent. From the moment when the production of the duke's extensive powers
+      left no doubt remaining as to the practical termination of her own rule,
+      Margaret had formed the resolution of relinquishing the name also of
+      regent. To see a successor in the actual possession of a dignity which a
+      nine years' enjoyment had made indispensable to her; to see the authority,
+      the glory, the splendor, the adoration, and all the marks of respect,
+      which are the usual concomitants of supreme power, pass over to another;
+      and to feel that she had lost that which she could never forget she had
+      once held, was more than a woman's mind could endure; moreover, the Duke
+      of Alva was of all men the least calculated to make her feel her privation
+      the less painful by a forbearing use of his newly-acquired dignity. The
+      tranquillity of the country, too, which was put in jeopardy by this
+      divided rule, seemed to impose upon the duchess the necessity of
+      abdicating. Many governors of provinces refused, without an express order
+      from the court, to receive commands from the duke and to recognize him as
+      co-regent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rapid change of their point of attraction could not be met by the
+      courtiers so composedly and imperturbably but that the duchess observed
+      the alteration, and bitterly felt it. Even the few who, like State
+      Counsellor Viglius, still firmly adhered to her, did so less from
+      attachment to her person than from vexation at being displaced by novices
+      and foreigners, and from being too proud to serve a fresh apprenticeship
+      under a new viceroy. But far the greater number, with all their endeavors
+      to keep an exact mean, could not help making a difference between the
+      homage they paid to the rising sun and that which they bestowed on the
+      setting luminary. The royal palace in Brussels became more and more
+      deserted, while the throng at Kuilemberg house daily increased. But what
+      wounded the sensitiveness of the duchess most acutely was the arrest of
+      Horn and Egmont, which was planned and executed by the duke without her
+      knowledge or consent, just as if there had been no such person as herself
+      in existence. Alva did, indeed, after the act was done, endeavor to
+      appease her by declaring that the design had been purposely kept secret
+      from her in order to spare her name from being mixed up in so odious a
+      transaction; but no such considerations of delicacy could close the wound
+      which had been inflicted on her pride. In order at once to escape all risk
+      of similar insults, of which the present was probably only a forerunner,
+      she despatched her private secretary, Macchiavell, to the court of her
+      brother, there to solicit earnestly for permission to resign the regency.
+      The request was granted without difficulty by the king, who accompanied
+      his consent with every mark of his highest esteem. He would put aside (so
+      the king expressed himself) his own advantage and that of the provinces in
+      order to oblige his sister. He sent a present of thirty thousand dollars,
+      and allotted to her a yearly pension of twenty thousand.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Which, however, does not appear to have been very punctually paid,
+   if a pamphlet maybe trusted which was printed during her lifetime.
+   (It bears the title: Discours sur la Blessure de Monseigneur Prince
+   d'Orange, 1582, without notice of the place where it was printed,
+   and is to be found in the Elector's library at Dresden.) She
+   languished, it is there stated, at Namur in poverty, and so ill-
+   supported by her son (the then governor of the Netherlands), that
+   her own secretary, Aldrobandin, called her sojourn there an exile.
+   But the writer goes on to ask what better treatment could she
+   expect from a son who, when still very young, being on a visit to
+   her at Brussels, snapped his fingers at her behind her back.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      At the same time a diploma was forwarded to the Duke of Alva, constituting
+      him, in her stead, viceroy of all the Netherlands, with unlimited powers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gladly would Margaret have learned that she was permitted to resign the
+      regency before a solemn assembly of the states, a wish which she had not
+      very obscurely hinted to the king. But she was not gratified. She was
+      particularly fond of solemnity, and the example of the Emperor, her
+      father, who had exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of his abdication of
+      the crown in this very city, seemed to have great attractions for her. As
+      she was compelled to part with supreme power, she could scarcely be blamed
+      for wishing to do so with as much splendor as possible. Moreover, she had
+      not failed to observe how much the general hatred of the duke had effected
+      in her own favor, and she looked, therefore, the more wistfully forward to
+      a scene, which promised to be at once so flattering to her and so
+      affecting. She would have been glad to mingle her own tears with those
+      which she hoped to see shed by the Netherlanders for their good regent.
+      Thus the bitterness of her descent from the throne would have been
+      alleviated by the expression of general sympathy. Little as she had done
+      to merit the general esteem during the nine years of her administration,
+      while fortune smiled upon her, and the approbation of her sovereign was
+      the limit to all her wishes, yet now the sympathy of the nation had
+      acquired a value in her eyes as the only thing which could in some degree
+      compensate to her for the disappointment of all her other hopes. Fain
+      would she have persuaded herself that she had become a voluntary sacrifice
+      to her goodness of heart and her too humane feelings towards the
+      Netherlanders. As, however, the king was very far from being disposed to
+      incur any danger by calling a general assembly of the states, in order to
+      gratify a mere caprice of his sister, she was obliged to content herself
+      with a farewell letter to them. In this document she went over her whole
+      administration, recounted, not without ostentation, the difficulties with
+      which she had had to struggle, the evils which, by her dexterity, she had
+      prevented, and wound up at last by saying that she left a finished work,
+      and had to transfer to her successor nothing but the punishment of
+      offenders. The king, too, was repeatedly compelled to hear the same
+      statement, and she left nothing undone to arrogate to herself the glory of
+      any future advantages which it might be the good fortune of the duke to
+      realize. Her own merits, as something which did not admit of a doubt, but
+      was at the same time a burden oppressive to her modesty, she laid at the
+      feet of the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dispassionate posterity may, nevertheless; hesitate to subscribe
+      unreservedly to this favorable opinion. Even though the united voice of
+      her contemporaries, and the testimony of the Netherlands themselves vouch
+      for it, a third party will not be denied the right to examine her claims
+      with stricter scrutiny. The popular mind, easily affected, is but too
+      ready to count the absence of a vice as an additional virtue, and, under
+      the pressure of existing evil, to give excess of praise for past benefits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Netherlander seems to have concentrated all his hatred upon the
+      Spanish name. To lay the blame of the national evils on the regent would
+      tend to remove from the king and his minister the curses which he would
+      rather shower upon them alone and undividedly; and the Duke of Alva's
+      government of the Netherlands was, perhaps, not the proper point of view
+      from which to test the merits of his predecessor. It was undoubtedly no
+      light task to meet the king's expectations without infringing the rights
+      of the people and the duties of humanity; but in struggling to effect
+      these two contradictory objects Margaret had accomplished neither. She had
+      deeply injured the nation, while comparatively she had done little service
+      to the king. It is true that she at last crushed the Protestant faction,
+      but the accidental outbreak of the Iconoclasts assisted her in this more
+      than all her dexterity. She certainly succeeded by her intrigues in
+      dissolving the league of the nobles, but not until the first blow had been
+      struck at its roots by internal dissensions. The object, to secure which
+      she had for many years vainly exhausted her whole policy, was effected at
+      last by a single enlistment of troops, for which, however, the orders were
+      issued from Madrid. She delivered to the duke, no doubt, a tranquillized
+      country; but it cannot be denied that the dread of his approach had the
+      chief share in tranquillizing it. By her reports she led the council in
+      Spain astray; because she never informed it of the disease, but only of
+      the occasional symptoms; never of the universal feeling and voice of the
+      nation, but only of the misconduct of factions. Her faulty administration,
+      moreover, drew the people into the crime, because she exasperated without
+      sufficiently awing them. She it was that brought the murderous Alva into
+      the country by leading the king to believe that the disturbances in the
+      provinces were to be ascribed, not so much to the severity of the royal
+      ordinances, as to the unworthiness of those who were charged with their
+      execution. Margaret possessed natural capacity and intellect; and an
+      acquired political tact enabled her to meet any ordinary case; but she
+      wanted that creative genius which, for new and extraordinary emergencies,
+      invents new maxims, or wisely oversteps old ones. In a country where
+      honesty was the best policy, she adopted the unfortunate plan of
+      practising her insidious Italian policy, and thereby sowed the seeds of a
+      fatal distrust in the minds of the people. The indulgence which has been
+      so liberally imputed to her as a merit was, in truth, extorted from her
+      weakness and timidity by the courageous opposition of the nation; she had
+      never departed from the strict letter of the royal commands by her own
+      spontaneous resolution; never did the gentle feelings of innate humanity
+      lead her to misinterpret the cruel purport of her instructions. Even the
+      few concessions to which necessity compelled her were granted with an
+      uncertain and shrinking hand, as if fearing to give too much; and she lost
+      the fruit of her benefactions because she mutilated them by a sordid
+      closeness. What in all the other relations of her life she was too little,
+      she was on the throne too much&mdash;a woman! She had it in her power,
+      after Granvella's expulsion, to become the benefactress of the Belgian
+      nation, but she did not. Her supreme good was the approbation of her king,
+      her greatest misfortune his displeasure; with all the eminent qualities of
+      her mind she remained an ordinary character because her heart was
+      destitute of native nobility. She used a melancholy power with much
+      moderation, and stained her government with no deed of arbitrary cruelty;
+      nay, if it had depended on her, she would have always acted humanely.
+      Years afterwards, when her idol, Philip II., had long forgotten her, the
+      Netherlanders still honored her memory; but she was far from deserving the
+      glory which her successor's inhumanity reflected upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She left Brussels about the end of December, 1567. The duke escorted her
+      as far as the frontiers of Brabant, and there left her under the
+      protection of Count Mansfeld in order to hasten back to the metropolis and
+      show himself to the Netherlanders as sole regent.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF COUNTS EGMONT AND HORN.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The two counts were a few weeks after their arrest conveyed to Ghent under
+      an escort of three thousand Spaniards, where they were confined in the
+      citadel for more than eight months. Their trial commenced in due form
+      before the council of twelve, and the solicitor-general, John Du Bois,
+      conducted the proceedings. The indictment against Egmont consisted of
+      ninety counts, and that against Horn of sixty. It would occupy too much
+      space to introduce them here. Every action, however innocent, every
+      omission of duty, was interpreted on the principle which had been laid
+      down in the opening of the indictment, "that the two counts, in
+      conjunction with the Prince of Orange, had planned the overthrow of the
+      royal authority in the Netherlands, and the usurpation of the government
+      of the country;" the expulsion of Granvella; the embassy of Egmont to
+      Madrid; the confederacy of the Gueux; the concessions which they made to
+      the Protestants in the provinces under their government&mdash;all were
+      made to have a connection with, and reference to, this deliberate design.
+      Thus importance was attached to the most insignificant occurrences, and
+      one action made to darken and discolor another. By taking care to treat
+      each of the charges as in itself a treasonable offence it was the more
+      easy to justify a sentence of high treason by the whole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The accusations were sent to each of the prisoners, who were required to
+      reply to them within five days. After doing so they were allowed to employ
+      solicitors and advocates, who were permitted free access to them; but as
+      they were accused of treason their friends were prohibited from visiting
+      them. Count Egmont employed for his solicitor Von Landas, and made choice
+      of a few eminent advocates from Brussels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first step was to demur against the tribunal which was to try them,
+      since by the privilege of their order they, as Knights of the Golden
+      Fleece, were amenable only to the king himself, the grand master. But this
+      demurrer was overruled, and they were required to produce their witnesses,
+      in default of which they were to be proceeded against <i>in contumaciam.</i>
+      Egmont had satisfactorily answered to eighty-two counts, while Count Horn
+      had refuted the charges against him, article by article. The accusation
+      and the defence are still extant; on that defence every impartial tribunal
+      would have acquitted them both. The Procurator Fiscal pressed for the
+      production of their evidence, and the Duke of Alva issued his repeated
+      commands to use despatch. They delayed, however, from week to week, while
+      they renewed their protests against the illegality of the court. At last
+      the duke assigned them nine days to produce their proofs; on the lapse of
+      that period they were to be declared guilty, and as having forfeited all
+      right of defence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the progress of the trial the relations and friends of the two
+      counts were not idle. Egmont's wife, by birth a duchess of Bavaria,
+      addressed petitions to the princes of the German empire, to the Emperor,
+      and to the King of Spain. The Countess Horn, mother of the imprisoned
+      count, who was connected by the ties of friendship or of blood with the
+      principal royal families of Germany, did the same. All alike protested
+      loudly against this illegal proceeding, and appealed to the liberty of the
+      German empire, on which Horn, as a count of the empire, had special
+      claims; the liberty of the Netherlands and the privileges of the Order of
+      the Golden Fleece were likewise insisted upon. The Countess Egmont
+      succeeded in obtaining the intercession of almost every German court in
+      behalf of her husband. The King of Spain and his viceroy were besieged by
+      applications in behalf of the accused, which were referred from one to the
+      other, and made light of by both. Countess Horn collected certificates
+      from all the Knights of the Golden Fleece in Spain, Germany, and Italy to
+      prove the privileges of the order. Alva rejected them with a declaration
+      that they had no force in such a case as the present. "The crimes of which
+      the counts are accused relate to the affairs of the Belgian provinces, and
+      he, the duke, was appointed by the king sole judge of all matters
+      connected with those countries."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Four months had been allowed to the solicitor-general to draw up the
+      indictment, and five were granted to the two counts to prepare for their
+      defence. But instead of losing their time and trouble in adducing their
+      evidence, which, perhaps, would have profited then but little, they
+      preferred wasting it in protests against the judges, which availed them
+      still less. By the former course they would probably have delayed the
+      final sentence, and in the time thus gained the powerful intercession of
+      their friends might perhaps have not been ineffectual. By obstinately
+      persisting in denying the competency of the tribunal which was to try
+      them, they furnished the duke with an excuse for cutting short the
+      proceedings. After the last assigned period had expired, on the 1st of
+      June, 1658, the council of twelve declared them guilty, and on the 4th of
+      that month sentence of death was pronounced against them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The execution of twenty-five noble Netherlanders, who were beheaded in
+      three successive days in the marketplace at Brussels, was the terrible
+      prelude to the fate of the two counts. John Casembrot von Beckerzeel,
+      secretary to Count Egmont, was one of the unfortunates, who was thus
+      rewarded for his fidelity to his master, which he steadfastly maintained
+      even upon the rack, and for his zeal in the service of the king, which he
+      had manifested against the Iconoclasts. The others had either been taken
+      prisoners, with arms in their hands, in the insurrection of the "Gueux,"
+      or apprehended and condemned as traitors on account of having taken a part
+      in the petition of the nobles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The duke had reason to hasten the execution of the sentence. Count Louis
+      of Nassau had given battle to the Count of Aremberg, near the monastery of
+      Heiligerlee, in Groningen, and had the good fortune to defeat him.
+      Immediately after his victory he had advanced against Groningen, and laid
+      siege to it. The success of his arms had raised the courage of his
+      faction; and the Prince of Orange, his brother, was close at hand with an
+      army to support him. These circumstances made the duke's presence
+      necessary in those distant provinces; but he could not venture to leave
+      Brussels before the fate of two such important prisoners was decided. The
+      whole nation loved them, which was not a little increased by their unhappy
+      fate. Even the strict papists disapproved of the execution of these
+      eminent nobles. The slightest advantage which the arms of the rebels might
+      gain over the duke, or even the report of a defeat, would cause a
+      revolution in Brussels, which would immediately set the two counts at
+      liberty. Moreover, the petitions and intercessions which came to the
+      viceroy, as well as to the King of Spain, from the German princes,
+      increased daily; nay, the Emperor, Maximilian II., himself caused the
+      countess to be assured "that she had nothing to fear for the life of her
+      spouse." These powerful applications might at last turn the king's heart
+      in favor of the prisoners. The king might, perhaps, in reliance on his
+      viceroy's usual dispatch, put on the appearance of yielding to the
+      representations of so many sovereigns, and rescind the sentence of death
+      under the conviction that his mercy would come too late. These
+      considerations moved the duke not to delay the execution of the sentence
+      as soon as it was pronounced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day after the sentence was passed the two counts were brought,
+      under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, from Ghent to Brussels, and
+      placed in confinement in the Brodhause, in the great market-place. The
+      next morning the council of twelve were assembled; the duke, contrary to
+      his custom, attended in person, and both the sentences, in sealed
+      envelopes, were opened and publicly read by Secretary Pranz. The two
+      counts were declared guilty of treason, as having favored and promoted the
+      abominable conspiracy of the Prince of Orange, protected the confederated
+      nobles, and been convicted of various misdemeanors against their king and
+      the church in their governments and other appointments. Both were
+      sentenced to be publicly beheaded, and their heads were to be fixed upon
+      pikes and not taken down without the duke's express command. All their
+      possessions, fiefs, and rights escheated to the royal treasury. The
+      sentence was signed only by the duke and the secretary, Pranz, without
+      asking or caring for the consent of the other members of the council.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the night between the 4th and 5th of June the sentences were
+      brought to the prisoners, after they had already gone to rest. The duke
+      gave them to the Bishop of Ypres, Martin Rithov, whom he had expressly
+      summoned to Brussels to prepare the prisoners for death. When the bishop
+      received this commission he threw himself at the feet of the duke, and
+      supplicated him with tears in his eyes for mercy, at least for respite for
+      the prisoners; but he was answered in a rough and angry voice that he had
+      been sent for from Ypres, not to oppose the sentence, but by his spiritual
+      consolation to reconcile the unhappy noblemen to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Egmont was the first to whom the bishop communicated the sentence of
+      death. "That is indeed a severe sentence," exclaimed the count, turning
+      pale, and with a faltering voice. "I did not think that I had offended his
+      majesty so deeply as to deserve such treatment. If, however, it must be so
+      I submit to my fate with resignation. May this death atone for my offence,
+      and save my wife and children from suffering. This at least I think I may
+      claim for my past services. As for death, I will meet it with composure,
+      since it so pleases God and my king." He then pressed the bishop to tell
+      him seriously and candidly if there was no hope of pardon. Being answered
+      in the negative, he confessed and received the sacrament from the priest,
+      repeating after him the mass with great devoutness. He asked what prayer
+      was the best and most effective to recommend him to God in his last hour.
+      On being told that no prayer could be more effectual than the one which
+      Christ himself had taught, he prepared immediately to repeat the Lord's
+      prayer. The thoughts of his family interrupted him; he called for pen and
+      ink, and wrote two letters, one to his wife, the other to the king. The
+      latter was as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sire,&mdash;This morning I have heard the sentence which your majesty has
+      been pleased to pass upon me. Far as I have ever been from attempting
+      anything against the person or service of your majesty, or against the
+      true, old, and Catholic religion, I yet submit myself with patience to the
+      fate which it has pleased God to ordain should suffer. If, during the past
+      disturbances, I have omitted, advised, or done anything that seems at
+      variance with my duty, it was most assuredly performed with the best
+      intentions, or was forced upon me by the pressure of circumstances. I
+      therefore pray your majesty to forgive me, and, in consideration of my
+      past services, show mercy to my unhappy wife, my poor children, and
+      servants. In a firm hope of this, I commend myself&mdash;to the infinite
+      mercy of God.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your majesty's most faithful vassal and servant,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "LAMORAL COUNT EGMONT.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "BRUSSELS, June 5, 1568, near my last moments."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter he placed in the hands of the bishop, with the strongest
+      injunctions for its safe delivery; and for greater security he sent a
+      duplicate in his own handwriting to State Counsellor Viglius, the most
+      upright man in the senate, by whom, there is no doubt, it was actually
+      delivered to the king. The family of the count were subsequently
+      reinstated in all his property, fiefs, and rights, which, by virtue of the
+      sentence, had escheated to the royal treasury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile a scaffold had been erected in the marketplace, before the town
+      hall, on which two poles were fixed with iron spikes, and the whole
+      covered with black cloth. Two-and-twenty companies of the Spanish garrison
+      surrounded the scaffold, a precaution which was by no means superfluous.
+      Between ten and eleven o'clock the Spanish guard appeared in the apartment
+      of the count; they were provided with cords to tie his hands according to
+      custom. He begged that this might be spared him, and declared that he was
+      willing and ready to die. He himself cut off the collar from his doublet
+      to facilitate the executioner's duty. He wore a robe of red damask, and
+      over that a black Spanish cloak trimmed with gold lace. In this dress he
+      appeared on the scaffold, and was attended by Don Julian Romero,
+      maitre-de-camp; Salinas, a Spanish captain; and the Bishop of Ypres. The
+      grand provost of the court, with a red wand in his hand, sat on horseback
+      at the foot of the scaffold; the executioner was concealed beneath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Egmont had at first shown a desire to address the people from the
+      scaffold. He desisted, however, on the bishop's representing to him that
+      either he would not be heard, or that if he were, he might&mdash;such at
+      present was the dangerous disposition of the people&mdash;excite them to
+      acts of violence, which would only plunge his friends into destruction.
+      For a few moments he paced the scaffold with noble dignity, and lamented
+      that it had not been permitted him to die a more honorable death for his
+      king and his country. Up to the last he seemed unable to persuade himself
+      that the king was in earnest, and that his severity would be carried any
+      further than the mere terror of execution. When the decisive period
+      approached, and he was to receive the extreme unction, he looked wistfully
+      round, and when there still appeared no prospect of a reprieve, he turned
+      to Julian Romero, and asked him once more if there was no hope of pardon
+      for him. Julian Romero shrugged his shoulders, looked on the ground, and
+      was silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then closely clenched his teeth, threw off his mantle and robe, knelt
+      upon the cushion, and prepared himself for the last prayer. The bishop
+      presented him the crucifix to kiss, and administered to him extreme
+      unction, upon which the count made him a sign to leave him. He drew a silk
+      cap over his eyes, and awaited the stroke. Over the corpse and the
+      streaming blood a black cloth was immediately thrown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All Brussels thronged around the scaffold, and the fatal blow seemed to
+      fall on every heart. Loud sobs alone broke the appalling silence. The duke
+      himself, who watched the execution from a window of the townhouse, wiped
+      his eyes as his victim died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shortly afterwards Count Horn advanced on the scaffold. Of a more violent
+      temperament than his friend, and stimulated by stronger reasons for hatred
+      against the king, he had received the sentence with less composure,
+      although in his case, perhaps, it was less unjust. He burst forth in
+      bitter reproaches against the king, and the bishop with difficulty
+      prevailed upon him to make a better use of his last moments than to abuse
+      them in imprecations on his enemies. At last, however, he became more
+      collected, and made his confession to the bishop, which at first he was
+      disposed to refuse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He mounted the scaffold with the same attendants as his friend. In passing
+      he saluted many of his acquaintances; his hands were, like Egmont's, free,
+      and he was dressed in a black doublet and cloak, with a Milan cap of the
+      same color upon his head. When he had ascended, he cast his eyes upon the
+      corpse, which lay under the cloth, and asked one of the bystanders if it
+      was the body of his friend. On being answered in the affirmative, he said
+      some words in Spanish, threw his cloak from him, and knelt upon the
+      cushion. All shrieked aloud as he received the fatal blow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The heads of both were fixed upon the poles which were set up on the
+      scaffold, where they remained until past three in the afternoon, when they
+      were taken down, and, with the two bodies, placed in leaden coffins and
+      deposited in a vault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of the number of spies and executioners who surrounded the
+      scaffold, the citizens of Brussels would not be prevented from dipping
+      their handkerchiefs in the streaming blood, and carrying home with them
+      these precious memorials.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  SIEGE OF ANTWERP BY THE PRINCE OF PARMA, IN THE YEARS 1584 AND 1585.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      It is an interesting spectacle to observe the struggle of man's inventive
+      genius in conflict with powerful opposing elements, and to see the
+      difficulties which are insurmountable to ordinary capacities overcome by
+      prudence, resolution, and a determined will. Less attractive, but only the
+      more instructive, perhaps, is the contrary spectacle, where the absence of
+      those qualities renders all efforts of genius vain, throws away all the
+      favors of fortune, and where inability to improve such advantages renders
+      hopeless a success which otherwise seemed sure and inevitable. Examples of
+      both kinds are afforded by the celebrated siege of Antwerp by the
+      Spaniards towards the close of the sixteenth century, by which that
+      flourishing city was forever deprived of its commercial prosperity, but
+      which, on the other hand, conferred immortal fame on the general who
+      undertook and accomplished it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Twelve years had the war continued which the northern provinces of Belgium
+      had commenced at first in vindication simply of their religious freedom,
+      and the privileges of their states, from the encroachments of the Spanish
+      viceroy, but maintained latterly in the hope of establishing their
+      independence of the Spanish crown. Never completely victors, but never
+      entirely vanquished, they wearied out the Spanish valor by tedious
+      operations on an unfavorable soil, and exhausted the wealth of the
+      sovereign of both the Indies while they themselves were called beggars,
+      and in a degree actually were so. The league of Ghent, which had united
+      the whole Netherlands, Roman Catholic and Protestant, in a common and
+      (could such a confederation have lasted) invincible body, was indeed
+      dissolved; but in place of this uncertain and unnatural combination the
+      northern provinces had, in the year 1579, formed among themselves the
+      closer union of Utrecht, which promised to be more lasting, inasmuch as it
+      was linked and held together by common political and religious interests.
+      What the new republic had lost in extent through this separation from the
+      Roman Catholic provinces it was fully compensated for by the closeness of
+      alliance, the unity of enterprise, and energy of execution; and perhaps it
+      was fortunate in thus timely losing what no exertion probably would ever
+      have enabled it to retain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The greater part of the Walloon provinces had, in the year 1584, partly by
+      voluntary submission and partly by force of arms, been again reduced under
+      the Spanish yoke. The northern districts alone had been able at all
+      successfully to oppose it. A considerable portion of Brabant and Flanders
+      still obstinately held out against the arms of the Duke Alexander of
+      Parma, who at that time administered the civil government of the
+      provinces, and the supreme command of the army, with equal energy and
+      prudence, and by a series of splendid victories had revived the military
+      reputation of Spain. The peculiar formation of the country, which by its
+      numerous rivers and canals facilitated the connection of the towns with
+      one another and with the sea, baffled all attempts effectually to subdue
+      it, and the possession of one place could only be maintained by the
+      occupation of another. So long as this communication was kept up Holland
+      and Zealand could with little difficulty assist their allies, and supply
+      them abundantly by water as well as by land with all necessaries, so that
+      valor was of no use, and the strength of the king's troops was fruitlessly
+      wasted on tedious sieges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of all the towns in Brabant Antwerp was the most important, as well from,
+      its wealth, its population, and its military force, as by its position on
+      the mouth of the Scheldt. This great and populous town, which at this date
+      contained more than eighty thousand inhabitants, was one of the most
+      active members of the national league, and had in the course of the war
+      distinguished itself above all the towns of Belgium by an untamable spirit
+      of liberty. As it fostered within its bosom all the three Christian
+      churches, and owed much of its prosperity to this unrestricted religious
+      liberty, it had the more cause to dread the Spanish rule, which threatened
+      to abolish this toleration, and by the terror of the Inquisition to drive
+      all the Protestant merchants from its markets. Moreover it had had but too
+      terrible experience of the brutality of the Spanish garrisons, and it was
+      quite evident that if it once more suffered this insupportable yoke to be
+      imposed upon it it would never again during the whole course of the war be
+      able to throw it off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But powerful as were the motives which stimulated Antwerp to resistance,
+      equally strong were the reasons which determined the Spanish general to
+      make himself master of the place at any cost. On the possession of this
+      town depended in a great measure that of the whole province of Brabant,
+      which by this channel chiefly derived its supplies of corn from Zealand,
+      while the capture of this place would secure to the victor the command of
+      the Scheldt. It would also deprive the league of Brabant, which held its
+      meetings in the town, of its principal support; the whole faction of its
+      dangerous influence, of its example, its counsels, and its money, while
+      the treasures of its inhabitants would open plentiful supplies for the
+      military exigencies of the king. Its fall would sooner or later
+      necessarily draw after it that of all Brabant, and the preponderance of
+      power in that quarter would decide the whole dispute in favor of the king.
+      Determined by these grave considerations, the Duke of Parma drew his
+      forces together in July, 1584, and advanced from his position at Dornick
+      to the neighborhood of Antwerp, with the intention of investing it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But both the natural position and fortifications of the town appeared to
+      defy attacks. Surrounded on the side of Brabant with insurmountable works
+      and moats, and towards Flanders covered by the broad and rapid stream of
+      the Scheldt, it could not be carried by storm; and to blockade a town of
+      such extent seemed to require a land force three times larger than that
+      which the duke had, and moreover a fleet, of which he was utterly
+      destitute. Not only did the river yield the town all necessary supplies
+      from Ghent, it also opened an easy communication with the bordering
+      province of Zealand. For, as the tide of the North Sea extends far up the
+      Scheldt, and ebbs and flows regularly, Antwerp enjoys the peculiar
+      advantage that the same tide flows past it at different times in two
+      opposite directions. Besides, the adjacent towns of Brussels, Malines,
+      Ghent, Dendermonde, and others, were all at this time in the hands of the
+      league, and could aid the place from the land side also. To blockade,
+      therefore, the town by land, and to cut off its communication with
+      Flanders and Brabant, required two different armies, one on each bank of
+      the river. A sufficient fleet was likewise needed to guard the passage of
+      the Scheldt, and to prevent all attempts at relief, which would most
+      certainly be made from Zealand. But by the war which he had still to carry
+      on in other quarters, and by the numerous garrisons which he was obliged
+      to leave in the towns and fortified places, the army of the duke was
+      reduced to ten thousand infantry and seventeen hundred horse, a force very
+      inadequate for an undertaking of such magnitude. Moreover, these troops
+      were deficient in the most necessary supplies, and the long arrears of pay
+      had excited them to subdued murmurs, which hourly threatened to break out
+      into open mutiny. If, notwithstanding these difficulties, he should still
+      attempt the siege, there would be much occasion to fear from the
+      strongholds of the enemy, which were left in the rear, and from which it
+      would be easy, by vigorous sallies, to annoy an army distributed over so
+      many places, and to expose it to want by cutting off its supplies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All these considerations were brought forward by the council of war,
+      before which the Duke of Parrna now laid his scheme. However great the
+      confidence which they placed in themselves, and in the proved abilities of
+      such a leader, nevertheless the most experienced generals did not disguise
+      their despair of a fortunate result. Two only were exceptions, Capizucchi
+      and Mondragone, whose ardent courage placed them above all apprehensions;
+      the rest concurred in dissuading the duke from attempting so hazardous an
+      enterprise, by which they ran the risk of forfeiting the fruit of all
+      their former victories and tarnishing the glory they had already earned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But objections, which he had already made to himself and refuted, could
+      not shake the Duke of Parma in his purpose. Not in ignorance of its
+      inseparable dangers, not from thoughtless overvaluing his forces had he
+      taken this bold resolve. But that instinctive genius which leads great men
+      by paths which inferior minds either never enter upon or never finish,
+      raised him above the influence of the doubts which a cold and narrow
+      prudence would oppose to his views; and, without being able to convince
+      his generals, he felt the correctness of his calculations in a conviction
+      indistinct, indeed, but not on that account less indubitable. A succession
+      of fortunate results had raised his confidence, and the sight of his army,
+      unequalled in Europe for discipline, experience, and valor, and commanded
+      by a chosen body of the most distinguished officers, did not permit him to
+      entertain fear for a moment. To those who objected to the small number of
+      his troops, he answered, that however long the pike, it is only the point
+      that kills; and that in military enterprise, the moving power was of more
+      importance than the mass to be moved. He was aware, indeed, of the
+      discontent of his troops, but he knew also their obedience; and he
+      thought, moreover, that the best means to stifle their murmurs was by
+      keeping them employed in some important undertaking, by stimulating their
+      desire of glory by the splendor of the enterprise, and their rapacity by
+      hopes of the rich booty which the capture of so wealthy a town would hold
+      out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the plan which he now formed for the conduct of the siege he endeavored
+      to meet all these difficulties. Famine was the only instrument by which he
+      could hope to subdue the town; but effectually to use this formidable
+      weapon, it would be expedient to cut off all its land and water
+      communications. With this view, the first object was to stop, or at least
+      to impede, the arrival of supplies from Zealand. It was, therefore,
+      requisite not only to carry all the outworks, which the people of Antwerp
+      had built on both shores of the Scheldt for the protection of their
+      shipping; but also, wherever feasible, to throw up new batteries which
+      should command the whole course of the river; and to prevent the place
+      from drawing supplies from the land side, while efforts were being made to
+      intercept their transmission by sea, all the adjacent towns of Brabant and
+      Flanders were comprehended in the plan of the siege, and the fall of
+      Antwerp was based on the destruction of all those places. A bold and,
+      considering the duke's scanty force, an almost extravagant project, which
+      was, however, justified by the genius of its author, and crowned by
+      fortune with a brilliant result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As, however, time was required to accomplish a plan of this magnitude, the
+      Prince of Parma was content, for the present, with the erection of
+      numerous forts on the canals and rivers which connected Antwerp with
+      Dendermonde, Ghent, Malines, Brussels, and other places. Spanish garrisons
+      were quartered in the vicinity, and almost at the very gates of those
+      towns, which laid waste the open country, and by their incursions kept the
+      surrounding territory in alarm. Thus, round Ghent alone were encamped
+      about three thousand men, and proportionate numbers round the other towns.
+      In this way, and by means of the secret understanding which he maintained
+      with the Roman Catholic inhabitants of those towns, the duke hoped,
+      without weakening his own forces, gradually to exhaust their strength, and
+      by the harassing operations of a petty but incessant warfare, even without
+      any formal siege, to reduce them at last to capitulate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime the main force was directed against Antwerp, which he now
+      closely invested. He fixed his headquarters at Bevern in Flanders, a few
+      miles from Antwerp, where he found a fortified camp. The protection of the
+      Flemish bank of the Scheldt was entrusted to the Margrave of Rysburg,
+      general of cavalry; the Brabant bank to the Count Peter Ernest Von
+      Mansfeld, who was joined by another Spanish leader, Mondragone. Both the
+      latter succeeded in crossing the Scheldt upon pontoons, notwithstanding
+      the Flemish admiral's ship was sent to oppose them, and, passing Antwerp,
+      took up their position at Stabroek in Bergen. Detached corps dispersed
+      themselves along the whole Brabant side, partly to secure the dykes and
+      the roads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some miles below Antwerp the Scheldt was guarded by two strong forts, of
+      which one was situated at Liefkenshoek on the island Doel, in Flanders,
+      the other at Lillo, exactly opposite the coast of Brabant. The last had
+      been erected by Mondragone himself, by order of the Duke of Alvaa, when
+      the latter was still master of Antwerp, and for this very reason the Duke
+      of Parma now entrusted to him the attack upon it. On the possession of
+      these two forts the success of the siege seemed wholly to depend, since
+      all the vessels sailing from Zealand to Antwerp must pass under their
+      guns. Both forts had a short time before been strengthened by the
+      besieged, and the former was scarcely finished when the Margrave of
+      Rysburg attacked it. The celerity with which he went to work surprised the
+      enemy before they were sufficiently prepared for defence, and a brisk
+      assault quickly placed Liefkenshoek in the hands of the Spaniards. The
+      confederates sustained this loss on the same fatal day that the Prince of
+      Orange fell at Delft by the hands of an assassin. The other batteries,
+      erected on the island of Doel, were partly abandoned by their defenders,
+      partly taken by surprise, so that in a short time the whole Flemish side
+      was cleared of the enemy. But the fort at Lillo, on the Brabant shore,
+      offered a more vigorous resistance, since the people of Antwerp had had
+      time to strengthen its fortifications and to provide it with a strong
+      garrison. Furious sallies of the besieged, led by Odets von Teligny,
+      supported by the cannon of the fort, destroyed all the works of the
+      Spaniards, and an inundation, which was effected by opening the sluices,
+      finally drove them away from the place after a three weeks' siege, and
+      with the loss of nearly two thousand killed. They now retired into their
+      fortified camp at Stabroek, and contented themselves with taking
+      possession of the dams which run across the lowlands of Bergen, and oppose
+      a breastwork to the encroachments of the East Scheldt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The failure of his attempt upon the fort of Lillo compelled the Prince of
+      Parma to change his measures. As he could not succeed in stopping the
+      passage of the Scheldt by his original plan, on which the success of the
+      siege entirely depended, he determined to effect his purpose by throwing a
+      bridge across the whole breadth of the river. The thought was bold, and
+      there were many who held it to be rash. Both the breadth of the stream,
+      which at this part exceeds twelve hundred paces, as well as its violence,
+      which is still further augmented by the tides of the neighboring sea,
+      appeared to render every attempt of this kind impracticable. Moreover, he
+      had to contend with a deficiency of timber, vessels, and workmen, as well
+      as with the dangerous position between the fleets of Antwerp and of
+      Zealand, to which it would necessarily be an easy task, in combination
+      with a boisterous element, to interrupt so tedious a work. But the Prince
+      of Parma knew his power, and his settled resolution would yield to nothing
+      short of absolute impossibility. After he had caused the breadth as well
+      as the depth of the river to be measured, and had consulted with two of
+      his most skilful engineers, Barocci and Plato, it was settled that the
+      bridge should be constructed between Calloo in Flanders and Ordain in
+      Brabant. This spot was selected because the river is here narrowest, and
+      bends a little to the right, and so detains vessels a while by compelling
+      them to tack. To cover the bridge strong bastions were erected at both
+      ends, of which the one on the Flanders side was named Fort St. Maria, the
+      other, on the Brabant side, Fort St. Philip, in honor of the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While active preparations were making in the Spanish camp for the
+      execution of this scheme, and the whole attention of the enemy was
+      directed to it, the duke made an unexpected attack upon Dendermonde, a
+      strong town between Ghent and Antwerp, at the confluence of the Dender and
+      the Scheldt. As long as this important place was in the hands of the enemy
+      the towns of Ghent and Antwerp could mutually support each other, and by
+      the facility of their communication frustrate all the efforts of the
+      besiegers. Its capture would leave the prince free to act against both
+      towns, and might decide the fate of his undertaking. The rapidity of his
+      attack left the besieged no time to open their sluices and lay the country
+      under water. A hot cannonade was opened upon the chief bastion of the town
+      before the Brussels gate, but was answered by the fire of the besieged,
+      which made great havoc amongst the Spaniards. It increased, however,
+      rather than discouraged their ardor, and the insults of the garrison, who
+      mutilated the statue of a saint before their eyes, and after treating it
+      with the most contumelious indignity, hurled it down from the rampart,
+      raised their fury to the highest pitch. Clamorously they demanded to be
+      led against the bastion before their fire had made a sufficient breach in
+      it, and the prince, to avail himself of the first ardor of their
+      impetuosity, gave the signal for the assault. After a sanguinary contest
+      of two hours the rampart was mounted, and those who were not sacrificed to
+      the first fury of the Spaniards threw themselves into the town. The latter
+      was indeed now more exposed, a fire being directed upon it from the works
+      which had been carried; but its strong walls and the broad moat which
+      surrounded it gave reason to expect a protracted resistance. The inventive
+      resources of the Prince of Parma soon overcame this obstacle also. While
+      the bombardment was carried on night and day, the troops were incessantly
+      employed in diverting the course of the Dender, which supplied the fosse
+      with water, and the besieged were seized with despair as they saw the
+      water of the trenches, the last defence of the town, gradually disappear.
+      They hastened to capitulate, and in August, 1584, received a Spanish
+      garrison. Thus, in the space of eleven days, the Prince of Parrna
+      accomplished an undertaking which, in the opinion of competent judges,
+      would require as many weeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The town of Ghent, now cut off from Antwerp and the sea, and hard pressed
+      by the troops of the king, which were encamped in its vicinity, and
+      without hope of immediate succor, began to despair, as famine, with all
+      its dreadful train, advanced upon them with rapid steps. The inhabitants
+      therefore despatched deputies to the Spanish camp at Bevern, to tender its
+      submission to the king upon the same terms as the prince had a short time
+      previously offered. The deputies were informed that the time for treaties
+      was past, and that an unconditional submission alone could appease the
+      just anger of the monarch whom they had offended by their rebellion. Nay,
+      they were even given to understand that it would be only through his great
+      mercy if the same humiliation were not exacted from them as their
+      rebellious ancestors were forced to undergo under Charles V., namely, to
+      implore pardon half-naked, and with a cord round their necks. The deputies
+      returned to Ghent in despair, but three days afterwards a new deputation
+      was sent to the Spanish camp, which at last, by the intercession of one of
+      the prince's friends, who was a prisoner in Ghent, obtained peace upon
+      moderate terms. The town was to pay a fine of two hundred thousand
+      florins, recall the banished papists, and expel the Protestant
+      inhabitants, who, however, were to be allowed two years for the settlement
+      of their affairs. All the inhabitants except six, who were reserved for
+      capital punishment (but afterwards pardoned), were included in a general
+      amnesty, and the garrison, which amounted to two thousand men, was allowed
+      to evacuate the place with the honors of war. This treaty was concluded in
+      September of the same year, at the headquarters at Bevern, and immediately
+      three thousand Spaniards marched into the town as a garrison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was more by the terror of his name and the dread of famine than by the
+      force of arms that the Prince of Parma had succeeded in reducing this city
+      to submission, the largest and strongest in the Netherlands, which was
+      little inferior to Paris within the barriers of its inner town, consisted
+      of thirty-seven thousand houses, and was built on twenty islands,
+      connected by ninety-eight stone bridges. The important privileges which in
+      the course of several centuries this city had contrived to extort from its
+      rulers fostered in its inhabitants a spirit of independence, which not
+      unfrequently degenerated into riot and license, and naturally brought it
+      in collision with the Austrian-Spanish government. And it was exactly this
+      bold spirit of liberty which procured for the Reformation the rapid and
+      extensive success it met with in this town, and the combined incentives of
+      civil and religious freedom produced all those scenes of violence by
+      which, during the rebellion, it had unfortunately distinguished itself.
+      Besides the fine levied, the prince found within the walls a large store
+      of artillery, carriages, ships, and building materials of all kinds, with
+      numerous workmen and sailors, who materially aided him in his plans
+      against Antwerp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before Ghent surrendered to the king Vilvorden and Herentals had fallen
+      into the hands of the Spaniards, and the capture of the block-houses near
+      the village of Willebrock had cut off Antwerp from Brussels and Malines.
+      The loss of these places within so short a period deprived Antwerp of all
+      hope of succor from Brabant and Flanders, and limited all their
+      expectations to the assistance which might be looked for from Zealand. But
+      to deprive them also of this the Prince of Parma was now making the most
+      energetic preparations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The citizens of Antwerp had beheld the first operations of the enemy
+      against their town with the proud security with which the sight of their
+      invincible river inspired them. This confidence was also in a degree
+      justified by the opinion of the Prince of Orange, who, upon the first
+      intelligence of the design, had said that the Spanish army would
+      inevitably perish before the walls of Antwerp. That nothing, however,
+      might be neglected, he sent, a short time before his assassination, for
+      the burgomaster of Antwerp, Philip Marnix of St. Aldegonde, his intimate
+      friend, to Delft, where he consulted with him as to the means of
+      maintaining defensive operations. It was agreed between then that it would
+      be advisable to demolish forthwith the great dam between Sanvliet and
+      Lillo called the Blaaugarendyk, so as to allow the waters of the East
+      Scheldt to inundate, if necessary, the lowlands of Bergen, and thus, in
+      the event of the Scheldt being closed, to open a passage for the Zealand
+      vessels to the town across the inundated country. Aldegonde had, after his
+      return, actually persuaded the magistrate and the majority of the citizens
+      to agree to this proposal, when it was resisted by the guild of butchers,
+      who claimed that they would be ruined by such a measure; for the plain
+      which it was wished to lay under water was a vast tract of pasture land,
+      upon which about twelve thousand oxen&mdash;were annually put to graze.
+      The objection of the butchers was successful, and they managed to prevent
+      the execution of this salutary scheme until the enemy had got possession
+      of the dams as well as the pasture land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the suggestion of the burgomaster St. Aldegonde, who, himself a member
+      of the states of Brabant, was possessed of great authority in that
+      council, the fortifications on both sides the Scheldt had, a short time
+      before the arrival of the Spaniards, been placed in repair, and many new
+      redoubts erected round the town. The dams had been cut through at
+      Saftingen, and the water of the West Scheldt let out over nearly the whole
+      country of Waes. In the adjacent Marquisate of Bergen troops had been
+      enlisted by the Count of Hohenlohe, and a Scotch regiment, under the
+      command of Colonel Morgan, was already in the pay of the republic, while
+      fresh reinforcements were daily expected from England and France. Above
+      all, the states of Holland and Zealand were called upon to hasten their
+      supplies. But after the enemy had taken strong positions on both sides of
+      the river, and the fire of their batteries made the navigation dangerous,
+      when place after place in Brabant fell into their hands, and their cavalry
+      had cut off all communication on the land side, the inhabitants of Antwerp
+      began at last to entertain serious apprehensions for the future. The town
+      then contained eighty-five thousand souls, and according to calculation
+      three hundred thousand quarters of corn were annually required for their
+      support. At the beginning of the siege neither the supply nor the money
+      was wanting for the laying in of such a store; for in spite of the enemy's
+      fire the Zealand victualling ships, taking advantage of the rising tide,
+      contrived to make their way to the town. All that was requisite was to
+      prevent any of the richer citizens from buying up these supplies, and, in
+      case of scarcity, raising the price. To secure his object, one Gianibelli
+      from Mantua, who had rendered important services in the course of the
+      siege, proposed a property tax of one penny in every hundred, and the
+      appointment of a board of respectable persons to purchase corn with this
+      money, and distribute it weekly. And until the returns of this tax should
+      be available the richer classes should advance the required sum, holding
+      the corn purchased, as a deposit, in their own magazines; and were also to
+      share in the profit. But this plan was unwelcome to the wealthier
+      citizens, who had resolved to profit by the general distress. They
+      recommended that every individual should be required to provide himself
+      with a sufficient supply for two years; a proposition which, however it
+      might suit their own circumstances, was very unreasonable in regard to the
+      poorer inhabitants, who, even before the siege, could scarcely find means
+      to supply themselves for so many months. They obtained indeed their
+      object, which was to reduce the poor to the necessity of either quitting
+      the place or becoming entirely their dependents. But when they afterwards
+      reflected that in the time of need the rights of property would not be
+      respected, they found it advisable not to be over-hasty in making their
+      own purchases.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The magistrate, in order to avert an evil that would have pressed upon
+      individuals only, had recourse to an expedient which endangered the safety
+      of all. Some enterprising persons in Zealand had freighted a large fleet
+      with provisions, which succeeded in passing the guns of the enemy, and
+      discharged its cargo at Antwerp. The hope of a large profit had tempted
+      the merchants to enter upon this hazardous speculation; in this, however,
+      they were disappointed, as the magistrate of Antwerp had, just before
+      their arrival, issued an edict regulating the price of all the necessaries
+      of life. At the same time to prevent individuals from buying up the whole
+      cargo and storing it in their magazines with a view of disposing of it
+      afterwards at a dearer rate, he ordered that the whole should be publicly
+      sold in any quantities from the vessels. The speculators, cheated of their
+      hopes of profit by these precautions, set sail again, and left Antwerp
+      with the greater part of their cargo, which would have sufficed for the
+      support of the town for several months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This neglect of the most essential and natural means of preservation can
+      only be explained by the supposition that the inhabitants considered it
+      absolutely impossible ever to close the Scheldt completely, and
+      consequently had not the least apprehension that things would come to
+      extremity. When the intelligence arrived in Antwerp that the prince
+      intended to throw a bridge over the Scheldt the idea was universally
+      ridiculed as chimerical. An arrogant comparison was drawn between the
+      republic and the stream, and it was said that the one would bear the
+      Spanish yoke as little as the other. "A river which is twenty-four hundred
+      feet broad, and, with its own waters alone, above sixty feet deep, but
+      which with the tide rose twelve feet more&mdash;would such a stream," it
+      was asked, "submit to be spanned by a miserable piece of paling? Where
+      were beams to be found high enough to reach to the bottom and project
+      above the surface? and how was a work of this kind to stand in winter,
+      when whole islands and mountains of ice, which stone walls could hardly
+      resist, would be driven by the flood against its weak timbers, and
+      splinter them to pieces like glass? Or, perhaps, the prince purposed to
+      construct a bridge of boats; if so, where would he procure the latter, and
+      how bring them into his intrenchments? They must necessarily be brought
+      past Antwerp, where a fleet was ready to capture or sink them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But while they were trying to prove the absurdity of the Prince of Parma's
+      undertaking he had already completed it. As soon as the forts St. Maria
+      and St. Philip were erected, and protected the workmen and the work by
+      their fire, a pier was built out into the stream from both banks, for
+      which purpose the masts of the largest vessels were employed; by a skilful
+      arrangement of the timbers they contrived to give the whole such solidity
+      that, as the result proved, it was able to resist the violent pressure of
+      the ice. These timbers, which rested firmly and securely on the bottom of
+      the river, and projected a considerable height above it, being covered
+      with planks, afforded a commodious roadway. It was wide enough to allow
+      eight men to cross abreast, and a balustrade that ran along it on both
+      sides, protected them from the fire of small-arms from the enemy's
+      vessels. This "stacade," as it was called, ran from the two opposite
+      shores as far as the increasing depth and force of the stream allowed. It
+      reduced the breadth of the river to about eleven hundred feet; as,
+      however, the middle and proper current would not admit of such a barrier,
+      there remained, therefore, between the two stacades a space of more than
+      six hundred paces through which a whole fleet of transports could sail
+      with ease. This intervening space the prince designed to close by a bridge
+      of boats, for which purpose the craft must be procured from Dunkirk. But,
+      besides that they could not be obtained in any number at that place, it
+      would be difficult to bring them past Antwerp without great loss. He was,
+      therefore, obliged to content himself for the time with having narrowed
+      the stream one-half, and rendered the passage of the enemy's vessels so
+      much the more difficult. Where the stacades terminated in the middle of
+      the stream they spread out into parallelograms, which were mounted with
+      heavy guns, and served as a kind of battery on the water. From these a
+      heavy fire was opened on every vessel that attempted to pass through this
+      narrow channel. Whole fleets, however, and single vessels still attempted
+      and succeeded in passing this dangerous strait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Ghent surrendered, and this unexpected success at once rescued
+      the prince from his dilemma. He found in this town everything necessary to
+      complete his bridge of boats; and the only difficulty now was its safe
+      transport, which was furnished by the enemy themselves. By cutting the
+      dams at Saftingen a great part of the country of Waes, as far as the
+      village of Borcht, had been laid under water, so that it was not difficult
+      to cross it with flat-bottomed boats. The prince, therefore, ordered his
+      vessels to run out from Ghent, and after passing Dendermonde and
+      Rupelmonde to pass through the left dyke of the Scheldt, leaving Antwerp
+      to the right, and sail over the inundated fields in the direction of
+      Borcht. To protect this passage a fort was erected at the latter village,
+      which would keep the enemy in check. All succeeded to his wishes, though
+      not without a sharp action with the enemy's flotilla, which was sent out
+      to intercept this convoy. After breaking through a few more dams on their
+      route, they reached the Spanish quarters at Calloo, and successfully
+      entered the Scheldt again. The exultation of the army was greater when
+      they discovered the extent of the danger the vessels had so narrowly
+      escaped. Scarcely had they got quit of the enemy's vessels when a strong
+      reinforcement from Antwerp got under weigh, commanded by the valiant
+      defender of Lillo, Odets von Teligny. When this officer saw that the
+      affair was over, and that the enemy had escaped, he took possession of the
+      dam through which their fleet had passed, and threw up a fort on the spot
+      in order to stop the passage of any vessels from Ghent which might attempt
+      to follow them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this step the prince was again thrown into embarrassment. He was far
+      from having as yet a sufficient number of vessels, either for the
+      construction of the bridge or for its defence, and the passage by which
+      the former convoy had arrived was now closed by the fort erected by
+      Teligny. While he was reconnoitring the country to discover a new way for
+      his, fleets an idea occurred to him which not only put an end to his
+      present dilemma, but greatly accelerated the success of his whole plan.
+      Not far from the village of Stecken, in Waes, which is within some five
+      thousand paces of the commencement of the inundation, flows a small stream
+      called the Moer, which falls into the Scheldt near Ghent. From this river
+      he caused a canal to be dug to the spot where the inundations began, and
+      as the water of these was not everywhere deep enough for the transit of
+      his boats, the canal between Bevern and Verrebroek was continued to
+      Calloo, where it was met by the Scheldt. At this work five hundred
+      pioneers labored without intermission, and in order to cheer the toil of
+      the soldiers the prince himself took part in it. In this way did he
+      imitate the example of the two celebrated Romans, Drusus and Corbulo, who
+      by similar works had united the Rhine with the Zuyder Zee, and the Maes
+      with the Rhine?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This canal, which the army in honor of its projector called the canal of
+      Parma, was fourteen thousand paces in length, and was of proportion able
+      depth and breadth, so as to be navigable for ships of a considerable
+      burden. It afforded to the vessels from Ghent not only a more secure, but
+      also a much shorter course to the Spanish quarters, because it was no
+      longer necessary to follow the many windings of the Scheldt, but entering
+      the Moer at once near Ghent, and from thence passing close to Stecken,
+      they could proceed through the canal and across the inundated country as
+      far as Calloo. As the produce of all Flanders was brought to the town of
+      Ghent, this canal placed the Spanish camp in communication with the whole
+      province. Abundance poured into the camp from all quarters, so that during
+      the whole course of the siege the Spaniards suffered no scarcity of any
+      kind. But the greatest benefit which the prince derived from this work was
+      an adequate supply of flat-bottomed vessels to complete his bridge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These preparations were overtaken by the arrival of winter, which, as the
+      Scheldt was filled with drift-ice, occasioned a considerable delay in the
+      building of the bridge. The prince had contemplated with anxiety the
+      approach of this season, lest it should prove highly destructive to the
+      work he had undertaken, and afford the enemy a favorable opportunity for
+      making a serious attack upon it. But the skill of his engineers saved him
+      from the one danger, and the strange inaction of the enemy freed him from
+      the other. It frequently happened, indeed, that at flood-time large pieces
+      of ice were entangled in the timbers, and shook them violently, but they
+      stood the assault of the furious element, which only served to prove their
+      stability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Antwerp, meanwhile, important moments had been wasted in futile
+      deliberations; and in a struggle of factions the general welfare was
+      neglected. The government of the town was divided among too many heads,
+      and much too great a share in it was held by the riotous mob to allow room
+      for calmness of deliberation or firmness of action. Besides the municipal
+      magistracy itself, in which the burgomaster had only a single voice, there
+      were in the city a number of guilds, to whom were consigned the charge of
+      the internal and external defence, the provisioning of the town, its
+      fortifications, the marine, commerce, etc.; some of whom must be consulted
+      in every business of importance. By means of this crowd of speakers, who
+      intruded at pleasure into the council, and managed to carry by clamor and
+      the number of their adherents what they could not effect by their
+      arguments, the people obtained a dangerous influence in the public
+      debates, and the natural struggle of such discordant interests retarded
+      the execution of every salutary measure. A government so vacillating and
+      impotent could not command the respect of unruly sailors and a lawless
+      soldiery. The orders of the state consequently were but imperfectly
+      obeyed, and the decisive moment was more than once lost by the negligence,
+      not to say the open mutiny, both of the land and sea forces. The little
+      harmony in the selection of the means by which the enemy was to be opposed
+      would not, however, have proved so injurious had there but existed
+      unanimity as to the end. But on this very point the wealthy citizens and
+      poorer classes were divided; so the former, having everything to apprehend
+      from allowing matters to be carried to extremity, were strongly inclined
+      to treat with the Prince of Parma. This disposition they did not even
+      attempt to conceal after the fort of Liefkenshoek had fallen into the
+      enemy's hands, and serious fears were entertained for the navigation of
+      the Scheldt. Some of them, indeed, withdrew entirely from the danger, and
+      left to its fate the town, whose prosperity they had been ready enough to
+      share, but in whose adversity they were unwilling to bear a part. From
+      sixty to seventy of those who remained memorialized the council, advising
+      that terms should be made with the king. No sooner, however, had the
+      populace got intelligence of it than their indignation broke out in a
+      violent uproar, which was with difficulty appeased by the imprisonment and
+      fining of the petitioners. Tranquillity could only be fully restored by
+      publication of an edict, which imposed the penalty of death on all who
+      either publicly or privately should countenance proposals for peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince of Parma did not fail to take advantage of these disturbances;
+      for nothing that transpired within the city escaped his notice, being well
+      served by the agents with whom he maintained a secret understanding with
+      Antwerp, as well as the other towns of Brabant and Flanders. Although he
+      had already made considerable progress in his measures for distressing the
+      town, still he had many steps to take before he could actually make
+      himself master of it; and one unlucky moment might destroy the work of
+      many months. Without, therefore, neglecting any of his warlike
+      preparations, he determined to make one more serious attempt to get
+      possession by fair means. With this object he despatched a letter in
+      November to the great council of Antwerp, in which he skilfully made use
+      of every topic likely to induce the citizens to come to terms, or at least
+      to increase their existing dissensions. He treated them in this letter in
+      the light of persons who had been led astray, and threw the whole blame of
+      their revolt and refractory conduct hitherto upon the intriguing spirit of
+      the Prince of Orange, from whose artifices the retributive justice of
+      heaven had so lately liberated them. "It was," he said, "now in their
+      power to awake from their long infatuation and return to their allegiance
+      to a monarch who was ready and anxious to be reconciled to his subjects.
+      For this end he gladly offered himself as mediator, as he had never ceased
+      to love a country in which he had been born, and where he had spent the
+      happiest days of his youth. He therefore exhorted them to send
+      plenipotentiaries with whom he could arrange the conditions of peace, and
+      gave them hopes of obtaining reasonable terms if they made a timely
+      submission, but also threatened them with the severest treatment if they
+      pushed matters to extremity."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter, in which we are glad to recognize a language very different
+      from that which the Duke of Alva held ten years before on a similar
+      occasion, was answered by the townspeople in a respectful and dignified
+      tone. While they did full justice to the personal character of the prince,
+      and acknowledged his favorable intentions towards them with gratitude,
+      they lamented the hardness of the times, which placed it out of his power
+      to treat them in accordance with his character and disposition. They
+      declared that they would gladly place their fate in his hands if he were
+      absolute master of his actions, instead of being obliged to obey the will
+      of another, whose proceedings his own candor would not allow him to
+      approve of. The unalterable resolution of the King of Spain, as well as
+      the vow which he had made to the pope, were only too well known for them
+      to have any hopes in that quarter. They at the same time defended with a
+      noble warmth the memory of the Prince of Orange, their benefactor and
+      preserver, while they enumerated the true cases which had produced this
+      unhappy war, and had caused the provinces to revolt from the Spanish
+      crown. At the same time they did not disguise from him that they had hopes
+      of finding a new and a milder master in the King of France, and that, if
+      only for this reason, they could not enter into any treaty with the
+      Spanish king without incurring the charge of the most culpable fickleness
+      and ingratitude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The united provinces, in fact, dispirited by a succession of reverses, had
+      at last come to the determination of placing themselves under the
+      protection and sovereignty of France, and of preserving their existence
+      and their ancient privileges by the sacrifice of their independence. With
+      this view an embassy had some time before been despatched to Paris, and it
+      was the prospect of this powerful assistance which principally supported
+      the courage of the people of Antwerp. Henry III., King of France, was
+      personally disposed to accept this offer; but the troubles which the
+      intrigues of the Spaniards contrived to excite within his own kingdom
+      compelled him against his will to abandon it. The provinces now turned for
+      assistance to Queen Elizabeth of England, who sent them some supplies,
+      which, however, came too late to save Antwerp. While the people of this
+      city were awaiting the issue of these negotiations, and expecting aid from
+      foreign powers, they neglected, unfortunately, the most natural and
+      immediate means of defence; the whole winter was lost, and while the enemy
+      turned it to greater advantage the more complete was their indecision and
+      inactivity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The burgomaster of Antwerp, St. Aldegonde, had, indeed, repeatedly urged
+      the fleet of Zealand to attack the enemy's works, which should be
+      supported on the other side from Antwerp. The long and frequently stormy
+      nights would favor this attempt, and if at the same time a sally were made
+      by the garrison at Lillo, it seemed scarcely possible for the enemy to
+      resist this triple assault. But unfortunately misunderstandings had arisen
+      between the commander of the fleet, William von Blois von Treslong, and
+      the admiralty of Zealand, which caused the equipment of the fleet to be
+      most unaccountably delayed. In order to quicken their movements Teligny at
+      last resolved to go himself to Middleburg, were the states of Zealand were
+      assembled; but as the enemy were in possession of all the roads the
+      attempt cost him his freedom and the republic its most valiant defender.
+      However, there was no want of enterprising vessels, which, under the favor
+      of the night and the floodtide, passing through the still open bridge in
+      spite of the enemy's fire, threw provisions into the town and returned
+      with the ebb. But as many of these vessels fell into the hands of the
+      enemy the council gave orders that they should never risk the passage
+      unless they amounted to a certain number; and the result, unfortunately,
+      was that none attempted it because the required number could not be
+      collected at one time. Several attacks were also made from Antwerp on the
+      ships of the Spaniards, which were not entirely unsuccessful; some of the
+      latter were captured, others sunk, and all that was required was to
+      execute similar attempts on a grand scale. But however zealously St.
+      Aldegonde urged this, still not a captain was to be found who would
+      command a vessel for that purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amid these delays the winter expired, and scarcely had the ice begun to
+      disappear when the construction of the bridge of boats was actively
+      resumed by the besiegers. Between the two piers a space of more than six
+      hundred paces still remained to be filled up, which was effected in the
+      following manner: Thirty-two flat-bottomed vessels, each sixty-six feet
+      long and twenty broad, were fastened together with strong cables and iron
+      chains, but at a distance from each other of about twenty feet to allow a
+      free passage to the stream. Each boat, moreover, was moored with two
+      cables, both up and down the stream, but which, as the water rose with the
+      tide, or sunk with the ebb, could be slackened or tightened. Upon the
+      boats great masts were laid which reached from one to another, and, being
+      covered with planks, formed a regular road, which, like that along the
+      piers, was protected with a balustrade. This bridge of boats, of which the
+      two piers formed a continuation, had, including the latter, a length of
+      twenty-four thousand paces. This formidable work was so ingeniously
+      constructed, and so richly furnished with the instruments of destruction,
+      that it seemed almost capable, like a living creature, of defending itself
+      at the word of command, scattering death among all who approached. Besides
+      the two forts of St. Maria and St. Philip, which terminated the bridge on
+      either shore, and the two wooden bastions on the bridge itself, which were
+      filled with soldiers and mounted with guns on all sides, each of the
+      two-and-thirty vessels was manned with thirty soldiers and four sailors,
+      and showed the cannon's mouth to the enemy, whether he came up from
+      Zealand or down from Antwerp. There were in all ninety-seven cannon, which
+      were distributed beneath and above the bridge, and more than fifteen
+      hundred men who were posted, partly in the forts, partly in the vessels,
+      and, in case of necessity, could maintain a terrible fire of small-arms
+      upon the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But with all this the prince did not consider his work sufficiently
+      secure. It was to be expected that the enemy would leave nothing
+      unattempted to burst by the force of his machines the middle and weakest
+      part. To guard against this, he erected in a line with the bridge of
+      boats, but at some distance from it, another distinct defence, intended to
+      break the force of any attack that might be directed against the bridge
+      itself. This work consisted of thirty-three vessels of considerable
+      magnitude, which were moored in a row athwart the stream and fastened in
+      threes by masts, so that they formed eleven different groups. Each of
+      these, like a file of pikemen, presented fourteen long wooden poles with
+      iron heads to the approaching enemy. These vessels were loaded merely with
+      ballast, and were anchored each by a double but slack cable, so as to be
+      able to give to the rise and fall of the tide. As they were in constant
+      motion they got from the soldiers the name of "swimmers." The whole bridge
+      of boats and also a part of the piers were covered by these swimmers,
+      which were stationed above as well as below the bridge. To all these
+      defensive preparations was added a fleet of forty men-of-war, which were
+      stationed on both coasts and served as a protection to the whole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This astonishing work was finished in March, 1585, the seventh month of
+      the siege, and the day on which it was completed was kept as a jubilee by
+      the troops. The great event was announced to the besieged by a grand <i>fete
+      de joie</i>, and the army, as if to enjoy ocular demonstration of its
+      triumph, extended itself along the whole platform to gaze upon the proud
+      stream, peacefully and obediently flowing under the yoke which had been
+      imposed upon it. All the toil they had undergone was forgotten in the
+      delightful spectacle, and every man who had had a hand in it, however
+      insignificant he might be, assumed to himself a portion of the honor which
+      the successful execution of so gigantic an enterprise conferred on its
+      illustrious projector. On the other hand, nothing could equal the
+      consternation which seized the citizens of Antwerp when intelligence was
+      brought them that the Scheldt was now actually closed, and all access from
+      Zealand cut off. To increase their dismay they learned the fall of
+      Brussels also, which had at last been compelled by famine to capitulate.
+      An attempt made by the Count of Hohenlohe about the same time on
+      Herzogenbusch, with a view to recapture the town, or at least form a
+      diversion, was equally unsuccessful; and thus the unfortunate city lost
+      all hope of assistance, both by sea and land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These evil tidings were brought them by some fugitives who had succeeded
+      in passing the Spanish videttes, and had made their way into the town; and
+      a spy, whom the burgomaster had sent out to reconnoitre the enemy's works,
+      increased the general alarm by his report. He had been seized and carried
+      before the Prince of Parma, who commanded him to be conducted over all the
+      works, and all the defences of the bridge to be pointed out to him. After
+      this had been done he was again brought before the general, who dismissed
+      him with these words: "Go," said he, "and report what you have seen to
+      those who sent you. And tell them, too, that it is my firm resolve to bury
+      myself under the ruins of this bridge or by means of it to pass into your
+      town."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the certainty of danger now at last awakened the zeal of the
+      confederates, and it was no fault of theirs if the former half of the
+      prince's vow was not fulfilled. The latter had long viewed with
+      apprehension the preparations which were making in Zealand for the relief
+      of the town. He saw clearly that it was from this quarter that he had to
+      fear the most dangerous blow, and that with all his works he could not
+      make head against the combined fleets of Zealand and Antwerp if they were
+      to fall upon him at the same time and at the proper moment. For a while
+      the delays of the admiral of Zealand, which he had labored by all the
+      means in his power to prolong, had been his security, but now the urgent
+      necessity accelerated the expedition, and without waiting for the admiral
+      the states at Middleburg despatched the Count Justin of Nassau, with as
+      many ships as they could muster, to the assistance of the besieged. This
+      fleet took up a position before Liefkenshoek, which was in possession of
+      the Spaniards, and, supported by a few vessels from the opposite fort of
+      Lillo, cannonaded it with such success that the walls were in a short time
+      demolished, and the place carried by storm. The Walloons who formed the
+      garrison did not display the firmness which might have been expected from
+      soldiers of the Duke of Parma; they shamefully surrendered the fort to the
+      enemy, who in a short time were in possession of the whole island of Doel,
+      with all the redoubts situated upon it. The loss of these places, which
+      were, however, soon retaken, incensed the Duke of Parma so much that he
+      tried the officers by court-martial, and caused the most culpable among
+      them to be beheaded. Meanwhile this important conquest opened to the
+      Zealanders a free passage as far as the bridge, and after concerting with
+      the people of Antwerp the time was fixed for a combined attack on this
+      work. It was arranged that, while the bridge of boats was blown up by
+      machines already prepared in Antwerp, the Zealand fleet, with a sufficient
+      supply of provisions, should be in the vicinity, ready to sail to the town
+      through the opening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the Duke of Parma was engaged in constructing his bridge an engineer
+      within the walls was already preparing the materials for its destruction.
+      Friedrich Gianibelli was the name of the man whom fate had destined to be
+      the Archimedes of Antwerp, and to exhaust in its defence the same
+      ingenuity with the same want of success. He was born in Mantua, and had
+      formerly visited Madrid for the purpose, it was said, of offering his
+      services to King Philip in the Belgian war. But wearied with waiting the
+      offended engineer left the court with the intention of making the King of
+      Spain sensibly feel the value of talents which he had so little known how
+      to appreciate. He next sought the service of Queen Elizabeth of England,
+      the declared enemy of Spain, who, after witnessing a few specimens of his
+      skill, sent him to Antwerp. He took up his residence in that town, and in
+      the present extremity devoted to its defence his knowledge, his energy,
+      and his zeal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as this artist perceived that the project of erecting the bridge
+      was seriously intended, and that the work was fast approaching to
+      completion, he applied to the magistracy for three large vessels, from a
+      hundred and fifty to five hundred tons, in which he proposed to place
+      mines. He also demanded sixty boats, which, fastened together with cables
+      and chains, furnished with projecting grappling-irons, and put in motion
+      with the ebbing of the tide, were intended to second the operation of the
+      mine-ships by being directed in a wedgelike form against the bridge. But
+      he had to deal with men who were quite incapable of comprehending an idea
+      out of the common way, and even where the salvation of their country was
+      at stake could not forget the calculating habits of trade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His scheme was rejected as too expensive, and with difficulty he at last
+      obtained the grant of two smaller vessels, from seventy to eighty tons,
+      with a number of flat-bottomed boats. With these two vessels, one of which
+      he called the "Fortune" and the other the "Hope," he proceeded in the
+      following manner: In the hold of each he built a hollow chamber of
+      freestone, five feet broad, three and a half high, and forty long. This
+      magazine he filled with sixty hundredweight of the finest priming powder
+      of his own compounding, and covered it with as heavy a weight of large
+      slabs and millstones as the vessels could carry. Over these he further
+      added a roof of similar stones, which ran up to a point and projected six
+      feet above the ship's side. The deck itself was crammed with iron chains
+      and hooks, knives, nails, and other destructive missiles; the remaining
+      space, which was not occupied by the magazine, was likewise filled up with
+      planks. Several small apertures were left in the chamber for the matches
+      which were to set fire to the mine. For greater certainty he had also
+      contrived a piece of mechanism which, after the lapse of a given time,
+      would strike out sparks, and even if the matches failed would set the ship
+      on fire. To delude the enemy into a belief that these machines were only
+      intended to set the bridge on fire, a composition of brimstone and pitch
+      was placed in the top, which could burn a whole hour. And still further to
+      divert the enemy's attention from the proper seat of danger, he also
+      prepared thirty-two flatbottomed boats, upon which there were only
+      fireworks burning, and whose sole object was to deceive the enemy. These
+      fire-ships were to be sent down upon the bridge in four separate
+      squadrons, at intervals of half an hour, and keep the enemy incessantly
+      engaged for two whole hours, so that, tired of firing and wearied by vain
+      expectation, they might at last relax their vigilance before the real
+      fire-ships came. In addition to all this he also despatched a few vessels
+      in which powder was concealed in order to blow up the floating work before
+      the bridge, and to clear a passage for the two principal ships. At the
+      same time he hoped by this preliminary attack to engage the enemy's
+      attention, to draw them out, and expose them to the full deadly effect of
+      the volcano.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night between the 4th and 5th of April was fixed for the execution of
+      this great undertaking. An obscure rumor of it had already diffused itself
+      through the Spanish camp, and particularly from the circumstance of many
+      divers from Antwerp having been detected endeavoring to cut the cables of
+      the vessels. They were prepared, therefore, for a serious attack; they
+      only mistook the real nature of it, and counted on having to fight rather
+      with man than the elements. In this expectation the duke caused the guards
+      along the whole bank to be doubled, and drew up the chief part of his
+      troops in the vicinity of the bridge, where he was present in person; thus
+      meeting the danger while endeavoring to avoid it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No sooner was it dark than three burning vessels were seen to float down
+      from the city towards the bridge, then three more, and directly after the
+      same number. They beat to arms throughout the Spanish camp, and the whole
+      length of the bridge was crowded with soldiers. Meantime the number of the
+      fire-ships increased, and they came in regular order down the stream,
+      sometimes two and sometimes three abreast, being at first steered by
+      sailors on board them. The admiral of the Antwerp fleet, Jacob Jacobson
+      (whether designedly or through carelessness is not known), had committed
+      the error of sending off the four squadrons of fire-ships too quickly one
+      after another, and caused the two large mine-ships also to follow them too
+      soon, and thus disturbed the intended order of attack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The array of vessels kept approaching, and the darkness of night still
+      further heightened the extraordinary spectacle. As far as the eye could
+      follow the course of the stream all was fire; the fire-ships burning as
+      brilliantly as if they were themselves in the flames; the surface of the
+      water glittered with light; the dykes and the batteries along the shore,
+      the flags, arms, and accoutrements of the soldiers who lined the rivers as
+      well as the bridges were clearly distinguishable in the glare. With a
+      mingled sensation of awe and pleasure the soldiers watched the unusual
+      sight, which rather resembled a fete than a hostile preparation, but from
+      the very strangeness of the contrast filled the mind with a mysterious
+      awe. When the burning fleet had come within two thousand paces of the
+      bridge those who had the charge of it lighted the matches, impelled the
+      two mine-vessels into the middle of the stream, and leaving the others to
+      the guidance of the current of the waves, they hastily made their escape
+      in boats which had been kept in readiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their course, however, was irregular, and destitute of steersmen they
+      arrived singly and separately at the floating works, where they continued
+      hanging or were dashed off sidewise on the shore. The foremost
+      powder-ships, which were intended to set fire to the floating works, were
+      cast, by the force of a squall which arose at that instant, on the Flemish
+      coast. One of the two, the "Fortune," grounded in its passage before it
+      reached the bridge, and killed by its explosion some Spanish soldiers who
+      were at work in a neighboring battery. The other and larger fire-ship,
+      called the "Hope," narrowly escaped a similar fate. The current drove her
+      against the floating defences towards the Flemish bank, where it remained
+      hanging, and had it taken fire at that moment the greatest part of its
+      effect would have been lost. Deceived by the flames which this machine,
+      like the other vessels, emitted, the Spaniards took it for a common
+      fire-ship, intended to burn the bridge of boats. And as they had seen them
+      extinguished one after the other without further effect all fears were
+      dispelled, and the Spaniards began to ridicule the preparations of the
+      enemy, which had been ushered in with so much display and now had so
+      absurd an end. Some of the boldest threw themselves into the stream in
+      order to get a close view of the fire-ship and extinguish it, when by its
+      weight it suddenly broke through, burst the floating work which had
+      detained it, and drove with terrible force on the bridge of boats. All was
+      now in commotion on the bridge, and the prince called to the sailors to
+      keep the vessel off with poles, and to extinguish the flames before they
+      caught the timbers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this critical moment he was standing at the farthest end of the left
+      pier, where it formed a bastion in the water and joined the bridge of
+      boats. By his side stood the Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry and
+      governor of the province of Artois, who had formerly-served the states,
+      but from a protector of the republic had become its worst enemy; the Baron
+      of Billy, governor of Friesland and commander of the German regiments; the
+      Generals Cajetan and Guasto, with several of the principal officers; all
+      forgetful of their own danger and entirely occupied with averting the
+      general calamity. At this moment a Spanish ensign approached the Prince of
+      Parma and conjured him to remove from a place where his life was in
+      manifest and imminent peril. No attention being paid to his entreaty he
+      repeated it still more urgently, and at last fell at his feet and implored
+      him in this one instance to take advice from his servant. While he said
+      this he had laid hold of the duke's coat as though he wished forcibly to
+      draw him away from the spot, and the latter, surprised rather at the man's
+      boldness than persuaded by his arguments, retired at last to the shore,
+      attended by Cajetan and Guasto. He had scarcely time to reach the fort St.
+      Maria at the end of the bridge when an explosion took place behind him,
+      just as if the earth had burst or the vault of heaven given way. The duke
+      and his whole army fell to the ground as dead, and several minutes elapsed
+      before they recovered their consciousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But then what a sight presented itself! The waters of the Scheldt had been
+      divided to its lowest depth, and driven with a surge which rose like a
+      wall above the dam that confined it, so that all the fortifications on the
+      banks were several feet under water. The earth shook for three miles
+      round. Nearly the whole left pier, on which the fire-ship had been driven,
+      with a part of the bridge of boats, had been burst and shattered to atoms,
+      with all that was upon it; spars, cannon, and men blown into the air. Even
+      the enormous blocks of stone which had covered the mine had, by the force
+      of the explosion, been hurled into the neighboring fields, so that many of
+      them were afterwards dug out of the ground at a distance of a thousand
+      paces from the bridge. Six vessels were buried, several had gone to
+      pieces. But still more terrible was the carnage which the murderous
+      machine had dealt amongst the soldiers. Five hundred, according to other
+      reports even eight hundred, were sacrificed to its fury, without reckoning
+      those who escaped with mutilated or injured bodies. The most opposite
+      kinds of death were combined in this frightful moment. Some were consumed
+      by the flames of the explosion, others scalded to death by the boiling
+      water of the river, others stifled by the poisonous vapor of the
+      brimstone; some were drowned in the stream, some buried under the hail of
+      falling masses of rock, many cut to pieces by the knives and hooks, or
+      shattered by the balls which were poured from the bowels of the machine.
+      Some were found lifeless without any visible injury, having in all
+      probability been killed by the mere concussion of the air. The spectacle
+      which presented itself directly after the firing of the mine was fearful.
+      Men were seen wedged between the palisades of the bridge, or struggling to
+      release themselves from beneath ponderous masses of rock, or hanging in
+      the rigging of the ships; and from all places and quarters the most
+      heartrending cries for help arose, but as each was absorbed in his own
+      safety these could only be answered by helpless wailings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%;">
+      <img alt="1pb314 (142K)" src="images/1pb314.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many had escaped in the most wonderful manner. An officer named Tucci was
+      carried by the whirlwind like a feather high into the air, where he was
+      for a moment suspended, and then dropped into the river, where he saved
+      himself by swimming. Another was taken up by the force of the blast from
+      the Flanders shore and deposited on that of Brabant, incurring merely a
+      slight contusion on the shoulder; he felt, as he afterwards said, during
+      this rapid aerial transit, just as if he had been fired out of a cannon.
+      The Prince of Parma himself had never been so near death as at that
+      moment, when half a minute saved his life. He had scarcely set foot in the
+      fort of St. Maria when he was lifted off his feet as if by a hurricane,
+      and a beam which struck him on the head and shoulders stretched him
+      senseless on the earth. For a long time he was believed to be actually
+      killed, many remembering to have seen him on the bridge only a few minutes
+      before the fatal explosion. He was found at last between his attendants,
+      Cajetan and Guasto, raising himself up with his hand on his sword; and the
+      intelligence stirred the spirits of the whole army. But vain would be the
+      attempt to depict his feelings when he surveyed the devastation which a
+      single moment had caused in the work of so many months. The bridge of
+      boats, upon which all his hopes rested, was rent asunder; a great part of
+      his army was destroyed; another portion maimed and rendered ineffective
+      for many days; many of his best officers were killed; and, as if the
+      present calamity were not sufficient, he had now to learn the painful
+      intelligence that the Margrave of Rysburg, whom of all his officers he
+      prized the highest, was missing. And yet the worst was still to come, for
+      every moment the fleets of the enemy were to be expected from Antwerp and
+      Lillo, to which this fearful position of the army would disable him from
+      offering any effectual resistance. The bridge was entirely destroyed, and
+      nothing could prevent the fleet from Zealand passing through in full sail;
+      while the confusion of the troops in this first moment was so great and
+      general that it would have been impossible to give or obey orders, as many
+      corps had lost their commanding officers, and many commanders their corps;
+      and even the places where they had been stationed were no longer to be
+      recognized amid the general ruin. Add to this that all the batteries on
+      shore were under water, that several cannon were sunk, that the matches
+      were wet, and the ammunition damaged. What a moment for the enemy if they
+      had known how to avail themselves of it!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will scarcely be believed, however, that this success, which surpassed
+      all expectation, was lost to Antwerp, simply because nothing was known of
+      it. St. Aldegonde, indeed, as soon as the explosion of the mine was heard
+      in the town, had sent out several galleys in the direction of the bridge,
+      with orders to send up fire-balls and rockets the moment they had passed
+      it, and then to sail with the intelligence straight on to Lillo, in order
+      to bring up, without delay, the Zealand fleet, which had orders to
+      co-operate. At the same time the admiral of Antwerp was ordered, as soon
+      as the signal was given, to sail out with his vessels and attack the enemy
+      in their first consternation. But although a considerable reward was
+      promised to the boatmen sent to reconnoitre they did not venture near the
+      enemy, but returned without effecting their purpose, and reported that the
+      bridge of boats was uninjured, and the fire-ship had had no effect. Even
+      on the following day also no better measures were taken to learn the true
+      state of the bridge; and as the fleet at Lillo, in spite of the favorable
+      wind, was seen to remain inactive, the belief that the fire-ships had
+      accomplished nothing was confirmed. It did not seem to occur to any one
+      that this very inactivity of the confederates, which misled the people of
+      Antwerp, might also keep back the Zealanders at Lille, as in fact it did.
+      So signal an instance of neglect could only have occurred in a government,
+      which, without dignity of independence, was guided by the tumultuous
+      multitude it ought to have governed. The more supine, however, they were
+      themselves in opposing the enemy, the more violently did their rage boil
+      against Gianibelli, whom the frantic mob would have torn in pieces if they
+      could have caught him. For two days the engineer was in the most imminent
+      danger, until at last, on the third morning, a courier from Lillo, who had
+      swam under the bridge, brought authentic intelligence of its having been
+      destroyed, but at the same time announced that it had been repaired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This rapid restoration of the bridge was really a miraculous effort of the
+      Prince of Parma. Scarcely had he recovered from the shock, which seemed to
+      have overthrown all his plans, when he contrived, with wonderful presence
+      of mind, to prevent all its evil consequences. The absence of the enemy's
+      fleet at this decisive moment revived his hopes. The ruinous state of the
+      bridge appeared to be a secret to them, and though it was impossible to
+      repair in a few hours the work of so many months, yet a great point would
+      be gained if it could be done even in appearance. All his men were
+      immediately set to work to remove the ruins, to raise the timbers which
+      had been thrown down, to replace those which were demolished, and to fill
+      up the chasms with ships. The duke himself did not refuse to share in the
+      toil, and his example was followed by all his officers. Stimulated by this
+      popular behavior, the common soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost;
+      the work was carried on during the whole night under the constant sounding
+      of drums and trumpets, which were distributed along the bridge to drown
+      the noise of the work-people. With dawn of day few traces remained of the
+      night's havoc; and although the bridge was restored only in appearance, it
+      nevertheless deceived the spy, and consequently no attack was made upon
+      it. In the meantime the prince contrived to make the repairs solid, nay,
+      even to introduce some essential alterations in the structure. In order to
+      guard against similar accidents for the future, a part of the bridge of
+      boats was made movable, so that in case of necessity it could be taken
+      away and a passage opened to the fire-ships. His loss of men was supplied
+      from the garrisons of the adjoining places, and by a German regiment which
+      arrived very opportunely from Gueldres. He filled up the vacancies of the
+      officers who were killed, and in doing this he did not forget the Spanish
+      ensign who had saved his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people of Antwerp, after learning the success of their mine-ship, now
+      did homage to the inventor with as much extravagance as they had a short
+      time before mistrusted him, and they encouraged his genius to new
+      attempts. Gianibelli now actually obtained the number of flat-bottomed
+      vessels which he had at first demanded in vain, and these he equipped in
+      such a manner that they struck with irresistible force on the bridge, and
+      a second time also burst and separated it. But this time, the wind was
+      contrary to the Zealand fleet, so that they could not put out, and thus
+      the prince obtained once more the necessary respite to repair the damage.
+      The Archimedes of Antwerp was not deterred by any of these
+      disappointments. Anew he fitted out two large vessels which were armed
+      with iron hooks and similar instruments in order to tear asunder the
+      bridge. But when the moment came for these vessels to get under weigh no
+      one was found ready to embark in them. The engineer was therefore obliged
+      to think of a plan for giving to these machines such a self-impulse that,
+      without being guided by a steersman, they would keep the middle of the
+      stream, and not, like the former ones, be driven on the bank by the wind.
+      One of his workmen, a German, here hit upon a strange invention, if
+      Strada's description of it is to be credited. He affixed a sail under the
+      vessel, which was to be acted upon by the water, just as an ordinary sail
+      is by the wind, and could thus impel the ship with the whole force of the
+      current. The result proved the correctness of his calculation; for this
+      vessel, with the position of its sails reversed, not only kept the centre
+      of the stream, but also ran against the bridge with such impetuosity that
+      the enemy had not time to open it and was actually burst asunder. But all
+      these results were of no service to the town, because the attempts were
+      made at random and were supported by no adequate force. A new fire-ship,
+      equipped like the former, which had succeeded so well, and which
+      Gianibelli had filled with four thousand pounds of the finest powder was
+      not even used; for a new mode of attempting their deliverance had now
+      occurred to the people of Antwerp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Terrified by so many futile attempts from endeavoring to clear a passage
+      for vessels on the river by force, they at last came to the determination
+      of doing without the stream entirely. They remembered the example of the
+      town of Leyden, which, when besieged by the Spaniards ten years before,
+      had saved itself by opportunely inundating the surrounding country, and it
+      was resolved to imitate this example. Between Lillo and Stabroek, in the
+      district of Bergen, a wide and somewhat sloping plain extends as far as
+      Antwerp, being protected by numerous embankments and counter-embankments
+      against the irruptions of the East Scheldt. Nothing more was requisite
+      than to break these dams, when the whole plain would become a sea,
+      navigable by flat-bottomed vessels almost to the very walls of Antwerp. If
+      this attempt should succeed, the Duke of Parma might keep the Scheldt
+      guarded with his bridge of boats as long as he pleased; a new river would
+      be formed, which, in case of necessity, would be equally serviceable for
+      the time. This was the very plan which the Prince of Orange had at the
+      commencement of the siege recommended, and in which he had been
+      strenuously, but unsuccessfully, seconded by St. Aldegonde, because some
+      of the citizens could not be persuaded to sacrifice their own fields. In
+      the present emergency they reverted to this last resource, but
+      circumstances in the meantime had greatly changed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The plain in question is intersected by a broad and high dam, which takes
+      its name from the adjacent Castle of Cowenstein, and extends for three
+      miles from the village of Stabroek, in Bergen, as far as the Scheldt, with
+      the great dam of which it unites near Ordam. Beyond this dam no vessels
+      can proceed, however high the tide, and the sea would be vainly turned
+      into the fields as long as such an embankment remained in the way, which
+      would prevent the Zealand vessels from descending into the plain before
+      Antwerp. The fate of the town would therefore depend upon the demolition
+      of this Cowenstein dam; but, foreseeing this, the Prince of Parma had,
+      immediately on commencing the blockade, taken possession of it, and spared
+      no pains to render it tenable to the last. At the village of Stabroek,
+      Count Mansfeld was encamped with the greatest part of his army, and by
+      means of this very Cowenstein dam kept open the communication with the
+      bridge, the headquarters, and the Spanish magazines at Calloo. Thus the
+      army formed an uninterrupted line from Stabroek in Brabant, as far as
+      Bevern in Flanders, intersected indeed, but not broken by the Scheldt, and
+      which could not be cut off without a sanguinary conflict. On the dam
+      itself within proper distances five different batteries had been erected,
+      the command of which was given to the most valiant officers in the army.
+      Nay, as the Prince of Parma could not doubt that now the whole fury of the
+      war would be turned to this point, he entrusted the defence of the bridge
+      to Count Mansfeld, and resolved to defend this important post himself. The
+      war, therefore, now assumed a different aspect, and the theatre of it was
+      entirely changed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both above and below Lillo, the Netherlanders had in several places cut
+      through the dam, which follows the Brabant shore of the Scheldt; and where
+      a short time before had been green fields, a new element now presented
+      itself, studded with masts and boats. A Zealand fleet, commanded by Count
+      Hohenlohe, navigated the inundated fields, and made repeated movements
+      against the Cowenstein dam, without, however, attempting a serious attack
+      on it, while another fleet showed itself in the Scheldt, threatening the
+      two coasts alternately with a landing, and occasionally the bridge of
+      boats with an attack. For several days this manoeuvre was practised on the
+      enemy, who, uncertain of the quarter whence an attack was to be expected,
+      would, it was hoped, be exhausted by continual watching, and by degrees
+      lulled into security by so many false alarms. Antwerp had promised Count
+      Hohenlohe to support the attack on the dam by a flotilla from the town;
+      three beacons on the principal tower were to be the signal that this was
+      on the way. When, therefore, on a dark night the expected columns of fire
+      really ascended above Antwerp, Count Hohenlohe immediately caused five
+      hundred of his troops to scale the dam between two of the enemy's
+      redoubts, who surprised part of the Spanish garrison asleep, and cut down
+      the others who attempted to defend themselves. In a short time they had
+      gained a firm footing upon the dam, and were just on the point of
+      disembarking the remainder of their force, two thousand in number, when
+      the Spaniards in the adjoining redoubts marched out and, favored by the
+      narrowness of the ground, made a desperate attack on the crowded
+      Zealanders. The guns from the neighboring batteries opened upon the
+      approaching fleet, and thus rendered the landing of the remaining troops
+      impossible; and as there were no signs of co-operation on the part of the
+      city, the Zealanders were overpowered after a short conflict and again
+      driven down from the dam. The victorious Spaniards pursued them through
+      the water as far as their boats, sunk many of the latter, and compelled
+      the rest to retreat with heavy loss. Count Hohenlohe threw the blame of
+      this defeat upon the inhabitants of Antwerp, who had deceived him by a
+      false signal, and it certainly must be attributed to the bad arrangement
+      of both parties that the attempt failed of better success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But at last the allies determined to make a systematic assault on the
+      enemy with their combined force, and to put an end to the siege by a grand
+      attack as well on the dam as on the bridge. The 16th of May, 1585, was
+      fixed upon for the execution of this design, and both armies used their
+      utmost endeavors to make this day decisive. The force of the Hollanders
+      and Zealanders, united to that of Antwerp, exceeded two hundred ships, to
+      man which they had stripped their towns and citadels, and with this force
+      they purposed to attack the Cowenstein dam on both sides. The bridge over
+      the Scheldt was to be assailed with new machines of Gianibelli's
+      invention, and the Duke of Parma thereby hindered from assisting the
+      defence of the dam.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Alexander, apprised of the danger which threatened him, spared nothing on
+      his side to meet it with energy. Immediately after getting possession of
+      the dam he had caused redoubts to be erected at five different, places,
+      and had given the command of them to the most experienced officers of the
+      army. The first of these, which was called the Cross battery, was erected
+      on the spot where the Cowenstein darn enters the great embankment of the
+      Scheldt, and makes with the latter the form of a cross; the Spaniard,
+      Mondragone, was appointed to the command of this battery. A thousand paces
+      farther on, near the castle of Cowenstein, was posted the battery of St.
+      James, which was entrusted to the command of Camillo di Monte. At an equal
+      distance from this lay the battery of St. George, and at a thousand paces
+      from the latter, the Pile battery, under the command of Gamboa, so called
+      from the pile-work on which it rested; at the farthest end of the darn,
+      near Stabroek, was the fifth redoubt, where Count Mansfeld, with
+      Capizuechi, an Italian, commanded. All these forts the prince now
+      strengthened with artillery and men; on both sides of the dam, and along
+      its whole extent, he caused piles to be driven, as well to render the main
+      embankment firmer, as to impede the labor of the pioneers, who were to dig
+      through it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early on the morning of the 16th of May the enemy's forces were in motion.
+      With the dusk of dawn there came floating down from Lillo, over the
+      inundated country, four burning vessels, which so alarmed the guards upon
+      the dams, who recollected the former terrible explosion, that they hastily
+      retreated to the next battery. This was exactly what the enemy desired. In
+      these vessels, which had merely the appearance of fire-ships, soldiers
+      were concealed, who now suddenly jumped ashore, and succeeded in mounting
+      the dam at the undefended spot, between the St. George and Pile batteries.
+      Immediately afterward the whole Zealand fleet showed itself, consisting of
+      numerous ships-of-war, transports, and a crowd of smaller craft, which
+      were laden with great sacks of earth, wool, fascines, gabions, and the
+      like, for throwing up breastworks wherever necessary, The ships-of-war
+      were furnished with powerful artillery, and numerously and bravely manned,
+      and a whole army of pioneers accompanied it in order to dig through the
+      dam as soon as it should be in their possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Zealanders had scarcely begun on their side to ascend the dam when the
+      fleet of Antwerp advanced from Osterweel and attacked it on the other. A
+      high breastwork was hastily thrown up between the two nearest hostile
+      batteries, so as at once to divide the two garrisons and to cover the
+      pioneers. The latter, several hundreds in number, now fell to work with
+      their spades on both sides of the dam, and dug with such energy that hopes
+      were entertained of soon seeing the two seas united. But meanwhile the
+      Spaniards also had gained time to hasten to the spot from the two nearest
+      redoubts, and make a spirited assault, while the guns from the battery of
+      St. George played incessantly on the enemy's fleet. A furious battle now
+      raged in the quarter where they were cutting through the dike and throwing
+      up the breastworks. The Zealanders had drawn a strong line of troops round
+      the pioneers to keep the enemy from interrupting their work, and in this
+      confusion of battle, in the midst of a storm of bullets from the enemy,
+      often up to the breast in water, among the dead and dying, the pioneers
+      pursued their work, under the incessant exhortations of the merchants, who
+      impatiently waited to see the dam opened and their vessels in safety. The
+      importance of the result, which it might be said depended entirely upon
+      their spades, appeared to animate even the common laborers with heroic
+      courage. Solely intent upon their task, they neither saw nor heard the
+      work of death which was going on around them, and as fast as the foremost
+      ranks fell those behind them pressed into their places. Their operations
+      were greatly impeded by the piles which had been driven in, but still more
+      by the attacks of the Spaniards, who burst with desperate courage through
+      the thickest of the enemy, stabbed the pioneers in the pits where they
+      were digging, and filled up again with dead bodies the cavities which the
+      living had made. At last, however, when most of their officers were killed
+      or wounded, and the number of the enemy constantly increasing, while fresh
+      laborers were supplying the place of those who had been slain, the courage
+      of these valiant troops began to give way, and they thought it advisable
+      to retreat to their batteries. Now, therefore, the confederates saw
+      themselves masters of the whole extent of the dam, from Fort St. George as
+      far as the Pile battery. As, however, it seemed too long to wait for the
+      thorough demolition of the dam, they hastily unloaded a Zealand transport,
+      and brought the cargo over the dam to a vessel of Antwerp, with which
+      Count Hohenlohe sailed in triumph to that city. The sight of the
+      provisions at once filled the inhabitants with joy, and as if the victory
+      was already won, they gave themselves up to the wildest exultation. The
+      bells were rung, the cannon discharged, and the inhabitants, transported
+      by their unexpected success, hurried to the Osterweel gate, to await the
+      store-ships which were supposed to be at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, fortune had never smiled so favorably on the besieged as at that
+      moment. The enemy, exhausted and dispirited, had thrown themselves into
+      their batteries, and, far from being able to struggle with the victors for
+      the post they had conquered, they found themselves rather besieged in the
+      places where they had taken refuge. Some companies of Scots, led by their
+      brave colonel, Balfour, attacked the battery of St. George, which,
+      however, was relieved, but not without severe loss, by Camillo di Monte,
+      who hastened thither from St. James' battery. The Pile battery was in a
+      much worse condition, it being hotly cannonaded by the ships, and
+      threatened every moment to crumble to pieces. Gainboa, who commanded it,
+      lay wounded, and it was unfortunately deficient in artillery to keep the
+      enemy at a distance. The breastwork, too, which the Zealanders had thrown
+      up between this battery and that of St. George cut off all hope of
+      assistance from the Scheldt. If, therefore, the Belgians had only taken
+      advantage of this weakness and inactivity of the enemy to proceed with
+      zeal and perseverance in cutting through the dam, there is no doubt that a
+      passage might have been made, and thus put an end to the whole siege. But
+      here also the same want of consistent energy showed itself which had
+      marked the conduct of the people of Antwerp during the whole course of the
+      siege. The zeal with which the work had been commenced cooled in
+      proportion to the success which attended it. It was soon found too tedious
+      to dig through the dyke; it seemed far easier to transfer the cargoes from
+      the large store-ships into smaller ones, and carry these to the town with
+      the flood tide. St. Aldegonde and Hohenlohe, instead of remaining to
+      animate the industry of the workmen by their personal presence, left the
+      scene of action at the decisive moment, in order, by sailing to the town
+      with a corn vessel, to win encomiums on their wisdom and valor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While both parties were fighting on the dam with the most obstinate fury
+      the bridge over the Scheldt had been attacked from Antwerp with new
+      machines, in order to give employment to the prince in that quarter. But
+      the sound of the firing soon apprised him of what was going on at the
+      dyke, and as soon as he saw the bridge clear he hastened to support the
+      defence of the dyke. Followed by two hundred Spanish pikemen, he flew to
+      the place of attack, and arrived just in time to prevent the complete
+      defeat of his troops. He hastily posted some guns which he had brought
+      with him in the two nearest redoubts, and maintained from thence a heavy
+      fire upon the enemy's ships. He placed himself at the head of his men,
+      and, with his sword in one hand and shield in the other, led them against
+      the enemy. The news of his arrival, which quickly spread from one end of
+      the dyke to the other, revived the drooping spirits of his troops, and the
+      conflict recommenced with renewed violence, made still more murderous by
+      the nature of the ground where it was fought. Upon the narrow ridge of the
+      dam, which in many places was not more than nine paces broad, about five
+      thousand combatants were fighting; so confined was the spot upon which the
+      strength of both armies was assembled, and which was to decide the whole
+      issue of the siege. With the Antwerpers the last bulwark of their city was
+      at stake; with the Spaniards it was to determine the whole success of
+      their undertaking. Both parties fought with a courage which despair alone
+      could inspire. From both the extremities of the dam the tide of war rolled
+      itself towards the centre, where the Zealanders and Antwerpers had the
+      advantage, and where they had collected their whole strength. The Italians
+      and Spaniards, inflamed by a noble emulation, pressed on from Stabroek;
+      and from the Scheldt the Walloons and Spaniards advanced, with their
+      general at their head. While the former endeavored to relieve the Pile
+      battery, which was hotly pressed by the enemy, both by sea and land, the
+      latter threw themselves on the breastwork, between the St. George and the
+      Pile batteries, with a fury which carried everything before it. Here the
+      flower of the Belgian troops fought behind a well-fortified rampart, and
+      the guns of the two fleets covered this important post. The prince was
+      already pressing forward to attack this formidable defence with his small
+      army when he received intelligence that the Italians and Spaniards, under
+      Capizucchi and Aquila, had forced their way, sword in hand, into the Pile
+      battery, had got possession of it, and were now likewise advancing from
+      the other side against the enemy's breastwork. Before this intrenchment,
+      therefore, the whole force of both armies was now collected, and both
+      sides used their utmost efforts to carry and to defend this position. The
+      Netherlanders on board the fleet, loath to remain idle spectators of the
+      conflict, sprang ashore from their vessels. Alexander attacked the
+      breastwork on one side, Count Mansfeld on the other; five assaults were
+      made, and five times they were repulsed. The Netherlanders in this
+      decisive moment surpassed themselves; never in the whole course of the war
+      had they fought with such determination. But it was the Scotch and English
+      in particular who baffled the attempts of the enemy by their valiant
+      resistance. As no one would advance to the attack in the quarter where the
+      Scotch fought, the duke himself led on the troops, with a javelin in his
+      hand, and up to his breast in water. At last, after a protracted struggle,
+      the forces of Count Mansfeld succeeded with their halberds and pikes in
+      making a breach in the breastwork, and by raising themselves on one
+      another's shoulders scaled the parapet. Barthelemy Toralva, a Spanish
+      captain, was the first who showed himself on the top; and almost at the
+      same instant the Italian, Capizucchi, appeared upon the edge of it; and
+      thus the contest of valor was decided with equal glory for both nations.
+      It is worth while to notice here the manner in which the Prince of Parma,
+      who was made arbiter of this emulous strife, encouraged this delicate
+      sense of honor among his warriors. He embraced the Italian, Capizucchi, in
+      presence of the troops, and acknowledged aloud that it was principally to
+      the courage of this officer that he owed the capture of the breastwork. He
+      caused the Spanish captain, Toralva, who was dangerously wounded, to be
+      conveyed to his own quarters at Stabroek, laid on his own bed, and covered
+      with the cloak which he himself had worn the day before the battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the capture of the breastwork the victory no longer remained
+      doubtful. The Dutch and Zealand troops, who had disembarked to come to
+      close action with the enemy, at once lost their courage when they looked
+      about them and saw the vessels, which were their last refuge, putting off
+      from the shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the tide had begun to ebb, and the commanders of the fleet, from fear
+      of being stranded with their heavy transports, and, in case of an
+      unfortunate issue to the engagement, becoming the prey of the enemy,
+      retired from the dam, and made for deep water. No sooner did Alexander
+      perceive this than he pointed out to his troops the flying vessels, and
+      encouraged them to finish the action with an enemy who already despaired
+      of their safety. The Dutch auxiliaries were the first that gave way, and
+      their example was soon followed by the Zealanders. Hastily leaping from
+      the dam they endeavored to reach the vessels by wading or swimming; but
+      from their disorderly flight they impeded one another, and fell in heaps
+      under the swords of the pursuers. Many perished even in the boats, as each
+      strove to get on board before the other, and several vessels sank under
+      the weight of the numbers who rushed into them. The Antwerpers, who fought
+      for their liberty, their hearths, their faith, were the last who
+      retreated, but this very circumstance augmented their disaster. Many of
+      their vessels were outstripped by the ebb-tide, and grounded within reach
+      of the enemy's cannon, and were consequently destroyed with all on board.
+      Crowds of fugitives endeavored by swimming to gain the other transports,
+      which had got into deep water; but such was the rage and boldness of the
+      Spaniards that they swam after them with their swords between their teeth,
+      and dragged many even from the ships. The victory of the king's troops was
+      complete but bloody; for of the Spaniards about eight hundred, of the
+      Netherlanders some thousands (without reckoning those who were drowned),
+      were left on the field, and on both sides many of the principal nobility
+      perished. More than thirty vessels, with a large supply of provisions for
+      Antwerp, fell into the hands of the victors, with one hundred and fifty
+      cannon and other military stores. The dam, the possession of which had
+      been so dearly maintained, was pierced in thirteen different places, and
+      the bodies of those who had cut through it were now used to stop up the
+      openings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following day a transport of immense size and singular construction
+      fell into the hands of the royalists. It formed a floating castle, and had
+      been destined for the attack on the Cowenstein dam. The people of Antwerp
+      had built it at an immense expense at the very time when the engineer
+      Gianibelli's useful proposals had been rejected on account of the cost
+      they entailed, and this ridiculous monster was called by the proud title
+      of "End of the War," which appellation was afterwards changed for the more
+      appropriate sobriquet of "Money lost!" When this vessel was launched it
+      turned out, as every sensible person had foretold, that on account of its
+      unwieldly size it was utterly impossible to steer it, and it could hardly
+      be floated by the highest tide. With great difficulty it was worked as far
+      as Ordain, where, deserted by the tide, it went aground, and fell a prey
+      to the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attack upon the Cowenstein dam was the last attempt which was made to
+      relieve Antwerp. From this time the courage of the besieged sank, and the
+      magistracy of the town vainly labored to inspirit with distant hopes the
+      lower orders, on whom the present distress weighed heaviest. Hitherto the
+      price of bread had been kept down to a tolerable rate, although the
+      quality of it continued to deteriorate; by degrees, however, provisions
+      became so scarce that a famine was evidently near at hand. Still hopes
+      were entertained of being able to hold out, at least until the corn
+      between the town and the farthest batteries, which was already in full
+      ear, could be reaped; but before that could be done the enemy had carried
+      the last outwork, and had appropriated the whole harvest to their use. At
+      last the neighboring and confederate town of Malines fell into the enemy's
+      hands, and with its fall vanished the only remaining hope of getting
+      supplies from Brabant. As there was, therefore, no longer any means of
+      increasing the stock of provisions nothing was left but to diminish the
+      consumers. All useless persons, all strangers, nay even the women and
+      children were to be sent away out of the town, but this proposal was too
+      revolting to humanity to be carried into execution. Another plan, that of
+      expelling the Catholic inhabitants, exasperated them so much that it had
+      almost ended in open mutiny. And thus St. Aldegonde at last saw himself
+      compelled to yield to the riotous clamors of the populace, and on the 17th
+      of August, 1585, to make overtures to the Duke of Parma for the surrender
+      of the town.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+by Friedrich Schiller
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Revolt of Netherlands, by Schiller, Complete
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+Title: The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete
+
+Author: Frederich Schiller
+
+Release Date: Oct, 2004  [EBook #6780]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on January 14, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REVOLT OF NETHERLANDS, COMPLETE ***
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+This eBook was produced by David Widger, widger@cecomet.net
+
+
+
+
+
+                               THE WORKS
+
+                                   OF
+
+                           FREDERICK SCHILLER
+
+
+
+                       Translated from the German
+
+
+
+                              Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE EDITION.
+
+
+
+The present is the best collected edition of the important  works of
+Schiller which is accessible to readers in the  English language.
+Detached poems or dramas have been  translated at various times since
+the first publication of  the original works; and in several instances
+these versions  have been incorporated into this collection.  Schiller
+was not less efficiently qualified by nature for  an historian than for
+a dramatist.  He was formed to  excel in all departments of literature,
+and the admirable lucidity of style and soundness and impartiality of
+judgment displayed in his historical writings will not easily be
+surpassed, and will always recommend them as popular expositions of the
+periods of which they treat.
+
+Since the publication of the first English edition many corrections and
+improvements have been made, with a view to rendering it as acceptable
+as possible to English readers; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages
+of a translation, the publishers feel sure that Schiller will be
+heartily acceptable to English readers, and that the influence of his
+writings will continue to increase.
+
+THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS was translated by Lieut.
+E. B. Eastwick, and originally published abroad for students' use.  But
+this translation was too strictly literal for general readers.  It has
+been carefully revised, and some portions have been entirely rewritten
+by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, who also has so ably translated the
+HISTORY OF THE THIRTY YEARS WAR.
+
+THE CAMP OF WALLENSTEIN was translated by Mr. James Churchill, and first
+appeared in "Frazer's Magazine."  It is an exceedingly happy version of
+what has always been deemed the most untranslatable of Schiller's works.
+
+THE PICCOLOMINI and DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN are the admirable version of
+S. T. Coleridge, completed by the addition of all those passages which
+he has omitted, and by a restoration of Schiller's own arrangement of
+the acts and scenes.  It is said, in defence of the variations which
+exist between the German original and the version given by Coleridge,
+that he translated from a prompter's copy in manuscript, before the
+drama had been printed, and that Schiller himself subsequently altered
+it, by omitting some passages, adding others, and even engrafting
+several of Coleridge's adaptations.
+
+WILHELM TELL is translated by Theodore Martin, Esq., whose well-known
+position as a writer, and whose special acquaintance with German
+literature make any recommendation superfluous.
+
+DON CARLOS is translated by R. D. Boylan, Esq., and, in the opinion of
+competent judges, the version is eminently successful.  Mr. Theodore
+Martin kindly gave some assistance, and, it is but justice to state,
+has enhanced the value of the work by his judicious suggestions.
+
+The translation of MARY STUART is that by the late Joseph Mellish,
+who appears to have been on terms of intimate friendship with Schiller.
+His version was made from the prompter's copy, before the play was
+published, and, like Coleridge's Wallenstein, contains many passages not
+found in the printed edition.  These are distinguished by brackets.  On
+the other hand, Mr. Mellish omitted many passages which now form part of
+the printed drama, all of which are now added.  The translation, as a
+whole, stands out from similar works of the time (1800) in almost as
+marked a degree as Coleridge's Wallenstein, and some passages exhibit
+powers of a high order; a few, however, especially in the earlier
+scenes, seemed capable of improvement, and these have been revised,
+but, in deference to the translator, with a sparing hand.
+
+THE MAID OF ORLEANS is contributed by Miss Anna Swanwick, whose
+translation of Faust has since become well known.  It has been.
+carefully revised, and is now, for the first time, published complete.
+
+THE BRIDE OF MESSINA, which has been regarded as the poetical
+masterpiece of Schiller, and, perhaps of all his works, presents the
+greatest difficulties to the translator, is rendered by A. Lodge, Esq.,
+M. A.  This version, on its first publication in England, a few years
+ago, was received with deserved eulogy by distinguished critics.  To the
+present edition has been prefixed Schiller's Essay on the Use of the
+Chorus in Tragedy, in which the author's favorite theory of the "Ideal
+of Art" is enforced with great ingenuity and eloquence.
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE HISTORY
+
+                                 OF THE
+
+                       REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+BOOK I.----Earlier History of The Netherlands up to the Sixteenth Century
+
+BOOK II.---Cardinal Granvella
+
+BOOK III.--Conspiracy of the Nobles
+
+BOOK IV.---The Iconoclasts
+     Trial and Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn
+     Siege of Antwerp by the Prince of Parma, in the Years 1584 and 1585
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
+
+Many years ago, when I read the History of the Belgian Revolution in
+Watson's excellent work, I was seized with an enthusiasm which political
+events but rarely excite.  On further reflection I felt that this
+enthusiastic feeling had arisen less from the book itself than from the
+ardent workings of my own imagination, which had imparted to the
+recorded materials the particular form that so fascinated me.  These
+imaginations, therefore, I felt a wish to fix, to multiply, and to
+strengthen; these exalted sentiments I was anxious to extend by
+communicating them to others.  This was my principal motive for
+commencing the present history, my only vocation to write it.  The
+execution of this design carried me farther than in the beginning I had
+expected.  A closer acquaintance with my materials enabled me to
+discover defects previously unnoticed, long waste tracts to be filled
+up, apparent contradictions to be reconciled, and isolated facts to be
+brought into connection with the rest of the subject.  Not so much with
+the view of enriching my history with new facts as of seeking a key to
+old ones, I betook myself to the original sources, and thus what was
+originally intended to be only a general outline expanded under my hands
+into an elaborate history.  The first part, which concludes with the
+Duchess of Parma's departure from the Netherlands, must be looked upon
+only as the introduction to the history of the Revolution itself, which
+did not come to an open outbreak till the government of her successor.
+I have bestowed the more care and attention upon this introductory
+period the more the generality of writers who had previously treated of
+it seemed to me deficient in these very qualities.  Moreover, it is in
+my opinion the more important as being the root and source of all the
+subsequent events.  If, then, the first volume should appear to any as
+barren in important incident, dwelling prolixly on trifles, or, rather,
+should seem at first sight profuse of reflections, and in general
+tediously minute, it must be remembered that it was precisely out of
+small beginnings that the Revolution was gradually developed; and that
+all the great results which follow sprang out of a countless number of
+trifling and little circumstances.
+
+A nation like the one before us invariably takes its first steps with
+doubts and uncertainty, to move afterwards only the more rapidly for its
+previous hesitation.  I proposed, therefore, to follow the same method
+in describing this rebellion.  The longer the reader delays on the
+introduction the more familiar he becomes with the actors in this
+history, and the scene in which they took a part, so much the more
+rapidly and unerringly shall I be able to lead him through the
+subsequent periods, where the accumulation of materials will forbid
+a slowness of step or minuteness of attention.
+
+As for the authorities of our history there is not so much cause to
+complain of their paucity as of their extreme abundance, since it is
+indispensable to read them all to obtain that clear view of the whole
+subject to which the perusal of a part, however large, is always
+prejudicial.  From the unequal, partial, and often contradictory
+narratives of the same occurrences it is often extremely difficult to
+seize the truth, which in all is alike partly concealed and to be found
+complete in none.  In this first volume, besides de Thou, Strada, Reyd,
+Grotius, Meteren, Burgundius, Meursius, Bentivoglio, and some moderns,
+the Memoirs of Counsellor Hopper, the life and correspondence of his
+friend Viglius, the records of the trials of the Counts of Hoorne and
+Egmont, the defence of the Prince of Orange, and some few others have
+been my guides.  I must here acknowledge my obligations to a work
+compiled with much industry and critical acumen, and written with
+singular truthfulness and impartiality.  I allude to the general history
+of the United Netherlands  which was published in Holland during the
+present century.  Besides many original documents which I could  not
+otherwise have had access to, it has abstracted all that is valuable in
+the excellent works of Bos, Hooft, Brandt, Le Clerc, which either were
+impossible for me to procure or were not available to my use, as being
+written in Dutch, which I do not understand.  An otherwise  ordinary
+writer, Richard Dinoth, has also been of service to me by the many
+extracts he gives from the pamphlets  of the day, which have been long
+lost.  I have in vain  endeavored to procure the correspondence of
+Cardinal Granvella, which also would no doubt have thrown much light
+upon the history of these times.  The lately published work on the
+Spanish Inquisition by my excellent countryman, Professor Spittler of
+Gottingen, reached me too late for its sagacious and important contents
+to be available for my purpose.
+
+The more I am convinced of the importance of the French history, the
+more I lament that it was not in my power to study, as I could have
+wished, its copious annals in the original sources and contemporary
+documents, and to reproduce it abstracted of the form in which it was
+transmitted to me by the more intelligent of my predecessors, and
+thereby emancipate myself from the influence which every talented author
+exercises more or less upon his readers.  But to effect this the work of
+a few years must have become the labor of a life.  My aim in making this
+attempt will be more than attained if it should convince a portion of
+the reading public of the possibility of writing a history with historic
+truth without making a trial of patience to the reader; and if it should
+extort from another portion the confession that history can borrow from
+a cognate art without thereby, of necessity, becoming a romance.
+
+WEIMAR, Michaelmas Fair, 1788.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+Of those important political events which make the sixteenth century to
+take rank among the brightest of the world's epochs, the foundation of
+the freedom of the Netherlands appears to me one of the most remarkable.
+If the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious lust of power
+claim our admiration, how much more so should an event in which
+oppressed humanity struggled for its noblest rights, where with the good
+cause unwonted powers were united, and the resources of resolute despair
+triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts of tyranny.
+
+Great and encouraging is the reflection that there is a resource left
+us against the arrogant usurpations of despotic power; that its best-
+contrived plans against the liberty of mankind may be frustrated; that
+resolute opposition can weaken even the outstretched arm of tyranny; and
+that heroic perseverance can eventually exhaust its fearful resources.
+Never did this truth affect me so sensibly as in tracing the history of
+that memorable rebellion which forever severed the United Netherlands
+from the Spanish Crown.  Therefore I thought it not unworth the while to
+attempt to exhibit to the world this grand memorial of social union, in
+the hope that it may awaken in the breast of my reader a spirit-stirring
+consciousness of his own powers, and give a new and irrefragible example
+of what in a good cause men may both dare and venture, and what by union
+they may accomplish.  It is not the extraordinary or heroic features of
+this event that induce me to describe it.  The annals of the world
+record perhaps many similar enterprises, which may have been even bolder
+in the conception and more brilliant in the execution.  Some states have
+fallen after a nobler struggle; others have risen with more exalted
+strides.  Nor are we here to look for eminent heroes, colossal talents,
+or those marvellous exploits which the history of past times presents in
+such rich abundance.  Those times are gone; such men are no more.  In
+the soft lap of refinement we have suffered the energetic powers to
+become enervate which those ages called into action and rendered
+indispensable.  With admiring awe we wonder at these gigantic images
+of the past as a feeble old man gazes on the athletic sports of youth.
+
+Not so, however, in the history before us.  The people here presented to
+our notice were the most peaceful in our quarter of the globe, and less
+capable than their neighbors of that heroic spirit which stamps a lofty
+character even on the most insignificant actions.  The pressure of
+circumstances with its peculiar influence surprised them and forced a
+transitory greatness upon them, which they never could have possessed
+and perhaps will never possess again.  It is, indeed, exactly this want
+of heroic grandeur which renders this event peculiarly instructive; and
+while others aim at showing the superiority of genius over chance, I
+shall here paint a scene where necessity creates genius and accident
+makes heroes.
+
+If in any case it be allowable to recognize the intervention of
+Providence in human affairs it is certainly so in the present history,
+its course appears so contradictory to reason and experience.  Philip
+II., the most powerful sovereign of his line--whose dreaded supremacy
+menaced the independence of Europe--whose treasures surpassed the
+collective wealth of all the monarchs of Christendom besides--whose
+ambitious projects were backed by numerous and well-disciplined armies
+--whose troops, hardened by long and bloody wars, and confident in past
+victories and in the irresistible prowess of this nation, were eager for
+any enterprise that promised glory and spoil, and ready to second with
+prompt obedience the daring genius of their leaders--this dreaded
+potentate here appears before us obstinately pursuing one favorite
+project, devoting to it the untiring efforts of a long reign, and
+bringing all these terrible resources to bear upon it; but forced, in
+the evening of his reign, to abandon it--here we see the mighty Philip
+II. engaging in combat with a few weak and powerless adversaries, and
+retiring from it at last with disgrace.
+
+And with what adversaries?  Here, a peaceful tribe of fishermen and
+shepherds, in an almost-forgotten corner of Europe, which with
+difficulty they had rescued from the ocean; the sea their profession,
+and at once their wealth and their plague; poverty with freedom their
+highest blessing, their glory, their virtue.  There, a harmless, moral,
+commercial people, revelling in the abundant fruits of thriving
+industry, and jealous of the maintenance of laws which had proved their
+benefactors.  In the happy leisure of affluence they forsake the narrow
+circle of immediate wants and learn to thirst after higher and nobler
+gratifications.  The new views of truth, whose benignant dawn now broke
+over Europe, cast a fertilizing beam on this favored clime, and the free
+burgher admitted with joy the light which oppressed and miserable slaves
+shut out.  A spirit of independence, which is the ordinary companion of
+prosperity and freedom, lured this people on to examine the authority of
+antiquated opinions and to break an ignominious chain.  But the stern
+rod of despotism was held suspended over them; arbitrary power
+threatened to tear away the foundation of their happiness; the guardian
+of their laws became their tyrant.  Simple in their statecraft no less
+than in their manners, they dared to appeal to ancient treaties and to
+remind the lord of both Indies of the rights of nature.  A name decides
+the whole issue of things.  In Madrid that was called rebellion which in
+Brussels was simply styled a lawful remonstrance.  The complaints of
+Brabant required a prudent mediator; Philip II. sent an executioner.
+The signal for war was given.  An unparalleled tyranny assailed both
+property and life.  The despairing citizens, to whom the choice of
+deaths was all that was left, chose the nobler one on the battle-field.
+A wealthy and luxurious nation loves peace, but becomes warlike as soon
+as it becomes poor.  Then it ceases to tremble for a life which is
+deprived of everything that had made it desirable.  In an instant the
+contagion of rebellion seizes at once the most distant provinces; trade
+and commerce are at a standstill, the ships disappear from the harbors,
+the artisan abandons his workshop, the rustic his uncultivated fields.
+Thousands fled to distant lands, a thousand victims fell on the bloody
+field, and fresh thousands pressed on.  Divine, indeed, must that
+doctrine be for which men could die so joyfully.  All that was wanting
+was the last finishing hand, the enlightened, enterprising spirit, to
+seize on this great political crisis and to mould the offspring of
+chance into the ripe creation of wisdom.  William the Silent, like a
+second Brutus, devoted himself to the great cause of liberty.  Superior
+to all selfishness, he resigned honorable offices which entailed on him
+obectionable duties, and, magnanimously divesting himself of all his
+princely dignities, he descended to a state of voluntary poverty, and
+became but a citizen of the world.  The cause of justice was staked upon
+the hazardous game of battle; but the newly-raised levies of mercenaries
+and peaceful husbandmen were unable to withstand the terrible onset of
+an experienced force.  Twice did the brave William lead his dispirited
+troops against the tyrant.  Twice was he abandoned by them, but not by
+his courage.
+
+Philip II. sent as many reinforcements as the dreadful importunity of
+his viceroy demanded.  Fugitives, whom their country rejected, sought a
+new home on the ocean, and turned to the ships of their enemy to satisfy
+the cravings both of vengeance and of want.  Naval heroes were now
+formed out of corsairs, and a marine collected out of piratical vessels;
+out of morasses arose a republic.  Seven provinces threw off the yoke at
+the same time, to form a new, youthful state, powerful by its waters and
+its union and despair.  A solemn decree of the whole nation deposed the
+tyrant, and the Spanish name was erased from all its laws.
+
+For such acts no forgiveness remained; the republic became formidable
+only because it was impossible for her to retrace her steps.  But
+factions distracted her within; without, her terrible element, the sea
+itself, leaguing with her oppressors, threatened her very infancy with a
+premature grave.  She felt herself succumb to the superior force of the
+enemy, and cast herself a suppliant before the most powerful thrones of
+Europe, begging them to accept a dominion which she herself could no
+longer protect.  At last, but with difficulty--so despised at first was
+this state that even the rapacity of foreign monarchs spurned her
+opening bloom--a stranger deigned to accept their importunate offer of a
+dangerous crown.  New hopes began to revive her sinking courage; but in
+this new father of his country destiny gave her a traitor, and in the
+critical emergency, when the foe was in full force before her very
+gates, Charles of Anjou invaded the liberties which he had been called
+to protect.  In the midst of the tempest, too, the assassin's hand tore
+the steersman from the helm, and with William of Orange the career of
+the infant republic was seemingly at an end, and all her guardian angels
+fled.  But the ship continued to scud along before the storm, and the
+swelling canvas carried her safe without the pilot's help.
+
+Philip II. missed the fruits of a deed which cost him his royal honor,
+and perhaps, also, his self-respect.  Liberty struggled on still with
+despotism in obstinate and dubious contest; sanguinary battles were
+fought; a brilliant array of heroes succeeded each other on the field of
+glory, and Flanders and Brabant were the schools which educated generals
+for the coming century.  A long, devastating war laid waste the open
+country; victor and vanquished alike waded through blood; while the
+rising republic of the waters gave a welcome to fugitive industry, and
+out of the ruins of despotism erected the noble edifice of its own
+greatness.  For forty years lasted the war whose happy termination was
+not to bless the dying eye of Philip; which destroyed one paradise in
+Europe to form a new one out of its shattered fragments; which destroyed
+the choicest flower of military youth, and while it enriched more than a
+quarter of the globe impoverished the possessor of the golden Peru.
+This monarch, who could expend nine hundred tons of gold without
+oppressing his subjects, and by tyrannical measures extorted far more,
+heaped, moreover, on his exhausted people a debt of one hundred and
+forty millions of ducats.  An implacable hatred of liberty swallowed up
+all these treasures, and consumed on the fruitless task the labor of a
+royal life.  But the Reformation throve amidst the devastations of the
+sword, and over the blood of her citizens the banner of the new republic
+floated victorious.
+
+This improbable turn of affairs seems to border on a miracle; many
+circumstances, however, combined to break the power of Philip, and to
+favor the progress of the infant state.  Had the whole weight of his
+power fallen on the United Provinces there had been no hope for their
+religion or their liberty.  His own ambition, by tempting him to divide
+his strength, came to the aid of their weakness.  The expensive policy
+of maintaining traitors in every cabinet of Europe; the support of the
+League in France; the revolt of the Moors in Granada; the conquest of
+Portugal, and the magnificent fabric of the Escurial, drained at last
+his apparently inexhaustible treasury, and prevented his acting in the
+field with spirit and energy.  The German and Italian troops, whom the
+hope of gain alone allured to his banner, mutinied when he could no
+longer pay them, and faithlessly abandoned their leaders in the decisive
+moment of action.  These terrible instruments of oppression now turned
+their dangerous power against their employer, and wreaked their
+vindictive rage on the provinces which remained faithful to him.
+The unfortunate armament against England, on which, like a desperate
+gamester, he had staked the whole strength of his kingdom, completed his
+ruin; with the armada sank the wealth of the two Indies, and the flower
+of Spanish chivalry.
+
+But in the very same proportion that the Spanish power declined the
+republic rose in fresh vigor.  The ravages which the fanaticism of the
+new religion, the tyranny of the Inquisition, the furious rapacity of
+the soldiery, and the miseries of a long war unbroken by any interval of
+peace, made in the provinces of Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault, at once
+the arsenals and the magazines of this expensive contest, naturally
+rendered it every year more difficult to support and recruit the royal
+armies.  The Catholic Netherlands had already lost a million of
+citizens, and the trodden fields maintained their husbandmen no longer.
+Spain itself had but few more men to spare.  That country, surprised by
+a sudden affluence which brought idleness with it, had lost much of its
+population, and could not long support the continual drafts of men which
+were required both for the New World and the Netherlands.  Of these
+conscripts few ever saw their country again; and these few having left
+it as youths returned to it infirm and old.  Gold, which had become more
+common, made soldiers proportionately dearer; the growing charm of
+effeminacy enhanced the price of the opposite virtues.  Wholly different
+was the posture of affairs with the rebels.  The thousands whom the
+cruelty of the viceroy expelled from the southern Netherlands, the
+Huguenots whom the wars of persecution drove from France, as well as
+every one whom constraint of conscience exiled from the other parts of
+Europe, all alike flocked to unite themselves with the Belgian
+insurgents.  The whole Christian world was their recruiting ground.
+The fanaticism both of the persecutor and the persecuted worked in their
+behalf.  The enthusiasm of a doctrine newly embraced, revenge, want, and
+hopeless misery drew to their standard adventurers from every part of
+Europe.  All whom the new doctrine had won, all who had suffered, or had
+still cause of fear from despotism, linked their own fortunes with those
+of the new republic.  Every injury inflicted by a tyrant gave a right of
+citizenship in Holland.  Men pressed towards a country where liberty
+raised her spirit-stirring banner, where respect and security were
+insured to a fugitive religion, and even revenge on the oppressor.  If
+we consider the conflux in the present day of people to Holland, seeking
+by their entrance upon her territory to be reinvested in their rights as
+men, what must it have been at a time when the rest of Europe groaned
+under a heavy bondage, when Amsterdam was nearly the only free port for
+all opinions?  Many hundred families sought a refuge for their wealth in
+a land which the ocean and domestic concord powerfully combined to
+protect.  The republican army maintained its full complement without the
+plough being stripped of hands to work it.  Amid the clash of arms trade
+and industry flourished, and the peaceful citizen enjoyed in
+anticipation the fruits of liberty which foreign blood was to purchase
+for them.  At the very time when the republic of Holland was struggling
+for existence she extended her dominions beyond the ocean, and was
+quietly occupied in erecting her East Indian Empire.
+
+Moreover, Spain maintained this expensive war with dead, unfructifying
+gold, that never returned into the hand which gave it away, while it
+raised to her the price of every necessary.  The treasuries of the
+republic were industry and commerce.  Time lessened the one whilst it
+multiplied the other, and exactly in the same proportion that the
+resources of the Spanish government became exhausted by the long
+continuance of the war the republic began to reap a richer harvest.  Its
+field was sown sparingly with the choice seed which bore fruit, though
+late, yet a hundredfold; but the tree from which Philip gathered fruit
+was a fallen trunk which never again became verdant.
+
+Philip's adverse destiny decreed that all the treasures which he
+lavished for the oppression of the Provinces should contribute to enrich
+them.  The continual outlay of Spanish gold had diffused riches and
+luxury throughout Europe; but the increasing wants of Europe were
+supplied chiefly by the Netherlanders, who were masters of the commerce
+of the known world, and who by their dealings fixed the price of all
+merchandise.  Even during the war Philip could not prohibit his own
+subjects from trading with the republic; nay, he could not even desire
+it.  He himself furnished the rebels with the means of defraying the
+expenses of their own defence; for the very war which was to ruin them
+increased the sale of their goods.  The enormous suns expended on his
+fleets and armies flowed for the most part into the exchequer of the
+republic, which was more or less connected with the commercial places of
+Flanders and Brabant.  Whatever Philip attempted against the rebels
+operated indirectly to their advantage.
+
+The sluggish progress of this war did the king as much injury as it
+benefited the rebels.  His army was composed for the most part of the
+remains of those victorious troops which had gathered their laurels
+under Charles V.  Old and long services entitled them to repose; many of
+them, whom the war had enriched, impatiently longed for their homes,
+where they might end in ease a life of hardship.  Their former zeal,
+their heroic spirit, and their discipline relaxed in the same proportion
+as they thought they had fully satisfied their honor and their duty, and
+as they began to reap at last the reward of so many battles.  Besides,
+the troops which had been accustomed by their irresistible impetuosity
+to vanquish all opponents were necessarily wearied out by a war which
+was carried on not so much against men as against the elements; which
+exercised their patience more than it gratified their love of glory; and
+where there was less of danger than of difficulty and want to contend
+with.  Neither personal courage nor long military experience was of
+avail in a country whose peculiar features gave the most dastardly the
+advantage.  Lastly, a single discomfiture on foreign ground did them
+more injury than any victories gained over an enemy at home could profit
+them.  With the rebels the case was exactly the reverse.  In so
+protracted a war, in which no decisive battle took place, the weaker
+party must naturally learn at last the art of defence from the stronger;
+slight defeats accustomed him to danger; slight victories animated his
+confidence.
+
+At the beginning of the war the republican army scarcely dared to show
+itself in the field; the long continuance of the struggle practised and
+hardened it.  As the royal armies grew wearied of victory, the
+confidence of the rebels rose with their improved discipline and
+experience.  At last, at the end of half a century, master and pupil
+separated, unsubdued, and equal in the fight.
+
+Again, throughout the war the rebels acted with more concord and
+unanimity than the royalists.  Before the former had lost their first
+leader the government of the Netherlands had passed through as many as
+five hands.  The Duchess of Parma's indecision soon imparted itself to
+the cabinet of Madrid, which in a short time tried in succession almost
+every system of policy.  Duke Alva's inflexible sternness, the mildness
+of his successor Requescens, Don John of Austria's insidious cunning,
+and the active and imperious mind of the Prince of Parma gave as many
+opposite directions to the war, while the plan of rebellion remained the
+same in a single head, who, as he saw it clearly, pursued it with vigor.
+The king's greatest misfortune was that right principles of action
+generally missed the right moment of application.  In the commencement
+of the troubles, when the advantage was as yet clearly on the king's
+side, when prompt resolution and manly firmness might have crushed the
+rebellion in the cradle, the reigns of government were allowed to hang
+loose in the hands of a woman.  After the outbreak had come to an open
+revolt, and when the strength of the factious and the power of the king
+stood more equally balanced, and when a skilful flexible prudence could
+alone have averted the impending civil war, the government devolved on a
+man who was eminently deficient in this necessary qualification.  So
+watchful an observer as William the Silent failed not to improve every
+advantage which the faulty policy of his adversary presented, and with
+quiet silent industry he slowly but surely pushed on the great
+enterprise to its accomplishment.
+
+But why did not Philip II. himself appear in the Netherlands?  Why did
+he prefer to employ every other means, however improbable, rather than
+make trial of the only remedy which could insure success?  To curb the
+overgrown power and insolence of the nobility there was no expedient
+more natural than the presence of their master.  Before royalty itself
+all secondary dignities must necessarily have sunk in the shade, all
+other splendor be dimmed.  Instead of the truth being left to flow
+slowly and obscurely through impure channels to the distant throne, so
+that procrastinated measures of redress gave time to ripen ebullitions
+of the moment into acts of deliberation, his own penetrating glance
+would at once have been able to separate truth from error; and cold
+policy alone, not to speak of his humanity, would have saved the land a
+million citizens.  The nearer to their source the more weighty would his
+edicts have been; the thicker they fell on their objects the weaker and
+the more dispirited would have become the efforts of the rebels.  It
+costs infinitely more to do an evil to an enemy in his presence than in
+his absence.  At first the rebellion appeared to tremble at its own
+name, and long sheltered itself under the ingenious pretext of defending
+the cause of its sovereign against the arbitrary assumptions of his own
+viceroy.  Philip's appearance in Brussels would have put an end at once
+to this juggling.  In that case, the rebels would have been compelled to
+act up to their pretence, or to cast aside the mask, and so, by
+appearing in their true shape, condemn themselves.  And what a relief
+for the Netherlands if the king's presence had only spared them those
+evils which were inflicted upon them without his knowledge, and contrary
+to his will. [1]  What gain, too, even if it had only enabled him to
+watch over the expenditure of the vast sums which, illegally raised on
+the plea of meeting the exigencies of the war, disappeared in the
+plundering hands of his deputies.
+
+What the latter were compelled to extort by the unnatural expedient of
+terror, the nation would have been disposed to grant to the sovereign
+majesty.  That which made his ministers detested would have rendered the
+monarch feared; for the abuse of hereditary power is less painfully
+oppressive than the abuse of delegated authority.  His presence would
+have saved his exchequer thousands had he been nothing more than an
+economical despot; and even had he been less, the awe of his person
+would have preserved a territory which was lost through hatred and
+contempt for his instruments.
+
+In the same manner, as the oppression of the people of the Netherlands
+excited the sympathy of all who valued their own rights, it might have
+been expected that their disobedience and defection would have been a
+call to all princes to maintain their own prerogatives in the case of
+their neighbors.  But jealousy of Spain got the better of political
+sympathies, and the first powers of Europe arranged themselves more or
+less openly on the side of freedom.
+
+Although bound to the house of Spain by the ties of relationship, the
+Emperor Maximilian II. gave it just cause for its charge against him
+of secretly favoring the rebels.  By the offer of his mediation he
+implicitly acknowledged the partial justice of their complaints, and
+thereby encouraged them to a resolute perseverance in their demands.
+Under an emperor sincerely devoted to the interests of the Spanish
+house, William of Orange could scarcely have drawn so many troops and so
+much money from Germany.  France, without openly and formally breaking
+the peace, placed a prince of the blood at the head of the Netherlandish
+rebels; and it was with French gold and French troops that the
+operations of the latter were chiefly conducted. [2]  Elizabeth of
+England, too, did but exercise a just retaliation and revenge in
+protecting the rebels against their legitimate sovereign; and although
+her meagre and sparing aid availed no farther than to ward off utter
+ruin from the republic, still even this was infinitely valuable at a
+moment when nothing but hope could have supported their exhausted
+courage.  With both these powers Philip at the time was at peace, but
+both betrayed him.  Between the weak and the strong honesty often ceases
+to appear a virtue; the delicate ties which bind equals are seldom
+observed towards him whom all men fear.  Philip had banished truth from
+political intercourse; he himself had dissolved all morality between
+kings, and had made artifice the divinity of cabinets.  Without once
+enjoying the advantages of his preponderating greatness, he had,
+throughout life, to contend with the jealousy which it awakened in
+others.  Europe made him atone for the possible abuses of a power of
+which in fact he never had the full possession.
+
+If against the disparity between the two combatants, which, at first
+sight, is so astounding, we weigh all the incidental circumstances which
+were adverse to Spain, but favorable to the Netherlands, that which is
+supernatural in this event will disappear, while that which is
+extraordinary will still remain--and a just standard will be furnished
+by which to estimate the real merit of these republicans in working out
+their freedom.  It must not, however, be thought that so accurate a
+calculation of the opposing forces could have preceded the undertaking
+itself, or that, on entering this unknown sea, they already knew the
+shore on which they would ultimately be landed.  The work did not
+present itself to the mind of its originator in the exact form which it
+assumed when completed, any more than the mind of Luther foresaw the
+eternal separation of creeds when he began to oppose the sale of
+indulgences.  What a difference between the modest procession of those
+suitors in Brussels, who prayed for a more humane treatment as a favor,
+and the dreaded majesty of a free state, which treated with kings as
+equals, and in less than a century disposed of the throne of its former
+tyrant.  The unseen hand of fate gave to the discharged arrow a higher
+flight, and quite a different direction from that which it first
+received from the bowstring.  In the womb of happy Brabant that liberty
+had its birth which, torn from its mother in its earliest infancy, was
+to gladden the so despised Holland.  But the enterprise must not be less
+thought of because its issue differed from the first design.  Man works
+up, smooths, and fashions the rough stone which the times bring to him;
+the moment and the instant may belong to him, but accident develops the
+history of the world.  If the passions which co-operated actively in
+bringing about this event were only not unworthy of the great work to
+which they were unconsciously subservient--if only the powers which
+aided in its accomplishment were intrinsically noble, if only the single
+actions out of whose great concatenation it wonderfully arose were
+beautiful then is the event grand, interesting, and fruitful for us, and
+we are at liberty to wonder at the bold offspring of chance, or rather
+offer up our admiration to a higher intelligence.
+
+The history of the world, like the laws of nature, is consistent with
+itself, and simple as the soul of man.  Like conditions produce like
+phenomena.  On the same soil where now the Netherlanders were to resist
+their Spanish tyrants, their forefathers, the Batavi and Belgee, fifteen
+centuries before, combated against their Roman oppressors.  Like the
+former, submitting reluctantly to a haughty master, and misgoverned by
+rapacious satraps, they broke off their chain with like resolution, and
+tried their fortune in a similar unequal combat.  The same pride of
+conquest, the same national grandeur, marked the Spaniard of the
+sixteenth century and the Roman of the first; the same valor and
+discipline distinguished the armies of both, their battle array inspired
+the same terror.  There as here we see stratagem in combat with superior
+force, and firmness, strengthened by unanimity, wearying out a mighty
+power weakened by division; then as now private hatred armed a whole
+nation; a single man, born for his times, revealed to his fellow-slaves
+the dangerous Secret of their power, and brought their mute grief to a
+bloody announcement.  "Confess, Batavians," cries Claudius Civilis to
+his countrymen in the sacred grove, "we are no longer treated, as
+formerly, by these Romans as allies, but rather as slaves.  We are
+handed over to their prefects and centurions, who, when satiated with
+our plunder and with our blood, make way for others, who, under
+different names, renew the same outrages.  If even at last Rome deigns
+to send us a legate, he oppresses us with an ostentatious and costly
+retinue, and with still more intolerable pride.  The levies are again at
+hand which tear forever children from their parents, brothers from
+brothers.  Now, Batavians, is our time.  Never did Rome lie so prostrate
+as now.  Let not their names of legions terrify you.  There is nothing
+in their camps but old men and plunder.  Our infantry and horsemen are
+strong; Germany is allied to us by blood, and Gaul is ready to throw off
+its yoke.  Let Syria serve them, and Asia and the East, who are used to
+bow before kings; many still live who were born among us before tribute
+was paid to the Romans.  The gods are ever with the brave."  Solemn
+religious rites hallowed this conspiracy, like the League of the Gueux;
+like that, it craftily wrapped itself in the veil of submissiveness, in
+the majesty of a great name.  The cohorts of Civilis swear allegiance on
+the Rhine to Vespasian in Syria, as the League did to Philip II.  The
+same arena furnished the same plan of defence, the same refuge to
+despair.  Both confided their wavering fortunes to a friendly element;
+in the same distress Civilis preserves his island, as fifteen centuries
+after him William of Orange did the town of Leyden--through an
+artificial inundation.  The valor of the Batavi disclosed the impotency
+of the world's ruler, as the noble courage of their descendants revealed
+to the whole of Europe the decay of Spanish greatness.  The same
+fecundity of genius in the generals of both times gave to the war a
+similarly obstinate continuance, and nearly as doubtful an issue; one
+difference, nevertheless, distinguishes them: the Romans and Batavians
+fought humanely, for they did not fight for religion.
+
+[1]  More modern historians, with access to the records of the Spanish
+Inquisition and the private communications between Phillip II. and his
+various appointees to power in the Netherlands, rebut Shiller's kind but
+naive thought.  To the contrary, Phillip II. was most critical of his
+envoys lack of severity.  See in particular the "Rise of the Dutch
+Republic" and the other works of John Motley on the history of the
+Netherlands all of which are available at Project Gutenberg.--D.W.
+
+[2] A few French generals who were by and large ineffective; and many
+promises of gold which were undelivered.--D.W.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                BOOK I.
+
+    EARLIER HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS UP TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+Before we consider the immediate history of this great revolution, it
+will be advisable to go a few steps back into the ancient records of the
+country, and to trace the origin of that constitution which we find it
+possessed of at the time of this remarkable change.
+
+The first appearance of this people in the history of the world is the
+moment of its fall; their conquerors first gave them a political
+existence.  The extensive region which is bounded by Germany on the
+east, on the south by France, on the north and northwest by the North
+Sea, and which we comprehend under the general name of the Netherlands,
+was, at the time when the Romans invaded Gaul, divided amongst three
+principal nations, all originally of German descent, German
+institutions, and German spirit.  The Rhine formed its boundaries.  On
+the left of the river dwelt the Belgae, on its right the Frisii, and the
+Batavi on the island which its two arms then formed with the ocean.  All
+these several nations were sooner or later reduced into subjection by
+the Romans, but the conquerors themselves give us the most glorious
+testimony to their valor.  The Belgae, writes Caesar, were the only
+people amongst the Gauls who repulsed the invasion of the Teutones and
+Cimbri.  The Batavi, Tacitus tells us, surpassed all the tribes on the
+Rhine in bravery.  This fierce nation paid its tribute in soldiers, and
+was reserved by its conquerors, like arrow and sword, only for battle.
+The Romans themselves acknowledged the Batavian horsemen to be their
+best cavalry.  Like the Swiss at this day, they formed for a long time
+the body-guard of the Roman Emperor; their wild courage terrified the
+Dacians, as they saw them, in  full armor, swimming across the Danube.
+The Batavi accompanied Agricola in his expedition against Britain,  and
+helped him to conquer that island.  The Frieses  were, of all, the last
+subdued, and the first to regain their liberty.  The morasses among
+which they dwelt attracted the conquerors later, and enhanced the price
+of conquest.  The Roman Drusus, who made war in these regions, had a
+canal cut from the Rhine into the Flevo, the present Zuyder Zee, through
+which the Roman fleet penetrated into the North Sea, and from thence,
+entering the mouths of the Ems and the Weser, found an easy passage into
+the interior of Germany.
+
+Through four centuries we find Batavian troops in the Roman armies, but
+after the time of Honorius their name disappears from history.
+Presently we discover their island overrun by the Franks, who again lost
+themselves in the adjoining country of Belgium.  The Frieses threw off
+the yoke of their distant and powerless rulers, and again appearad as a
+free, and even a conquering people, who governed themselves by their own
+customs and a remnant of Roman laws, and extended their limits beyond
+the left bank of the Rhine.  Of all the provinces of the Netherlands,
+Friesland especially had suffered the least from the irruptions of
+strange tribes and foreign customs, and for centuries retained traces of
+its original institutions, of its national spirit and manners, which
+have not, even at the present day, entirely disappeared.
+
+The epoch of the immigration of nations destroyed the original form of
+most of these tribes; other mixed races arose in their place, with other
+constitutions.  In the general irruption the towns and encampments of
+the Romans disappeared, and with them the memorials of their wise
+government, which they had employed the natives to execute.  The
+neglected dikes once more yielded to the violence of the streams and to
+the encroachments of the ocean.  Those wonders of labor, and creations
+of human skill, the canals, dried up, the rivers changed their course,
+the continent and the sea confounded their olden limits, and the nature
+of the soil changed with its inhabitants.  So, too, the connection of
+the two eras seems effaced, and with a new race a new history commences.
+
+The monarchy of the Franks, which arose out of the ruins of Roman Gaul,
+had, in the sixth and seventh centuries, seized all the provinces of the
+Netherlands, and planted there the Christian faith.  After an obstinate
+war Charles Martel subdued to the French crown Friesland, the last of
+all the free provinces, and by his victories paved a way for the gospel.
+Charlemagne united all these countries, and formed of them one division
+of the mighty empire which he had constructed out of Germany, France,
+and Lombardy.  As under his descendants this vast dominion was again
+torn into fragments, so the Netherlands became at times German, at
+others French, or then again Lotheringian Provinces; and at last we find
+them under both the names of Friesland and Lower Lotheringia.
+
+With the Franks the feudal system, the offspring of the North, also came
+into these lands, and here, too, as in all other countries, it
+degenerated.  The more powerful vassals gradually made themselves
+independent of the crown, and the royal governors usurped the countries
+they were appointed to govern.  But the rebellions vassals could not
+maintain their usurpations without the aid of their own dependants,
+whose assistance they were compelled to purchase by new concessions.
+At the same time the church became powerful through pious usurpations
+and donations, and its abbey lands and episcopal sees acquired an
+independent existence.  Thus were the Netherlands in the tenth,
+eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries split up into several small
+sovereignties, whose possessors did homage at one time to the German
+Emperor, at another to the kings of France.  By purchase, marriages,
+legacies, and also by conquest, several of these provinces were often
+united under one suzerain, and thus in the fifteenth century we see the
+house of Burgundy in possession of the chief part of the Netherlands.
+With more or less right Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had united
+as many as eleven provinces under his authority, and to these his son,
+Charles the Bold, added two others, acquired by force of arms.  Thus
+imperceptibly a new state arose in Europe, which wanted nothing but the
+name to be the most flourishing kingdom in this quarter of the globe.
+These extensive possessions made the Dukes of Burgundy formidable
+neighbors to France, and tempted the restless spirit of Charles the Bold
+to devise a scheme of conquest, embracing the whole line of country from
+the Zuyder Zee and the mouth of the Rhine down to Alsace.  The almost
+inexhaustible resources of this prince justify in some measure this bold
+project.  A formidable army threatened to carry it into execution.
+Already Switzerland trembled for her liberty; but deceitful fortune
+abandoned him in three terrible battles, and the infatuated hero was
+lost in the melee of the living and the dead.
+
+     [A page who had seen him fall a few days after the battle conducted
+     the victors to the spot, and saved his remains from an ignominious
+     oblivion.  His body was dragged from out of a pool, in which it was
+     fast frozen, naked, and so disfigured with wounds that with great
+     difficulty he was recognized, by the well-known deficiency of some
+     of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger-nails.  But that,
+     notwithstanding the marks, there were still incredulous people who
+     doubted his death, and looked for his reappearance, is proved by
+     the missive in which Louis XI. called upon the Burgundian States to
+     return to their allegiance to the Crown of France.  "If," the
+     passage runs, "Duke Charles should still be living, you shall be
+     released from your oath to me."  Comines, t. iii., Preuves des
+     Memoires, 495, 497.]
+
+The sole heiress of Charles the Bold, Maria, at once the richest
+princess and the unhappy Helen of that time, whose wooing brought misery
+on her inheritance, was now the centre of attraction to the whole known
+world.  Among her suitors appeared two great princes, King Louis XI. of
+France, for his son, the young Dauphin, and Maximilian of Austria, son
+of the Emperor Frederic III.  The successful suitor was to become the
+most powerful prince in Europe; and now, for the first time, this
+quarter of the globe began to fear for its balance of power.  Louis, the
+more powerful of the two, was ready to back his suit by force of arms;
+but the people of the Netherlands, who disposed of the hand of their
+princess, passed by this dreaded neighbor, and decided in favor of
+Maximilian, whose more remote territories and more limited power seemed
+less to threaten the liberty of their country.  A deceitful, unfortunate
+policy, which, through a strange dispensation of heaven, only
+accelerated the melancholy fate which it was intended to prevent.
+
+To Philip the Fair, the son of Maria and Maximilian, a Spanish bride
+brought as her portion that extensive kingmdom which Ferdinand and
+Isabella had recently founded; and Charles of Austria, his son, was born
+lord of the kingdoms of Spain, of the two Sicilies, of the New World,
+and of the Netherlands.  In the latter country the commonalty
+emancipated themselves much earlier than in other; feudal states, and
+quickly attained to an independent political existence.  The favorable
+situation of the country on the North Sea and on great navigable rivers
+early awakened the spirit of commerce, which rapidly peopled the towns,
+encouraged industry and the arts, attracted foreigners, and diffused
+prosperity and affluence among them.  However contemptuously the warlike
+policy of those times looked down upon every peaceful and useful
+occupation, the rulers of the country could not fail altogether to
+perceive the essential advantages they derived from such pursuits.  The
+increasing population of their territories, the different imposts which
+they extorted from natives and foreigners under the various titles of
+tolls, customs, highway rates, escort money, bridge tolls, market fees,
+escheats, and so forth, were too valuable considerations to allow them
+to remain indifferent to the sources from which they were derived..
+Their own rapacity made them promoters of trade, and, as often happens,
+barbarism itself rudely nursed it, until at last a healthier policy
+assumed its place.  In the course of time they invited the Lombard
+merchants to settle among them, and accorded to the towns some valuable
+privileges and an independent jurisdiction, by which the latter acquired
+uncommon extraordinary credit and influence.  The numerous wars which
+the counts and dukes carried on with one another, or with their
+neighbors, made them in some measure dependent on the good-will of the
+towns, who by their wealth obtained weight and consideration, and for
+the subsidies which they afforded failed not to extort important
+privileges in return.  These privileges of the commonalties increased as
+the crusades with their expensive equipment augumented the necessities
+of the nobles; as a new road to Europe was opened for the productions of
+the East, and as wide-spreading luxury created new wants to their
+princes.  Thus as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find in
+these lands a mixed form of governmeut, in which the prerogative of the
+sovereign is greatly limited by the privileges of the estates; that is
+to say, of the nobility, the clergy, and the municipalities.
+
+These, under the name of States, assembled as often as the wants of the
+province required it.  Without their consent no new laws were valid, no
+war could be carried on, and no taxes levied, no change made in the
+coinage, and no foreigner admitted to any office of government.  All the
+provinces enjoyed these privileges in common; others were peculiar to
+the various districts.  The supreme government was hereditary, but the
+son did not enter on the rights of his father before he had solemnly
+sworn to maintain the existing constitution.
+
+Necessity is the first lawgiver; all the wants which had to be met by
+this constitution were originally of a commercial nature.  Thus the
+whole constitution was founded on commerce, and the laws of the nation
+were adapted to its pursuits.  The last clause, which excluded
+foreigners from all offices of trust, was a natural consequence of the
+preceding articles.  So complicated and artificial a relation between
+the sovereign and his people, which in many provinces was further
+modified according to the peculiar wants of each, and frequently of some
+single city, required for its maintenance the liveliest zeal for the
+liberties of the country, combined with an intimate acquaintance with
+them.  From a foreigner neither could well be expected.  This law,
+besides, was enforced reciprocally in each particular province; so that
+in Brabant no Fleming, in Zealand no Hollander, could hold office; and
+it continued in force even after all these provinces were united under
+one government.
+
+Above all others, Brabant enjoyed the highest degree of freedom.  Its
+privileges were esteemed so valuable that many mothers from the adjacent
+provinces removed thither about the time of their accouchment, in order
+to entitle their children to participate, by birth, in all the
+immunities of that favored country; just as, says Strada, one improves
+the plants of a rude climate by removing them to the soil of a milder.
+
+After the House of Burgundy had united several provinces under its
+dominion, the separate provincial assemblies which, up to that time, had
+been independent tribunals, were made subject to a supreme court at
+Malines, which incorporated the various judicatures into one body, and
+decided in the last resort all civil and criminal appeals.  The separate
+independence of the provinces was thus abolished, and the supreme power
+vested in the senate at Malines.
+
+After the death of Charles the Bold the states did not neglect to avail
+themselves of the embarassment of their duchess, who, threatened by
+France, was consequently in their power.  Holland and Zealand compelled
+her to sign a great charter, which secured to them the most important
+sovereign rights.  The people of Ghent carried their insolence to such a
+pitch that they arbitrarily dragged the favorites of Maria, who had the
+misfortune to displease them, before their own tribunals, and beheaded
+them before the eyes of that princess.  During the short government of
+the Duchess Maria, from her father's death to her marriage, the commons
+obtained powers which few free states enjoyed.  After her death her
+husband, Maximilian, illegally assumed the government as guardian of his
+son.  Offended by this invasion of their rights, the estates refused to
+acknowledge his authority, and could only be brought to receive him as a
+viceroy for a stated period, and under conditions ratified by oath.
+
+Maximilian, after he became Roman Emperor, fancied that he might safely
+venture to violate the constitution.  He imposed extraordinary taxes on
+the provinces, gave official appointments to Burgundians and Germans,
+and introduced foreign troops into the provinces.  But the jealousy of
+these republicans kept pace with the power of their regent.  As he
+entered Bruges with a large retinue of foreigners, the people flew to
+arms, made themselves masters of his person, and placed him in
+confinement in the castle.  In spite of the intercession of the Imperial
+and Roman courts, he did not again obtain his freedom until security had
+been given to the people on all the disputed points.
+
+The security of life and property arising from mild laws, and, an equal
+administration of justice, had encouraged activity and industry.  In
+continual contest with the ocean and rapid rivers, which poured their
+violence on the neighboring lowlands, and whose force it was requisite
+to break by embankments and canals, this people had early learned to
+observe the natural objects around them; by industry and perseverance to
+defy an element of superior power; and like the Egyptian, instructed by
+his Nile, to exercise their inventive genius and acuteness in self-
+defence.  The natural fertility of their soil, which favored agriculture
+and the breeding of cattle, tended at the same time to increase the
+population.  Their happy position on the sea and the great navigable
+rivers of Germany and France, many of which debouched on their coasts;
+the numerous artificial canals which intersected the land in all
+directions, imparted life to navigation; and the facility of internal
+communication between the provinces, soon created and fostered a
+commercial spirit among these people.
+
+The neighboring coasts, Denmark and Britain, were the first visited by
+their vessels.  The English wool which they brought back employed
+thousands of industrious hands in Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp; and as
+early as the middle of the twelfth century cloths of Flanders were
+extensively worn in France and Germany.  In the eleventh century we find
+ships of Friesland in the Belt, and even in the Levant.  This
+enterprising people ventured, without a compass, to steer under the
+North Pole round to the most northerly point of Russia.  From the
+Wendish towns the Netherlands received a share in the Levant trade,
+which, at that time, still passed from the Black Sea through the Russian
+territories to the Baltic.  When, in the thirteenth century, this trade
+began to decline, the Crusades having opened a new road through the
+Mediterranean for Indian merchandise, and after the Italian towns had
+usurped this lucrative branch of commerce, and the great Hanseatic
+League had been formed in Germany, the Netherlands became the most
+important emporium between the north and south.  As yet the use of
+the compass was not general, and the merchantmen sailed slowly and
+laboriously along the coasts.  The ports on the Baltic were, during the
+winter months, for the most part frozen and inaccessible.  Ships,
+therefore, which could not well accomplish within the year the long
+voyage from the Mediterranean to the Belt, gladly availed theniselves of
+harbors which lay half-way between the two,
+
+With an immense continent behind them with which navigable streams kept
+up their communication, and towards the west and north open to the ocean
+by commodious harbors, this country appeared to be expressly formed for
+a place of resort for different nations, and for a centre of commerce.
+The principal towns of the Netherlands were established marts.
+Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians, French, Britons, Germans, Danes, and
+Swedes thronged to them with the produce of every country in the world.
+Competition insured cheapness; industry was stimulated as it found a
+ready market for its productions.  With the necessary exchange of money
+arose the commerce in bills, which opened a new and fruitful source of
+wealth.  The princes of the country, acquainted at last with their true
+interest, encouraged the merchant by important immunities, and neglected
+not to protect their commerce by advantageous treaties with foreign
+powers.  When, in the fifteenth century, several provinces were united
+under one rule, they discontinued their private wars, which had proved
+so injurious, and their separate interests were now more intimately
+connected by a common government.  Their commerce and affluence
+prospered in the lap of a long peace, which the formidable power of
+their princes extorted from the neighboring monarchs.  The Burgundian
+flag was feared in every sea, the dignity of their sovereign gave
+support to their undertakings, and the enterprise of a private
+individual became the affair of a powerful state.  Such vigorous
+protection soon placed them in a position even to renounce the Hanseatic
+League, and to pursue this daring enemy through every sea.  The
+Hanseatic merchants, against whom the coasts of Spain were closed,
+were compelled at last, however reluctantly, to visit the Flemish fairs,
+and purchase their Spanish goods in the markets of the Netherlands.
+
+Bruges, in Flanders, was, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the
+central point of the whole commerce of Europe, and the great market of
+all nations.  In the year 1468 a hundred and fifty merchant vessels were
+counted entering the harbor of Sluys it one time.  Besides the rich
+factories of the Hanseatic League, there were here fifteen trading
+companies, with their countinghouses, and many factories and merchants'
+families from every European country.  Here was established the market
+of all northern products for the south, and of all southern and
+Levantine products for the north.  These passed through the Sound, and
+up the Rhine, in Hanseatic vessels to Upper Germany, or were transported
+by landcarriage to Brunswick and Luneburg.
+
+As in the common course of human affairs, so here also a licentious
+luxury followed prosperity.  The seductive example of Philip the Good
+could not but accelerate its approach.  The court of the Burgundian
+dukes was the most voluptuous and magnificent in Europe, Italy itself
+not excepted.  The costly dress of the higher classes, which afterwards
+served as patterns to the Spaniards, and eventually, with other
+Burgundian customs, passed over to the court of Austria, soon descended
+to the lower orders, and the meanest citizen nursed his person in velvet
+and silk.
+
+     [Philip the Good was too profuse a prince to amass treasures;
+     nevertheless Charles the Bold found accumulated among his effects,
+     a greater store of table services, jewels, carpets, and linen than
+     three rich princedoms of that time together possessed, and over and
+     above all a treasure of three hundred thousand dollars in ready
+     money.  The riches of this prince, and of the Burgundian people,
+     lay exposed on the battle-fields of Granson, Murten and Nancy.
+     Here a Swiss soldier drew from the finger of Charles the Bold, that
+     celebrated diamond which was long esteemed the largest in Europe,
+     which even now sparkles in the crown of France as the second in
+     size, but which the unwitting finder sold for a florin.  The Swiss
+     exchanged the silver they found for tin, and the gold for copper,
+     and tore into pieces the costly tents of cloth of gold.  The value
+     of the spoil of silver, gold, and jewels which was taken has been
+     estimated at three millions.  Charles and his army had advanced to
+     the combat, not like foes who purpose battle, but like conquerors
+     who adorn themselves after victory.]
+
+Comines, an author who travelled through the Netherlands about the
+middle of the fifteenth century, tells us that pride had already
+attended their prosperity.  The pomp and vanity of dress was carried by
+both sexes to extravagance.  The luxury of the table had never reached
+so great a height among any other people.  The immoral assemblage of
+both sexes at bathing-places, and such other places of reunion for
+pleasure and enjoyment, had banished all shame--and we are not here
+speaking of the usual luxuriousness of the higher ranks; the females of
+the common class abandoned themselves to such extravagances without
+limit or measure.
+
+But how much more cheering to the philanthropist is this extravagance
+than the miserable frugality of want, and the barbarous virtues of
+ignorance, which at that time oppressed nearly the whole of Europe!
+The Burgundian era shines pleasingly forth from those dark ages, like
+a lovely spring day amid the showers of February.  But this flourishing
+condition tempted the Flemish towns at last to their ruin; Ghent and
+Bruges, giddy with liberty and success, declared war against Philip the
+Good, the ruler of eleven provinces, which ended as unfortunately as it
+was presumptuously commenced.  Ghent alone lost many thousand men in an
+engagement near Havre, and was compelled to appease the wrath of the
+victor by a contribution of four hundred thousand gold florins.  All the
+municipal functionaries, and two thousand of the principal citizens,
+went, stripped to their shirts, barefooted, and with heads uncovered, a
+mile out of the town to meet the duke, and on their knees supplicated
+for pardon.  On this occasion they were deprived of several valuable
+privileges, all irreparable loss for their future commerce.  In the year
+1482 they engaged in a war, with no better success, against Maximilian
+of Austria, with a view to, deprive him of the guardianship of his son,
+which, in contravention of his charter, he had unjustly assumed.  In
+1487 the town of Bruges placed the archduke himself in confinement, and
+put some of his most eminent ministers to death.  To avenge his son the
+Emperor Frederic III. entered their territory with an army, and,
+blockading for ten years the harbor of Sluys, put a stop to their entire
+trade.  On this occasion Amsterdam and Antwerp, whose jealousy had long
+been roused by the flourishing condition of the Flemish towns, lent him
+the most important assistance.  The Italians began to bring their own
+silk-stuffs to Antwerp for sale, and the Flemish cloth-workers likewise,
+who had settled in England, sent their goods thither; and thus the town
+of Bruges lost two important branches of trade.  The Hanseatic League
+had long been offended at their overweening pride; and it now left them
+and removed its factory to Antwerp.  In the year 1516 all the foreign
+merchants left the town except only a few Spaniards; but its prosperity
+faded as slowly as it had bloomed.
+
+Antwerp received, in the sixteenth century, the trade which the
+luxuriousness of the Flemish towns had banished; and under the
+government of Charles V.  Antwerp was the most stirring and splendid
+city in the Christian world.  A stream like the Scheldt, whose broad
+mouth, in the immediate vicinity, shared with the North Sea the ebb and
+flow of the tide, and could carry vessels of the largest tonnage under
+the walls of Antwerp, made it the natural resort for all vessels which
+visited that coast.  Its free fairs attracted men of business from all
+countries.
+
+     [Two such fairs lasted forty days, and all the goods sold there
+     were duty free.]
+
+The industry of the nation had, in the beginning of this century,
+reached its greatest height.  The culture of grain, flax, the breeding
+of cattle, the chase, and fisheries, enriched the peasant; arts,
+manufactures, and trade gave wealth to the burghers.  Flemish and
+Brabantine manufactures were long to be seen in Arabia, Persia, and
+India.  Their ships covered the ocean, and in the Black Sea contended
+with the Genoese for supremacy.  It was the distinctive characteristic
+of the seaman of the Netherlands that he made sail at all seasons of the
+year, and never laid up for the winter.
+
+When the new route by the Cape of Good Hope was discovered, and the East
+India trade of Portugal undermined that of the Levant, the Netherlands
+did not feel the blow which was inflicted on the Italian republics.  The
+Portuguese established their mart in Brabant, and the spices of Calicut
+were displayed for sale in the markets of Antwerp.  Hither poured the
+West Indian merchandise, with which the indolent pride of Spain repaid
+the industry of the Netherlands.  The East Indian market attracted the
+most celebrated commercial houses from Florence, Lucca, and Genoa; and
+the Fuggers and Welsers from Augsburg.  Here the Hanse towns brought the
+wares of the north, and here the English company had a factory.  Here
+art and nature seemed to expose to view all their riches; it was a
+splendid exhibition of the works of the Creator and of the creature.
+
+Their renown soon diffused itself through the world.  Even a company of
+Turkish merchants, towards the end of this century, solicited permission
+to settle here, and to supply the products of the East by way of Greece.
+With the trade in goods they held also the exchange of money.  Their
+bills passed current in the farthest parts of the globe.  Antwerp, it is
+asserted, then transacted more extensive and more important business in
+a single month than Venice, at its most flourishing period, in two whole
+years.
+
+In the year 1491 the Hanseatic League held its solemn meetings in this
+town, which had formerly assembled in Lubeck alone.  In 1531 the
+exchange was erected, at that time the most splendid in all Europe, and
+which fulfilled its proud inscription.  The town now reckoned one
+hundred thousand inhabitants.  The tide of human beings, which
+incessantly poured into it, exceeds all belief.  Between two hundred and
+two hundred and fifty ships were often seen loading at one time in its
+harbor; no day passed on which the boats entering inwards and outwards
+did not amount to more than five hundred; on market days the number
+amounted to eight or nine hundred.  Daily more than two hundred
+carriages drove through its gates; above two thousand loaded wagons
+arrived every week from Germany, France, and Lorraine, without reckoning
+the farmers' carts and corn-vans, which were seldom less than ten
+thousand in number.  Thirty thousand hands were employed by the English
+company alone.  The market dues, tolls, and excise brought millions to
+the government annually.  We can form some idea of the resources of the
+nation from the fact that the extraordinary taxes which they were
+obliged to pay to Charles V. towards his numerous wars were computed at
+forty millions of gold ducats.
+
+For this affluence the Netherlands were as much indebted to their
+liberty as to the natural advantages of their country.  Uncertain laws
+and the despotic sway of a rapacious prince would quickly have blighted
+all the blessings which propitious nature had so abundantly lavished on
+them.  The inviolable sanctity of the laws can alone secure to the
+citizen the fruits of his industry, and inspire him with that happy
+confidence which is the soul of all activity.
+
+The genius of this people, developed by the spirit of commerce, and by
+the intercourse with so many nations, shone in useful inventions; in the
+lap of abundance and liberty all the noble arts were carefully
+cultivated and carried to perfection.  From Italy, to which Cosmo de
+Medici had lately restored its golden age, painting, architecture, and
+the arts of carving and of engraving on copper, were transplanted into
+the Netherlands, where, in a new soil, they flourished with fresh vigor.
+The Flemish school, a daughter of the Italian, soon vied with its mother
+for the prize; and, in common with it, gave laws to the whole of Europe
+in the fine arts.  The manufactures and arts, on which the Netherlanders
+principally founded their prosperity, and still partly base it, require
+no particular enumeration.  The weaving of tapestry, oil painting, the
+art of painting on glass, even pocketwatches and sun-dials were, as
+Guicciardini asserts, originally invented in the Netherlands.  To them
+we are indebted for the improvement of the compass, the points of which
+are still known by Flemish names.  About the year 1430 the invention of
+typography is ascribed to Laurence Koster, of Haarlem; and whether or
+not he is entitled to this honorable distinction, certain it is that the
+Dutch were among the first to engraft this useful art among them; and
+fate ordained that a century later it should reward its country with
+liberty.  The people of the Netherlands united with the most fertile
+genius for inventions a happy talent for improving the discoveries of
+others; there are probably few mechanical arts and manufactures which
+they did not either produce or at least carry to a higher degree of
+perfection.
+
+Up to this time these provinces had formed the most enviable state in
+Europe.  Not one of the Burgundian dukes had ventured to indulge a
+thought of overturning the constitution; it had remained sacred even to
+the daring spirit of Charles the Bold, while he was preparing fetters
+for foreign liberty.  All these princes grew up with no higher hope than
+to be the heads of a republic, and none of their territories afforded
+them experience of a higher authority.  Besides, these princes possessed
+nothing but what the Netherlands gave them; no armies but those which
+the nation sent into the field; no riches but what the estates granted
+to them.  Now all was changed.  The Netherlands had fallen to a master
+who had at his command other instruments and other resources, who could
+arm against them a foreign power.
+
+     [The unnatural union of two such different nations as the Belgians
+     and Spaniards could not possibly be prosperous.  I cannot here
+     refrain from quoting the comparison which Grotius, in energetic
+     language, has drawn between the two.  "With the neighboring
+     nations," says he, "the people of the Netherlands could easily
+     maintain a good understanding, for they were of a similar origin
+     with themselves, and had grown up in the same manner.  But the
+     people of Spain and of the Netherlands differed in almost every
+     respect from one another, and therefore, when they were brought
+     together clashed the more violently.  Both had for many centuries
+     been distinguished in war, only the latter had, in luxurious
+     repose, become disused to arms, while the former had been inured to
+     war in the Italian and African campaigns; the desire of gain made
+     the Belgians more inclined to peace, but not less sensitive of
+     offence.  No people were more free from the lust of conquest, but
+     none defended its own more zealously.  Hence the numerous towns,
+     closely pressed together in a confined tract of country; densely
+     crowded with a foreign and native population; fortified near the
+     sea and the great rivers.  Hence for eight centuries after the
+     northern immigration foreign arms could not prevail against them.
+     Spain, on the contrary, often changed its masters; and when at last
+     it fell into the hands of the Goths, its character and its manners
+     had suffered more or less from each new conqueror.  The people thus
+     formed at last out of these several admixtures is described as
+     patient in labor, imperturbable in danger, equally eager for riches
+     and honor, proud of itself even to contempt of others, devout and
+     grateful to strangers for any act of kindness, but also revengeful,
+     and of such ungovernable passions in victory as so regard neither
+     conscience nor honor in the case of an enemy.  All this is foreign
+     to the character of the Belgian, who is astute but not insidious,
+     who, placed midway between France and Germany, combines in
+     moderation the faults and good qualities of both.  He is not easily
+     to be imposed upon, nor is he to be insulted with impunity.  In
+     veneration for the Deity, too, he does not yield to the Spaniard;
+     the arms of the Northmen could not make him apostatize from
+     Christianity when he had once professed it.  No opinion which the
+     church condemns had, up to this time, empoisoned the purity of his
+     faith.  Nay, his pious extravagance went so far that it became
+     requisite to curb by laws the rapacity of his clergy.  In both
+     people loyalty to their rulers is equally innate, with this
+     difference, that the Belgian places the law above kings.  Of all
+     the Spaniards the Castilians require to be, governed with the most
+     caution; but the liberties which they arrogate for themselves they
+     do not willingly accord to others.  Hence the difficult task to
+     their common ruler, so to distribute his attention, and care
+     between the two nations that neither the preference shown to the
+     Castilian should offend the Belgian, nor the equal treatment of the
+     Belgian affront the haughty spirit of the Castilian."--Grotii
+     Annal. Belg. L. 1. 4. 5. seq.]
+
+Charles V. was an absolute monarch in his Spanish dominions; in the
+Netherlands he was no more than the first citizen.  In the southern
+portion of his empire he might have learned contempt for the rights of
+individuals; here he was taught to respect them.  The more he there
+tasted the pleasures of unlimited power, and the higher he raised his
+opinion of his own greatness, the more reluctant he must have felt to
+descend elsewhere to the ordinary level of humanity, and to tolerate any
+check upon his arbitrary authority.  It requires, indeed, no ordinary
+degree of virtue to abstain from warring against the power which imposes
+a curb on our most cherished wishes.
+
+The superior power of Charles awakened at the same time in the
+Netherlands that distrust which always accompanies inferiority.  Never
+were they so alive to their constitutional rights, never so jealous of
+the royal prerogative, or more observant in their proceedings.  Under,
+his reign we see the most violent outbreaks of republican spirit, and
+the pretensions of the people carried to an excess which nothing but the
+increasing encroachments of the royal power could in the least justify.
+A Sovereign will always regard the freedom of the citizen as an
+alienated fief, which he is bound to recover.  To the citizen the
+authority of a sovereign is a torrent, which, by its inundation,
+threatens to sweep away his rights.  The Belgians sought to protect
+themselves against the ocean by embankments, and against their princes
+by constitutional enactments.  The whole history of the world is a
+perpetually recurring struggle between liberty and the lust of power and
+possession; as the history of nature is nothing but the contest of the
+elements and organic bodies for space.  The Netherlands soon found to
+their cost that they had become but a province of a great monarchy.  So
+long as their former masters had no higher aim than to promote their
+prosperity, their condition resembled the tranquil happiness of a
+secluded family, whose head is its ruler.  Charles V. introduced them
+upon the arena of the political world.  They now formed a member of that
+gigantic body which the ambition of an individual employed as his
+instrument.  They ceased to have their own good for their aim; the
+centre of their existence was transported to the soul of their ruler.
+As his whole government was but one tissue of plans and manoeuvres to
+advance his power, so it was, above all things, necessary that he should
+be completely master of the various limbs of his mighty empire in order
+to move them effectually and suddenly.  It was impossible, therefore,
+for him to embarrass himself with the tiresome mechanism of their
+interior political organization, or to extend to their peculiar
+privileges the conscientious respect which their republican jealousy
+demanded.  It was expedient for him to facilitate the exercise of their
+powers by concentration and unity.  The tribunal at Malines had been
+under his predecessor an independent court of judicature; he subjected
+its decrees to the revision of a royal council, which he established in
+Brussels, and which was the mere organ of his will.  He introduced
+foreigners into the most vital functions of their constitution, and
+confided to them the most important offices.  These men, whose only
+support was the royal favor, would be but bad guardians of privileges
+which, moreover, were little known to them.  The ever-increasing
+expenses of his warlike government compelled him as steadily to augment
+his resources.  In disregard of their most sacred privileges he imposed
+new and strange taxes on the provinces.  To preserve their olden
+consideration the estates were forced to grant what he had been so
+modest as not to extort; the whole history of the government of this
+monarch in the Netherlands is almost one continued list of imposts
+demanded, refused, and finally accorded.  Contrary to the constitution,
+he introduced foreign troops into their territories, directed the
+recruiting of his armies in the provinces, and involved them in wars,
+which could not advance even if they did not injure their interest, and
+to which they had not given their consent.  He punished the offences of
+a free state as a monarch; and the terrible chastisement of Ghent
+announced to the other provinces the great change which their
+constitution had already undergone.
+
+The welfare of the country was so far secured as was necessary to the
+political schemes of its master; the intelligent policy of Charles would
+certainly not violate the salutary regiment of the body whose energies
+he found himself necessitated to exert.  Fortunately, the opposite
+pursuits of selfish ambition, and of disinterested philanthropy, often
+bring about the same end; and the well-being of a state, which a Marcus
+Aurelius might propose to himself as a rational object of pursuit, is
+occasionally promoted by an Augustus or a Louis.
+
+Charles V. was perfectly aware that commerce was the strength of the
+nation, and that the foundation of their commerce was liberty.  He
+spared its liberty because he needed its strength.  Of greater political
+wisdom, though not more just than his son, he adapted his principles to
+the exigencies of time and place, and recalled an ordinance in Antwerp
+and in Madrid which he would under other circumstances have enforced
+with all the terrors of his power.  That which makes the reign of
+Charles V. particularly remarkable in regard to the Netherlands is the
+great religious revolution which occurred under it; and which, as the
+principal cause of the subsequent rebellion, demands a somewhat
+circumstantial notice.  This it was that first brought arbitrary power
+into the innermost sanctuary of the constitution; taught it to give a
+dreadful specimen of its might; and, in a measure, legalized it, while
+it placed republican spirit on a dangerous eminence.  And as the latter
+sank into anarchy and rebellion monarchical power rose to the height of
+despotism.
+
+Nothing is more natural than the transition from civil liberty to
+religious freedom.  Individuals, as well as communities, who, favored by
+a happy political constitution, have become acquainted with the rights
+of man, and accustomed to examine, if not also to create, the law which
+is to govern them; whose minds have been enlightened by activity, and
+feelings expanded by the enjoyments of life; whose natural courage has
+been exalted by internal security and prosperity; such men will not
+easily surrender themselves to the blind domination of a dull arbitrary
+creed, and will be the first to emancipate themselves from its yoke.
+Another circumstance, however, must have greatly tended to diffuse the
+new religion in these countries.  Italy, it might be objected, the seat
+of the greatest intellectual culture, formerly the scene of the most
+violent political factions, where a burning climate kindles the blood
+with the wildest passions--Italy, among all the European countries,
+remained the freest from this change.  But to a romantic people, whom a
+warm and lovely sky, a luxurious, ever young and ever smiling nature,
+and the multifarious witcheries of art, rendered keenly susceptible of
+sensuous enjoyment, that form of religion must naturally have been
+better adapted, which by its splendid pomp captivates the senses, by its
+mysterious enigmas opens an unbounded range to the fancy; and which,
+through the most picturesque forms, labors to insinuate important
+doctrines into the soul.  On the contrary, to a people whom the ordinary
+employments of civil life have drawn down to an unpoetical reality, who
+live more in plain notions than in images, and who cultivate their
+common sense at the expense of their imagination--to such a people that
+creed will best recommend itself which dreads not investigation, which
+lays less stress on mysticism than on morals, and which is rather to be
+understood then to be dwelt upon in meditation.  In few words, the Roman
+Catholic religion will, on the whole, be found more adapted to a nation
+of artists, the Protestant more fitted to a nation of merchants.
+
+On this supposition the new doctrines which Luther diffused in Germany,
+and Calvin in Switzerland, must have found a congenial soil in the
+Netherlands.  The first seeds of it were sown in the Netherlands by the
+Protestant merchants, who assembled at Amsterdam and Antwerp.  The
+German and Swiss troops, which Charles introduced into these countries,
+and the crowd of French, German, and English fugitives who, under the
+protection of the liberties of Flanders, sought to escape the sword of
+persecution which threatened them at home, promoted their diffusion.  A
+great portion of the Belgian nobility studied at that time at Geneva, as
+the University of Louvain was not yet in repute, and that of Douai not
+yet founded.  The new tenets publicly taught there were transplanted by
+the students to their various countries.  In an isolated people these
+first germs might easily have been crushed; but in the market-towns of
+Holland and Brabant, the resort of so many different nations, their
+first growth would escape the notice of government, and be accelerated
+under the veil of obscurity.  A difference in opinion might easily
+spring up and gain ground amongst those who already were divided in
+national character, in manners, customs, and laws.  Moreover, in a
+country where industry was the most lauded virtue, mendicity the most
+abhorred vice, a slothful body of men, like that of the monks, must have
+been an object of long and deep aversion.  Hence, the new religion,
+which opposed these orders, derived an immense advantage from having the
+popular opinion on its side.  Occasional pamphlets, full of bitterness
+and satire, to which the newly-discovered art of printing secured a
+rapid circulation, and several bands of strolling orators, called
+Rederiker, who at that time made the circuit of the provinces,
+ridiculing in theatrical representations or songs the abuses of their
+times, contributed not a little to diminish respect for the Romish
+Church, and to prepare the people for the reception of the new dogmas.
+
+The first conquests of this doctrine were astonishingly rapid.  The
+number of those who in a short time avowed themselves its adherents,
+especially in the northern provinces, was prodigious; but among these
+the foreigners far outnumbered the natives.  Charles V., who, in this
+hostile array of religious tenets, had taken the side which a despot
+could not fail to take, opposed to the increasing torrent of innovation
+the most effectual remedies.  Unhappily for the reformed religion
+political justice was on the side of its persecutor.  The dam which, for
+so many centuries, had repelled human understanding from truth was too
+suddenly torn away for the outbreaking torrent not to overflow its
+appointed channel.  The reviving spirit of liberty and of inquiry, which
+ought to have remained within the limits of religious questions, began
+also to examine into the rights of kings.  While in the commencement
+iron fetters were justly broken off, a desire was eventually shown to
+rend asunder the most legitimate and most indispensable of ties.  Even
+the Holy Scriptures, which were now circulated everywhere, while they
+imparted light and nurture to the sincere inquirer after truth, were the
+source also whence an eccentric fanaticism contrived to extort the
+virulent poison.  The good cause had been compelled to choose the evil
+road of rebellion, and the result was what in such cases it ever will be
+so long as men remain men.  The bad cause, too, which had nothing in
+common with the good but the employment of illegal means, emboldened by
+this slight point of connection, appeared in the same company, and was
+mistaken for it.  Luther had written against the invocation of saints;
+every audacious varlet who broke into the churches and cloisters, and
+plundered the altars, called himself Lutheran.  Faction, rapine,
+fanaticism, licentiousness robed themselves in his colors; the most
+enormous offenders, when brought before the judges, avowed themselves
+his followers.  The Reformation had drawn down the Roman prelate to a
+level with fallible humanity; an insane band, stimulated by hunger and
+want, sought to annihilate all distinction of ranks.  It was natural
+that a doctrine, which to the state showed itself only in its most
+unfavorable aspect, should not have been able to reconcile a monarch who
+had already so many reasons to extirpate it; and it is no wonder,
+therefore, that be employed against it the arms it had itself forced
+upon him.
+
+Charles must already have looked upon himself as absolute in the
+Netherlands since he did not think it necessary to extend to these
+countries the religious liberty which be had accorded to Germany.
+While, compelled by the effectual resistance of the German princes, he
+assured to the former country a free exercise of the new religion, in
+the latter he published the most cruel edicts for its repression.  By
+these the reading of the Evangelists and Apostles; all open or secret
+meetings to which religion gave its name in ever so slight a degree; all
+conversations on the subject, at home or at the table, were forbidden
+under severe penalties.  In every province special courts of judicature
+were established to watch over the execution of the edicts.  Whoever
+held these erroneous opinions was to forfeit his office without regard
+to his rank.  Whoever should be convicted of diffusing heretical
+doctrines, or even of simply attending the secret meetings of the
+Reformers, was to be condemned to death, and if a male, to be executed
+by the sword, if a female, buried alive.  Backsliding heretics were to
+be committed to the flames.  Not even the recantation of the offender
+could annul these appalling sentences.  Whoever abjured his errors
+gained nothing by his apostacy but at farthest a milder kind of death.
+
+The fiefs of the condemned were also confiscated, contrary to the
+privileges of the nation, which permitted the heir to redeem them for a
+trifling fine; and in defiance of an express and valuable privilege of
+the citizens of Holland, by which they were not to be tried out of their
+province, culprits were conveyed beyond the limits of the native
+judicature, and condemned by foreign tribunals.  Thus did religion guide
+the hand of despotism to attack with its sacred weapon, and without
+danger or opposition, the liberties which were inviolable to the secular
+arm.
+
+Charles V., emboldened by the fortunate progress of his arms in Germany,
+thought that he might now venture on everything, and seriously meditated
+the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands.  But the
+terror of its very name alone reduced commerce in Antwerp to a
+standstill.  The principal foreign merchants prepared to quit the city.
+All buying and selling ceased, the value of houses fell, the employment
+of artisans stopped.  Money disappeared from the hands of the citizen.
+The ruin of that flourishing commercial city was inevitable had not
+Charles V. listened to the representations of the Duchess of Parma, and
+abandoned this perilous resolve.  The tribunal, therefore, was ordered
+not to interfere with the foreign merchants, and the title of Inquisitor
+was changed unto the milder appellation of Spiritual Judge.  But in the
+other provinces that tribunal proceeded to rage with the inhuman
+despotism which has ever been peculiar to it.  It has been computed that
+during the reign of Charles V. fifty thousand persons perished by the
+hand of the executioner for religion alone.
+
+When we glance at the violent proceedings of this monarch we are quite
+at a loss to comprehend what it was that kept the rebellion within
+bounds during his reign, which broke out with so much violence under his
+successor.  A closer investigation will clear up this seeming anomaly.
+Charles's dreaded supremacy in Europe had raised the commerce of the
+Netherlands to a height which it had never before attained.  The majesty
+of his name opened all harbors, cleared all seas for their vessels, and
+obtained for them the most favorable cornmercial treaties with foreign
+powers.  Through him, in particular, they destroyed the dominion of the
+Hanse towns in the Baltic.  Through him, also, the New World, Spain,
+Italy, Germany, which now shared with them a common ruler, were, in a
+measure, to be considered as provinces of their own country, and opened
+new channels for their commerce.  He had, moreover, united the remaining
+six provinces with the hereditary states of Burgundy, and thus given to
+them an extent and political importance which placed them by the side of
+the first kingdoms of Europe.
+
+     [He had, too, at one time the intention of raising it to a kingdom;
+     but the essential points of difference between the provinces, which
+     extended from constitution and manners to measures and weights,
+     soon made him abandon this design.  More important was the service
+     which he designed them in the Burgundian treaty, which settled its
+     relation to the German empire.  According to this treaty the
+     seventeen provinces were to contribute to the common wants of the
+     German empire twice as much as an electoral prince; in case of a
+     Turkish war three times as much; in return for which, however, they
+     were to enjoy the powerful protection of this empire, and not to be
+     injured in any of their various privileges.  The revolution, which
+     under Charles' son altered the political constitution of the
+     provinces, again annulled this compact, which, on account of the
+     trifling advantage that it conferred, deserves no further notice.]
+
+By all this he flattered the national pride of this people.  Moreover,
+by the incorporation of Gueldres, Utrecht, Friesland, and Groningen with
+these provinces, he put an end to the private wars which had so long
+disturbed their commerce; an unbroken internal peace now allowed them to
+enjoy the full fruits of their industry.  Charles was therefore a
+benefactor of this people.  At the same time, the splendor of his
+victories dazzled their eyes; the glory of their sovereign, which was
+reflected upon them also, had bribed their republican vigilance; while
+the awe-inspiring halo of invincibility which encircled the conqueror of
+Germany, France, Italy, and Africa terrified the factious.  And then,
+who knows not on how much may venture the man, be he a private
+individual or a prince, who has succeeded in enchaining the admiration
+of his fellow-creatures!  His repeated personal visits to these lands,
+which he, according to his own confession, visited as often as ten
+different times, kept the disaffected within bounds; the constant
+exercise of severe and prompt justice maintained the awe of the royal
+power.  Finally, Charles was born in the Netherlands, and loved the
+nation in whose lap he had grown up.  Their manners pleased him, the
+simplicity of their character and social intercourse formed for him a
+pleasing recreation from the severe Spanish gravity.  He spoke their
+language, and followed their customs in his private life.  The
+burdensome ceremonies which form the unnatural barriers between king and
+people were banished from Brussels.  No jealous foreigner debarred
+natives from access to their prince; their way to him was through their
+own countrymen, to whom he entrusted his person.  He spoke much and
+courteously with them; his deportment was engaging, his discourse
+obliging.  These simple artifices won for him their love, and while
+his armies trod down their cornfields, while his rapacious imposts
+diminished their property, while his governors oppressed, his
+executioners slaughtered, he secured their hearts by a friendly
+demeanor.
+
+Gladly would Charles have seen this affection of the nation for himself
+descend upon his son.  On this account he sent for him in his youth from
+Spain, and showed him in Brussels to his future subjects.  On the solemn
+day of his abdication he recommended to him these lands as the richest
+jewel in his crown, and earnestly exhorted him to respect their laws and
+privileges.
+
+Philip II. was in all the direct opposite of his father.  As ambitious
+as Charles, but with less knowledge of men and of the rights of man, he
+had formed to himself a notion of royal authority which regarded men as
+simply the servile instruments of despotic will, and was outraged by
+every symptom of liberty.  Born in Spain, and educated under the iron
+discipline of the monks, he demanded of others the same gloomy formality
+and reserve as marked his own character.  The cheerful merriment of his
+Flemish subjects was as uncongenial to his disposition and temper as
+their privileges were offensive to his imperious will.  He spoke no
+other language but the Spanish, endured none but Spaniards about his
+person, and obstinately adhered to all their customs.  In vain did the
+loyal ingenuity of the Flemish towns through which he passed vie with
+each other in solemnizing his arrival with costly festivities.
+
+     [The town of Antwerp alone expended on an occasion of this kind two
+     hundred and sixty thousand gold florins.]
+
+Philip's eye remained dark; all the profusion of magnificence, all the
+loud and hearty effusions of the sincerest joy could not win from him
+one approving smile.
+
+Charles entirely missed his aim by presenting his son to the Flemings.
+They might eventually have endured his yoke with less impatience if he
+had never set his foot in their land.  But his look forewarned them what
+they had to expect; his entry into Brussels lost him all hearts.  The
+Emperor's gracious affability with his people only served to throw a
+darker shade on the haughty gravity of his son.  They read in his
+countenance the destructive purpose against their liberties which, even
+then, he already revolved in his breast.  Forewarned to find in him a
+tyrant they were forearmed to resist him.
+
+The throne of the Netherlands was the first which Charles V. abdicated.
+Before a solemn convention in Brussels he absolved the States-General of
+their oath, and transferred their allegiance to King Philip, his son.
+"If my death," addressing the latter, as he concluded, "had placed you
+in possession of these countries, even in that case so valuable a
+bequest would have given me great claims on your gratitude.  But now
+that of my free will I transfer them to you, now that I die in order to
+hasten your enjoyment of them, I only require of you to pay to the
+people the increased obligation which the voluntary surrender of my
+dignity lays upon you.  Other princes esteem it a peculiar felicity to
+bequeath to their children the crown which death is already ravishing
+from then.  This happiness I am anxious to enjoy during my life.  I wish
+to be a spectator of your reign.  Few will follow my example, as few
+have preceded me in it.  But this my deed will be praised if your future
+life should justify my expectations, if you continue to be guided by
+that wisdom which you have hitherto evinced, if you remain inviolably
+attached to the pure faith which is the main pillar of your throne.  One
+thing more I have to add: may Heaven grant you also a son, to whom you
+may transmit your power by choice, and not by necessity."
+
+After the Emperor had concluded his address Philip kneeled down before
+him, kissed his hand, and received his paternal blessing.  His eyes for
+the last time were moistened with a tear.  All present wept.  It was an
+hour never to be forgotten.
+
+This affecting farce was soon followed by another.  Philip received the
+homage of the assembled states.  He took the oath administered in the
+following words: "I, Philip, by the grace of God, Prince of Spain, of
+the two Sicilies, etc., do vow and swear that I will be a good and just
+lord in these countries, counties, and duchies, etc.; that I will well
+and truly hold, and cause to be held, the privileges and liberties of
+all the nobles, towns, commons, and subjects which have been conferred
+upon them by my predecessors, and also the customs, usages and rights
+which they now have and enjoy, jointly and severally, and, moreover,
+that I will do all that by law and right pertains to a good and just
+prince and lord, so help me God and all His Saints."
+
+The alarm which the arbitrary government of the Emperor had inspired,
+and the distrust of his son, are already visible in the formula of this
+oath, which was drawn up in far more guarded and explicit terms than
+that which had been administered to Charles V. himself and all the Dukes
+in Burgundy.  Philip, for instance, was compelled to swear to the
+maintenance of their customs and usages, what before his time had never
+been required.  In the oath which the states took to him no other
+obedience was promised than such as should be consistent with the
+privileges of the country.  His officers then were only to reckon on
+submission and support so long as they legally discharged the duties
+entrusted to them.  Lastly, in this oath of allegiance, Philip is simply
+styled the natural, the hereditary prince, and not, as the Emperor had
+desired, sovereign or lord; proof enough how little confidence was
+placed in the justice and liberality of the new sovereign.
+
+
+
+
+                  PHILIP II., RULER OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+Philip II.  received the lordship of the Netherlands in the brightest
+period of their prosperity.  He was the first of their princes who
+united them all under his authority.  They now consisted of seventeen
+provinces; the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and Gueldres,
+the seven counties of Artois, Hainault, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen,
+Holland, and Zealand, the margravate of Antwerp, and the five lordships
+of Friesland, Mechlin (Malines), Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen,
+which, collectively, formed a great and powerful state able to contend
+with monarchies.  Higher than it then stood their commerce could not
+rise.  The sources of their wealth were above the earth's surface, but
+they were more valuable and inexhaustible and richer than all the mines
+in America.  These seventeen provinces which, taken together, scarcely
+comprised the fifth part of Italy, and do not extend beyond three
+hundred Flemish miles, yielded an annual revenue to their lord, not much
+inferior to that which Britain formerly paid to its kings before the
+latter had annexed so many of the ecclesiastical domains to their crown.
+Three hundred and fifty cities, alive with industry and pleasure, many
+of them fortified by their natural position and secure without bulwarks
+or walls; six thousand three hundred market towns of a larger size;
+smaller villages, farms, and castles innumerable, imparted to this
+territory the aspect of one unbroken flourishing landscape.  The nation
+had now reached the meridian of its splendor; industry and abundance had
+exalted the genius of the citizen, enlightened his ideas, ennobled his
+affections; every flower of the intellect had opened with the
+flourishing condition of the country.  A happy temperament under a
+severe climate cooled the ardor of their blood, and moderated the rage
+of their passions; equanimity, moderation, and enduring patience, the
+gifts of a northern clime; integrity, justice, and faith, the necessary
+virtues of their profession; and the delightful fruits of liberty,
+truth, benevolence, and a patriotic pride were blended in their
+character, with a slight admixture of human frailties.  No people on
+earth was more easily governed by a prudent prince, and none with more
+difficulty by a charlatan or a tyrant.  Nowhere was the popular voice so
+infallible a test of good government as here.  True statesmanship could
+be tried in no nobler school, and a sickly artificial policy had none
+worse to fear.
+
+A state constituted like this could act and endure with gigantic energy
+whenever pressing emergencies called forth its powers and a skilful and
+provident administration elicited its resources.  Charles V. bequeathed
+to his successor an authority in these provinces little inferior to that
+of a limited monarchy.  The prerogative of the crown had gained a
+visible ascendancy over the republican spirit, and that complicated
+machine could now be set in motion, almost as certainly and rapidly as
+the most absolutely governed nation.  The numerous nobility, formerly so
+powerful, cheerfully accompanied their sovereign in his wars, or, on the
+civil changes of the state, courted the approving smile of royality.
+The crafty policy of the crown had created a new and imaginary good, of
+which it was the exclusive dispenser.  New passions and new ideas of
+happiness supplanted at last the rude simplicity of republican virtue.
+Pride gave place to vanity, true liberty to titles of Honor, a needy
+independence to a luxurious servitude.  To oppress or to plunder their
+native land as the absolute satraps of an absolute lord was a more
+powerful allurement for the avarice and ambition of the great, than in
+the general assembly of the state to share with the monarch a hundredth
+part of the supreme power.  A large portion, moreover, of the nobility
+were deeply sunk in poverty and debt.  Charles V. had crippled all the
+most dangerous vassals of the crown by expensive embassies to foreign
+courts, under the specious pretext of honorary distinctions.  Thus,
+William of Orange was despatched to Germany with the imperial crown, and
+Count Egmont to conclude the marriage contract between Philip and Queen
+Mary.  Both also afterwards accompanied the Duke of Alva to France to
+negotiate the peace between the two crowns, and the new alliance of
+their sovereign with Madame Elizabeth.  The expenses of these journeys
+amounted to three hundred thousand florins, towards which the king did
+not contribute a single penny.  When the Prince of Orange was appointed
+generalissimo in the place of the Duke of Savoy he was obliged to defray
+all the necessary expenses of his office.  When foreign ambassadors or
+princes came to Brussels it was made incumbent on the nobles to maintain
+the honor of their king, who himself always dined alone, and never kept
+open table.  Spanish policy had devised a still more ingenious
+contrivance gradually to impoverish the richest families of the land.
+Every year one of the Castilian nobles made his appearance in Brussels,
+where he displayed a lavish magnificence.  In Brussels it was accounted
+an indelible disgrace to be distanced by a stranger in such munificence.
+All vied to surpass him, and exhausted their fortunes in this costly
+emulation, while the Spaniard made a timely retreat to his native
+country, and by the frugality of four years repaired the extravagance of
+one year.  It was the foible of the Netherlandish nobility to contest
+with every stranger the credit of superior wealth, and of this weakness
+the government studiously availed itself.  Certainly these arts did not
+in the sequel produce the exact result that had been calculated on; for
+these pecuniary burdens only made the nobility the more disposed for
+innovation, since he who has lost all can only be a gainer in the
+general ruin.
+
+The Roman Church had ever been a main support of the royal power, and it
+was only natural that it should be so.  Its golden time was the bondage
+of the human intellect, and, like royalty, it had gained by the
+ignorance and weakness of men.  Civil oppression made religion more
+necessary and more dear; submission to tyrannical power prepares the
+mind for a blind, convenient faith, and the hierarchy repaid with usury
+the services of despotism.  In the provinces the bishops and prelates
+were zealous supporters of royalty, and ever ready to sacrifice the
+welfare of the citizen to the temporal advancement of the church and the
+political interests of the sovereign.
+
+Numerous and brave garrisons also held the cities in awe, which were
+at the same time divided by religious squabbles and factions, and
+consequently deprived of their strongest support--union among
+themselves.  How little, therefore, did it require to insure this
+preponderance of Philip's power, and how fatal must have been the folly
+by which it was lost.
+
+But Philip's authority in these provinces, however great, did not
+surpass the influence which the Spanish monarchy at that time enjoyed
+throughout Europe.  No state ventured to enter the arena of contest with
+it.  France, its most dangerous neighbor, weakened by a destructive war,
+and still more by internal factions, which boldly raised their heads
+during the feeble government of a child, was advancing rapidly to that
+unhappy condition which, for nearly half a century, made it a theatre of
+the most enormous crimes and the most fearful calamities.  In England
+Elizabeth could with difficulty protect her still tottering throne
+against the furious storms of faction, and her new church establishment
+against the insidious arts of the Romanists.  That country still awaited
+her mighty call before it could emerge from a humble obscurity, and had
+not yet been awakened by the faulty policy of her rival to that vigor
+and energy with which it finally overthrew him.  The imperial family of
+Germany was united with that of Spain by the double ties of blood and
+political interest; and the victorious progress of Soliman drew its
+attention more to the east than to the west of Europe.  Gratitude and
+fear secured to Philip the Italian princes, and his creatures ruled the
+Conclave.  The monarchies of the North still lay in barbarous darkness
+and obscurity, or only just began to acquire form and strength, and were
+as yet unrecognized in the political system of Europe.  The most skilful
+generals, numerous armies accustomed to victory, a formidable marine,
+and the golden tribute from the West Indies, which now first began to
+come in regularly and certainly--what terrible instruments were these in
+the firm and steady hand of a talented prince Under such auspicious
+stars did King Philip commence his reign.
+
+Before we see him act we must first look hastily into the deep recesses
+of his soul, and we shall there find a key to his political life.  Joy
+and benevolence were wholly wanting in the composition of his character.
+His temperament, and the gloomy years of his early childhood, denied him
+the former; the latter could not be imparted to him by men who had
+renounced the sweetest and most powerful of the social ties.  Two ideas,
+his own self and what was above that self, engrossed his narrow and
+contracted mind.  Egotism and religion were the contents and the title-
+page of the history of his whole life.  He was a king and a Christian,
+and was bad in both characters; he never was a man among men, because he
+never condescended but only ascended.  His belief was dark and cruel;
+for his divinity was a being of terror, from whom he had nothing to hope
+but everything to fear.  To the ordinary man the divinity appears as a
+comforter, as a Saviour; before his mind it was set up as an image of
+fear, a painful, humiliating check to his human omnipotence.  His
+veneration for this being was so much the more profound and deeply
+rooted the less it extended to other objects.  He trembled servilely
+before God because God was the only being before whom he had to tremble.
+Charles V. was zealous for religion because religion promoted his
+objects.  Philip was so because he had real faith in it.  The former let
+loose the fire and the sword upon thousands for the sake of a dogma,
+while be himself, in the person of the pope, his captive, derided the
+very doctrine for which he had sacrificed so much human blood.  It was
+only with repugnance and scruples of conscience that Philip resolved on
+the most just war against the pope, and resigned all the fruits of his
+victory as a penitent malefactor surrenders his booty.  The Emperor was
+cruel from calculation, his son from impulse.  The first possessed a
+strong and enlightened spirit, and was, perhaps, so much the worse as a
+man; the second was narrow-minded and weak, but the more upright.
+
+Both, however, as it appears to me, might have been better men than they
+actually were, and still, on the whole, have acted on the very same
+principles.  What we lay to the charge of personal character of an
+individual is very often the infirmity, the necessary imperfection of
+universal human nature.  A monarchy so great and so powerful was too
+great a trial for human pride, and too mighty a charge for human power.
+To combine universal happiness with the highest liberty of the
+individual is the sole prerogative of infinite intelligence, which
+diffuses  itself omnipresently over all.  But what resource has man
+when placed in the position of omnipotence?  Man can only aid his
+circumscribed powers by classification; like the naturalist, he
+establishes certain marks and rules by which to facilitate his own
+feeble survey of the whole, to  which all individualities must conform.
+All this is accomplished for him by religion.  She finds hope and fear
+planted in every human breast; by making herself mistress of these
+emotions, and directing their affections to a single object, she
+virtually transforms millions of independent beings into one uniform
+abstract.  The endless diversity of the human will no longer embarrasses
+its ruler--now there exists one universal good, one universal evil,
+which he can bring forward or withdraw at pleasure, and which works in
+unison with himself even when absent.  Now a boundary is established
+before which liberty must halt; a venerable, hallowed line, towards
+which all the various conflicting inclinations of the will must finally
+converge.  The common aim of despotism and of priestcraft is uniformity,
+and uniformity is a necessary expedient of human poverty and
+imperfection.  Philip became a greater despot than his father because
+his mind was more contracted, or, in other words, he was forced to
+adhere the more scrupulously to general rules the less capable he was of
+descending to special and individual exceptions.  What conclusion could
+we draw from these principles but that Philip II. could not possibly
+have any higher object of his solicitude than uniformity, both in
+religion and in laws, because without these he could not reign?
+
+And yet he would have shown more mildness and forbearance in his
+government if he had entered upon it earlier.  In the judgment which is
+usually formed of this prince one circumstance does not appear to be
+sufficiently considered in the history of his mind and heart, which,
+however, in all fairness, ought to be duly weighed.  Philip counted
+nearly thirty years when he ascended the Spanish throne, and the early
+maturity of his understanding had anticipated the period of his
+majority.  A mind like his, conscious of its powers, and only too early
+acquainted with his high expectations, could not brook the yoke of
+childish subjection in which he stood; the superior genius of the
+father, and the absolute authority of the autocrat, must have weighed
+heavily on the self-satisfied pride of such a son.  The share which the
+former allowed him in the government of the empire was just important
+enough to disengage his mind from petty passions and to confirm the
+austere gravity of his character, but also meagre enough to kindle a
+fiercer longing for unlimited power.  When he actually became possessed
+of uncontrolled authority it had lost the charm of novelty.  The sweet
+intoxication of a young monarch in the sudden and early possession of
+supreme power; that joyous tumult of emotions which opens the soul to
+every softer sentiment, and to which humanity has owed so many of the
+most valuable and the most prized of its institutions; this pleasing
+moment had for him long passed by, or had never existed.  His character
+was already hardened when fortune put him to this severe test, and his
+settled principles withstood the collision of occasonal emotion.  He had
+had time, during fifteen years, to prepare himself for the change; and
+instead of youthful dallying with the external symbols of his new
+station, or of losing the morning of his government in the intoxication
+of an idle vanity, he remained composed and serious enough to enter at
+once on the full possession of his power so as to revenge himself
+through the most extensive employment of it for its having been so long
+withheld from him.
+
+
+
+
+                     THE TRIBUNAL OF THE INQUISITION
+
+Philip II. no sooner saw himself, through the peace of Chateau-Cambray,
+in undisturbed enjoyment of his immense territory than he turned his
+whole attention to the great work of purifying religion, and verified
+the fears of his Netherlandish subjects.  The ordinances which his
+father had caused to be promulgated against heretics were renewed in all
+their rigor, and terrible tribunals, to whom nothing but the name of
+inquisition was wanting, were appointed to watch over their execution.
+But his plan appeared to him scarcely more than half-fulfilled so long
+as he could not transplant into these countries the Spanish Inquisition
+in its perfect form--a design in which the Emperor had already suffered
+shipwreck.
+
+The Spanish Inquisition is an institution of a new and peculiar kind,
+which finds no prototype in the whole course of time, and admits of
+comparison with no ecclesiastical or civil tribunal.  Inquisition had
+existed from the time when reason meddled with what is holy, and from
+the very commencement of scepticism and innovation; but it was in the
+middle of the thirteenth century, after some examples of apostasy had
+alarmed the hierarchy, that Innocent III. first erected for it a
+peculiar tribunal, and separated, in an unnatural manner, ecclesiastical
+superintendence and instruction from its judicial and retributive
+office.  In order to be the more sure that no human sensibilities or
+natural tenderness should thwart the stern severity of its statutes, he
+took it out of the hands of the bishops and secular clergy, who, by the
+ties of civil life, were still too much attached to humanity for his
+purpose, and consigned it to those of the monks, a half-denaturalized
+race of beings who had abjured the sacred feelings, of nature, and were
+the servile tools of the Roman See.  The Inquisition was received in
+Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France; a Franciscan monk sat as
+judge in the terrible court, which passed sentence on the Templars.  A
+few states succeeded either in totally excluding or else in subjecting
+it to civil authority.  The Netherlands had remained free from it until
+the government of Charles V.; their bishops exercised the spiritual
+censorship, and in extraordinary cases reference was made to foreign
+courts of inquisition; by the French provinces to that of Paris, by the
+Germans to that of Cologne.
+
+But the Inquisition which we are here speaking of came from the west of
+Europe, and was of a different origin and form.  The last Moorish throne
+in Granada had fallen in the fifteenth century, and the false faith of
+the Saracens had finally succumbed before the fortunes of Christianity.
+But the gospel was still new, and but imperfectly established in this
+youngest of Christian kingdoms, and in the confused mixture of
+heterogeneous laws and manners the religions had become mixed.  It is
+true the sword of persecution had driven many thousand families to
+Africa, but a far larger portion, detained by the love of climate and
+home, purchased remission from this dreadful necessity by a show of
+conversion, and continued at Christian altars to serve Mohammed and
+Moses.  So long as prayers were offered towards Mecca, Granada was not
+subdued; so long as the new Christian, in the retirement of his house,
+became again a Jew or a Moslem, he was as little secured to the throne
+as to the Romish See.  It was no longer deemed sufficient to compel a
+perverse people to adopt the exterior forms of a new faith, or to wed it
+to the victorious church by the weak bands of ceremonials; the object
+now was to extirpate the roots of an old religion, and to subdue an
+obstinate bias which, by the slow operation of centuries, had been
+implanted in their manners, their language, and their laws, and by the
+enduring influence of a paternal soil and sky was still maintained in
+its full extent and vigor.
+
+If the church wished to triumph completely over the opposing worship,
+and to secure her new conquest beyond all chance of relapse, it was
+indispensable that she should undermine the foundation itself on which
+the old religion was built.  It was necessary to break to pieces the
+entire form of moral character to which it was so closely and intimately
+attached.  It was requisite to loosen its secret roots from the hold
+they had taken in.  the innermost depths of the soul; to extinguish all
+traces of it, both in domestic life and in the civil world; to cause all
+recollection of it to perish; and, if possible, to destroy the very
+susceptibility for its impressions.  Country and family, conscience and
+honor, the sacred feelings of society and of nature, are ever the first
+and immediate ties to which religion attaches itself; from these it
+derives while it imparts strength.  This connection was now to be
+dissolved; the old religion was violently to be dissevered from the holy
+feelings of nature, even at the expense of the sanctity itself of these
+emotions.  Thus arose that Inquisition which, to distinguish it from the
+more humane tribunals of the same name, we usually call the Spanish.
+Its founder was Cardinal Ximenes, a Dominican monk.  Torquemada was the
+first who ascended its bloody throne, who established its statutes, and
+forever cursed his order with this bequest.  Sworn to the degradation of
+the understanding and the murder of intellect, the instruments it
+employed were terror and infamy.  Every evil passion was in its pay; its
+snare was set in every joy of life.  Solitude itself was not safe from
+it; the fear of its omnipresence fettered the freedom of the soul in its
+inmost and deepest recesses.  It prostrated all the instincts of human
+nature before it yielded all the ties which otherwise man held most
+sacred.  A heretic forfeited all claims upon his race; the most trivial
+infidelity to his mother church divested him of the rights of his
+nature.  A modest doubt in the infallibility of the pope met with the
+punishment of parricide and the infamy of sodomy; its sentences
+resembled the frightful corruption of the plague, which turns the most
+healthy body into rapid putrefaction.  Even the inanimate things
+belonging to a heretic were accursed.  No destiny could snatch the
+victim of the Inquisition from its sentence.  Its decrees were carried
+in force on corpses and on pictures, and the grave itself was no asylum
+from its tremendous arm.  The presumptuous arrogance of its decrees
+could only be surpassed by the inhumanity which executed them.  By
+coupling the ludicrous with the terrible, and by amusing the eye with
+the strangeness of its processions, it weakened compassion by the
+gratification of another feeling; it drowned sympathy in derision and
+contempt.  The delinquent was conducted with solemn pomp to the place of
+execution, a blood-red flag was displayed before him, the universal
+clang of all the bells accompanied the procession.  First came the
+priests, in the robes of the Mass and singing a sacred hymn; next
+followed the condemned sinner, clothed in a yellow vest, covered with
+figures of black devils.  On his head he wore a paper cap, surmounted by
+a human figure, around which played lambent flames of fire, and ghastly
+demons flitted.  The image of the crucified Saviour was carried before,
+but turned away from the eternally condemned sinner, for whom salvation
+was no longer available.  His mortal body belonged to the material fire,
+his immortal soul to the flames of bell.  A gag closed his mouth, and
+prevented him from alleviating his pain by lamentations, from awakening
+compassion by his affecting tale, and from divulging the secrets of the
+holy tribunal.  He was followed by the clergy in festive robes, by the
+magistrates, and the nobility; the fathers who had been his judges
+closed the awful procession.  It seemed like a solemn funeral
+procession, but on looking for the corpse on its way to the grave,
+behold! it was a living body whose groans are now to afford such
+shuddering entertainment to the people.  The executions were generally
+held on the high festivals, for which a number of such unfortunate
+sufferers were reserved in the prisons of the holy house, in order to
+enhance the rejoicing by the multitude of the victims, and on these
+occasions the king himself was usually present.  He sat with uncovered
+head, on a lower chair than that of the Grand Inquisitor, to whom, on
+such occasions, he yielded precedence; who, then, would not tremble
+before a tribunal at which majesty must humble itself?
+
+The great revolution in the church accomplished by Luther and Calvin
+renewed the causes to which this tribunal owed its first origin; and
+that which, at its commencement, was invented to clear the petty kingdom
+of Granada from the feeble remnant of Saracens and Jews was now required
+for the whole of Christendom.  All the Inquisitions in Portugal, Italy,
+Germany, and France adopted the form of the Spanish; it followed
+Europeans to the Indies, and established in Goa a fearful tribunal,
+whose inhuman proceedings make us shudder even at the bare recital.
+Wherever it planted its foot devastation followed; but in no part of the
+world did it rage so violently as in Spain.  The victims are forgotten
+whom it immolated; the human race renews itself, and the lands, too,
+flourish again which it has devastated and depopulated by its fury; but
+centuries will elapse before its traces disappear from the Spanish
+character.  A generous and enlightened nation has been stopped by it on
+its road to perfection; it has banished genius from a region where it
+was indigenous, and a stillness like that which hangs over the grave has
+been left in the mind of a people who, beyond most others of our world,
+were framed for happiness and enjoyment.
+
+The first Inquisitor in Brabant was appointed by Charles V. in the year
+1522.  Some priests were associated with him as coadjutors; but he
+himself was a layman.  After the death of Adrian VI., his successor,
+Clement VII., appointed three Inquisitors for all the Netherlands; and
+Paul III. again reduced them to two, which number continued until the
+commencement of the troubles.  In the year 1530, with the aid and
+approbation of the states, the edicts against heretics were promulgated,
+which formed the foundation of all that followed, and in which, also,
+express mention is made of the Inquisition.  In the year 1550, in
+consequence of the rapid increase of sects, Charles V. was under the
+necessity of reviving and enforcing these edicts, and it was on this
+occasion that the town of Antwerp opposed the establishment of the
+Inquisition, and obtained an exemption from its jurisdiction.  But the
+spirit of the Inquisition in the Netherlands, in accordance with the
+genius of the country, was more humane than in Spain, and as yet had
+never been administered by a foreigner, much less by a Dominican.  The
+edicts which were known to everybody served it as the rule of its
+decisions.  On this very account it was less obnoxious; because, however
+severe its sentence, it did not appear a tool of arbitrary power, and it
+did not, like the Spanish Inquisition, veil itself in secrecy.
+
+Philip, however, was desirous of introducing the latter tribunal into
+the Netherlands, since it appeared to him the instrument best adapted to
+destroy the spirit of this people, and to prepare them for a despotic
+government.  He began, therefore, by increasing the rigor of the
+religious ordinances of his father; by gradually extending the power of
+the inquisitors; by making the proceedings more arbitrary, and more
+independent of the civil jurisdiction.  The tribunal soon wanted little
+more than the name and the Dominicans to resemble in every point the
+Spanish Inquisition.  Bare suspicion was enough to snatch a citizen from
+the bosom of public tranquillity, and from his domestic circle; and the
+weakest evidence was a sufficient justification for the use of the rack.
+Whoever fell into its abyss returned no more to the world.  All the
+benefits of the laws ceased for him; the maternal care of justice no
+longer noticed him; beyond the pale of his former world malice and
+stupidity judged him according to laws which were never intended for
+man.  The delinquent never knew his accuser, and very seldom his crime,
+--a flagitious, devilish artifice which constrained the unhappy victim
+to guess at his error, and in the delirium of the rack, or in the
+weariness of a long living interment, to acknowledge transgressions
+which, perhaps, had never been committed, or at least had never come
+to the knowledge of his judges.  The goods of the condemned were
+confiscated, and the informer encouraged by letters of grace and
+rewards.  No privilege, no civil jurisdiction was valid against the holy
+power; the secular arm lost forever all whom that power had once
+touched.  Its only share in the judicial duties of the latter was to
+execute its sentences with humble submissiveness.  The consequences of
+such an institution were, of necessity, unnatural and horrible; the
+whole temporal happiness, the life itself, of an innocent man was at
+the mercy of any worthless fellow.  Every secret enemy, every envious
+person, had now the perilous temptation of an unseen and unfailing
+revenge.  The security of property, the sincerity of intercourse were
+gone; all the ties of interest were dissolved; all of blood and of
+affection were irreparably broken.  An infectious distrust envenomed
+social life; the dreaded presence of a spy terrified the eye from
+seeing, and choked the voice in the midst of utterance.  No one believed
+in the existence of an honest man, or passed for one himself.  Good
+name, the ties of country, brotherhood, even oaths, and all that man
+holds sacred, were fallen in estimation.  Such was the destiny to which
+a great and flourishing commercial town was subjected, where one hundred
+thousand industrious men had been brought together by the single tie of
+mutual confidence,--every one indispensable to his neighbor, yet every
+one distrusted and distrustful,--all attracted by the spirit of gain,
+and repelled from each other by fear,--all the props of society torn
+away, where social union was the basis of all life and all existence.
+
+
+
+
+       OTHER ENCROACHMENTS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+No wonder if so unnatural a tribunal, which had proved intolerable even
+to the more submissive spirit of the Spaniard, drove a free state to
+rebellion.  But the terror which it inspired was increased by the
+Spanish troops, which, even after the restoration of peace, were kept in
+the country, and, in violation of the constitution, garrisoned border
+towns.  Charles V. had been forgiven for this introduction of foreign
+troops so long as the necessity of it was evident, and his good
+intentions were less distrusted.  But now men saw in these troops only
+the alarming preparations of oppression and the instruments of a
+detested hierarchy.  Moreover, a considerable body of cavalry, composed
+of natives, and fully adequate for the protection of the country, made
+these foreigners superfluous.  The licentiousness and rapacity, too,
+of the Spaniards, whose pay was long in arrear, and who indemnified
+themselves at the expense of the citizens, completed the exasperation of
+the people, and drove the lower orders to despair.  Subsequently, when
+the general murmur induced the government to move them from the
+frontiers and transport them into the islands of Zealand, where ships
+were prepared for their deportation, their excesses were carried to such
+a pitch that the inhabitants left off working at the embankments, and
+preferred to abandon their native country to the fury of the sea rather
+than to submit any longer to the wanton brutality of these lawless
+bands.
+
+Philip, indeed, would have wished to retain these Spaniards in the
+country, in order by their presence to give weight to his edicts,
+and to support the innovations which he had resolved to make in the
+constitution of the Netherlands.  He regarded them as a guarantee for
+the submission of the nation and as a chain by which he held it captive.
+Accordingly, he left no expedient untried to evade the persevering
+importunity of the states, who demanded the withdrawal of these troops;
+and for this end he exhausted all the resources of chicanery and
+persuasion.  At one time he pretended to dread a sudden invasion by
+France, although, torn by furious factions, that country could scarce
+support itself against a domestic enemy; at another time they were, he
+said, to receive his son, Don Carlos, on the frontiers; whom, however,
+he never intended should leave Castile.  Their maintenance should not be
+a burden to the nation; he himself would disburse all their expenses
+from his private purse.  In order to detain them with the more
+appearance of reason he purposely kept back from them their arrears of
+pay; for otherwise he would assuredly have preferred them to the troops
+of the country, whose demands he fully satisfied.  To lull the fears of
+the nation, and to appease the general discontent, he offered the chief
+command of these troops to the two favorites of the people, the Prince
+of Orange and Count Egmont.  Both, however, declined his offer, with the
+noble-minded declaration that they could never make up their minds to
+serve contrary to the laws of the country.  The more desire the king
+showed to have his Spaniards in the country the more obstinately the
+states insisted on their removal.  In the following Diet at Ghent he was
+compelled, in the very midst of his courtiers, to listen to republican
+truth.  "Why are foreign hands needed for our defence?"  demanded the
+Syndic of Ghent.  "Is it that the rest of the world should consider us
+too stupid, or too cowardly, to protect ourselves?  Why have we made
+peace if the burdens of war are still to oppress us?  In war necessity
+enforced endurance; in peace our patience is exhausted by its burdens.
+Or shall we be able to keep in order these licentious bands which thine
+own presence could not restrain?  Here, Cambray and Antwerp cry for
+redress; there, Thionville and Marienburg lie waste; and, surely, thou
+hast not bestowed upon us peace that our cities should become deserts,
+as they necessarily must if thou freest them not from these destroyers?
+Perhaps then art anxious to guard against surprise from our neighbors?
+This precaution is wise; but the report of their preparations will long
+outrun their hostilities.  Why incur a heavy expense to engage
+foreigners who will not care for a country which they must leave
+to-morrow?  Hast thou not still at thy command the same brave
+Netherlanders to whom thy father entrusted the republic in far more
+troubled times?  Why shouldest thou now doubt their loyalty, which, to
+thy ancestors, they have preserved for so many centuries inviolate?
+Will not they be sufficient to sustain the war long enough to give time
+to thy confederates to join their banners, or to thyself to send succor
+from the neighboring country?"  This language was too new to the king,
+and its truth too obvious for him to be able at once to reply to it.
+"I, also, am a foreigner," he at length exclaimed, "and they would like,
+I suppose, to expel me from the country!"  At the same time he descended
+from the throne, and left the assembly; but the speaker was pardoned for
+his boldness.  Two days afterwards he sent a message to the states that
+if he had been apprised earlier that these troops were a burden to them
+he would have immediately made preparation to remove them with himself
+to Spain.  Now it was too late, for they would not depart unpaid; but he
+pledged them his most sacred promise that they should not be oppressed
+with this burden more than four months.  Nevertheless, the troops
+remained in this country eighteen months instead of four; and would not,
+perhaps, even then have left it so soon if the exigencies of the state
+had not made their presence indispensable in another part of the world.
+
+The illegal appointment of foreigners to the most important offices of
+the country afforded further occasion of complaint against the
+government.  Of all the privileges of the provinces none was so
+obnoxious to the Spaniards as that which excluded strangers from office,
+and none they had so zealously sought to abrogate.  Italy, the two
+Indies, and all the provinces of this vast Empire, were indeed open to
+their rapacity and ambition; but from the richest of them all an
+inexorable fundamental law excluded them.  They artfully persuaded their
+sovereign that his power in these countries would never be firmly
+established so long as he could not employ foreigners as his
+instruments.  The Bishop of Arras, a Burgundian by birth, had already
+been illegally forced upon the Flemings; and now the Count of Feria, a
+Castilian, was to receive a seat and voice in the council of state.  But
+this attempt met with a bolder resistance than the king's flatterers had
+led him to expect, and his despotic omnipotence was this time wrecked by
+the politic measures of William of Orange and the firmness of the
+states.
+
+
+
+
+                   WILLIAM OF ORANGE AND COUNT EGMONT.
+
+By such measures, did Philip usher in his government of the Netherlands,
+and such were the grievances of the nation when he was preparing to
+leave them.  He had long been impatient to quit a country where he was a
+stranger, where there was so much that opposed his secret wishes, and
+where his despotic mind found such undaunted monitors to remind him of
+the laws of freedom.  The peace with France at last rendered a longer
+stay unnecessary; the armaments of Soliman required his presence in the
+south, and the Spaniards also began to miss their long-absent king.  The
+choice of a supreme Stadtholder for the Netherlands was the principal
+matter which still detained him.  Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, had
+filled this place since the resignation of Mary, Queen of Hungary,
+which, however, so long as the king himself was present, conferred more
+honor than real influence.  His absence would make it the most important
+office in the monarchy, and the most splendid aim for the ambition of a
+subject.  It had now become vacant through the departure of the duke,
+whom the peace of Chateau-Cambray had restored to his dominions.  The
+almost unlimited power with which the supreme Statholder would be
+entrusted, the capacity and experience which so extensive and delicate
+an appointment required, but, especially, the daring designs which the
+government had in contemplation against the freedom of the country, the
+execution of which would devolve on him, necessarily embarrassed the
+choice.  The law, which excluded all foreigners from office, made an
+exception in the case of the supreme Stadtholder.  As he could not be at
+the same time a native of all the provinces, it was allowable for him
+not to belong to any one of them; for the jealousy of the man of Brabant
+would concede no greater right to a Fleming, whose home was half a mile
+from his frontier, than to a Sicilian, who lived in another soil and
+under a different sky.  But here the interests of the crown itself
+seemed to favor the appointment of a native.  A Brabanter, for instance,
+who enjoyed the full confidence of his countrymen if he were a traitor
+would have half accomplished his treason before a foreign governor could
+have overcome the mistrust with which his most insignificant measures
+would be watched.  If the government should succeed in carrying through
+its designs in one province, the opposition of the rest would then be a
+temerity, which it would be justified in punishing in the severest
+manner.  In the common whole which the provinces now formed their
+individual constitutions were, in a measure, destroyed; the obedience of
+one would be a law for all, and the privilege, which one knew not how to
+preserve, was lost for the rest.
+
+Among the Flemish nobles who could lay claim to the Chief
+Stadtholdership, the expectations and wishes of the nation were divided
+between Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange, who were alike qualified
+for this high dignity by illustrious birth and personal merits, and by
+an equal share in the affections of the people.  Their high rank placed
+them both near to the throne, and if the choice of the monarch was to
+rest on the worthiest it must necessarily fall upon one of these two.
+As, in the course of our history, we shall often have occasion to
+mention both names, the reader cannot be too early made acquainted with
+their characters.
+
+William I., Prince of Orange, was descended from the princely German
+house of Nassau, which had already flourished eight centuries, had long
+disputed the preeminence with Austria, and had given one Emperor to
+Germany.  Besides several extensive domains in the Netherlands, which
+made him a citizen of this republic and a vassal of the Spanish
+monarchy, he possessed also in France the independent princedom of
+Orange.  William was born in the year 1533, at Dillenburg, in the
+country of Nassau, of a Countess Stolberg.  His father, the Count of
+Nassau, of the same name, had embraced the Protestant religion, and
+caused his son also to be educated in it; but Charles V., who early
+formed an attachment for the boy, took him when quite young to his
+court, and had him brought up in the Romish church.  This monarch, who
+already in the child discovered the future greatness of the man, kept
+him nine years about his person, thought him worthy of his personal
+instruction in the affairs of government, and honored him with a
+confidence beyond his years.  He alone was permitted to remain in the
+Emperor's presence when he gave audience to foreign ambassadors--a proof
+that, even as a boy, he had already begun to merit the surname of the
+Silent.  The Emperor was not ashamed even to confess openly, on one
+occasion, that this young man had often made suggestions which would
+have escaped his own sagacity.  What expectations might not be formed of
+the intellect of a man who was disciplined in such a school.
+
+William was twenty-three years old when Charles abdicated the
+government, and had already received from the latter two public marks of
+the highest esteem.  The Emperor had entrusted to him, in preference to
+all the nobles of his court, the honorable office of conveying to his
+brother Ferdinand the imperial crown.  When the Duke of Savoy, who
+commanded the imperial army in the Netherlands, was called away to Italy
+by the exigency of his domestic affairs, the Emperor appointed him
+commander-in-chief against the united representations of his military
+council, who declared it altogether hazardous to oppose so young a tyro
+in arms to the experienced generals of France.  Absent, and
+unrecommended by any, he was preferred by the monarch to the laurel-
+crowned band of his heroes, and the result gave him no cause to repent
+of his choice.
+
+The marked favor which the prince had enjoyed with the father was in
+itself a sufficient ground for his exclusion from the confidence of the
+son.  Philip, it appears, had laid it down for himself as a rule to
+avenge the wrongs of the Spanish nobility for the preference which
+Charles V. had on all important occasions shown to his Flemish nobles.
+Still stronger, however, were the secret motives which alienated him
+from the prince.  William of Orange was one of those lean and pale men
+who, according to Caesar's words, "sleep not at night, and think too
+much," and before whom the most fearless spirits quail.
+
+The calm tranquillity of a never-varying countenance concealed a busy,
+ardent soul, which never ruffled even the veil behind which it worked,
+and was alike inaccessible to artifice and love; a versatile,
+formidable, indefatigable mind, soft, and ductile enough to be
+instantaneously moulded into all forms; guarded enough to lose itself in
+none; and strong enough to endure every vicissitude of fortune.  A
+greater master in reading and in winning men's hearts never existed than
+William.  Not that, after the fashion of courts, his lips avowed a
+servility to which his proud heart gave the lie; but because he was
+neither too sparing nor too lavish of the marks of his esteem, and
+through a skilful economy of the favors which mostly bind men, he
+increased his real stock in them.  The fruits of his meditation were as
+perfect as they were slowly formed; his resolves were as steadily and
+indomitably accomplished as they were long in maturing.  No obstacles
+could defeat the plan which he had once adopted as the best; no
+accidents frustrated it, for they all had been foreseen before they
+actually occurred.  High as his feelings were raised above terror and
+joy, they were, nevertheless, subject in the same degree to fear; but
+his fear was earlier than the danger, and he was calm in tumult because
+he had trembled in repose.  William lavished his gold with a profuse
+hand, but he was a niggard of his movements.  The hours of repast were
+the sole hours of relaxation, but these were exclusively devoted to his
+heart, his family, and his friends; this the modest deduction he allowed
+himself from the cares of his country.  Here his brow was cleared with
+wine, seasoned by temperance and a cheerful disposition; and no serious
+cares were permitted to enter this recess of enjoyment.  His household
+was magnificent; the splendor of a numerous retinue, the number and
+respectability of those who surrounded his person, made his habitation
+resemble the court of a sovereign prince.  A sumptuous hospitality, that
+master-spell of demagogues, was the goddess of his palace.  Foreign
+princes and ambassadors found here a fitting reception and
+entertainment, which surpassed all that luxurious Belgium could
+elsewhere offer.  A humble submissiveness to the government bought off
+the blame and suspicion which this munificence might have thrown on his
+intentions.  But this liberality secured for him the affections of the
+people, whom nothing gratified so much as to see the riches of their
+country displayed before admiring foreigners, and the high pinnacle of
+fortune on which he stood enhanced the value of the courtesy to which he
+condescended.  No one, probably, was better fitted by nature for the
+leader of a conspiracy than William the Silent.  A comprehensive and
+intuitive glance into the past, the present, and the future; the talent
+for improving every favorable opportunity; a commanding influence over
+the minds of men, vast schemes which only when viewed from a distance
+show form and symmetry; and bold calculations which were wound up in the
+long chain of futurity; all these faculties he possessed, and kept,
+moreover, under the control of that free and enlightened virtue which
+moves with firm step even on the very edge of the abyss.
+
+A man like this might at other times have remained unfathomed by his
+whole generation; but not so by the distrustful spirit of the age in
+which he lived.  Philip II. saw quickly and deeply into a character
+which, among good ones, most resembled his own.  If he had not seen
+through him so clearly his distrust of a man, in whom were united nearly
+all the qualities which he prized highest and could best appreciate,
+would be quite inexplicable.  But William had another and still more
+important point of contact with Philip II.  He had learned his policy
+from the same master, and had become, it was to be feared, a more apt
+scholar.  Not by making Machiavelli's 'Prince' his study, but by having
+enjoyed the living instruction of a monarch who reduced the book to
+practice, had he become versed in the perilous arts by which thrones
+rise and fall.  In him Philip had to deal with an antagonist who was
+armed against his policy, and who in a good cause could also command the
+resources of a bad one.  And it was exactly this last circumstance which
+accounts for his having hated this man so implacably above all others of
+his day, and his having had so supernatural a dread of him.
+
+The suspicion which already attached to the prince was increased by the
+doubts which were entertained of his religious bias.  So long as the
+Emperor, his benefactor, lived, William believed in the pope; but it was
+feared, with good ground, that the predilection for the reformed
+religion, which had been imparted into his young heart, had never
+entirely left it.  Whatever church he may at certain periods of his life
+have preferred each might console itself with the reflection that none
+other possessed him more entirely.  In later years he went over to
+Calvinism with almost as little scruple as in his early childhood he
+deserted the Lutheran profession for the Romish.  He defended the rights
+of the Protestants rather than their opinions against Spanish
+oppression; not their faith, but their wrongs, had made him their
+brother.
+
+These general grounds for suspicion appeared to be justified by a
+discovery of his real intentions which accident had made.  William had
+remained in France as hostage for the peace of Chateau-Cambray, in
+concluding which he had borne a part; and here, through the imprudence
+of Henry II., who imagined he spoke with a confidant of the King of
+Spain, he became acquainted with a secret plot which the French and
+Spanish courts had formed against Protestants of both kingdoms.  The
+prince hastened to communicate this important discovery to his friends
+in Brussels, whom it so nearly concerned, and the letters which he
+exchanged on the subject fell, unfortunately, into the hands of the King
+of Spain.  Philip was less surprised at this decisive disclosure of
+William's sentiments than incensed at the disappointment of his scheme;
+and the Spanish nobles, who had never forgiven the prince that moment,
+when in the last act of his life the greatest of Emperors leaned upon
+his shoulders, did not neglect this favorable opportunity of finally
+ruining, in the good opinion of their king, the betrayer of a state
+secret.
+
+Of a lineage no less noble than that of William was Lamoral, Count
+Egmont and Prince of Gavre, a descendant of the Dukes of Gueldres, whose
+martial courage had wearied out the arms of Austria.  His family was
+highly distinguished in the annals of the country; one of his ancestors,
+had, under Maximilian, already filled the office of Stadtholder over
+Holland.  Egmont's marriage with the Duchess Sabina of Bavaria reflected
+additional lustre on the splendor of his birth, and made him powerful
+through the greatness of this alliance.  Charles V. had, in the year
+1516, conferred on him at Utrecht the order of the Golden Fleece; the
+wars of this Emperor were the school of his military genius, and the
+battle of St. Quentin and Gravelines made him the hero of his age.
+Every blessing of peace, for which a commercial people feel most
+grateful, brought to mind the remembrance of the victory by which it was
+accelerated, and Flemish pride, like a fond mother, exulted over the
+illustrious son of their country, who had filled all Europe with
+admiration.  Nine children who grew up under the eyes of their fellow-
+citizens, multiplied and drew closer the ties between him and his
+fatherland, and the people's grateful affection for the father was kept
+alive by the sight of those who were dearest to him.  Every appearance
+of Egmont in public was a triumphal procession; every eye which was
+fastened upon him recounted his history; his deeds lived in the plaudits
+of his companions-in-arms; at the games of chivalry mothers pointed him
+out to their children.  Affability, a noble and courteous demeanor, the
+amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits.  His liberal
+soul shone forth on his open brow; his frank-heartedness managed his
+secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a thought was
+no sooner his than it was the property of all.  His religion was gentle
+and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its light from
+the heart and not from, his understanding.  Egmont possessed more of
+conscience than of fixed principles; his head had not given him a code
+of its own, but had merely learnt it by rote; the mere name of any
+action, therefore, was often with him sufficient for its condemnation.
+In his judgment men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not
+something bad or something good; in this system of morals there was no
+middle term between vice and virtue; and consequently a single good
+trait often decided his opinion of men.  Egmont united all the eminent
+qualities which form the hero; he was a better soldier than the Prince
+of Orange, but far inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the
+world as it really was; Egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an
+imagination that embellished all that it reflected.  Men, whom fortune
+has surprised with a reward for which they can find no adequate ground
+in their actions, are, for the most part, very apt to forget the
+necessary connection between cause and effect, and to insert in the
+natural consequences of things a higher miraculous power to which, as
+Caesar to his fortune, they at last insanely trust.  Such a character
+was Egmont.  Intoxicated with the idea of his own merits, which the love
+and gratitude of his fellow-citizens had exaggerated, he staggered on in
+this sweet reverie as in a delightful world of dreams.  He feared not,
+because he trusted to the deceitful pledge which destiny had given him
+of her favor, in the general love of the people; and he believed in its
+justice because he himself was prosperous.  Even the most terrible
+experience of Spanish perfidy could not afterwards eradicate this
+confidence from his soul, and on the scaffold itself his latest feeling
+was hope.  A tender fear for his family kept his patriotic courage
+fettered by lower duties.  Because he trembled for property and life he
+could not venture much for the republic.  William of Orange broke with
+the throne because its arbitrary power was offensive to his pride;
+Egmont was vain, and therefore valued the favors of the monarch.  The
+former was a citizen of the world; Egmont had never been more than a
+Fleming.
+
+Philip II. still stood indebted to the hero of St. Quentin, and the
+supreme stadtholdership of the Netherlands appeared the only appropriate
+reward for such great services.  Birth and high station, the voice of
+the nation and personal abilities, spoke as loudly for Egmont as for
+Orange; and if the latter was to be passed by it seemed that the former
+alone could supplant him.
+
+Two such competitors, so equal in merit, might have embarrassed Philip
+in his choice if he had ever seriously thought of selecting either of
+them for the appointment.  But the pre-eminent qualities by which they
+supported their claim to this office were the very cause of their
+rejection; and it was precisely the ardent desire of the nation for
+their election to it that irrevocably annulled their title to the
+appointment.  Philip's purpose would not be answered by a stadtholder in
+the Netherlands who could command the good-will and the energies of the
+people.  Egmont's descent from the Duke of Gueldres made him an
+hereditary foe of the house of Spain, and it seemed impolitic to place
+the supreme power in the hands of a man to whom the idea might occur of
+revenging on the son of the oppressor the oppression of his ancestor.
+The slight put on their favorites could give no just offence either to
+the nation or to themselves, for it might be pretended that the king
+passed over both because he would not show a preference to either.
+
+The disappointment of his hopes of gaining the regency did not deprive
+the Prince of Orange of all expectation of establishing more firmly his
+influence in the Netherlands.  Among the other candidates for this
+office was also Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and aunt of the king,
+who, as mediatrix of the peace of Chateau-Cambray, had rendered
+important service to the crown.  William aimed at the hand of her
+daughter, and he hoped to promote his suit by actively interposing his
+good offices for the mother; but he did not reflect that through this
+very intercession he ruined her cause.  The Duchess Christina was
+rejected, not so much for the reason alleged, namely, the dependence of
+her territories on France made her an object of suspicion to the Spanish
+court, as because she was acceptable to the people of the Netherlands
+and the Prince of Orange.
+
+
+
+
+               MARGARET OF PARMA REGENT OF THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+While the general expectation was on the stretch as to whom the fature
+destines of the provinces would be committed, there appeared on the
+frontiers of the country the Duchess Margaret of Parma, having been
+summoned by the king from Italy to assume the government.
+
+Margaret was a natural daughter of Charles V. and of a noble Flemish
+lady named Vangeest, and born in 1522.
+
+Out of regard for the honor of her mother's house she was at first
+educated in obscurity; but her mother, who possessed more vanity than
+honor, was not very anxious to preserve the secret of her origin, and a
+princely education betrayed the daughter of the Emperor.  While yet a
+child she was entrusted to the Regent Margaret, her great-aunt, to be
+brought up at Brussels under her eye.  This guardian she lost in her
+eighth year, and the care of her education devolved on Queen Mary of
+Hungary, the successor of Margaret in the regency.  Her father had
+already affianced her, while yet in her fourth year, to a Prince of
+Ferrara; but this alliance being subsequently dissolved, she was
+betrothed to Alexander de Medicis, the new Duke of Florence, which
+marriage was, after the victorious return of the Emperor from Africa,
+actually consummated in Naples.  In the first year of this unfortunate
+union, a violent death removed from her a husband who could not love
+her, and for the third time her hand was disposed of to serve the policy
+of her father.  Octavius Farnese, a prince of thirteen years of age and
+nephew of Paul III., obtained, with her person, the Duchies of Parma and
+Piacenza as her portion.  Thus, by a strange destiny, Margaret at the
+age of maturity was contracted to a boy, as in the years of infancy she
+had been sold to a nman.  Her disposition, which was anything but
+feminine, made this last alliance still more unnatural, for her taste
+and inclinations were masculine, and the whole tenor of her life belied
+her sex.  After the example of her instructress, the Queen of Hungary,
+and her great-aunt, the Duchess Mary of Burgundy, who met her death in
+this favorite sport, she was passionately fond of hunting, and had
+acquired in this pursuit such bodily vigor that few men were better able
+to undergo its hardships and fatigues.
+
+Her gait itself was so devoid of grace that one was far more tempted to
+take her for a disguised man than for a masculine woman; and Nature,
+whom she had derided by thus transgressing the limits of her sex,
+revenged itself finally upon her by a disease peculiar to men--the gout.
+
+These unusual qualities were crowned by a monkish superstition which was
+infused into her mind by Ignatius Loyola, her confessor and teacher.
+Among the charitable works and penances with which she mortified her
+vanity, one of the most remarkable was that, during Passion-Week she
+yearly washed, with her own hands, the feet of a number of poor men (who
+were most strictly forbidden to cleanse themselves beforehand), waited
+on them at table like a servant, and sent them away with rich presents.
+
+Nothing more is requisite than this last feature in her character to
+account for the preference which the king gave her over all her rivals;
+but his choice was at the same time justified by excellent reasons of
+state.  Margaret was born and also educated in the Netherlands.  She had
+spent her early youth among the people, and had acquired much of their
+national manners.  Two regents (Duchess Margaret and Queen Mary of
+Hungary), under whose eyes she had grown up, had gradually initiated her
+into the maxims by which this peculiar people might be most easily
+governed; and they would also serve her as models.  She did not want
+either in talents; and possessed, moreover, a particular turn for
+business, which she had acquired from her instructors, and had
+afterwards carried to greater perfection in the Italian school.  The
+Netherlands had been for a number of years accustomed to female
+government; and Philip hoped, perhaps, that the sharp iron of tyranny
+which he was about to use against them would cut more gently if wielded
+by the hands of a woman.  Some regard for his father, who at the time
+was still living, and was much attached to Margaret, may have in a
+measure, as it is asserted, influenced this choice; as it is also
+probable that the king wished to oblige the Duke of Parma, through this
+mark of attention to his wife, and thus to compensate for denying a
+request which he was just then compelled to refuse him.  As the
+territories of the duchess were surrounded by Philip's Italian states,
+and at all times exposed to his arms, he could, with the less danger,
+entrust the supreme power into her hands.  For his full security her
+son, Alexander Farnese, was to remain at his court as a pledge for her
+loyalty.  All these reasons were alone sufficiently weighty to turn the
+king's decision in her favor; but they became irresistible when
+supported by the Bishop of Arras and the Duke of Alva.  The latter, as
+it appears, because he hated or envied all the other competitors, the
+former, because even then, in all probability, he anticipated from the
+wavering disposition of this princess abundant gratification for his
+ambition.
+
+Philip received the new regent on the frontiers with a splendid cortege,
+and conducted her with magnificent pomp to Ghent, where the States
+General had been convoked.  As he did not intend to return soon to the
+Netherlands, he desired, before he left them, to gratify the nation for
+once by holding a solemn Diet, and thus giving a solemn sanction and the
+force of law to his previous regulations.  For the last time he showed
+himself to his Netherlandish people, whose destinies were from
+henceforth to be dispensed from a mysterious distance.  To enhance the
+splendor of this solemn day, Philip invested eleven knights with the
+Order of the Golden Fleece, his sister being seated on a chair near
+himself, while he showed her to the nation as their future ruler.  All
+the grievances of the people, touching the edicts, the Inquisition, the
+detention of the Spanish troops, the taxes, and the illegal introduction
+of foreigners into the offices and administration of the country were
+brought forward in this Diet, and were hotly discussed by both parties;
+some of them were skilfully evaded, or apparently removed, others
+arbitrarily repelled.  As the king was unacquainted with the language of
+the country, he addressed the nation through the mouth of the Bishop of
+Arras, recounted to them with vain-glorious ostentation all the benefits
+of his government, assured them of his favor for the future, and once
+more recommended to the estates in the most earnest manner the
+preservation of the Catholic faith and the extirpation of heresy.
+The Spanish troops, he promised, should in a few months evacuate the
+Netherlands, if only they would allow him time to recover from the
+numerous burdens of the last war, in order that he might be enabled to
+collect the means for paying the arrears of these troops; the
+fundamental laws of the nation should remain inviolate, the imposts
+should not be grievously burdensome, and the Inquisition should
+administer its duties with justice and moderation.  In the choice of a
+supreme Stadtholder, he added, he had especially consulted the wishes of
+the nation, and had decided for a native of the country, who had been
+brought up in their manners and customs, and was attached to them by a
+love to her native land.  He exhorted them, therefore, to show their
+gratitude by honoring his choice, and obeying his sister, the duchess,
+as himself.  Should, he concluded, unexpected obstacles oppose his
+return, he would send in his place his son, Prince Charles, who should
+reside in Brussels.
+
+A few members of this assembly, more courageous than the rest, once more
+ventured on a final effort for liberty of conscience.  Every people,
+they argued, ought to be treated according to their natural character,
+as every individual must in accordance to his bodily constitution.
+Thus, for example, the south may be considered happy under a certain
+degree of constraint which would press intolerably on the north.  Never,
+they added, would the Flemings consent to a yoke under which, perhaps,
+the Spaniards bowed with patience, and rather than submit to it would
+they undergo any extremity if it was sought to force such a yoke upon
+them.  This remonstrance was supported by some of the king's
+counsellors, who strongly urged the policy of mitigating the rigor of
+religious edicts.  But Philip remained inexorable.  Better not reign at
+all, was his answer, than reign over heretics!
+
+According to an arrangement already made by Charles V., three councils
+or chambers were added to the regent, to assist her in the
+administration of state affairs.  As long as Philip was himself present
+in the Netherlands these courts had lost much of their power, and the
+functions of the first of them, the state council, were almost entirely
+suspended.  Now that he quitted the reins of government, they recovered
+their former importance.  In the state council, which was to deliberate
+upon war and peace, and security against external foes, sat the Bishop
+of Arras, the Prince of Orange, Count Egmont, the President of the Privy
+Council, Viglius Van Zuichem Van Aytta, and the Count of Barlaimont,
+President of the Chamber of Finance.  All knights of the Golden Fleece,
+all privy counsellors and counsellors of finance, as also the members of
+the great senate at Malines, which had been subjected by Charles V. to
+the Privy Council in Brussels, had a seat and vote in the Council of
+State, if expressly invited by the regent.  The management of the royal
+revenues and crown lands was vested in the Chamber of Finance, and the
+Privy Council was occupied with the administration of justice, and the
+civil regulation of the country, and issued all letters of grace and
+pardon.  The governments of the provinces which had fallen vacant were
+either filled up afresh or the former governors were confirmed.  Count
+Egmont received Flanders and Artois; the Prince of Orange, Holland,
+Zealand, Utrecht, and West Friesland; the Count of Aremberg, East
+Friesland, Overyssel, and Groningen; the Count of Mansfeld, Luxemburg;
+Barlaimont, Namur; the Marquis of Bergen, Hainault, Chateau-Cambray, and
+Valenciennes; the Baron of Montigny, Tournay and its dependencies.
+Other provinces were given to some who have less claim to our attention.
+Philip of Montmorency, Count of Hoorn, who had been succeeded by the
+Count of Megen in the government of Gueldres and Ziitphen, was confirmed
+as admiral of the Belgian navy.  Every governor of a province was at the
+same time a knight of the Golden Fleece and member of the Council of
+State.  Each had, in the province over which he presided, the command of
+the military force which protected it, the superintendence of the civil
+administration and the judicature; the governor of Flanders alone
+excepted, who was not allowed to interfere with the administration of
+justice.  Brabant alone was placed under the immediate jurisdiction of
+the regent, who, according to custom, chose Brussels for her constant
+residence.  The induction of the Prince of Orange into his governments
+was, properly speaking, an infraction of the constitution, since he was
+a foreigner; but several estates which he either himself possessed in
+the provinces, or managed as guardian of his son, his long residence in
+the country, and above all the unlimited confidence the nation reposed
+in him, gave him substantial claims in default of a real title of
+citizenship.
+
+The military force of the Low Countries consisted, in its full
+complement, of three thousand horse.  At present it did not much exceed
+two thousand, and was divided into fourteen squadrons, over which,
+besides the governors of the provinces, the Duke of Arschot, the Counts
+of Hoogstraten, Bossu, Roeux, and Brederode held the chief command.
+This cavalry, which was scattered through all the seventeen provinces,
+was only to be called out on sudden emergencies.  Insufficient as it was
+for any great undertaking, it was, nevertheless, fully adequate for the
+maintenance of internal order.  Its courage had been approved in former
+wars, and the fame of its valor was diffused through the whole of
+Europe.  In addition to this cavalry it was also proposed to levy a body
+of infantry, but hitherto the states had refused their consent to it.
+Of foreign troops there were still some German regiments in the service,
+which were waiting for their pay.  The four thousand Spaniards,
+respecting whom so many complaints had been made, were under two Spanish
+generals, Mendoza and Romero, and were in garrison in the frontier
+towns.
+
+Among the Belgian nobles whom the king especially distinguished in these
+new appointments, the names of Count Egmont and William of Orange stand
+conspicuous.  However inveterate his hatred was of both, and
+particularly of the latter, Philip nevertheless gave them these public
+marks of his favor, because his scheme of vengeance was not yet fully
+ripe, and the people were enthusiastic in their devotion to them.  The
+estates of both were declared exempt from taxes, the most lucrative
+governments were entrusted to them, and by offering them the command of
+the Spaniards whom he left behind in the country the king flattered them
+with a confidence which he was very far from really reposing in them.
+But at the very time when he obliged the prince with these public marks
+of his esteem he privately inflicted the most cruel injury on him.
+Apprehensive lest an alliance with the powerful house of Lorraine might
+encourage this suspected vassal to bolder measures, he thwarted the
+negotiation for a marriage between him and a princess of that family,
+and crushed his hopes on the very eve of their accomplishment,--an
+injury which the prince never forgave.  Nay, his hatred to the prince on
+one occasion even got completely the better of his natural
+dissimulation, and seduced him into a step in which we entirely lose
+sight of Philip II.  When he was about to embark at Flushing, and the
+nobles of the country attended him to the shore, he so far forgot
+himself as roughly to accost the prince, and openly to accuse him of
+being the author of the Flemish troubles.  The prince answered
+temperately that what had happened had been done by the provinces of
+their own suggestion and on legitimate grounds.  No, said Philip,
+seizing his hated, and shaking it violently, not the provinces, but You!
+You!  You!  The prince stood mute with astonishment, and without waiting
+for the king's embarkation, wished him a safe journey, and went back to
+the town.
+
+Thus the enmity which William had long harbored in his breast against
+the oppressor of a free people was now rendered irreconcilable by
+private hatred; and this double incentive accelerated the great
+enterprise which tore from the Spanish crown seven of its brightest
+jewels.
+
+Philip had greatly deviated from his true character in taking so
+gracious a leave of the Netherlands.  The legal form of a diet, his
+promise to remove the Spaniards from the frontiers, the consideration of
+the popular wishes, which had led him to fill the most important offices
+of the country with the favorites of the people, and, finally, the
+sacrifice which he made to the constitution in withdrawing the Count of
+Feria from the council of state, were marks of condescension of which
+his magnanimity was never again guilty.  But in fact he never stood in
+greater need of the good-will of the states, that with their aid he
+might, if possible, clear off the great burden of debt which was still
+attached to the Netherlands from the former war.  He hoped, therefore,
+by propitiating them through smaller sacrifices to win approval of more
+important usurpations.  He marked his departure with grace, for he knew
+in what hands he left them.  The frightful scenes of death which he
+intended for this unhappy people were not to stain the splendor of
+majesty which, like the Godhead, marks its course only with beneficence;
+that terrible distinction was reserved for his representatives.  The
+establishment of the council of state was, however, intended rather to
+flatter the vanity of the Belgian nobility than to impart to them any
+real influence.  The historian Strada (who drew his information with
+regard to the regent from her own papers) has preserved a few articles
+of the secret instructions which the Spanish ministry gave her.  Amongst
+other things it is there stated if she observed that the councils were
+divided by factions, or, what would be far worse, prepared by private
+conferences before the session, and in league with one another, then she
+was to prorogue all the chambers and dispose arbitrarily of the disputed
+articles in a more select council or committee.  In this select
+committee, which was called the Consulta, sat the Archbishop of Arras,
+the President Viglius, and the Count of Barlaimont.  She was to act in
+the same manner if emergent cases required a prompt decision.  Had this
+arrangement not been the work of an arbitrary despotism it would perhaps
+have been justified by sound policy, and republican liberty itself might
+have tolerated it.  In great assemblies where many private interests and
+passions co-operate, where a numerous audience presents so great a
+temptation to the vanity of the orator, and parties often assail one
+another with unmannerly warmth, a decree can seldom be passed with that
+sobriety and mature deliberation which, if the members are properly
+selected, a smaller body readily admits of.  In a numerous body of men,
+too, there is, we must suppose, a greater number of limited than of
+enlightened intellects, who through their equal right of vote frequently
+turn the majority on the side of ignorance.  A second maxim which the
+regent was especially to observe, was to select the very members of
+council who had voted against any decree to carry it into execution.
+By this means not only would the people be kept in ignorance of the
+originators of such a law, but the private quarrels also of the members
+would be restrained, and a greater freedom insured in voting in
+compliance with the wishes of the court.
+
+In spite of all these precautions Philip would never have been able to
+leave the Netherlands with a quiet mind so long as he knew that the
+chief power in the council of state, and the obedience of the provinces,
+were in the hands of the suspected nobles.  In order, therefore, to
+appease his fears from this quarter, and also at the same time to assure
+himself of the fidelity of the regent, be subjected her, and through her
+all the affairs of the judicature, to the higher control of the Bishop
+of Arras.  In this single individual he possessed an adequate
+counterpoise to the most dreaded cabal.  To him, as to an infallible
+oracle of majesty, the duchess was referred, and in him there watched a
+stern supervisor of her administration.  Among all his contemporaries
+Granvella was the only one whom Philip II. appears to have excepted from
+his universal distrust; as long as he knew that this man was in Brussels
+he could sleep calmly in Segovia.  He left the Netherlands in September,
+1559, was saved from a storm which sank his fleet, and landed at Laredo
+in Biscay, and in his gloomy joy thanked the Deity who had preserved him
+by a detestable vow.  In the hands of a priest and of a woman was placed
+the dangerous helm of the Netherlands; and the dastardly tyrant escaped
+in his oratory at Madrid the supplications, the complaints, and the
+curses of the people.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II.
+
+CARDINAL GRANVELLA.
+
+
+ANTHONY PERENOT, Bishop of Arras, subsequently Archbishop of Malines,
+and Metropolitan of all the Netherlands, who, under the name of Cardinal
+Granvella, has been immortalized by the hatred of his contemporaries,
+was born in the year 1516, at Besancon in Burgundy.  His father,
+Nicolaus Perenot, the son of a blacksmith, had risen by his own merits
+to be the private secretary of Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, at that time
+regent of the Netherlands.  In this post he was noticed for his habits
+of business by Charles V., who took him into his own service and
+employed him in several important negotiations.  For twenty years he was
+a member of the Emperor's cabinet, and filled the offices of privy
+counsellor and keeper of the king's seal, and shared in all the state
+secrets of that monarch.  He acquired a large fortune.  His honors,
+his influence, and his political knowledge were inherited by his son,
+Anthony Perenot, who in his early years gave proofs of the great
+capacity which subsequently opened to him so distinguished a career.
+Anthony had cultivated at several colleges the talents with which nature
+had so lavishly endowed him, and in some respects had an advantage over
+his father.  He soon showed that his own abilities were sufficient to
+maintain the advantageous position which the merits of another had
+procured him.  He was twenty-four years old when the Emperor sent him as
+his plenipotentiary to the ecclesiastical council of Trent, where he
+delivered the first specimen of that eloquence which in the sequel gave
+him so complete an ascendancy over two kings.  Charles employed him in
+several difficult embassies, the duties of which he fulfilled to the
+satisfaction of his sovereign, and when finally that Emperor resigned
+the sceptre to his son he made that costly present complete by giving
+him a minister who could help him to wield it.
+
+Granvella opened his new career at once with the greatest masterpiece of
+political genius, in passing so easily from the favor of such a father
+into equal consideration with such a son.  And he soon proved himself
+deserving of it.  At the secret negotiations of which the Duchess of
+Lorraine had, in 1558, been the medium between the French and Spanish
+ministers at Peronne, he planned, conjointly with the Cardinal of
+Lorraine, that conspiracy against the Protestants which was afterwards
+matured, but also betrayed, at Chateau-Cambray, where Perenot likewise
+assisted in effecting the so-called peace.
+
+A deeply penetrating, comprehensive intellect, an unusual facility in
+conducting great and intricate affairs, and the most extensive learning,
+were wonderfully united in this man with persevering industry and never-
+wearying patience, while his enterprising genius was associated with
+thoughtful mechanical regularity.  Day and night the state found him
+vigilant and collected; the most important and the most insignificant
+things were alike weighed by him with scrupulous attention.  Not
+unfrequently he employed five secretaries at one time, dictating to them
+in different languages, of which he is said to have spoken seven.  What
+his penetrating mind had slowly matured acquired in his lips both force
+and grace, and truth, set forth by his persuasive eloquence,
+irresistibly carried away all hearers.  He was tempted by none
+of the passions which make slaves of most men.  His integrity was
+incorruptible.  With shrewd penetration he saw through the disposition
+of his master, and could read in his features his whole train of
+thought, and, as it were, the approaching form in the shadow which
+outran it.  With an artifice rich in resources he came to the aid of
+Philip's more inactive mind, formed into perfect thought his master's
+crude ideas while they yet hung on his lips, and liberally allowed him
+the glory of the invention.  Granvella understood the difficult and
+useful art of depreciating his own talents; of making his own genius the
+seeming slave of another; thus he ruled while he concealed his sway.  In
+this manner only could Philip II. be governed.  Content with a silent
+but real power, Granvella did not grasp insatiably at new and outward
+marks of it, which with lesser minds are ever the most coveted objects;
+but every new distinction seemed to sit upon him as easily as the
+oldest.  No wonder if such extraordinary endowments had alone gained him
+the favor of his master; but a large and valuable treasure of political
+secrets and experiences, which the active life of Charles V. had
+accumulated, and had deposited in the mind of this man, made him
+indispensable to his successor.  Self-sufficient as the latter was, and
+accustomeded to confide in his own understanding, his timid and
+crouching policy was fain to lean on a superior mind, and to aid its own
+irresolution not only by precedent but also by the influence and example
+of another.  No political matter which concerned the royal interest,
+even when Philip himself was in the Netherlands, was decided without the
+intervention of Granvella; and when the king embarked for Spain he made
+the new regent the same valuable present of the minister which he
+himself had received from the Emperor, his father.
+
+Common as it is for despotic princes to bestow unlimited confidence on
+the creatures whom they have raised from the dust, and of whose
+greatness they themselves are, in a measure, the creators, the present
+is no ordinary instance; pre-eminent must have been the qualities which
+could so far conquer the selfish reserve of such a character as Philip's
+as to gain his confidence, nay, even to win him into familiarity.  The
+slightest ebullition of the most allowable self-respect, which might
+have tempted him to assert, however slightly, his claim to any idea
+which the king had once ennobled as his own, would have cost him his
+whole influence.  He might gratify without restraint the lowest passions
+of voluptuousness, of rapacity, and of revenge, but the only one in
+which he really took delight, the sweet consciousness of his own
+superiority and power, he was constrained carefully to conceal from the
+suspicious glance of the despot.  He voluntarily disclaimed all the
+eminent qualities, which were already his own, in order, as it were, to
+receive them a second time from the generosity of the king.  His
+happiness seemed to flow from no other source, no other person could
+have a claim upon his gratitude.  The purple, which was sent to him from
+Rome, was not assumed until the royal permission reached him from Spain;
+by laying it down on the steps of the throne he appeared, in a measure,
+to receive it first from the hands of majesty.  Less politic, Alva
+erected a trophy in Antwerp, and inscribed his own name under the
+victory, which he had won as the servant of the crown--but Alva carried
+with him to the grave the displeasure of his master.  He had invaded
+with audacious hand the royal prerogative by drawing immediately at the
+fountain of immortality.
+
+Three times Granvella changed his master, and three times he succeeded
+in rising to the highest favor.  With the same facility with which he
+had guided the settled pride of an autocrat, and the sly egotism of a
+despot, he knew how to manage the delicate vanity of a woman.  His
+business between himself and the regent, even when they were in the same
+house, was, for the most part, transacted by the medium of notes, a
+custom which draws its date from the times of Augustus and Tiberius.
+When the regent was in any perplexity these notes were interchanged from
+hour to hour.  He probably adopted this expedient in the hope of eluding
+the watchful jealousy of the nobility, and concealing from them, in part
+at least, his influence over the regent.  Perhaps, too, he also believed
+that by this means his advice would become more permanent; and, in case
+of need, this written testimoney would be at hand to shield him from
+blame.  But the vigilance of the nobles made this caution vain, and it
+was soon known in all the provinces that nothing was determined upon
+without the minister's advice.
+
+Granvella possessed all the qualities requisite for a perfect statesman
+in a monarchy governed by despotic principles, but was absolutely
+unqualified for republics which are governed by kings.  Educated between
+the throne and the confessional, he knew of no other relation between
+man and man than that of rule and subjection; and the innate
+consciousness of his own superiority gave him a contempt for others.
+His policy wanted pliability, the only virtue which was here
+indispensable to its success.  He was naturally overbearing and
+insolent, and the royal authority only gave arms to the natural
+impetuosity of his disposition and the imperiousness of his order.  He
+veiled his own ambition beneath the interests of the crown, and made the
+breach between the nation and the king incurable, because it would
+render him indispensable to the latter.  He revenged on the nobility the
+lowliness of his own origin; and, after the fashion of all those who
+have risen by their own merits, he valued the advantages of birth below
+those by which he had raised himself to distinction.  The Protestants
+saw in him their most implacable foe; to his charge were laid all the
+burdens which oppressed the country, and they pressed the more heavily
+because they came from him.  Nay, he was even accused of having brought
+back to severity the milder sentiments to which the urgent remonstrances
+of the provinces had at last disposed the monarch.  The Netherlands
+execrated him as the most terrible enemy of their liberties, and the
+originator of all the misery which subsequently came upon them.
+
+
+1559.  Philip had evidently left the provinces too soon.  The new
+measures of the government were still strange to the people, and could
+receive sanction and authority from his presence alone; the new machines
+which he had brought into play required to be kept in motion by a
+dreaded and powerful hand, and to have their first movements watched and
+regulated.  He now exposed his minister to all the angry passions of the
+people, who no longer felt restrained by the fetters of the royal
+presence; and he delegated to the weak arm of a subject the execution of
+projects in which majesty itself, with all its powerful supports, might
+have failed.
+
+The land, indeed, flourished; and a general prosperity appeared to
+testify to the blessings of the peace which had so lately been bestowed
+upon it.  An external repose deceived the eye, for within raged all the
+elements of discord.  If the foundations of religion totter in a country
+they totter not alone; the audacity which begins with things sacred ends
+with things profane.  The successful attack upon the hierarchy had
+awakened a spirit of boldness, and a desire to assail authority in
+general, and to test laws as well as dogmas--duties as well as opinions.
+The fanatical boldness with which men had learned to discuss and decide
+upon the affairs of eternity might change its subject matter; the
+contempt for life and property which religious enthusiasm had taught
+could metamorphose timid citizens into foolhardy rebels.  A female
+government of nearly forty years had given the nation room to assert
+their liberty; continual wars, of which the Netherlands had been the
+theatre, had introduced a license with them, and the right of the
+stronger had usurped the place of law and order.  The provinces were
+filled with foreign adventurers and fugitives; generally men bound by no
+ties of country, family, or property, who had brought with them from
+their unhappy homes the seeds of insubordination and rebellion.  The
+repeated spectacles of torture and of death had rudely burst the
+tenderer threads of moral feeling, and had given an unnatural harshness
+to the national character.
+
+Still the rebellion would have crouched timorously and silently on the
+ground if it had not found a support in the nobility.  Charles V. had
+spoiled the Flemish nobles of the Netherlands by making them the
+participators of his glory, by fostering their national pride, by the
+marked preference he showed for them over the Castilian nobles, and by
+opening an arena to their ambition in every part of his empire.  In the
+late war with France they had really deserved this preference from
+Philip; the advantages which the king reaped from the peace of Chateau-
+Cambray were for the most part the fruits of their valor, and they now
+sensibly missed the gratitude on which they had so confidently reckoned.
+Moreover, the separation of the German empire from the Spanish monarchy,
+and the less warlike spirit of the new government, had greatly narrowed
+their sphere of action, and, except in their own country, little
+remained for them to gain.  And Philip now appointed his Spaniards where
+Charles V. had employed the Flemings.  All the passions which the
+preceding government had raised and kept employed still survived in
+peace; and in default of a legitimate object these unruly feelings
+found, unfortunately, ample scope in the grievances of their country.
+Accordingly, the claims and wrongs which had been long supplanted by new
+passions were now drawn from oblivion.  By his late appointments the
+king had satisfied no party; for those even who obtained offices were
+not much more content than those who were entirely passed over, because
+they had calculated on something better than they got.  William of
+Orange had received four governments (not to reckon some smaller
+dependencies which, taken together, were equivalent to a fifth), but
+William had nourished hopes of Flanders and Brabant.  He and Count
+Egmont forgot what had really fallen to their share, and only remembered
+that they had lost the regency.  The majority of the nobles were either
+plunged into debt by their own extravagance, or had willingly enough
+been drawn into it by the government.  Now that they were excluded from
+the prospect of lucrative appointments, they at once saw themselves
+exposed to poverty, which pained them the more sensibly when they
+contrasted the splendor of the affluent citizens with their own
+necessities.  In the extremities to which they were reduced many would
+have readily assisted in the commission even of crimes; how then could
+they resist the seductive offers of the Calvinists, who liberally repaid
+them for their intercession and protection?  Lastly, many whose estates
+were past redemption placed their last hope in a general devastation,
+and stood prepared at the first favorable moment to cast the torch of
+discord into the republic.
+
+This threatening aspect of the public mind was rendered still more
+alarming by the unfortunate vicinity of France.  What Philip dreaded for
+the provinces was there already accomplished.  The fate of that kingdom
+prefigured to him the destiny of his Netherlands, and the spirit of
+rebellion found there a seductive example.  A similar state of things
+had under Francis I. and Henry II. scattered the seeds of innovation in
+that kingdom; a similar fury of persecution and a like spirit of faction
+had encouraged its growth.  Now Huguenots and Catholics were struggling
+in a dubious contest; furious parties disorganized the whole monarchy,
+and were violently hurrying this once-powerful state to the brink of
+destruction.  Here, as there, private interest, ambition, and party
+feeling might veil themselves under the names of religion and
+patriotism, and the passions of a few citizens drive the entire nation
+to take up arms.  The frontiers of both countries merged in Walloon
+Flanders; the rebellion might, like an agitated sea, cast its waves as
+far as this: would a country be closed against it whose language,
+manners, and character wavered between those of France and Belgium?  As
+yet the government had taken no census of its Protestant subjects in
+these countries, but the new sect, it was aware, was a vast, compact
+republic, which extended its roots through all the monarchies of
+Christendom, and the slighest disturbance in any of its most distant
+members vibrated to its centre. It was, as it were, a chain of
+threatening volcanoes, which, united by subterraneous passages, ignite
+at the same moment with alarming sympathy.  The Netherlands were,
+necessarily, open to all nations, because they derived their support
+from all.  Was it possible for Philip to close a commercial state as
+easily as he could Spain?  If he wished to purify these provinces from
+heresy it was necessary for him to commence by extirpating it in France.
+
+It was in this state that Granvella found the Netherlands at the
+beginning of his administration (1560).
+
+To restore to these countries the uniformity of papistry, to break the
+co-ordinate power of the nobility and the states, and to exalt the royal
+authority on the ruins of republican freedom, was the great object of
+Spanish policy and the express commission of the new minister.  But
+obstacles stood in the way of its accomplishment; to conquer these
+demanded the invention of new resources, the application of new
+machinery.  The Inquisition, indeed, and the religious edicts appeared
+sufficient to check the contagion of heresy; but the latter required
+superintendence, and the former able instruments for its now extended
+jurisdiction.  The church constitution continued the same as it had been
+in earlier times, when the provinces were less populous, when the church
+still enjoyed universal repose, and could be more easily overlooked and
+controlled.  A succession of several centuries, which changed the whole
+interior form of the provinces, had left the form of the hierarchy
+unaltered, which, moreover, was protected from the arbitrary will of its
+ruler by the particular privileges of the provinces.  All the seventeen
+provinces were parcelled out under four bishops, who had their seats at
+Arras, Tournay, Cambray, and Utrecht, and were subject to the primates
+of Rheims and Cologne.  Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had, indeed,
+meditated an increase in the number of bishops to meet the wants of the
+increasing population; but, unfortunately, in the excitement of a life
+of pleasure had abandoned the project.  Ambition and lust of conquest
+withdrew the mind of Charles the Bold from the internal concerns of his
+kingdom, and Maximilian had already too many subjects of dispute with
+the states to venture to add to their number by proposing this change.
+A stormy reign prevented Charles V. from the execution of this extensive
+plan, which Philip II.  now undertook as a bequest from all these
+princes.  The moment had now arrived when the urgent necessities of the
+church would excuse the innovation, and the leisure of peace favored its
+accomplishment.  With the prodigious crowd of people from all the
+countries of Europe who were crowded together in the towns of the
+Netherlands, a multitude of religious opinions had also grown up; and it
+was impossible that religion could any longer be effectually
+superintended by so few eyes as were formerly sufficient.  While the
+number of bishops was so small their districts must, of necessity, have
+been proportionally extensive, and four men could not be adequate to
+maintain the purity of the faith through so wide a district.
+
+The jurisdiction which the Archbishops of Cologne and Rheims exercised
+over the Netherlands had long been a stumbling-block to the government,
+which could not look on this territory as really its own property so
+long as such an important branch of power was still wielded by foreign
+hands.  To snatch this prerogative from the alien archbishops; by new
+and active agents to give fresh life and vigor to the superintendence of
+the faith, and at the same time to strengthen the number of the
+partisans of government at the diet, no more effectual means could be
+devised than to increase the number of bishops.  Resolved upon doing
+this Philip II. ascended the throne; but he soon found that a change in
+the hierarchy would inevitably meet with warm opposition from the
+provinces, without whose consent, nevertheless, it would be vain to
+attempt it.  Philip foresaw that the nobility would never approve of a
+measure which would so strongly augment the royal party, and take from
+the aristocracy the preponderance of power in the diet.  The revenues,
+too, for the maintenance of these new bishops must be diverted from the
+abbots and monks, and these formed a considerable part of the states of
+the realm.  He had, besides, to fear the opposition of the Protestants,
+who would not fail to act secretly in the diet against him.  On these
+accounts the whole affair was discussed at Rome with the greatest
+possible secrecy.  Instructed by, and as the agent of, Granvella,
+Francis Sonnoi, a priest of Louvain, came before Paul IV. to inform him
+how extensive the provinces were, how thriving and populous, how
+luxurious in their prosperity.  But, he continued, in the immoderate
+enjoyment of liberty the true faith is neglected, and heretics prosper.
+To obviate this evil the Romish See must have recourse to extraordinary
+measures.  It was not difficult to prevail on the Romish pontiff to make
+a change which would enlarge the sphere of his own jurisdiction.
+
+Paul IV. appointed a tribunal of seven cardinals to deliberate upon this
+important matter; but death called him away, and he left to his
+successor, Pius IV., the duty of carrying their advice into execution.
+The welcome tidings of the pope's determination reached the king in
+Zealand when he was just on the point of setting sail for Spain, and the
+minister was secretly charged with the dangerous reform.  The new
+constitution of the hierarchy was published in 1560; in addition to the
+then existing four bishoprics thirteen new ones were established,
+according to the number of seventeen provinces, and four of them were
+raised into archbishoprics.  Six of these episcopal sees, viz., in
+Antwerp, Herzogenbusch, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and Ruremonde, were placed
+under the Archbishopric of Malines; five others, Haarlem, Middelburg,
+Leuwarden, Deventer, and Groningen, under the Archbishopric of Utrecht;
+and the remaining four, Arras, Tournay, St. Omer, and Namur, which lie
+nearest to France, and have language, character, and manners in common
+with that country, under the Archbishopric of Cambray.  Malines,
+situated in the middle of Brabant and in the centre of all the seventeen
+provinces, was made the primacy of all the rest, and was, with several
+rich abbeys, the reward of Granvella.  The revenues of the new
+bishoprics were provided by an appropriation of the treasures of the
+cloisters and abbeys which had accumulated from pious benefactions
+during centuries.  Some of the abbots were raised to the episcopal
+throne, and with the possession of their cloisters and prelacies
+retained also the vote at the diet which was attached to them.  At the
+same time to every bishopric nine prebends were attached, and bestowed
+on the most learned juris-consultists and theologians, who were to
+support the Inquisition and the bishop in his spiritual office.  Of
+these, the two who were most deserving by knowledge, experience, and
+unblemished life were to be constituted actual inquisitors, and to have
+the first voice in the Synods.  To the Archbishop of Malines, as
+metropolitan of all the seventeen provinces, the full authority was
+given to appoint, or at discretion depose, archbishops and bishops; and
+the Romish See was only to give its ratification to his acts.
+
+At any other period the nation would have received with gratitude and
+approved of such a measure of church reform since it was fully called
+for by circumstances, was conducive to the interests of religion, and
+absolutely indispensable for the moral reformation of the monkhood.  Now
+the temper of the times saw in it nothing but a hateful change.
+Universal was the indignation with which it was received.  A cry was
+raised that the constitution was trampled under foot, the rights of the
+nation violated, and that the Inquisition was already at the door, and
+would soon open here, as in Spain, its bloody tribunal.  The people
+beheld with dismay these new servants of arbitrary power and of
+persecution.  The nobility saw in it nothing but a strengthening of the
+royal authority by the addition of fourteen votes in the states'
+assembly, and a withdrawal of the firmest prop of their freedom, the
+balance of the royal and the civil power.  The old bishops complained of
+the diminution of their incomes and the circumscription of their sees;
+the abbots and monks had not only lost power and income, but had
+received in exchange rigid censors of their morals.  Noble and simple,
+laity and clergy, united against the common foe, and while all singly
+struggled for some petty private interest, the cry appeared to come from
+the formidable voice of patriotism.
+
+Among all the provinces Brabant was loudest in its opposition.  The
+inviolability of its church constitution was one of the important
+privileges which it had reserved in the remarkable charter of the
+"Joyful Entry,"--statutes which the sovereign could not violate without
+releasing the nation from its allegiance to him.  In vain did the
+university of Louvain assert that in disturbed times of the church a
+privilege lost its power which had been granted in the period of its
+tranquillity.  The introduction of the new bishoprics into the
+constitution was thought to shake the whole fabric of liberty.  The
+prelacies, which were now transferred to the bishops, must henceforth
+serve another rule than the advantage of the province of whose states
+they had been members.  The once free patriotic citizens were to be
+instruments of the Romish See and obedient tools of the archbishop, who
+again, as first prelate of Brabant, had the immediate control over them.
+The freedom of voting was gone, because the bishops, as servile spies of
+the crown, made every one fearful.  "Who," it was asked, "will after
+this venture to raise his voice in parliament before such observers, or
+in their presence dare to protect the rights of the nation against the
+rapacious hands of the government?  They will trace out the resources of
+the provinces, and betray to the crown the secrets of our freedom and
+our property.  They will obstruct the way to all offices of honor; we
+shall soon see the courtiers of the king succeed the present men; the
+children of foreigners will, for the future, fill the parliament, and
+the private interest of their patron will guide their venal votes."
+"What an act of oppression," rejoined the monks, "to pervert to other
+objects the pious designs of our holy institutions, to contemn the
+inviolable wishes of the dead, and to take that which a devout charity
+had deposited in our chests for the relief of the unfortunate and make
+it subservient to the luxury of the bishops, thus inflating their
+arrogant pomp with the plunder of the poor?"  Not only the abbots and
+monks, who really did suffer by this act of appropriation, but every
+family which could flatter itself with the slightest hope of enjoying,
+at some time or other, even in the most remote posterity, the benefit of
+this monastic foundation, felt this disappointment of their distant
+expectations as much as if they had suffered an actual injury, and the
+wrongs of a few abbot-prelates became the concern of a whole nation.
+
+Historians have not omitted to record the covert proceedings of William
+of Orange during this general commotion, who labored to conduct to one
+end these various and conflicting passions.  At his instigation the
+people of Brabant petitioned the regent for an advocate and protector,
+since they alone, of all his Flemish subjects, had the misfortune to
+unite, in one and the same person, their counsel and their ruler.  Had
+the demand been granted, their choice could fall on no other than the
+Prince of Orange.  But Granvella, with his usual presence of mind, broke
+through the snare.  "The man who receives this office," he declared in
+the state council, "will, I hope, see that he divides Brabant with the
+king!"   The long delay of the papal bull, which was kept back by a
+misunderstanding between the Romish and Spanish courts, gave the
+disaffected an opportunity to combine for a common object.  In perfect
+secrecy the states of Brabant despatched an extraordinary messenger to
+Pins IV. to urge their wishes in Rome itself.  The ambassador was
+provided with important letters of recommendation from the Prince of
+Orange, and carried with him considerable sums to pave his way to the
+father of the church.  At the same time a public letter was forwarded
+from the city of Antwerp to the King of Spain containing the most urgent
+representations, and supplicating him to spare that flourishing
+commercial town from the threatened innovation.  They knew, it was
+stated, that the intentions of the monarch were the best, and that the
+institution of the new bishops was likely to be highly conducive to the
+maintenance of true religion; but the foreigners could not be convinced
+of this, and on them depended the prosperity of their town.  Among them
+the most groundless rumors would be as perilous as the most true.  The
+first embassy was discovered in time, and its object disappointed by the
+prudence of the regent; by the second the town of Antwerp gained so far
+its point that it was to remain without a bishop, at least until the
+personal arrival of the king, which was talked of.
+
+The example and success of Antwerp gave the signal of opposition to all
+the other towns for which a new bishop was intended.  It is a remarkable
+proof of the hatred to the Inquisition and the unanimity of the Flemish
+towns at this date that they preferred to renounce all the advantages
+which the residence of a bishop would necessarily bring to their local
+trade rather than by their consent promote that abhorred tribunal, and
+thus act in opposition to the interests of the whole nation.  Deventer,
+Ruremond, and Leuwarden placed themselves in determined opposition, and
+(1561) successfully carried their point; in the other towns the bishops
+were, in spite of all remonstrances, forcibly inducted.  Utrecht,
+Haarlem, St. Omer, and Middelburg were among the first which opened
+their gates to them; the remaining towns followed their example; but in
+Malines and Herzogenbusch the bishops were received with very little
+respect.  When Granvella made his solemn entry into the former town not
+a single nobleman showed himself, and his triumph was wanting in
+everything that could make it real, because those remained away over
+whom it was meant to be celebrated.
+
+In the meantime, too, the period had elapsed within which the Spanish
+troops were to have left the country, and as yet there was no appearance
+of their being withdrawn.  People perceived with terror the real cause
+of the delay, and suspicion lent it a fatal connection with the
+Inquisition.  The detention of these troops, as it rendered the nation
+more vigilant and distrustful, made it more difficult for the minister
+to proceed with the other innovations, and yet he would fain not deprive
+himself of this powerful and apparently indispensable aid in a country
+where all hated him, and in the execution of a commission to which all
+were opposed.  At last, however, the regent saw herself compelled by the
+universal murmurs of discontent, to urge most earnestly upon the king
+the necessity of the withdrawal of the troops.  "The provinces," she
+writes to Madrid, "have unanimously declared that they would never again
+be induced to grant the extraordinary taxes required by the government
+as long as word was not kept with them in this matter.  The danger of a
+revolt was far more imminent than that of an attack by the French
+Protestants, and if a rebellion was to take place in the Netherlands
+these forces would be too weak to repress it, and there was not
+sufficient money in the treasury to enlist new."  By delaying his answer
+the king still sought at least to gain time, and the reiterated
+representations of the regent would still have remained ineffectual, if,
+fortunately for the provinces, a loss which he had lately suffered from
+the Turks had not compelled him to employ these troops in the
+Mediterranean.  He, therefore, at last consented to their departure:
+they were embarked in 1561 in Zealand, and the exulting shouts of all
+the provinces accompanied their departure.
+
+Meanwhile Granvella ruled in the council of state almost uncontrolled.
+All offices, secular and spiritual, were given away through him; his
+opinion prevailed against the unanimous voice of the whole assembly.
+The regent herself was governed by him.  He had contrived to manage so
+that her appointment was made out for two years only, and by this
+expedient he kept her always in his power.  It seldom happened that any
+important affair was submitted to the other members, and if it really
+did occur it was only such as had been long before decided, to which it
+was only necessary for formality's sake to gain their sanction.
+Whenever a royal letter was read Viglius received instructions to omit
+all such passages as were underlined by the minister.  It often happened
+that this correspondence with Spain laid open the weakness of the
+government, or the anxiety felt by the regent, with which it was not
+expedient to inform the members, whose loyalty was distrusted.  If again
+it occurred that the opposition gained a majority over the minister, and
+insisted with determination on an article which he could not well put
+off any longer, he sent it to the ministry at Madrid for their decision,
+by which he at least gained time, and in any case was certain to find
+support.--With the exception of the Count of Barlaimont, the President
+Viglius, and a few others, all the other counsellors were but
+superfluous figures in the senate, and the minister's behavior to them
+marked the small value which he placed upon their friendship and
+adherence.  No wonder that men whose pride had been so greatly indulged
+by the flattering attentions of sovereign princes, and to whom, as to
+the idols of their country, their fellow-citizens paid the most
+reverential submission, should be highly indignant at this arrogance of
+a plebeian.  Many of them had been personally insulted by Granvella.
+
+The Prince of Orange was well aware that it was he who had prevented his
+marriage with the Princess of Lorraine, and that he had also endeavored
+to break off the negotiations for another alliance with the Princess of
+Savoy. He had deprived Count Horn of the government of Gueldres and
+Zutphen, and had kept for himself an abbey which Count Egmont had in
+vain exerted himself to obtain for a relation.  Confident of his
+superior power, he did not even think it worth while to conceal from the
+nobility his contempt for them, and which, as a rule, marked his whole
+administration; William of Orange was the only one with whom be deemed
+it advisable to dissemble.  Although he really believed himself to be
+raised far above all the laws of fear and decorum, still in this point,
+however, his confident arrogance misled him, and he erred no less
+against policy than he shined against propriety.  In the existing
+posture of affairs the government could hardly have adopted a worse
+measure than that of throwing disrespect on the nobility.  It had it in
+its power to flatter the prejudices and feelings of the aristocracy, and
+thus artfully and imperceptibly win them over to its plans, and through
+them subvert the edifice of national liberty.  Now it admonished them,
+most inopportunely, of their duties, their dignity, and their power;
+calling upon them even to be patriots, and to devote to the cause of
+true greatness an ambition which hitherto it had inconsiderately
+repelled.  To carry into effect the ordinances it required the active
+co-operation of the lieutenant-governors; no wonder, however, that the
+latter showed but little zeal to afford this assistance.  On the
+contrary, it is highly probable that they silently labored to augment
+the difficulties of the minister, and to subvert his measures, and
+through his ill-success to diminish the king's confidence in him, and
+expose his administration to contempt.  The rapid progress which in
+spite of those horrible edicts the Reformation made during Granvella's
+administration in the Netherlands, is evidently to be ascribed to the
+lukewarmness of the nobility in opposing it.  If the minister had been
+sure of the nobles he might have despised the fury of the mob, which
+would have impotently dashed itself against the dreaded barriers of the
+throne.  The sufferings of the citizens lingered long in tears and
+sighs, until the arts and the example of the nobility called forth a
+louder expression of them.
+
+Meanwhile the inquisitions into religion were carried on with renewed
+vigor by the crowd of new laborers (1561, 1562), and the edicts against
+heretics were enforced with fearful obedience.  But the critical moment
+when this detestable remedy might have been applied was allowed to pass
+by; the nation had become too strong and vigorous for such rough
+treatment.  The new religion could now be extirpated only by the death
+of all its professors.  The present executions were but so many alluring
+exhibitions of its excellence, so many scenes of its triumphs and
+radiant virtue.  The heroic greatness with which the victims died made
+converts to the opinions for which they perished.  One martyr gained ten
+new proselytes.  Not in towns only, or villages, but on the very
+highways, in the boats and public carriages disputes were held touching
+the dignity of the pope, the saints, purgatory, and indulgences, and
+sermons were preached and men converted.  From the country and from the
+towns the common people rushed in crowds to rescue the prisoners of the
+Holy Tribunal from the hands of its satellites, and the municipal
+officers who ventured to support it with the civil forces were pelted
+with stones.  Multitudes accompanied the Protestant preachers whom the
+Inquisition pursued, bore them on their shoulders to and from church,
+and at the risk of their lives concealed them from their persecutors.
+The first province which was seized with the fanatical spirit of
+rebellion was, as had been expected, Walloon Flanders.  A French
+Calvinist, by name Lannoi, set himself up in Tournay as a worker of
+miracles, where he hired a few women to simulate diseases, and to
+pretend to be cured by him.  He preached in the woods near the town,
+drew the people in great numbers after him, and scattered in their minds
+the seeds of rebellion.  Similar teachers appeared in Lille and
+Valenciennes, but in the latter place the municipal functionaries
+succeeded in seizing the persons of these incendiaries; while, however,
+they delayed to execute them their followers increased so rapidly that
+they became sufficiently strong to break open the prisons and forcibly
+deprive justice of its victims.  Troops at last were brought into the
+town and order restored.  But this trifling occurrence had for a moment
+withdrawn the veil which had hitherto concealed the strength of the
+Protestant party, and allowed the minister to compute their prodigious
+numbers.  In Tournay alone five thousand at one time had been seen
+attending the sermons, and not many less in Valenciennes.  What might
+not be expected from the northern provinces, where liberty was greater,
+and the seat of government more remote, and where the vicinity of
+Germany and Denmark multiplied the sources of contagion?  One slight
+provocation had sufficed to draw from its concealment so formidable a
+multitude.  How much greater was, perhaps, the number of those who in
+their hearts acknowledged the new sect, and only waited for a favorable
+opportunity to publish their adhesion to it.  This discovery greatly
+alarmed the regent.  The scanty obedience paid to the edicts, the wants
+of the exhausted treasury, which compelled her to impose new taxes, and
+the suspicious movements of the Huguenots on the French frontiers still
+further increased her anxiety.  At the same time she received a command
+from Madrid to send off two thousand Flemish cavalry to the army of the
+Queen Mother in France, who, in the distresses of the civil war, had
+recourse to Philip II. for assistance.  Every affair of faith, in
+whatever land it might be, was made by Philip his own business.  He felt
+it as keenly as any catastrophe which could befall his own house, and in
+such cases always stood ready to sacrifice his means to foreign
+necessities.  If it were interested motives that here swayed him they
+were at least kingly and grand, and the bold support of his principles
+wins our admiration as much as their cruelty withholds our esteem.
+
+The regent laid before the council of state the royal will on the
+subject of these troops, but with a very warm opposition on the part of
+the nobility.  Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange declared that the
+time was illchosen for stripping the Netherlands of troops, when the
+aspect of affairs rendered rather the enlistment of new levies
+advisable.  The movements of the troops in France momentarily threatened
+a surprise, and the commotions within the provinces demanded, more than
+ever, the utmost vigilance on the part of the government.  Hitherto,
+they said, the German Protestants had looked idly on during the
+struggles of their brethren in the faith; but will they continue to do
+so, especially when we are lending our aid to strengthen their enemy?
+By thus acting shall we not rouse their vengeance against us, and call
+their arms into the northern Netherlands?  Nearly the whole council of
+state joined in this opinion; their representations were energetic and
+not to be gainsaid.  The regent herself, as well as the minister, could
+not but feel their truth, and their own interests appeared to forbid
+obedience to the royal mandate.  Would it not be impolitic to withdraw
+from the Inquisition its sole prop by removing the larger portion of the
+army, and in a rebellious country to leave themselves without defence,
+dependent on the arbitrary will of an arrogant aristocracy?  While the
+regent, divided between the royal commands, the urgent importunity of
+her council, and her own fears, could not venture to come to a decision,
+William of Orange rose and proposed the assembling of the States
+General.  But nothing could have inflicted a more fatal blow on the
+supremacy of the crown than by yielding to this advice to put the nation
+in mind of its power and its rights.  No measure could be more hazardous
+at the present moment.  The danger which was thus gathering over the
+minister did not escape him; a sign from him warned the regent to break
+off the consultation and adjourn the council.  "The government," he
+writes to Madrid, "can do nothing more injurious to itself than to
+consent to the assembling of the states.  Such a step is at all times
+perilous, because it tempts the nation to test and restrict the rights
+of the crown; but it is many times more objectionable at the present
+moment, when the spirit of rebellion is already widely spread amongst
+us; when the abbots, exasperated at the loss of their income, will
+neglect nothing to impair the dignity of the bishops; when the whole
+nobility and all the deputies from the towns are led by the arts of the
+Prince of Orange, and the disaffected can securely reckon on the
+assistance of the nation."  This representation, which at least was not
+wanting in sound sense, did not fail in having the desired effect on the
+king's mind.  The assembling of the states was rejected once and
+forever, the penal statutes against the heretics were renewed in all
+their rigor, and the regent was directed to hasten the despatch of the
+required auxiliaries.
+
+But to this the council of state would not consent.  All that she
+obtained was, instead of the troops, a supply of money for the Queen
+Mother, which at this crisis was still more welcome to her.  In place,
+however, of assembling the states, and in order to beguile the nation
+with, at least, the semblance of republican freedom, the regent summoned
+the governors of the provinces and the knights of the Golden Fleece to a
+special congress at Brussels, to consult on the present dangers and
+necessities of the state.  When the President, Viglius, had laid before
+them the matters on which they were summoned to deliberate, three days
+were given to them for consideration.  During this time the Prince of
+Orange assembled them in his palace, where he represented to them the
+necessity of coming to some unanimous resolution before the next
+sitting, and of agreeing on the measures which ought to be followed in
+the present dangerous state of affairs.
+
+The majority assented to the propriety of this course; only Barlaimont,
+with a few of the dependents of the cardinal, had the courage to plead
+for the interests of the crown and of the minister.  "It did not behoove
+them," he said, "to interfere in the concerns of the government, and
+this previous agreement of votes was an illegal and culpable assumption,
+in the guilt of which he would not participate;"--a declaration which
+broke up the meeting without any conclusion being come to.  The regent,
+apprised of it by the Count Barlaimont, artfully contrived to keep the
+knights so well employed during their stay in the town that they could
+find no time for coming to any further secret understanding; in this
+session, however, it was arranged, with their concurrence, that Florence
+of Montmorency, Lord of Montigny, should make a journey to Spain, in
+order to acquaint the king with the present posture of affairs.  But the
+regent sent before him another messenger to Madrid, who previously
+informed the king of all that had been debated between the Prince of
+Orange and the knights at the secret conference.
+
+The Flemish ambassador was flattered in Madrid with empty protestations
+of the king's favor and paternal sentiments towards the Netherlands,
+while the regent was commanded to thwart, to the utmost of her power,
+the secret combinations of the nobility, and, if possible, to sow
+discord among their most eminent members.  Jealousy, private interest,
+and religious differences had long divided many of the nobles; their
+share in the common neglect and contempt with which they were treated,
+and a general hatred of the minister had again united them.  So long as
+Count Egmont and the Prince of Orange were suitors for the regency it
+could not fail but that at times their competing claims should have
+brought them into collision.  Both had met each other on the road to
+glory and before the throne; both again met in the republic, where they
+strove for the same prize, the favor of their fellow-citizens.  Such
+opposite characters soon became estranged, but the powerful sympathy of
+necessity as quickly reconciled them.  Each was now indispensable to the
+other, and the emergency united these two men together with a bond which
+their hearts would never have furnished.  But it was on this very
+uncongeniality of disposition that the regent based her plans; if she
+could fortunately succeed in separating them she would at the same time
+divide the whole Flemish nobility into two parties.  Through the
+presents and small attentions by which she exclusively honored these
+two she also sought to excite against them the envy and distrust of the
+rest, and by appearing to give Count Egmont a preference over the Prince
+of Orange she hoped to make the latter suspicious of Egmont's good
+faith.  It happened that at this very time she was obliged to send an
+extraordinary ambassador to Frankfort, to be present at the election of
+a Roman emperor.  She chose for this office the Duke of Arschot, the
+avowed enemy of the prince, in order in some degree to show in his case
+how splendid was the reward which hatred against the latter might look
+for. The Orange faction, however, instead of suffering any diminution,
+had gained an important accession in Count Horn, who, as admiral of the
+Flemish marine, had convoyed the king to Biscay, and now again took his
+seat in the council of state.  Horn's restless and republican spirit
+readily met the daring schemes of Orange and Egmont, and a dangerous
+Triumvirate was soon formed by these three friends, which shook the
+royal power in the Netherlands, but which terminated very differently
+for each of its members.
+
+
+(1562.) Meanwhile Montigny had returned from his embassy, and brought
+back to the council of state the most gracious assurance of the monarch.
+But the Prince of Orange had, through his own secret channels of
+intelligence, received more credible information from Madrid, which
+entirely contradicted this report.  By these means be learnt all the ill
+services which Granvella had done him and his friends with the king, and
+the odious appellations which were there applied to the Flemish
+nobility.  There was no help for them so long as the minister retained
+the helm of government, and to procure his dismissal was the scheme,
+however rash and adventurous it appeared, which wholly occupied the mind
+of the prince.  It was agreed between him and Counts Horn and Egmont to
+despatch a joint letter to the king, and, in the name of the whole
+nobility, formally to accuse the minister, and press energetically for
+his removal.  The Duke of Arschot, to whom this proposition was
+communicated by Count Egmont, refused to concur in it, haughtily
+declaring that he was not disposed to receive laws from Egmont and
+Orange; that he had no cause of complaint against Granvella, and that he
+thought it very presumptuous to prescribe to the king what ministers he
+ought to employ.  Orange received a similar answer from the Count of
+Aremberg.  Either the seeds of distrust which the regent had scattered
+amongst the nobility had already taken root, or the fear of the
+minister's power outweighed the abhorrence of his measures; at any rate,
+the whole nobility shrunk back timidly and irresolutely from the
+proposal.  This disappointment did not, however, discourage them.  The
+letter was written and subscribed by all three (1563).
+
+In it Granvella was represented as the prime cause of all the disorders
+in the Netherlands.  So long as the highest power should be entrusted to
+him it would, they declared, be impossible for them to serve the nation
+and king effectually; on the other hand, all would revert to its former
+tranquillity, all opposition be discontinued, and the government regain
+the affections of the people as soon as his majesty should be pleased to
+remove this man from the helm of the state.  In that case, they added,
+neither exertion nor zeal would be wanting on their part to maintain in
+these countries the dignity of the king and the purity of the faith,
+which was no less sacred to them than to the cardinal, Granvella.
+
+Secretly as this letter was prepared still the duchess was informed of
+it in sufficient time to anticipate it by another despatch, and to
+counteract the effect which it might have had on the king's mind.  Some
+months passed ere an answer came from Madrid.  It was mild, but vague.
+"The king," such was its import, "was not used to condemn his ministers
+unheard on the mere accusations of their enemies.  Common justice alone
+required that the accusers of the cardinal should descend from general
+imputations to special proofs, and if they were not inclined to do this
+in writing, one of them might come to Spain, where he should be treated
+with all respect."  Besides this letter, which was equally directed to
+all three, Count Egmont further received an autograph letter from the
+king, wherein his majesty expressed a wish to learn from him in
+particular what in the common letter had been only generally touched
+upon.  The regent, also, was specially instructed how she was to answer
+the three collectively, and the count singly.  The king knew his man.
+He felt it was easy to manage Count Egmont alone; for this reason he
+sought to entice him to Madrid, where he would be removed from the
+commanding guidance of a higher intellect.  In distinguishing him above
+his two friends by so flattering a mark of his confidence, he made a
+difference in the relation in which they severally stood to the throne;
+how could they, then, unite with equal zeal for the same object when the
+inducements were no longer the same?  This time, indeed, the vigilance
+of Orange frustrated the scheme; but the sequel of the history will show
+that the seed which was now scattered was not altogether lost.
+
+
+(1563.) The king's answer gave no satisfaction to the three
+confederates; they boldly determined to venture a second attempt.  "It
+had," they wrote, "surprised them not a little, that his majesty had
+thought their representations so unworthy of attention.  It was not as
+accusers of the minister, but as counsellors of his majesty, whose duty
+it was to inform their master of the condition of his states, that they
+had despatched that letter to him.  They sought not the ruin of the
+minister, indeed it would gratify them to see him contented and happy in
+any other part of the world than here in the Netherlands.  They were,
+however, fully persuaded of this, that his continued presence there was
+absolutely incompatible with the general tranquillity.  The present
+dangerous condition of their native country would allow none of them to
+leave it, much less to take so long a journey as to Spain on Granvella's
+account.  If, therefore, his majesty did not please to comply with their
+written request, they hoped to be excused for the future from attendance
+in the senate, where they were only exposed to the mortification of
+meeting the minister, and where they could be of no service either to
+the king or the state, but only appeared contemptible in their own
+sight.  In conclusion, they begged his majesty would not take ill the
+plain simplicity of their languge, since persons of their character set
+more value on acting well than on speaking finely."  To the same purport
+was a separate letter from Count Egmont, in which he returned thanks for
+the royal autograph.  This second address was followed by an answer to
+the effect that "their representations should be taken into
+consideration, meanwhile they were requested to attend the council of
+state as heretofore."
+
+It was evident that the monarch was far from intending to grant their
+request; they, therefore, from this tune forth absented themselves from
+the state council, and even left Brussels.  Not having succeeded in
+removing the minister by lawful means they sought to accomplish this end
+by a new mode from which more might be expected.  On every occasion they
+and their adherents openly showed the contempt which they felt for him,
+and contrived to throw ridicule on everything he undertook.  By this
+contemptuous treatment they hoped to harass the haughty spirit of the
+priest, and to obtain through his mortified self-love what they had
+failed in by other means.  In this, indeed, they did not succeed; but
+the expedient on which they had fallen led in the end to the ruin of the
+minister.
+
+The popular voice was raised more loudly against him so soon as it was
+perceived that be had forfeited the good opinion of the nobles, and that
+men whose sentiments they had been used blindly to echo preceded them in
+detestation of him.  The contemptuous manner in which the nobility now
+treated him devoted him in a measure to the general scorn and emboldened
+calumny which never spares even what is holiest and purest, to lay its
+sacrilegious hand on his honor.  The new constitution of the church,
+which was the great grievance of the nation, had been the basis of his
+fortunes.  This was a crime that could not be forgiven.  Every fresh
+execution--and with such spectacles the activity of the inquisitors was
+only too liberal--kept alive and furnished dreadful exercise to the
+bitter animosity against him, and at last custom and usage inscribed his
+name on every act of oppression.  A stranger in a land into which he had
+been introduced against its will; alone among millions of enemies;
+uncertain of all his tools; supported only by the weak arm of distant
+royalty; maintaining his intercourse with the nation, which he had to
+gain, only by means of faithless instruments, all of whom made it their
+highest object to falsify his actions and misrepresent his motives;
+lastly, with a woman for his coadjutor who could not share with him the
+burden of the general execration--thus he stood exposed to the
+wantonness, the ingratitude, the faction, the envy, and all the evil
+passions of a licentious, insubordinate people.  It is worthy of remark
+that the hatred which he had incurred far outran the demerits which
+could be laid to his charge; that it was difficult, nay impossible, for
+his accusers to substantiate by proof the general condemnation which
+fell upon him from all sides.  Before and after him fanaticism dragged
+its victims to the altar; before and after him civil blood flowed, the
+rights of men were made a mock of, and men themselves rendered wretched.
+Under Charles V. tyranny ought to have pained more acutely through its
+novelty; under the Duke of Alva it was carried to far more unnatural
+lengths, insomuch that Granvella's administration, in comparison with
+that of his successor, was even merciful; and yet we do not find that
+his contemporaries ever evinced the same degree of personal exasperation
+and spite against the latter in which they indulged against his
+predecessor.  To cloak the meanness of his birth in the splendor of high
+dignities, and by an exalted station to place him if possible above the
+malice of his enemies, the regent had made interest at Rome to procure
+for him the cardinal's hat; but this very honor, which connected him
+more closely with the papal court, made him so much the more an alien in
+the provinces.  The purple was a new crime in Brussels, and an
+obnoxious, detested garb, which in a measure publicly held forth to view
+the principles on which his future conduct would be governed.  Neither
+his honorable rank, which alone often consecrates the most infamous
+caitiff, nor his talents, which commanded esteem, nor even his terrible
+omnipotence, which daily revealed itself in so many bloody
+manifestations, could screen him from derision.  Terror and scorn, the
+fearful and the ludicruous, were in his instance unnaturally blended.
+
+     [The nobility, at the suggestion of Count Egmont, caused their
+     servants to wear a common livery, on which was embroidered a fool's
+     cap.  All Brussels interpreted it for the cardinal's hat, and every
+     appearance of such a servant renewed their laughter; this badge of
+     a fool's cap, which was offensive to the court, was subsequently
+     changed into a bundle of arrows--an accidental jest which took a
+     very serious end, and probably was the origin of the arms of the
+     republic.  Vit. Vigl. T. II. 35 Thuan.  489.  The respect for the
+     cardinal sunk at last so low that a caricature was publicly placed
+     in his own hand, in which he was represented seated on a heap of
+     eggs, out of which bishops were crawling.  Over him hovered a devil
+     with the inscription--"This is my son, hear ye him!"]
+
+Odious rumors branded his honor; murderous attempts on the lives of
+Egmont and Orange were ascribed to him; the most incredible things found
+credence; the most monstrous, if they referred to him or were said to
+emanate from him, surprised no longer.  The nation had already become
+uncivilized to that degree where the most contradictory sentiments
+prevail side by side, and the finer boundary lines of decorum and moral
+feeling are erased.  This belief in extraordinary crimes is almost
+invariably their immediate precursor.
+
+But with this gloomy prospect the strange destiny of this man opens at
+the same time a grander view, which impresses the unprejudiced observer
+with pleasure and admiration.  Here he beholds a nation dazzled by no
+splendor, and restrained by no fear, firmly, inexorably, and
+unpremeditatedly unanimous in punishing the crime which had been
+committed against its dignity by the violent introduction of a stranger
+into the heart of its political constitution.  We see him ever aloof and
+ever isolated, like a foreign hostile body hovering over a surface which
+repels its contact.  The strong hand itself of the monarch, who was.
+his friend and protector, could not support him against the antipathies
+of the nation which had once resolved to withhold from him all its
+sympathy.  The voice of national hatred was all powerful, and was ready
+to forego even private interest, its certain gains; his alms even were
+shunned, like the fruit of an accursed tree.  Like pestilential vapor,
+the infamy of universal reprobation hung over him.  In his case
+gratitude believed itself absolved from its duties; his adherents
+shunned him; his friends were dumb in his behalf.  So terribly did the
+people avenge the insulted majesty of their nobles and their nation on
+the greatest monarch of the earth.
+
+History has repeated this memorable example only once, in Cardinal
+Mazarin; but the instance differed according to the spirit of the two
+periods and nations.  The highest power could not protect either from
+derision; but if France found vent for its indignation in laughing at
+its pantaloon, the Netherlands hurried from scorn to rebellion.  The
+former, after a long bondage under the vigorous administration of
+Richelieu, saw itself placed suddenly in unwonted liberty; the latter
+had passed from ancient hereditary freedom into strange and unusual
+servitude; it was as natural that the Fronde should end again in
+subjection as that the Belgian troubles should issue in republican
+independence.  The revolt of the Parisians was the offspring of poverty;
+unbridled, but not bold, arrogant, but without energy, base and
+plebeian, like the source from which it sprang.  The murmur of the
+Netherlands was the proud and powerful voice of wealth.  Licentiousness
+and hunger inspired the former; revenge, life, property, and religion
+were the animating motives of the latter.  Rapacity was Mazarin's spring
+of action; Granvella's lust of power.  The former was humane and mild;
+the latter harsh, imperious, cruel.  The French minister sought in the
+favor of his queen an asylum from the hatred of the magnates and the
+fury of the people; the Netherlandish minister provoked the hatred of a
+whole nation in order to please one man.  Against Mazarin were only a
+few factions and the mob they could arm; an entire and united nation
+against Granvella.  Under the former parliament attempted to obtain,
+by stealth, a power which did not belong to them; under the latter it
+struggled for a lawful authority which he insidiously had endeavored to
+wrest from them.  The former had to contend with the princes of the
+blood and the peers of the realm, as the latter had with the native
+nobility and the states, but instead of endeavoring, like the former, to
+overthrow the common enemy, in the hope of stepping themselves into his
+place, the latter wished to destroy the place itself, and to divide a
+power which no single man ought to possess entire.
+
+While these feelings were spreading among the people the influence of
+the minister at the court of the regent began to totter.  The repeated
+complaints against the extent of his power must at last have made her
+sensible how little faith was placed in her own; perhaps, too, she began
+to fear that the universal abhorrence which attached to him would soon
+include herself also, or that his longer stay would inevitably provoke
+the menaced revolt.  Long intercourse with him, his instruction and
+example, had qualified her to govern without him.  His dignity began to
+be more oppressive to her as he became less necessary, and his faults,
+to which her friendship had hitherto lent a veil, became visible as it
+was withdrawn.  She was now as much disposed to search out and enumerate
+these faults as she formerly had been to conceal them.  In this
+unfavorable state of her feelings towards the cardinal the urgent and
+accumulated representations of the nobles began at last to find access
+to her mind, and the more easily, as they contrived to mix up her own
+fears with their own.  "It was matter of great astonishment," said Count
+Egmont to her, "that to gratify a man who was not even a Fleming, and of
+whom, therefore, it must be well known that his happiness could not be
+dependent on the prosperity of this country, the king could be content
+to see all his Netherlandish subjects suffer, and this to please a
+foreigner, who if his birth made him a subject of the Emperor, the
+purple had made a creature of the court of Rome."  "To the king alone,"
+added the count, "was Granvella indebted for his being still among the
+living; for the future, however, he would leave that care of him to the
+regent, and he hereby gave her warning."  As the majority of the nobles,
+disgusted with the contemptuous treatment which they met with in the
+council of state, gradually withdrew from it, the arbitrary proceedings
+of the minister lost the last semblance of republican deliberation which
+had hitherto softened the odious aspect, and the empty desolation of
+the council chamber made his domineering rule appear in all its
+obnoxiousness.  The regent now felt that she had a master over her,
+and from that moment the banishment of the minister was decided upon.
+
+With this object she despatched her private secretary, Thomas
+Armenteros, to Spain, to acquaint the king with the circumstances in
+which the cardinal was placed, to apprise him of the intimations she had
+received of the intentions of the nobles, and in this manner to cause
+the resolution for his recall to appear to emanate from the king
+himself.  What she did not like to trust to a letter Armenteros was
+ordered ingeniously to interweave in the oral communication which the
+king would probably require from him.  Armenteros fulfilled his
+commission with all the ability of a consummate courtier; but an
+audience of four hours could not overthrow the work of many years, nor
+destroy in Philip's mind his opinion of his minister, which was there
+unalterably established.  Long did the monarch hold counsel with his
+policy and his interest, until Granvella himself came to the aid of his
+wavering resolution and voluntarily solicited a dismissal, which, he
+feared, could not much longer be deferred.  What the detestation of all
+the Netherlands could not effect the contemptuous treatment of the
+nobility accomplished; he was at last weary of a power which was no
+longer feared, and exposed him less to envy than to infamy.
+
+Perhaps as some have believed he trembled for his life, which was
+certainly in more than imaginary danger; perhaps he wished to receive
+his dismissal from the king under the shape of a boon rather than of a
+sentence, and after the example of the Romans meet with dignity a fate
+which he could no longer avoid.  Philip too, it would appear, preferred
+generously to accord to the nation a request rather than to yield at a
+later period to a demand, and hoped at least to merit their thanks by
+voluntarily conceding now what necessity would ere long extort.  His
+fears prevailed over his obstinacy, and prudence overcame pride.
+
+Granvella doubted not for a moment what the decision of the king would
+be.  A few days after the return of Armenteros he saw humility and
+flattery disappear from the few faces which had till then servilely
+smiled upon him; the last small crowd of base flatterers and eyeservants
+vanished from around his person; his threshold was forsaken; he
+perceived that the fructifying warmth of royal favor had left him.
+
+Detraction, which had assailed him during his whole administration, did
+not spare him even in the moment of resignation.  People did not scruple
+to assert that a short time before he laid down his office he had
+expressed a wish to be reconciled to the Prince of Orange and Count
+Egmont, and even offered, if their forgiveness could be hoped for on no
+other terms, to ask pardon of them on his knees.  It was base and
+contemptible to sully the memory of a great and extraordinary man with
+such a charge, but it is still more so to hand it down uncontradicted to
+posterity.  Granvella submitted to the royal command with a dignified
+composure.  Already had he written, a few months previously, to the Duke
+of Alva in Spain, to prepare him a place of refuge in Madrid, in case of
+his having to quit the Netherlands.  The latter long bethought himself
+whether it was advisable to bring thither so dangerous a rival for the
+favor of his king, or to deny so important a friend such a valuable
+means of indulging his old hatred of the Flemish nobles.  Revenge
+prevailed over fear, and he strenuously supported Granvella's request
+with the monarch.  But his intercession was fruitless.  Armenteros had
+persuaded the king that the minister's residence in Madrid would only
+revive, with increased violence, all the complaints of the Belgian
+nation, to which his ministry had been sacrificed; for then, he said, he
+would be suspected of poisoning the very source of that power, whose
+outlets only he had hitherto been charged with corrupting.  He therefore
+sent him to Burgundy, his native place, for which a decent pretext
+fortunately presented itself.  The cardinal gave to his departure from
+Brussels the appearance of an unimportant journey, from which he would
+return in a few days.  At the same time, however, all the state
+counsellors, who, under his administration, had voluntarily excluded
+themselves from its sittings, received a command from the court to
+resume their seats in the senate at Brussels.  Although the latter
+circumstance made his return not very credible, nevertheless the
+remotest possibility of it sobered the triumph which celebrated his
+departure.  The regent herself appears to have been undecided what to
+think about the report; for, in a fresh letter to the king, she repeated
+all the representations and arguments which ought to restrain him from
+restoring this minister.  Granvella himself, in his correspondence with
+Barlaimont and Viglius, endeavored to keep alive this rumor, and at
+least to alarm with fears, however unsubstantial, the enemies whom he
+could no longer punish by his presence.  Indeed, the dread of the
+influence of this extraordinary man was so exceedingly great that, to
+appease it, he was at last driven even from his home and his country.
+
+After the death of Pius IV., Granvella went to Rome, to be present at
+the election of a new pope, and at the same time to discharge some
+commissions of his master, whose confidence in him remained unshaken.
+Soon after, Philip made him viceroy of Naples, where he succumbed to the
+seductions of the climate, and the spirit which no vicissitudes could
+bend voluptuousness overcame.  He was sixty-two years old when the king
+allowed him to revisit Spain, where he continued with unlimited powers
+to administer the affairs of Italy.  A gloomy old age, and the self-
+satisfied pride of a sexagenarian administration made him a harsh and
+rigid judge of the opinions of others, a slave of custom, and a tedious
+panegyrist of past times.  But the policy of the closing century had
+ceased to be the policy of the opening one.  A new and younger ministry
+were soon weary of so imperious a superintendent, and Philip himself
+began to shun the aged counsellor, who found nothing worthy of praise
+but the deeds of his father.  Nevertheless, when the conquest of
+Portugal called Philip to Lisbon, he confided to the cardinal the care
+of his Spanish territories.  Finally, on an Italian tour, in the town of
+Mantua, in the seventy-third year of his life, Granvella terminated his
+long existence in the full enjoyment of his glory, and after possessing
+for forty years the uninterrupted confidence of his king.
+
+
+(1564.) Immediately upon the departure of the minister, all the happy
+results which were promised from his withdrawal were fulfilled.  The
+disaffected nobles resumed their seats in the council, and again devoted
+themselves to the affairs of the state with redoubled zeal, in order to
+give no room for regret for him whom they had driven away, and to prove,
+by the fortunate administration of the state, that his services were not
+indispensable.  The crowd round the duchess was great.  All vied with
+one another in readiness, in submission, and zeal in her service; the
+hours of night were not allowed to stop the transaction of pressing
+business of state; the greatest unanimity existed between the three
+councils, the best understanding between the court and the states.  From
+the obliging temper of the Flemish nobility everything was to be had, as
+soon as their pride and self-will was flattered by confidence and
+obliging treatment.  The regent took advantage of the first joy of the
+nation to beguile them into a vote of certain taxes, which, under the
+preceding administration, she could not have hoped to extort.  In this,
+the great credit of the nobility etfectually supported her, and she soon
+learned from this nation the secret, which had been so often verified in
+the German diet--that much must be demanded in order to get a little.
+
+With pleasure did the regent see herself emancipated from her long
+thraldom; the emulous industry of the nobility lightened for her the
+burden of business, and their insinuating humility allowed her to feel
+the full sweetness of power.
+
+
+(1564).  Granvella had been overthrown, but his party still remained.
+His policy lived in his creatures, whom he left behind him in the privy
+council and in the chamber of finance.  Hatred still smouldered amongst
+the factious long after the leader was banished, and the names of the
+Orange and Royalist parties, of the Patriots and Cardinalists still
+continued to divide the senate and to keep up the flames of discord.
+Viglius Van Zuichem Van Aytta, president of the privy council, state
+counsellor and keeper of the seal, was now looked upon as the most
+important person in the senate, and the most powerful prop of the crown
+and the tiara.  This highly meritorious old man, whom we have to thank
+for some valuable contributions towards the history of the rebellion of
+the Low Countries, and whose confidential correspondence with his
+friends has generally been the guide of our narrative, was one of the
+greatest lawyers of his time, as well as a theologian and priest, and
+had already, under the Emperor, filled the most important offices.
+Familiar intercourse with the learned men who adorned the age, and at
+the head of whom stood Erasmus of Rotterdam, combined with frequent
+travels in the imperial service, had extended the sphere of his
+information and experience, and in many points raised him in his
+principles and opinions above his contemporaries.  The fame of his
+erudition filled the whole century in which he lived, and has handed his
+name down to posterity.  When, in the year 1548, the connection of the
+Netherlands with the German empire was to be settled at the Diet of
+Augsburg, Charles V. sent hither this statesman to manage the interests
+of the provinces; and his ability principally succeeded in turning the
+negotiations to the advantage of the Netherlands.  After the death of
+the Emperor, Viglius was one of the many eminent ministers bequeathed to
+Philip by his father, and one of the few in whom be honored his memory.
+The fortune of the minister, Granvella, with whom he was united by the
+ties of an early acquaintance, raised him likewise to greatness; but he
+did not share the fall of his patron, because he had not participated in
+his lust of power; nor, consequently, the hatred which attached to him.
+A residence of twenty years in the provinces, where the most important
+affairs were entrusted to him, approved loyalty to his king, and zealous
+attachment to the Roman Catholic tenets, made him one of the most
+distinguished instruments of royalty in the Netherlands.
+
+Viglius was a man of learning, but no thinker; an experienced statesman,
+but without an enlightened mind; of an intellect not sufficiently
+powerful to break, like his friend Erasmus, the fetters of error, yet
+not sufficiently bad to employ it, like his predecessor, Granvella, in
+the service of his own passions.  Too weak and timid to follow boldly
+the guidance of his reason, he preferred trusting to the more convenient
+path of conscience; a thing was just so soon as it became his duty; he
+belonged to those honest men who are indispensable to bad ones; fraud
+reckoned on his honesty.  Half a century later he would have received
+his immortality from the freedom which he now helped to subvert.
+In the privy council at Brussels he was the servant of tyranny; in the
+parliament in London, or in the senate at Amsterdam, he would have died,
+perhaps, like Thomas More or Olden Barneveldt.
+
+In the Count Barlaimont, the president of the council of finance,
+the opposition had a no less formidable antagonist than in Viglius.
+Historians have transmitted but little information regarding the
+services and the opinions of this man.  In the first part of his career
+the dazzling greatness of Cardinal Granvella seems to have cast a shade
+over him; after the latter had disappeared from the stage the
+superiority of the opposite party kept him down, but still the little
+that we do find respecting him throws a favorable light over his
+character.  More than once the Prince of Orange exerted himself to
+detach him from the interests of the cardinal, and to join him to his
+own party--sufficient proof that he placed a value on the prize.  All
+his efforts failed, which shows that he had to do with no vacillating
+character.  More than once we see him alone, of all the members of the
+council, stepping forward to oppose the dominant faction, and protecting
+against universal opposition the interests of the crown, which were in
+momentary peril of being sacrificed.  When the Prince of Orange had
+assembled the knights of the Golden Fleece in his own palace, with a
+view to induce them to come to a preparatory resolution for the
+abolition of the Inquisition, Barlaimont was the first to denounce the
+illegality of this proceeding and to inform the regent of it.  Some time
+after the prince asked him if the regent knew of that assembly, and
+Barlaitnont hesitated not a moment to avow to him the truth.  All the
+steps which have been ascribed to him bespeak a man whom neither
+influence nor fear could tempt, who, with a firm courage and indomitable
+constancy, remained faithful to the party which he had once chosen, but
+who, it must at the same time be confessed, entertained too proud and
+too despotic notions to have selected any other.
+
+Amongst the adherents of the royal party at Brussels, we have, further,
+the names of the Duke of Arschot, the Counts of Mansfeld, Megen, and
+Aremberg--all three native Netherlanders; and therefore, as it appeared,
+bound equally with the whole Netherlandish nobility to oppose the
+hierarchy and the royal power in their native country.  So much the more
+surprised must we feel at their contrary behavior, and which is indeed
+the more remarkable, since we find them on terms of friendship with the
+most eminent members of the faction, and anything but insensible to the
+common grievances of their country.
+
+But they had not self-confidence or heroism enough to venture on an
+unequal contest with so superior an antagonist.  With a cowardly
+prudence they made their just discontent submit to the stern law of
+necessity, and imposed a hard sacrifice on their pride because their
+pampered vanity was capable of nothing better.  Too thrifty and too
+discreet to wish to extort from the justice or the fear of their
+sovereign the certain good which they already possessed from his
+voluntary generosity, or to resign a real happiness in order to preserve
+the shadow of another, they rather employed the propitious moment to
+drive a traffic with their constancy, which, from the general defection
+of the nobility, had now risen in value.  Caring little for true glory,
+they allowed their ambition to decide which party they should take; for
+the ambition of base minds prefers to bow beneath the hard yoke of
+compulsion rather than submit to the gentle sway of a superior
+intellect.  Small would have been the value of the favor conferred had
+they bestowed themselves on the Prince of Orange; but their connection
+with royalty made them so much the more formidable as opponents.  There
+their names would have been lost among his numerous adherents and in the
+splendor of their rival.  On the almost deserted side of the court their
+insignificant merit acquired lustre.
+
+The families of Nassau and Croi (to the latter belonged the Duke of
+Arschot) had for several reigns been competitors for influence and
+honor, and their rivalry had kept up an old feud between their families,
+which religious differences finally made irreconcilable.  The house of
+Croi from time immemorial had been renowned for its devout and strict
+observance of papistic rites and ceremonies; the Counts of Nassau had
+gone over to the new sect--sufficient reasons why Philip of Croi, Duke
+of Arschot, should prefer a party which placed him the most decidedly in
+opposition to the Prince of Orange.  The court did not fail to take
+advantage of this private feud, and to oppose so important an enemy to
+the increasing influence of the house of Nassau in the republic.  The
+Counts Mansfeld and Megen had till lately been the confidential friends
+of Count Egmont.  In common with him they had raised their voice against
+the minister, had joined him in resisting the Inquisition and the
+edicts, and had hitherto held with him as far as honor and duty would
+permit.  But at these limits the three friends now separated.  Egmont's
+unsuspecting virtue incessantly hurried him forwards on the road to
+ruin; Mansfeld and Megen, admonished of the danger, began in good time
+to think of a safe retreat.  There still exist letters which were
+interchanged between the Counts Egmont and Mansfeld, and which, although
+written at a later period, give us a true picture of their former
+friendship.  "If," replied Count Mansfeld to his friend, who in an
+amicable manner had reproved him for his defection to the king, "if
+formerly I was of opinion that the general good made the abolition of
+the Inquisition, the mitigation of the edicts, and the removal of the
+Cardinal Granvella necessary, the king has now acquiesced in this wish
+and removed the cause of complaint.  We have already done too much
+against the majesty of the sovereign and the authority of the church; it
+is high time for us to turn, if we would wish to meet the king, when he
+comes, with open brow and without anxiety.  As regards my own person, I
+do not dread his vengeance; with confident courage I would at his first
+summons present myself in Spain, and boldly abide my sentence from his
+justice and goodness.  I do not say this as if I doubted whether Count
+Egrnont can assert the same, but he will act prudently in looking more
+to his own safety, and in removing suspicion from his actions.  If I
+hear," he says, in conclusion, "that he has allowed my admonitions to
+have their due weight, our friendship continues; if not, I feel myself
+in that case strong enough to sacrifice all human ties to my duty and to
+honor."
+
+The enlarged power of the nobility exposed the republic to almost a
+greater evil than that which it had just escaped by the removal of the
+minister.  Impoverished by long habits of luxury, which at the same time
+had relaxed their morals, and to which they were now too much addicted
+to be able to renounce them, they yielded to the perilous opportunity of
+indulging their ruling inclination, and of again repairing the expiring
+lustre of their fortunes.  Extravagance brought on the thirst for gain,
+and this introduced bribery.  Secular and ecclesiastical offices were
+publicly put up to sale; posts of honor, privileges, and patents were
+sold to the highest bidder; even justice was made a trade.  Whom the
+privy council had condemned was acquitted by the council of state, and
+what the former refused to grant was to be purchased from the latter.
+The council of state, indeed, subsequently retorted the charge on the
+two other councils, but it forgot that it was its own example that
+corrupted them.  The shrewdness of rapacity opened new sources of gain.
+Life, liberty, and religion were insured for a certain sum, like landed
+estates; for gold, murderers and malefactors were free, and the nation
+was plundered by a lottery.  The servants and creatures of the state,
+counsellors and governors of provinces, were, without regard to rank or
+merit, pushed into the most important posts; whoever had a petition to
+present at court had to make his way through the governors of provinces
+and their inferior servants.  No artifice of seduction was spared to
+implicate in these excesses the private secretary of the duchess, Thomas
+Armenteros, a man up to this time of irreproachable character.  By
+pretended professions of attachment and friendship a successful attempt
+was made to gain his confidence, and by luxurious entertainments to
+undermine his principles; the seductive example infected his morals, and
+new wants overcame his hitherto incorruptible integrity.  He was now
+blind to abuses in which he was an accomplice, and drew a veil over the
+crimes of others in order at the same time to cloak his own.  With his
+knowledge the royal exchequer was robbed, and the objects of the
+government were defeated through a corrupt administration of its
+revenues.  Meanwhile the regent wandered on in a fond dream of power and
+activity, which the flattery of the nobles artfully knew how to foster.
+The ambition of the factious played with the foibles of a woman, and
+with empty signs and an humble show of submission purchased real power
+from her.  She soon belonged entirely to the faction, and had
+imperceptibly changed her principles.  Diametrically opposing all her
+former proceedings, even in direct violation of her duty, she now
+brought before the council of state, which was swayed by the faction,
+not only questions which belonged to the other councils, but also the
+suggestions which Viglius had made to her in private, in the same way as
+formerly, under Granvella's administration, she had improperly neglected
+to consult it at all.  Nearly all business and all influence were now
+diverted to the governors of provinces.  All petitions were directed to
+them, by them all lucrative appointments were bestowed.  Their
+usurpations were indeed carried so far that law proceedings were
+withdrawn from the municipal authorities of the towns and brought before
+their own tribunals.  The respectability of the provincial courts
+decreased as theirs extended, and with the respectability of the
+municipal functionaries the administration of justice and civil order
+declined.  The smaller courts soon followed the example of the
+government of the country.  The spirit which ruled the council of state
+at Brussels soon diffused itself through the provinces.  Bribery,
+indulgences, robbery, venality of justice, were universal in the courts
+of judicature of the country; morals degenerated, and the new sects
+availed themselves of this all-pervading licentiousness to propagate
+their opinions.  The religious indifference or toleration of the nobles,
+who, either themselves inclined to the side of the innovators, or, at
+least, detested the Inquisition as an instrument of despotism, had
+mitigated the rigor of the religious edicts, and through the letters of
+indemnity, which were bestowed on many Protestants, the holy office was
+deprived of its best victims.  In no way could the nobility more
+agreeably announce to the nation its present share in the government of
+the country than by sacrificing to it the hated tribunal of the
+Inquisition--and to this inclination impelled them still more than the
+dictates of policy.  The nation passed in a moment from the most
+oppressive constraint of intolerance into a state of freedom, to which,
+however, it had already become too unaccustomed to support it with
+moderation.  The inquisitors, deprived of the support of the municipal
+authorities, found themselves an object of derision rather than of fear.
+In Bruges the town council caused even some of their own servants to be
+placed in confinement, and kept on bread and water, for attempting to
+lay hands upon a supposed heretic.  About this very time the mob in
+Antwerp, having made a futile, attempt to rescue a person charged with
+heresy from the holy office, there was placarded in the public market-
+place an inscription, written in blood, to the effect that a number of
+persons had bound themselves by oath to avenge the death of that
+innocent person.
+
+From the corruption which pervaded the whole council of state, the privy
+council, and the chamber of finance, in which Viglius and Barlaimont
+were presidents, had as yet, for the most part, kept themselves pure.
+
+As the faction could not succeed in insinuating their adherents into
+those two councils the only course open to them was, if possible, to
+render both inefficient, and to transfer their business to the council
+of state.  To carry out this design the Prince of Orange sought to
+secure the co-operation of the other state counsellors.  "They were
+called, indeed, senators," he frequently declared to his adherents, "but
+others possessed the power.  If gold was wanted to pay the troops, or
+when the question was how the spreading heresy was to be repressed, or
+the people kept in order, then they were consulted; although in fact
+they were the guardians neither of the treasury nor of the laws, but
+only the organs through which the other two councils operated on the
+state.  And yet alone they were equal to the whole administration of the
+country, which had been uselessly portioned out amongst three separate
+chambers.  If they would among themselves only agree to reunite to the
+council of state these two important branches of government, which had
+been dissevered from it, one soul might animate the whole body."  A plan
+was preliminarily and secretly agreed on, in accordance with which
+twelve new Knights of the Fleece were to be added to the council of
+state, the administration of justice restored to the tribunal at
+Malines, to which it originally belonged, the granting of letters of
+grace, patents, and so forth, assigned to the president, Viglius, while
+the management of the finances should be committed to it.  All the
+difficulties, indeed, which the distrust of the court and its jealousy
+of the increasing power of the nobility would oppose to this innovation
+were foreseen and provided against.  In order to constrain the regent's
+assent, some of the principal officers of the army were put forward as a
+cloak, who were to annoy the court at Brussels with boisterous demands
+for their arrears of pay, and in case of refusal to threaten a
+rebellion.  It was also contrived to have the regent assailed with
+numerous petitions and memorials complaining of the delays of justice,
+and exaggerating the danger which was to be apprehended from the daily
+growth of heresy.  Nothing was omitted to darken the picture of the
+disorganized state of society, of the abuse of justice, and of the
+deficiency in the finances, which was made so alarming that she awoke
+with terror from the delusion of prosperity in which she had hitherto
+cradled herself.  She called the three councils together to consult them
+on the means by which these disorders were to be remedied.  The majority
+was in favor of sending an extraordinary ambassador to Spain, who by a
+circumstantial and vivid delineation should make the king acquainted
+with the true position of affairs, and if possible prevail on him to
+adopt efficient measures of reform.  This proposition was opposed by
+Viglius, who, however, had not the slighest suspicion of the secret
+designs of the faction.  "The evil complained of," he said, "is
+undoubtedly great, and one which can no longer be neglected with
+impunity, but it is not irremediable by ourselves.  The administration
+of justice is certainly crippled, but the blame of this lies with the
+nobles themselves; by their contemptuous treatment they have thrown
+discredit on the municipal authorities, who, moreover, are very
+inadequately supported by the governors of provinces.  If heresy is on
+the increase it is because the secular arm has deserted the spiritual
+judges, and because the lower orders, following the example of the
+nobles, have thrown off all respect for those in authority.  The
+provinces are undoubtedly oppressed by a heavy debt, but it has not been
+accumulated, as alleged, by any malversation of the revenues, but by the
+expenses of former wars and the king's present exigences; still wise and
+prudent measures of finance might in a short time remove the burden.  If
+the council of state would not be so profuse of its indulgences, its
+charters of immunity, and its exemptions; if it would commence the
+reformation of morals with itself, show greater respect to the laws, and
+do what lies in its power to restore to the municipal functionaries
+their former consideration; in short, if the councils and the governors
+of provinces would only fulfil their own duties the present grounds of
+complaint would soon be removed.  Why, then, send an ambassador to
+Spain, when as yet nothing has occurred to justify so extraordinary an
+expedient?  If, however, the council thinks otherwise, he would not
+oppose the general voice; only he must make it a condition of his
+concurrence that the principal instruction of the envoy should be to
+entreat the king to make them a speedy visit."
+
+There was but one voice as to the choice of an envoy.  Of all the
+Flemish nobles Count Egmont was the only one whose appointment would
+give equal satisfaction to both parties.  His hatred of the Inquisition,
+his patriotic and liberal sentiments, and the unblemished integrity of
+his character, gave to the republic sufficient surety for his conduct,
+while for the reasons already mentioned he could not fail to be welcome
+to the king.  Moreover, Egmont's personal figure and demeanor were
+calculated on his first appearance to make that favorable impression
+which goes co far towards winning the hearts of princes; and his
+engaging carriage would come to the aid of his eloquence, and enforce
+his petition with those persuasive arts which are indispensable to the
+success of even the most trifling suits to royalty.  Egmont himself,
+too, wished for the embassy, as it would afford him the opportunity of
+adjusting, personally, matters with his sovereign.
+
+About this time the Council, or rather synod, of Trent closed its
+sittings, and published its decrees to the whole of Christendom.  But
+these canons, far from accomplishing the object for which the synod was
+originally convened, and satisfying the expectation of religious
+parties, had rather widened the breach between them, and made the schism
+irremediable and eternal.
+
+The labors of the synod instead of purifying the Romish Church from its
+corruptions had only reduced the latter to greater definiteness and
+precision, and invested them with the sanction of authority.  All the
+subtilties of its teaching, all the arts and usurpations of the Roman
+See, which had hitherto rested more on arbitrary usage, were now passed
+into laws and raised into a system.  The uses and abuses which during
+the barbarous times of ignorance and superstition had crept into
+Christianity were now declared essential parts of its worship, and
+anathemas were denounced upon all who should dare to contradict the
+dogmas or neglect the observances of the Romish communion.  All were
+anathematized who should either presume to doubt the miraculous power of
+relics, and refuse to honor the bones of martyrs, or should be so bold
+as to doubt the availing efficacy of the intercession of saints.  The
+power of granting indulgences, the first source of the defection from
+the See of Rome, was now propounded in an irrefragable article of faith;
+and the principle of monasticism sanctioned by an express decree of the
+synod, which allowed males to take the vows at sixteen and females at
+twelve.  And while all the opinions of the Protestants were, without
+exception, condemned, no indulgence was shown to their errors or
+weaknesses, nor a single step taken to win them back by mildness to the
+bosom of the mother church.  Amongst the Protestants the wearisome
+records of the subtle deliberations of the synod, and the absurdity of
+its decisions, increased, if possible, the hearty contempt which they
+had long entertained for popery, and laid open to their
+controversialists new and hitherto unnoticed points of attack.  It was
+an ill-judged step to bring the mysteries of the church too close to the
+glaring torch of reason, and to fight with syllogisms for the tenets of
+a blind belief.
+
+Moreover, the decrees of the Council of Trent were not satisfactory even
+to all the powers in communion with Rome.  France rejected them
+entirely, both because she did not wish to displease the Huguenots, and
+also because she was offended by the supremacy which the pope arrogated
+to himself over the council; some of the Roman Catholic princes of
+Germany likewise declared against it.  Little, however, as Philip II.
+was pleased with many of its articles, which trenched too closely upon
+his own rights, for no monarch was ever more jealous of his prerogative;
+highly as the pope's assumption of control over the council, and its
+arbitrary, precipitate dissolution had offended him; just as was his
+indignation at the slight which the pope had put upon his ambassador; he
+nevertheless acknowedged the decrees of the synod, even in its present
+form, because it favored his darling object--the extirpation of heresy.
+Political considerations were all postponed to this one religious
+object, and he commanded the publication and enforcement of its canons
+throughout his dominions.
+
+The spirit of revolt, which was diffused through the Belgian provinces,
+scarcely required this new stimulus.  There the minds of men were in a
+ferment, and the character of the Romish Church had sunk almost to the
+lowest point of contempt in the general opinion.  Under such
+circumstances the imperious and frequently injudicious decrees of the
+council could not fail of being highly offensive; but Philip II. could
+not belie his religious character so far as to allow a different
+religion to a portion of his subjects, even though they might live on a
+different soil and under different laws from the rest.  The regent was
+strictly enjoined to exact in the Netherlands the same obedience to the
+decrees of Trent which was yielded to them in Spain and Italy.
+
+They met, however, with the warmest opposition in the council of state
+at Brussels.  "The nation," William of Orange declared, "neither would
+nor could acknowledge them, since they were, for the most part, opposed
+to the fundamental principles of their constitution; and, for similar
+reasons, they had even been rejected by several Roman Catholic princes."
+The whole council nearly was on the side of Orange; a decided majority
+were for entreating the king either to recall the decrees entirely or at
+least to publish them under certain limitations.  This proposition was
+resisted by Viglius, who insisted on a strict and literal obedience to
+the royal commands.  "The church," he said, "had in all ages maintained
+the purity of its doctrines and the strictness of its discipline by
+means of such general councils.  No more efficacious remedy could be
+opposed to the errors of opinion which had so long distracted their
+country than these very decrees, the rejection of which is now urged by
+the council of state.  Even if they are occasionally at variance with
+the constitutional rights of the citizens this is an evil which can
+easily be met by a judicious and temperate application of them.  For the
+rest it redounds to the honor of our sovereign, the King of Spain, that
+he alone, of all the princes of his time, refuses to yield his better
+judgment to necessity, and will not, for any fear of consequences,
+reject measures which the welfare of the church demands, and which the
+happiness of his subjects makes a duty."
+
+But the decrees also contained several matters which affected the rights
+of the crown itself.  Occasion was therefore taken of this fact to
+propose that these sections at least should be omitted from the
+proclimation.  By this means the king might, it was argued, be relieved
+from these obnoxious and degrading articles by a happy expedient; the
+national liberties of the Netherlands might be advanced as the pretext
+for the omission, and the name of the republic lent to cover this
+encroachment on the authority of the synod.  But the king had caused
+the decrees to be received and enforced in his other dominions
+unconditionally; and it was not to be expected that he would give the
+other Roman Catholic powers such an example of opposition, and himself
+undermine the edifice whose foundation he had been so assiduous in
+laying.
+
+
+
+
+                          COUNT EGMONT IN SPAIN.
+
+Count Egmont was despatched to Spain to make a forcible representation
+to the king on the subject of these decrees; to persuade him, if
+possible, to adopt a milder policy towards his Protestant subjects, and
+to propose to him the incorporation of the three councils, was the
+commission he received from the malcontents.  By the regent he was
+charged to apprise the monarch of the refractory spirit of the people;
+to convince him of the impossibility of enforcing these edicts of
+religion in their full severity; and lastly to acquaint him with the bad
+state of the military defences and the exhausted condition of the
+exchequer.
+
+The count's public instructions were drawn up by the President Viglius.
+They contained heavy complaints of the decay of justice, the growth of
+heresy, and the exhaustion of the treasury.  He was also to press
+urgently a personal visit from the king to the Netherlands.  The rest
+was left to the eloquence of the envoy, who received a hint from the
+regent not to let so fair an opportunity escape of establishing himself
+in the favor of his sovereign.
+
+The terms in which the count's instructions and the representations
+which he was to make to the king were drawn up appeared to the Prince of
+Orange far too vague and general.  "The president's statement," he said,
+"of our grievances comes very far short of the truth.  How can the king
+apply the suitable remedies if we conceal from him the full extent of
+the evil?  Let us not represent the numbers of the heretics inferior to
+what it is in reality.  Let us candidly acknowledge that they swarm in
+every province and in every hamlet, however small.  Neither let us
+disguise from him the truth that they despise the penal statutes and
+entertain but little reverence for the government.  What good can come
+of this concealment?  Let us rather openly avow to the king that the
+republic cannot long continue in its present condition.  The privy
+council indeed will perhaps pronounce differently, for to them the
+existing disorders are welcome.  For what else is the source of the
+abuse of justice and the universal corruption of the courts of law but
+its insatiable rapacity?  How otherwise can the pomp and scandalous
+luxury of its members, whom we have seen rise from the dust, be
+supported if not by bribery?  Do not the people daily complain that no
+other key but gold can open an access to them; and do not even their
+quarrels prove how little they are swayed by a care for the common weal?
+Are they likely to consult the public good who are the slaves of their
+private passions?  Do they think forsooth that we, the governors of the
+provinces are, with our soldiers, to stand ready at the beck and call of
+an infamous lictor?  Let them set bounds to their indulgences and free
+pardons which they so lavishly bestow on the very persons to whom we
+think it just and expedient to deny them.  No one can remit the
+punishment of a crime without sinning against the society and
+contributing to the increase of the general evil.  To my mind, and I
+have no hesitation to avow it, the distribution amongst so many councils
+of the state secrets and the affairs of government has always appeared
+highly objectionable.  The council of state is sufficient for all the
+duties of the administration; several patriots have already felt this in
+silence, and I now openly declare it.  It is my decided conviction that
+the only sufficient remedy for all the evils complained of is to merge
+the other two chambers in the council of state.  This is the point which
+we must endeavor to obtain from the king, or the present embassy, like
+all others, will be entirely useless and ineffectual."  The prince now
+laid before the assembled senate the plan which we have already
+described.  Viglius, against whom this new proposition was individually
+and mainly directed, and whose eyes were now suddenly opened, was
+overcome by the violence of his vexation.  The agitation of his feelings
+was too much for his feeble body, and he was found, on the following
+morning, paralyzed by apoplexy, and in danger of his life.
+
+His place was supplied by Jaachim Hopper, a member of the privy council
+at Brussels, a man of old-fashioned morals and unblemished integrity,
+the president's most trusted and worthiest friend.
+
+
+     [Vita Vigl. 89.  The person from whose memoirs I have already drawn
+     so many illustrations of the times of this epoch.  His subsequent
+     journey to Spain gave rise to the correspondence between him and
+     the president, which is one of the most valuable documents for our
+     history.]
+
+To meet the wishes of the Orange party he made some additions to the
+instructions of the ambassador, relating chiefly to the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the incorporation of the three councils, not so much
+with the consent of the regent as in the absence of her prohibition.
+Upon Count Egmont taking leave of the president, who had recovered from
+his attack, the latter requested him to procure in Spain permission to
+resign his appointment.  His day, he declared, was past; like the
+example of his friend and predecessor, Granvella, he wished to retire
+into the quiet of private life, and to anticipate the uncertainty of
+fortune.  His genius warned him of impending storm, by which he could
+have no desire to be overtaken.
+
+Count Egmont embarked on his journey to Spain in January, 1565, and was
+received there with a kindness and respect which none of his rank had
+ever before experienced.  The nobles of Castile, taught by the king's
+example to conquer their feelings, or rather, true to his policy, seemed
+to have laid aside their ancient grudge against the Flemish nobility,
+and vied with one another in winning his heart by their affability.  All
+his private matters were immediately settled to his wishes by the king,
+nay, even his expectations exceeded; and during the whole period of his
+stay he had ample cause to boast of the hospitality of the monarch.  The
+latter assured him in the strongest terms of his love for his Belgian
+subjects, and held out hopes of his acceding eventually to the general
+wish, and remitting somewhat of the severity of the religious edicts.
+At the same time, however, he appointed in Madrid a commission of
+theologians to whom he propounded the question, "Is it necessary to
+grant to the provinces the religious toleration they demand?"  As the
+majority of them were of opinion that the peculiar constitution of the
+Netherlands, and the fear of a rebellion might well excuse a degree of
+forbearance in their case, the question was repeated more pointedly.
+"He did not seek to know," he said, "if he might do so, but if he must."
+When the latter question was answered in the negative, he rose from his
+seat, and kneeling down before a crucifix prayed in these words:
+"Almighty Majesty, suffer me not at any time to fall so low as to
+consent to reign over those who reject thee!"  In perfect accordance
+with the spirit of this prayer were the measures which he resolved to
+adopt in the Netherlands.  On the article of religion this monarch had
+taken his resolution once forever; urgent necessity might, perhaps, have
+constrained him temporarily to suspend the execution of the penal
+statutes, but never, formally, to repeal them entirely, or even to
+modify them.  In vain did Egmont represent to him that the public
+execution of the heretics daily augmented the number of their followers,
+while the courage and even joy with which they met their death filled
+the spectators with the deepest admiration, and awakened in them high
+opinions of a doctrine which could make such heroes of its disciples.
+This representation was not indeed lost upon the king, but it had a very
+different effect from what it was intended to produce.  In order to
+prevent these seductive scenes, without, however, compromising the
+severity of the edicts, he fell upon an expedient, and ordered that in
+future the executions should take place in private.  The answer of the
+king on the subject of the embassy was given to the count in writing,
+and addressed to the regent.  The king, when he granted him an audience
+to take leave, did not omit to call him to account for his behavior to
+Granvella, and alluded particularly to the livery invented in derision
+of the cardinal.  Egmmont protested that the whole affair had originated
+in a convivial joke, and nothing was further from their meaning than to
+derogate in the least from the respect that was due to royalty.  "If he
+knew," he said, "that any individual among them had entertained such
+disloyal thoughts be himself would challenge him to answer for it with
+his life."
+
+At his departure the monarch made him a present of fifty thousand
+florins, and engaged, moreover, to furnish a portion for his daughter on
+her marriage.  He also consigned to his care the young Farnese of Parma,
+whom, to gratify the regent, his mother, he was sending to Brussels.
+The king's pretended mildness, and his professions of regard for the
+Belgian nation, deceived the open-hearted Fleming.  Happy in the idea of
+being the bearer of so much felicity to his native country, when in fact
+it was more remote than ever, he quitted Madrid satisfied beyond measure
+to think of the joy with which the provinces would welcome the message
+of their good king; but the opening of the royal answer in the council
+of state at Brussels disappointed all these pleasing hopes.  "Although
+in regard to the religious edicts," this was its tenor, "his resolve was
+firm and immovable, and he would rather lose a thousand lives than
+consent to alter a single letter of it, still, moved by the
+representations of Count Egmont, he was, on the other hand, equally
+determined not to leave any gentle means untried to guard the people
+against the delusions of heresy, and so to avert from them that
+punishment which must otherwise infallibly overtake them.  As he had now
+learned from the count that the principal source of the existing errors
+in the faith was in the moral depravity of the clergy, the bad
+instruction and the neglected education of the young, he hereby
+empowered the regent to appoint a special commission of three bishops,
+and a convenient number of learned theologians, whose business it should
+be to consult about the necessary reforms, in order that the people
+might no longer be led astray through scandal, nor plunge into error
+through ignorance.  As, moreover, he had been informed that the public
+executions of the heretics did but afford them an opportunity of
+boastfully displaying a foolhardy courage, and of deluding the common
+herd by an affectation of the glory of martyrdom, the commission was to
+devise means for putting in force the final sentence of the Inquisition
+with greater privacy, and thereby depriving condemned heretics of the
+honor of their obduracy."  In order, however, to provide against the
+commission going beyond its prescribed limits Philip expressly required
+that the Bishop of Ypres, a man whom he could rely on as a determined
+zealot for the Romish faith, should be one of the body.  Their
+deliberaations were to be conducted, if possible, in secrecy, while the
+object publicly assigned to them should be the introduction of the
+Tridentine decrees.  For this his motive seems to have been twofold; on
+the one hand, not to alarm the court of Rome by the assembling of a
+private council; nor, on the other, to afford any encouragement to the
+spirit of rebellion in the provinces.  At its sessions the duchess was
+to preside, assisted by some of the more loyally disposed of her
+counsellors, and regularly transmit to Philip a written account of its
+transactions.  To meet her most pressing wants he sent her a small
+supply in money.  He also gave her hopes of a visit from himself; first,
+however, it was necessary that the war with the Turks, who were then
+expected in hostile force before Malta, should be terminated.  As to the
+proposed augmentation of the council of state, and its union with the
+privy council and chamber of finance, it was passed over in perfect
+silence.  The Duke of Arschot, however, who is already known to us as a
+zealous royalist, obtained a voice and seat in the latter.  Viglius,
+indeed, was allowed to retire from the presidency of the privy council,
+but he was obliged, nevertheless, to continue to discharge its duties
+for four more years, because his successor, Carl Tyssenaque, of the
+council for Netherlandish affairs in Madrid, could not sooner be spared.
+
+
+
+
+      SEVERER RELIGIOUS EDICTS--UNIVERSAL OPPOSITION OF THE NATION.
+
+Scarcely was Egmont returned when severer edicts against heretics,
+which, as it were, pursued him from Spain, contradicted the joyful
+tidings which he had brought of a happy change in the sentiments of the
+monarch.  They were at the same time accompanied with a transcript of
+the decrees of Trent, as they were acknowledged in Spain, and were now
+to be proclaimed in the Netherlands also; with it came likewise the
+death warrants of some Anabaptists and other kinds of heretics.
+"The count has been beguiled," William the Silent was now heard to say,
+"and deluded by Spanish cunning.  Self-love and vanity have blinded his
+penetration; for his own advantage he has forgotten the general
+welfare."  The treachery of the Spanish ministry was now exposed, and
+this dishonest proceeding roused the indignation of the noblest in the
+land.  But no one felt it more acutely than Count Egmont, who now
+perceived himself to have been the tool of Spanish duplicity, and to
+have become unwittingly the betrayer of his own country.  "These
+specious favors then," he exclaimed, loudly and bitterly, "were nothing
+but an artifice to expose me to the ridicule of my fellow-citizens, and
+to destroy my good name.  If this is the fashion after which the king
+purposes to keep the promises which he made to me in Spain, let who will
+take Flanders; for my part, I will prove by my retirement from public
+business that I have no share in this breach of faith."  In fact, the
+Spanish ministry could not have adopted a surer method of breaking the
+credit of so important a man--than by exhibiting him to his fellow
+citizens, who adored him, as one whom they had succeeded in deluding.
+
+Meanwhile the commission had been appointed, and had unanimously come
+to the following decision: "Whether for the moral reformation of the
+clergy, or for the religious instruction of the people, or for the
+education of youth, such abundant provision had already been made in the
+decrees of Trent that nothing now was requisite but to put these decrees
+in force as speedily as possible.  The imperial edicts against the
+heretics already ought on no account to be recalled or modified; the
+courts of justice, however, might be secretly instructed to punish with
+death none but obstinate heretics or preachers, to make a difference
+between the different sects, and to show consideration to the age, rank,
+sex, or disposition of the accused.  If it were really the case that
+public executions did but inflame fanaticism, then, perhaps, the
+unheroic, less observed, but still equally severe punishment of the
+galleys, would be well-adapted to bring down all high notions of
+martyrdom.  As to the delinquencies which might have arisen out of mere
+levity, curiosity, and thoughtlessness it would perhaps be sufficient to
+punish them by fines, exile, or even corporal chastisement."
+
+During these deliberations, which, moreover, it was requisite to submit
+to the king at Madrid, and to wait for the notification of his approval
+of them, the time passed away unprofitably, the proceedings against the
+sectaries being either suspended, or at least conducted very supinely.
+Since the recall of Granvella the disunion which prevailed in the higher
+councils, and from thence had extended to the provincial courts of
+justice, combined with the mild feelings generally of the nobles on the
+subject of religion, had raised the courage of the sects, and allowed
+free scope to the proselytizing mania of their apostles.  The
+inquisitors, too, had fallen into contempt in consequence of the secular
+arm withdrawing its support, and in many places even openly taking their
+victims under its protection.  The Roman Catholic part of the nation.
+had formed great expectations from the decrees of the synod of Trent, as
+well as from Egmont's embassy to Spain; but in the latter case their
+hopes had scarcely been justified by the joyous tidings which the count
+had brought back, and, in the integrity of his heart, left nothing
+undone to make known as widely as possible.  The more disused the nation
+had become to severity in matters pertaining to religion the more
+acutely was it likely to feel the sudden adoption of even still more
+rigorous measures.  In this position of affairs the royal rescript
+arrived from Spain in answer to the proposition of the bishops and the
+last despatches of the regent.  "Whatever interpretation (such was its
+tenor) Count Egmont may have given to the king's verbal communications,
+it had never in the remotest manner entered his mind to think of
+altering in the slightest degree the penal statutes which the Emperor,
+his father, had five-and-thirty years ago published in the provinces.
+These edicts he therefore commanded should henceforth be carried rigidly
+into effect, the Inquisition should receive the most active support from
+the secular arm, and the decrees of the council of Trent be irrevocably
+and unconditionally acknowledged in all the provinces of his
+Netherlands.  He acquiesced fully in the opinion of the bishops and
+canonists as to the sufficiency of the Tridentine decrees as guides in
+all points of reformation of the clergy or instruction of the people;
+but he could not concur with them as to the mitigation of punishment
+which they proposed in consideration either of the age, sex, or
+character of individuals, since he was of opinion that his edicts were
+in no degree wanting in moderation.  To nothing but want of zeal and
+disloyalty on the part of judges could he ascribe the progress which
+heresy had already made in the country.  In future, therefore, whoever
+among them should be thus wanting in zeal must be removed from his
+office and make room for a more honest judge.  The Inquisition ought to
+pursue its appointed path firmly, fearlessly, and dispassionately,
+without regard to or consideration of human feelings, and was to look
+neither before nor behind.  He would always be ready to approve of all
+its measures however extreme if it only avoided public scandal."
+
+This letter of the king, to which the Orange party have ascribed all
+the subsequent troubles of the Netherlands, caused the most violent
+excitement amongst the state counsellors, and the expressions which in
+society they either accidentally or intentionally let fall from them
+with regard to it spread terror and alarm amongst the people.  The dread
+of the Spanish Inquisition returned with new force, and with it came
+fresh apprehensions of the subversion of their liberties.  Already the
+people fancied they could hear prisons building, chains and fetters
+forging, and see piles of fagots collecting.  Society was occupied with
+this one theme of conversation, and fear kept no longer within bounds.
+Placards were affixed to houses of the nobles in which they were called
+upon, as formerly Rome called on her Brutus, to come forward and save
+expiring freedom.  Biting pasquinades were published against the new
+bishops--tormentors as they were called; the clergy were ridiculed in
+comedies, and abuse spared the throne as little as the Romish see.
+
+Terrified by the rumors which were afloat, the regent called together
+all the counsellors of state to consult them on the course she ought to
+adopt in this perilous crisis.  Opinion varied and disputes were
+violent.  Undecided between fear and duty they hesitated to come to a
+conclusion, until at last the aged senator, Viglius, rose and surprised
+the whole assembly by his opinion.  "It would," he said, "be the height
+of folly in us to think of promulgating the royal edict at the present
+moment; the king must be informed of the reception which, in all
+probability, it will now meet.  In the meantime the inquisitors must
+be enjoined to use their power with moderation, and to abstain from
+severity."  But if these words of the aged president surprised the whole
+assembly, still greater was the astonishment when the Prince of Orange
+stood up and opposed his advice.  "The royal will," he said, "is too
+clearly and too precisely stated; it is the result of too long and too
+mature deliberation for us to venture to delay its execution without
+bringing on ourselves the reproach of the most culpable obstinacy."
+"That I take on myself," interrupted Viglius; "I oppose myself to, his
+displeasure.  If by this delay we purchase for him the peace of the
+Netherlands our opposition will eventually secure for us the lasting
+gratitude of the king."  The regent already began to incline to the
+advice of Viglius, when the prince vehemently interposing, "What," he
+demanded," what have the many representations which we have already made
+effected? of what avail was the embassy we so lately despatched?
+Nothing!  And what then do we wait for more?  Shall we, his state
+counsellors, bring upon ourselves the whole weight of his displeasure by
+determining, at our own peril, to render him a service for which he will
+never thank us?"  Undecided and uncertain the whole assembly remained
+silent; but no one had courage enough to assent to or reply to him.  But
+the prince had appealed to the fears of the regent, and these left her
+no choice.  The consequences of her unfortunate obedience to the king's
+command will soon appear.  But, on the other hand, if by a wise
+disobedience she had avoided these fatal consequences, is it clear that
+the result would not have been the same?  However she had adopted the
+most fatal of the two counsels: happen what would the royal ordinance
+was to be promulgated.  This time, therefore, faction prevailed, and the
+advice of the only true friend of the government, who, to serve his
+monarch, was ready to incur his displeasure, was disregarded.  With this
+session terminated the peace of the regent: from this day the
+Netherlands dated all the trouble which uninterruptedly visited their
+country.  As the counsellors separated the Prince of Orange said to one
+who stood nearest to him, "Now will soon be acted a great tragedy."
+
+     [The conduct of the Prince of Orange in this meeting of the council
+     has been appealed to by historians of the Spanish party as a proof
+     of his dishonesty, and they have availed themselves over and over
+     again to blacken his character.  "He," say they, "who had,
+     invariably up to this period, both by word and deed, opposed the
+     measures of the court so long as he had any ground to fear that the
+     king's measures could be successfully carried out, supported them
+     now for the first time when he was convinced that a scrupulous
+     obedience to the royal orders would inevitably prejudice him.  In
+     order to convince the king of his folly in disregarding his
+     warnings; in order to be able to boast, 'this I foresaw,' and 'I
+     foretold that,' he was willing to risk the welfare of his nation,
+     for which alone he had hitherto professed to struggle.  The whole
+     tenor of his previous conduct proved that he held the enforcement
+     of the edicts to be an evil; nevertheless, he at once becomes false
+     to his own convictions and follows an opposite course; although, so
+     far as the nation was concerned, the same grounds existed as had
+     dictated his former measures; and he changed his conduct simply
+     that the result might be different to the king."  "It is clear,
+     therefore," continue his adversaries, "that the welfare of the
+     nation had less weight with him than his animosity to his
+     sovereign.  In order to gratify his hatred to the latter he does
+     not hesitate to sacrifice the former."  But is it then true that by
+     calling for the promulgation of these edicts he sacrificed the
+     nation?  or, to speak more correctly, did he carry the edicts into
+     effect by insisting on their promulgation?  Can it not, on the
+     contrary, be shown with far more probability that this was really
+     the only way effectually to frustrate them?  The nation was in a
+     ferment, and the indignant people would (there was reason to
+     expect, and as Viglius himself seems to have apprehended) show so
+     decided a spirit of opposition as must compel the king to yield.
+     "Now," says Orange, "my country feels all the impulse necessary for
+     it to contend successfully with tyranny!  If I neglect the present
+     moment the tyrant will, by secret negotiation and intrigue, find
+     means to obtain by stealth what by open force he could not.  The
+     some object will be steadily pursued, only with greater caution and
+     forbearance; but extremity alone can combine the people to unity of
+     purpose, and move them to bold measures."  It is clear, therefore,
+     that with regard to the king the prince did but change his language
+     only; but that as far as the people was concerned his conduct was
+     perfectly consistent.  And what duties did he owe the king apart
+     from those he owed the republic?  Was he to oppose an arbitary act
+     in the very moment when it was about to entail a just retribution
+     on its author?  Would he have done his duty to his country if he
+     had deterred its oppressor from a precipitate step which alone
+     could save it from its otherwise unavoidable misery?]
+
+An edict, therefore, was issued to all the governors of provinces,
+commanding them rigorously to enforce the mandates of the Emperor
+against heretics, as well as those which had been passed under the
+present government, the decrees of the council of Trent, and those of
+the episcopal commission, which had lately sat to give all the aid of
+the civil force to the Inquisition, and also to enjoin a similar line of
+conduct on the officers of government under them.  More effectually to
+secure their object, every governor was to select from his own council
+an efficient officer who should frequently make the circuit of the
+province and institute strict inquiries into the obedience shown by the
+inferior officers to these commands, and then transmit quarterly, to the
+capital an exact report of their visitation.  A copy of the Tridentine
+decrees, according to the Spanish original, was also sent to the
+archbishops and bishops, with an intimation that in case of their
+needing the assistance of the secular power, the governors of their
+diocese, with their troops, were placed at their disposal.  Against
+these decrees no privilege was to avail; however, the king willed and
+commanded that the particular territorial rights of the provinces and
+towns should in no case be infringed.
+
+These commands, which were publicly read in every town by a herald,
+produced an effect on the people which in the fullest manner verified
+the fears of the President Viglius and the hopes of the Prince of
+Orange.
+
+Nearly all the governors of provinces refused compliance with them, and
+threatened to throw up their appointments if the attempt should be made
+to compel their obedience.  "The ordinance," they wrote back, "was based
+on a statement of the numbers of the sectaries, which was altogether
+false."
+
+     [The number of the heretics was very unequally computed by the two
+     parties according as the interests and passions of either made its
+     increase or diminution desirable, and the same party often
+     contradicted itself when its interest changed.  If the question
+     related to new measures of oppression, to the introduction of the
+     inquisitional tribunals, etc., the numbers of the Protestants were
+     countless and interminable.  If, on the other hand, the question
+     was of lenity towards them, of ordinances to their advantage, they
+     were now reduced to such an insignificant number that it would not
+     repay the trouble of making an innovation for this small body of
+     ill-minded people.]
+
+"Justice was appalled at the prodigious crowd of victims which daily
+accumulated under its hands; to destroy by the flames fifty thousand or
+sixty thousand persons from their districts was no commission for them."
+The inferior clergy too, in particular, were loud in their outcries
+against the decrees of Trent, which cruelly assailed their ignorance and
+corruption, and which moreover threatened them with a reform they so
+much detested.  Sacrificing, therefore, the highest interests of their
+church to their own private advantage, they bitterly reviled the decrees
+and the whole council, and with liberal hand scattered the seeds of
+revolt in the minds of the people.  The same outcry was now revived
+which the monks had formerly raised against the new bishops.  The
+Archbishop of Cambray succeeded at last, but not without great
+opposition, in causing the decrees to be proclaimed.  It cost more labor
+to effect this in Malines and Utrect, where the archbishops were at
+strife with their clergy, who, as they were accused, preferred to
+involve the whole church in ruin rather than submit to a reformation of
+morals.
+
+Of all the provinces Brabant raised its voice the loudest.  The states
+of this province appealed to their great privilege, which protected
+their members from being brought before a foreign court of justice.
+They spoke loudly of the oath by which the king had bound himself to
+observe all their statutes, and of the conditions under which they alone
+had sworn allegiance to him.  Louvain, Antwerp, Brussels, and
+Herzogenbusch solemnly protested against the decrees, and transmitted
+their protests in distinct memorials to the regent.  The latter, always
+hesitating and wavering, too timid to obey the king, and far more afraid
+to disobey him, again summoned her council, again listened to the
+arguments for and against the question, and at last again gave her
+assent to the opinion which of all others was the most perilous for her
+to adopt.  A new reference to the king in Spain was proposed; the next
+moment it was asserted that so urgent a crisis did not admit of so
+dilatory a remedy; it was necessary for the regent to act on her own
+responsibility, and either defy the threatening aspect of despair, or to
+yield to it by modifying or retracting the royal ordinance.  She finally
+caused the annals of Brabant to be examined in order to discover if
+possible a precedent for the present case in the instructions of the
+first inquisitor whom Charles V. had appointed to the province.  These
+instructions indeed did not exactly correspond with those now given; but
+had not the king declared that he introduced no innovation?  This was
+precedent enough, and it was declared that the new edicts must also be
+interpreted in accordance with the old and existing statutes of the
+province.  This explanation gave indeed no satisfaction to the states
+of Brabant, who had loudly demanded the entire abolition of the
+inquisition, but it was an encouragement to the other provinces to make
+similar protests and an equally bold opposition.  Without giving the
+duchess time to decide upon their remonstrances they, on their own
+authority, ceased to obey the inquisition, and withdrew their aid from
+it.  The inquisitors, who had so recently been expressly urged to a more
+rigid execution of their duties now saw themselves suddenly deserted by
+the secular arm, and robbed of all authority, while in answer to their
+application for assistance the court could give them only empty
+promises.  The regent by thus endeavoring to satisfy all parties had
+displeased all.
+
+During these negotiations between the court, the councils, and the
+states a universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation.  Men
+began to investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the
+prerogative of kings.  "The Netherlanders were not so stupid," many were
+heard to say with very little attempt at secrecy, "as not to know right
+well what was due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king
+to the subject; and that perhaps means would yet be found to repel force
+with force, although at present there might be no appearance of it."
+In Antwerp a placard was set up in several places calling upon the town
+council to accuse the King of Spain before the supreme court at Spires
+of having broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country,
+for, Brabant being a portion of the Burgundian circle, was included in
+the religious peace of Passau and Augsburg.  About this time too the
+Calvinists published their confession of faith, and in a preamble
+addressed to the king, declared that they, although a hundred thousand
+strong, kept themselves nevertheless quiet, and like the rest of his
+subjects, contributed to all the taxes of the country; from which it was
+evident, they added, that of themselves they entertained no ideas of
+insurrection.  Bold and incendiary writings were publicly disseminated,
+which depicted the Spanish tyranny in the most odious colors, and
+reminded the nation of its privileges, and occasionally also of its
+powers.
+
+     [The regent mentioned to the king a number (three thousand) of
+     these writings.  Strada 117.  It is remarkable how important a part
+     printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of the
+     Netherlands.  Through this organ one restless spirit spoke to
+     millions.  Besides the lampoons, which for the most part were
+     composed with all the low scurrility and brutality which was the
+     distinguishing character of most of the Protestant polemical
+     writings of the time, works were occasionally published which
+     defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word.]
+
+The warlike preparations of Philip against the Porte, as well as those
+which, for no intelligible reason, Eric, Duke of Brunswick, about this
+time made in the vicinity, contributed to strengthen the general
+suspicion that the Inquisition was to be forcibly imposed on the
+Netherlands.  Many of the most eminent merchants already spoke of
+quitting their houses and business to seek in some other part of the
+world the liberty of which they were here deprived; others looked about
+for a leader, and let fall hints of forcible resistance and of foreign
+aid.
+
+That in this distressing position of affairs the regent might be left
+entirely without an adviser and without support, she was now deserted by
+the only person who was at the present moment indispensable to her, and
+who had contributed to plunge her into this embarrassment.  "Without
+kindling a civil war," wrote to her William of Orange, "it was
+absolutely impossible to comply now with the orders of the king.
+If, however, obedience was to be insisted upon, he must beg that his
+place might be supplied by another who would better answer the
+expectations of his majesty, and have more power than he had over the
+minds of the nation.  The zeal which on every other occasion he had
+shown in the service of the crown, would, he hoped, secure his present
+proceeding from misconstruction; for, as the case now stood, he had no
+alternative between disobeying the king and injuring his country and
+himself."  From this time forth William of Orange retired from the
+council of state to his town of Breda, where in observant but scarcely
+inactive repose lie watched the course of affairs.  Count Horn followed
+his example.  Egmont, ever vacillating between the republic and the
+throne, ever wearying himself in the vain attempt to unite the good
+citizen with the obedient subject--Egmont, who was less able than the
+rest to dispense with the favor of the monarch, and to whom, therefore,
+it was less an object of indifference, could not bring himself to
+abandon the bright prospects which were now opening for him at the court
+of the regent.  The Prince of Orange had, by his supeirior intellect,
+gained an influence over the regent--which great minds cannot fail to
+command from inferior spirits.  His retirement had opened a void in her
+confidence which Count Egmont was now to fill by virtue of that sympathy
+which so naturally subsists between timidity, weakness, and good-nature.
+As she was as much afraid of exasperating the people by an exclusive
+confidence in the adherents to the crown, as she was fearful of
+displeasing the king by too close an understanding with the declared
+leaders of the faction, a better object for her confidence could now
+hardly be presented than this very Count Egmont, of whom it could not be
+said that he belonged to either of the two conflicting parties.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                               BOOK III.
+
+                        CONSPIRACY OF THE NOBLES
+
+1565.  Up to this point the general peace had it appears been the
+sincere wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and
+their friends.  They had pursued the true interests of their sovereign
+as much as the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions
+had been as little at variance with the former as with the latter.
+Nothing bad as yet occurred to make their motives suspected, or to
+manifest in them a rebellious spirit.  What they had done they had done
+in discharge of their bounden duty as members of a free state, as the
+representatives of the nation, as advisers of the king, as men of
+integrity and honor.  The only weapons they had used to oppose the
+encroachments of the court had been remonstrances, modest complaints,
+petitions.  They had never allowed themselves to be so far carried away
+by a just zeal for their good cause as to transgress the limits of
+prudence and moderation which on many occasions are so easily
+overstepped by party spirit.  But all the nobles of the republic did not
+now listen to the voice of that prudence; all did not abide within the
+bounds of moderation.
+
+While in the council of state the great question was discussed whether
+the nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies summoned
+to their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity, and while
+the middle-classes and the people contented themselves with empty
+complaints, menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of all
+seemed least called upon, and on whose support least reliance had been
+placed, began to take more active measures.  We have already described a
+class of the nobility whose services and wants Philip at his accession
+had not considered it necessary to remember.  Of these by far the
+greater number had asked for promotion from a much more urgent reason
+than a love of the mere honor.  Many of them were deeply sunk in debt,
+from which by their own resources they could not hope to emancipate
+themselves.  When then, in filling up appointments, Philip passed them
+over he wounded them in a point far more sensitive than their pride.
+In these suitors he had by his neglect raised up so many idle spies and
+merciless judges of his actions, so many collectors and propagators of
+malicious rumor.  As their pride did not quit them with their
+prosperity, so now, driven by necessity, they trafficked with the sole
+capital which they could not alienate--their nobility and the political
+influence of their names; and brought into circulation a coin which only
+in such a period could have found currency--their protection.  With a
+self-pride to which they gave the more scope as it was all they could
+now call their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong intermediate
+power between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed themselves
+called upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state, which looked
+imploringly to them for succor.  This idea was ludicrous only so far as
+their self-conceit was concerned in it; the advantages which they
+contrived to draw from it were substantial enough.  The Protestant
+merchants, who held in their hands the chief part of the wealth of the
+Netherlands, and who believed they could not at any price purchase too
+dearly the undisturbed exercise of their religion, did not fail to make
+use of this class of people who stood idle in the market and ready to be
+hired.  These very men whom at any other time the merchants, in the
+pride of riches, would most probably have looked down upon, now appeared
+likely to do them good service through their numbers, their courage,
+their credit with the populace, their enmity to the government, nay,
+through their beggarly pride itself and their despair.  On these grounds
+they zealously endeavored to form a close union with them, and
+diligently fostered the disposition for rebellion, while they also used
+every means to keep alive their high opinions of themselves, and, what
+was most important, lured their poverty by well-applied pecuniary
+assistance and glittering promises.  Few of them were so utterly
+insignificant as not to possess some influence, if not personally, yet
+at least by their relationship with higher and more powerful nobles; and
+if united they would be able to raise a formidable voice against the
+crown.  Many of them had either already joined the new sect or were
+secretly inclined to it; and even those who were zealous Roman Catholics
+had political or private grounds enough to set them against the decrees
+of Trent and the Inquisition.  All, in fine, felt the call of vanity
+sufficiently powerful not to allow the only moment to escape them in
+which they might possibly make some figure in the republic.
+
+But much as might be expected from the co-operation of these men in
+a body it would have been futile and ridiculous to build any hopes on
+any one of them singly; and the great difficulty was to effect a union
+among them.  Even to bring them together some unusual occurrence was
+necessary, and fortunately such an incident presented itself.  The
+nuptials of Baron Montigny, one of the Belgian nobles, as also those of
+the Prince Alexander of Parma, which took place about this time in
+Brussels, assembled in that town a great number of the Belgian nobles.
+On this occasion relations met relations; new friendships were formed
+and old renewed; and while the distress of the country was the topic of
+conversation wine and mirth unlocked lips and hearts, hints were dropped
+of union among themselves, and of an alliance with foreign powers.
+These accidental meetings soon led to concealed ones, and public
+discussions gave rise to secret consultations.  Two German barons,
+moreover, a Count of Holle and a Count of Schwarzenberg, who at this
+time were on a visit to the Netherlands, omitted nothing to awaken
+expectations of assistance from their neighbors.  Count Louis of Nassau,
+too, had also a short time before visited several German courts to
+ascertain their sentiments.
+
+     [It was not without cause that the Prince of Orange suddenly
+     disappeared from Brussels in order to be present at the election of
+     a king of Rome in Frankfort.  An assembly of so many German princes
+     must have greatly favored a negotiation.]
+
+It has even been asserted that secret emissaries of the Admiral Coligny
+were seen at this time in Brabant, but this, however, may be reasonably
+doubted.
+
+If ever a political crisis was favorable to an attempt at revolution it
+was the present.  A woman at the helm of government; the governors of
+provinces disaffected themselves and disposed to wink at insubordination
+in others; most of the state counsellors quite inefficient; no army to
+fall back upon; the few troops there were long since discontented on
+account of the outstanding arrears of pay, and already too often
+deceived by false promises to be enticed by new; commanded, moreover, by
+officers who despised the Inquisition from their hearts, and would have
+blushed to draw a sword in its behalf; and, lastly, no money in the
+treasury to enlist new troops or to hire foreigners.  The court at
+Brussels, as well as the three councils, not only divided by internal
+dissensions, but in the highest degree--venal and corrupt; the regent
+without full powers to act on the spot, and the king at a distance; his
+adherents in the provinces few, uncertain, and dispirited; the faction
+numerous and powerful; two-thirds of the people irritated against popery
+and desirous of a change--such was the unfortunate weakness of the
+government, and the more unfortunate still that this weakness was so
+well known to its enemies!
+
+In order to unite so many minds in the prosecution of a common object a
+leader was still wanting, and a few influential names to give political
+weight to their enterprise.  The two were supplied by Count Louis of
+Nassau and Henry Count Brederode, both members of the most illustrious
+houses of the Belgian nobility, who voluntarily placed themselves at the
+head of the undertaking.  Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of
+Orange, united many splendid qualities which made him worthy of
+appearing on so noble and important a stage.  In Geneva, where he
+studied, he had imbibed at once a hatred to the hierarchy and a love to
+the new religion, and on his return to his native country had not failed
+to enlist proselytes to his opinions.  The republican bias which his
+mind had received in that school kindled in him a bitter hatred of the
+Spanish name, which animated his whole conduct and only left him with
+his latest breath.  Popery and Spanish rule were in his mind identical--
+as indeed they were in reality--and the abhorrence which he entertained
+for the one helped to strengthen his dislike for the other.  Closely as
+the brothers agreed in their inclinations and aversions the ways by
+which each sought to gratify them were widely dissimilar.  Youth and an
+ardent temperament did not allow the younger brother to follow the
+tortuous course through which the elder wound himself to his object.
+A cold, calm circumspection carried the latter slowly but surely to his
+aim, and with a pliable subtilty he made all things subserve his
+purpose; with a foolhardy impetuosity which overthrew all obstacles,
+the other at times compelled success, but oftener accelerated disaster.
+For this reason William was a general and Louis never more than an
+adventurer; a sure and powerful arm if only it were directed by a wise
+head.  Louis' pledge once given was good forever; his alliances survived
+every vicissitude, for they were mostly formed in the pressing moment of
+necessity, and misfortune binds more firmly than thoughtless joy.  He
+loved his brother as dearly as he did his cause, and for the latter he
+died.
+
+Henry of Brederode, Baron of Viane and Burgrave of Utrecht, was
+descended from the old Dutch counts who formerly ruled that province as
+sovereign princes.  So ancient a title endeared him to the people, among
+whom the memory of their former lords still survived, and was the more
+treasured the less they felt they had gained by the change.  This
+hereditary splendor increased the self-conceit of a man upon whose
+tongue the glory of his ancestors continually hung, and who dwelt the
+more on former greatness, even amidst its ruins, the more unpromising
+the aspect of his own condition became.  Excluded from the honors and
+employments to which, in his opinion, his own merits and his noble
+ancestry fully entitled him (a squadron of light cavalry being all which
+was entrusted to him), he hated the government, and did not scruple
+boldly to canvass and to rail at its measures.  By these means he won
+the hearts of the people.  He also favored in secret the evangelical
+belief; less, however, as a conviction of his better reason than as an
+opposition to the government.  With more loquacity than eloquence, and
+more audacity than courage, he was brave rather from not believing in
+danger than from being superior to it.  Louis of Nassau burned for the
+cause which he defended, Brederode for the glory of being its defender;
+the former was satisfied in acting for his party, the latter
+discontented if he did not stand at its head.  No one was more fit to
+lead off the dance in a rebellion, but it could hardly have a worse
+ballet-master.  Contemptible as his threatened designs really were, the
+illusion of the multitude might have imparted to them weight and terror
+if it had occurred to them to set up a pretender in his person.  His
+claim to the possessions of his ancestors was an empty name; but even a
+name was now sufficient for the general disaffection to rally round.  A
+pamphlet which was at the time disseminated amongst the people openly
+called him the heir of Holland; and his engraved portrait, which was
+publicly exhibited, bore the boastful inscription:--
+
+               Sum Brederodus ego, Batavae non infima gentis
+               Gloria, virtutem non unica pagina claudit.
+
+
+(1565.) Besides these two, there were others also from among the most
+illustrious of the Flemish nobles the young Count Charles of Mansfeld,
+a son of that nobleman whom we have found among the most zealous
+royalists; the Count Kinlemburg; two Counts of Bergen and of Battenburg;
+John of Marnix, Baron of Toulouse; Philip of Marnix, Baron of St.
+Aldegonde; with several others who joined the league, which, about the
+middle of November, in the year 1565, was formed at the house of Von
+Hammes, king at arms of the Golden Fleece.  Here it was that six men
+decided the destiny of their country as formerly a few confederates
+consummated the liberty of Switzerland, kindled the torch of a forty
+years' war, and laid the basis of a freedom which they themselves were
+never to enjoy.  The objects of the league were set forth in the
+following declaration, to which Philip of Marnix was the first to
+subscribe his name: "Whereas certain ill-disposed persons, under the
+mask of a pious zeal, but in reality under the impulse of avarice and
+ambition, have by their evil counsels persuaded our most gracious
+sovereign the king to introduce into these countries the abominable
+tribunal of the Inquisition, a tribunal diametrically opposed to all
+laws, human and divine, and in cruelty far surpassing the barbarous
+institutions of heathenism; which raises the inquisitors above every
+other power, and debases man to a perpetual bondage, and by its snares
+exposes the honest citizen to a constant fear of death, inasmuch as any
+one (priest, it may be, or a faithless friend, a Spaniard or a
+reprobate), has it in his power at any moment to cause whom he will to
+be dragged before that tribunal, to be placed in confinement, condemned,
+and executed without the accused ever being allowed to face his accuser,
+or to adduce proof of his innocence; we, therefore, the undersigned,
+have bound ourselves to watch over the safety of our families, our
+estates, and our own persons.  To this we hereby pledge ourselves, and
+to this end bind ourselves as a sacred fraternity, and vow with a solemn
+oath to oppose to the best of our power the introduction of this
+tribunal into these countries, whether it be attempted openly or
+secretly, and under whatever name it may be disguised.  We at the same
+time declare that we are far from intending anything unlawful against
+the king our sovereign; rather is it our unalterable purpose to support
+and defend the royal prerogative, and to maintain peace, and, as far as
+lies in our power, to put down all rebellion.  In accordance with this
+purpose we have sworn, and now again swear, to hold sacred the
+government, and to respect it both in word and deed, which witness
+Almighty God!
+
+"Further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all
+times and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles
+which are set forth in this covenant.  We hereby bind ourselves that no
+accusation of any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed,
+whether rebellion, sedition, or otherwise, shall avail to annul our oath
+towards the accused, or absolve us from our obligation towards him.  No
+act which is directed against the Inquisition can deserve the name of a
+rebellion.  Whoever, therefore, shall be placed in arrest on any such
+charge, we here pledge ourselves to assist him to the utmost of our
+ability, and to endeavor by every allowable means to effect his
+liberation.  In this, however, as in all matters, but especially in the
+conduct of all measures against the tribunal of the Inquisition, we
+submit ourselves to the general regulations of the league, or to the
+decision of those whom we may unanimously appoint our counsellors and
+leaders.
+
+"In witness hereof, and in confirmation of this our common league and
+covenant, we call upon the holy name of the living God, maker of heaven
+and earth, and of all that are therein, who searches the hearts, the
+consciences, and the thoughts, and knows the purity of ours.  We implore
+the aid of the Holy Spirit, that success and honor may crown our
+undertaking, to the glory of His name, and to the peace and blessing of
+our country!"
+
+This covenant was immediately translated into several languages, and
+quickly disseminated through the provinces.  To swell the league as
+speedily as possible each of the confederates assembled all his friends,
+relations, adherents, and retainers.  Great banquets were held, which
+lasted whole days--irresistible temptations for a sensual, luxurious
+people, in whom the deepest wretchedness could not stifle the propensity
+for voluptuous living.  Whoever repaired to these banquets--and every
+one was welcome--was plied with officious assurances of friendship, and,
+when heated with wine, carried away by the example of numbers, and
+overcome by the fire of a wild eloquence.  The hands of many were guided
+while they subscribed their signatures; the hesitating were derided, the
+pusillanimous threatened, the scruples of loyalty clamored down; some
+even were quite ignorant what they were signing, and were ashamed
+afterwards to inquire.  To many whom mere levity brought to the
+entertainment the general enthusiasm left no choice, while the splendor
+of the confederacy allured the mean, and its numbers encouraged the
+timorous.  The abettors of the league had not scrupled at the artifice
+of counterfeiting the signature and seals of the Prince of Orange,
+Counts Egmont, Horn, Mcgen, and others, a trick which won them hundreds
+of adherents.  This was done especially with a view of influencing the
+officers of the army, in order to be safe in this quarter, if matters
+should come at last to violence.  The device succeeded with many,
+especially with subalterns, and Count Brederode even drew his sword upon
+an ensign who wished time for consideration.  Men of all classes and
+conditions signed it.  Religion made no difference.  Roman Catholic
+priests even were associates of the league.  The motives were not the
+same with all, but the pretext was similar.  The Roman Catholics desired
+simply the abolition of the Inquisition, and a mitigation of the edicts;
+the Protestants aimed at unlimited freedom of conscience.  A few daring
+spirits only entertained so bold a project as the overthrow of the
+present government, while the needy and indigent based the vilest hopes
+on a general anarchy.  A farewell entertainment, which about this time
+was given to the Counts Schwarzenberg and Holle in Breda, and another
+shortly afterwards in Hogstraten, drew many of the principal nobility to
+these two places, and of these several had already signed the covenant.
+The Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Horn, and Megen were present at the
+latter banquet, but without any concert or design, and without having
+themselves any share in the league, although one of Egmont's own
+secretaries and some of the servants of the other three noblemen had
+openly joined it.  At this entertainment three hundred persons gave in
+their adhesion to the covenant, and the question was mooted whether the
+whole body should present themselves before the regent armed or unarmed,
+with a declaration or with a petition?  Horn and Orange (Egmont would
+not countenance the business in any way) were called in as arbiters upon
+this point, and they decided in favor of the more moderate and
+submissive procedure.  By taking this office upon them they exposed
+themselves to the charge of having in no very covert manner lent their
+sanction to the enterprise of the confederates.  In compliance,
+therefore, with their advice, it was determined to present their address
+unarmed, and in the form of a petition, and a day was appointed on which
+they should assemble in Brussels.
+
+The first intimation the regent received of this conspiracy of the
+nobles was given by the Count of Megen soon after his return to the
+capital.  "There was," he said, "an enterprise on foot; no less than
+three hundred of the nobles were implicated in it; it referred to
+religion; the members of it had bound themselves together by an oath;
+they reckoned much on foreign aid; she would soon know more about it."
+Though urgently pressed, he would give her no further information.
+"A nobleman," he said, "had confided it to him under the seal of
+secrecy, and he had pledged his word of honor to him."  What really
+withheld him from giving her any further explanation was, in all
+probability, not so much any delicacy about his honor, as his hatred
+of the Inquisition, which he would not willingly do anything to advance.
+Soon after him, Count Egmont delivered to the regent a copy of the
+covenant, and also gave her the names of the conspirators, with some few
+exceptions.  Nearly about the same time the Prince of Orange wrote to
+her: "There was, as he had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred
+officers were already named, and twenty thousand men would presently
+appear in arms."  Thus the rumor was intentionally exaggerated, and the
+danger was multiplied in every mouth.
+
+The regent, petrified with alarm at the first announcement of these
+tidings, and guided solely by her fears, hastily called together all the
+members of the council of state who happened to be then in Brussels, and
+at the same time sent a pressing summons to the Prince of Orange and
+Count Horn, inviting them to resume their seats in the senate.  Before
+the latter could arrive she consulted with Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont
+what course was to be adopted in the present dangerous posture of
+affairs.  The question debated was whether it would be better to have
+recourse to arms or to yield to the emergency and grant the demands of
+the confederates; or whether they should be put off with promises, and
+an appearance of compliance, in order to gain time for procuring
+instructions from Spain, and obtaining money and troops?  For the first
+plan the requisite supplies were wanting, and, what was equally
+requisite, confidence in the army, of which there seemed reason to doubt
+whether it had not been already gained by the conspirators.  The second
+expedient would it was quite clear never be sanctioned by the king;
+besides it would serve rather to raise than depress the courage of the
+confederates; while, on the other hand, a compliance with their
+reasonable demands and a ready unconditional pardon of the past would in
+all probability stifle the rebellion in the cradle.  The last opinion
+was supported by Megen and Egmont but opposed by Barlaimont.  "Rumor,"
+said the latter, "had exaggerated the matter; it is impossible that so
+formidable an armament could have been prepared so secretly and, so
+rapidly.  It was but a band of a few outcasts and desperadoes,
+instigated by two or three enthusiasts, nothing more.  All will be quiet
+after a few heads have been struck off."  The regent determined to await
+the opinion of the council of state, which was shortly to assemble; in
+the meanwhile, however, she was not inactive.  The fortifications in the
+most important places were inspected and the necessary repairs speedily
+executed; her ambassadors at foreign courts received orders to redouble
+their vigilance; expresses were sent off to Spain.  At the same time she
+caused the report to be revived of the near advent of the king, and in
+her external deportment put on a show of that imperturbable firmness
+which awaits attack without intending easily to yield to it.  At the end
+of March (four whole months consequently from the framing of the
+covenant), the whole state council assembled in Brussels.  There were
+present the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Arschot, Counts Egmont,
+Bergen, Megen, Aremberg, Horn, Hosstraten, Barlaimont, and others; the
+Barons Montigny and Hachicourt, all the knights of the Golden Fleece,
+with the President Viglius, State Counsellor Bruxelles, and the other
+assessors of the privy council.  Several letters were produced which
+gave a clearer insight into the nature and objects of the conspiracy.
+The extremity to which the regent was reduced gave the disaffected a
+power which on the present occasion they did not neglect to use.
+Venting their long suppressed indignation, they indulged in bitter
+complaints against the court and against the government.  "But lately,"
+said the Prince of Orange, "the king sent forty thousand gold florins
+to the Queen of Scotland to support her in her undertakings against
+England, and he allows his Netherlands to be burdened with debt.
+Not to mention the unseasonableness of this subsidy and its fruitless
+expenditure, why should he bring upon us the resentment of a queen, who
+is both so important to us as a friend and as an enemy so much to be
+dreaded?"  The prince did not even refrain on the present occasion from
+glancing at the concealed hatred which the king was suspected of
+cherishing against the family of Nassau and against him in particular.
+"It is well known," he said, "that he has plotted with the hereditary
+enemies of my house to take away my life, and that he waits with
+impatience only for a suitable opportunity."  His example opened the
+lips of Count Horn also, and of many others besides, who with passionate
+vehemence descanted on their own merits and the ingratitude of the king.
+With difficulty did the regent succeed in silencing the tumult and in
+recalling attention to the proper subject of the debate.  The question
+was whether the confederates, of whom it was now known that they
+intended to appear at court with a petition, should be admitted or not?
+The Duke of Arschot, Counts Aremberg, Megen, and Barlaimont gave their
+negative to the proposition.  "What need of five hundred persons," said
+the latter, "to deliver a small memorial?  This paradox of humility and
+defiance implies no good.  Let them send to us one respectable man from
+among their number without pomp, without assumption, and so submit their
+application to us.  Otherwise, shut the gates upon them, or if some
+insist on their admission let them be closely watched, and let the first
+act of insolence which any one of them shall be guilty of be punished
+with death."  In this advice concurred Count Mansfeld, whose own son was
+among the conspirators; he had even threatened to disinherit his son if
+he did not quickly abandon the league.
+
+Counts Megen, also, and Aremberg hesitated to receive the petition; the
+Prince of Orange, however, Counts Egmont, Horn, Hogstraten, and others
+voted emphatically for it.  "The confederates," they declared, "were
+known to them as men of integrity and honor; a great part of them were
+connected with themselves by friendship and relationship, and they dared
+vouch for their behavior.  Every subject was allowed to petition; a
+right which was enjoyed by the meanest individual in the state could not
+without injustice be denied to so respectable a body of men."  It was
+therefore resolved by a majority of votes to admit the confederates on
+the condition that they should appear unarmed and conduct themselves
+temperately.  The squabbles of the members of council had occupied the
+greater part of the sitting, so that it was necessary to adjourn the
+discussion to the following day.  In order that the principal matter in
+debate might not again be lost sight of in useless complaints the regent
+at once hastened to the point: "Brederode, we are informed," she said,
+"is coming to us, with an address in the name of the league, demanding
+the abolition of the Inquisition and a mitigation of the edicts.  The
+advice of my senate is to guide me in my answer to him; but before you
+give your opinions on this point permit me to premise a few words.  I am
+told that there are many even amongst yourselves who load the religious
+edicts of the Emperor, my father, with open reproaches, and describe
+them to the people as inhuman and barbarous.  Now I ask you, lords and
+gentlemen, knights of the Fleece, counsellors of his majesty and of the
+state, whether you did not yourselves vote for these edicts, whether the
+states of the realm have not recognized them as lawful?  Why is that now
+blamed, which was formerly declared right?  Is it because they have now
+become even more necessary than they then were?  Since when is the
+Inquisition a new thing in the Netherlands?  Is it not full sixteen
+years ago since the Emperor established it?  And wherein is it more
+cruel than the edicts?  If it be allowed that the latter were the work
+of wisdom, if the universal consent of the states has sanctioned them--
+why this opposition to the former, which is nevertheless far more humane
+than the edicts, if they are to be observed to the letter?  Speak now
+freely; I am not desirous of fettering your decision; but it is your
+business to see that it is not misled by passion and prejudice."  The
+council of state was again, as it always had been, divided between two
+opinions; but the few who spoke for the Inquisition and the literal
+execution of the edicts were outvoted by the opposite party with the
+Prince of Orange at its head.  "Would to heaven," he began,--"that my
+representations had been then thought worthy of attention, when as yet
+the grounds of apprehension were remote; things would in that case never
+have been carried so far as to make recourse to extreme measures
+indispensable, nor would men have been plunged deeper in error by the
+very means which were intended to beguile them from their delusion.  We
+are all unanimous on the one main point.  We all wish to see the
+Catholic religion safe; if this end can be secured without the aid of
+the Inquisition, it is well, and we offer our wealth and our blood to
+its service; but on this very point it is that our opinions are divided.
+
+"There are two kinds of inquisition: the see of Rome lays claim to one,
+the other has, from time immemorial, been exercised by the bishops.  The
+force of prejudice and of custom has made the latter light and
+supportable to us.  It will find little opposition in the Netherlands,
+and the augmented numbers of the bishops will make it effective.  To
+what purpose then insist on the former, the mere name of which is
+revolting to all the feelings of our minds?  When so many nations exist
+without it why should it be imposed on us?  Before Luther appeared it
+was never heard of; but the troubles with Luther happened at a time when
+there was an inadequate number of spiritual overseers, and when the few
+bishops were, moreover, indolent, and the licentiousness of the clergy
+excluded them from the office of judges.  Now all is changed; we now
+count as many bishops as there are provinces.  Why should not the policy
+of the government adjust itself to the altered circumstances of the
+times?  We want leniency, not severity.  The repugnance of the people is
+manifest--this we must seek to appease if we would not have it burst out
+into rebellion.  With the death of Pius IV. the full powers of the
+inquisitors have expired; the new pope has as yet sent no ratification
+of their authority, without which no one formerly ventured to exercise
+his office.  Now, therefore, is the time when it can be suspended
+without infringing the rights of any party.
+
+"What I have stated with regard to the Inquisition holds equally good in
+respect to the edicts also.  The exigency of the times called them
+forth, but are not those times passed?  So long an experience of them
+ought at last to have taught us that against hersey no means are less
+successful than the fagot and sword.  What incredible progress has not
+the new religion made during only the last few years in the provinces;
+and if we investigate the cause of this increase we shall find it
+principally in the glorious constancy of those who have fallen
+sacrifices to the truth of their opinions.  Carried away by sympathy and
+admiration, men begin to weigh in silence whether what is maintained
+with such invincible courage may not really be the truth.  In France and
+in England the same severities may have been inflicted on the
+Protestants, but have they been attended with any better success there
+than here?  The very earliest Christians boasted that the blood of the
+martyrs was the seed of the church.  The Emperor Julian, the most
+terrible enemy that Christianity ever experienced, was fully persuaded
+of this.  Convinced that persecution did but kindle enthusiasm he betook
+himself to ridicule and derision, and found these weapons far more
+effective than force.  In the Greek empire different teachers of heresy
+have arisen at different times.  Arius under Constantine, Aetius under
+Constantius, Nestorius under Theodosius.  But even against these arch-
+heretics and their disciples such cruel measures were never resorted to
+as are thought necessary against our unfortunate country--and yet where
+are all those sects now which once a whole world, I had almost said,
+could not contain?  This is the natural course of heresy.  If it is
+treated with contempt it crumbles into insignificance.  It is as iron,
+which, if it lies idle, corrodes, and only becomes sharp by use.  Let no
+notice be paid to it, and it loses its most powerful attraction, the
+magic of what is new and what is forbidden.  Why will we not content
+ourselves with the measures which have been approved of by the wisdom of
+such great rulers?  Example is ever the safest guide.
+
+"But what need to go to pagan antiquity for guidance and example when we
+have near at hand the glorious precedent of Charles V., the greatest of
+kings, who taught at last by experience, abandoned the bloody path of
+persecution, and for many years before his abdication adopted milder
+measures.  And Philip himself, our most gracious sovereign, seemed at
+first strongly inclined to leniency until the counsels of Granvella and
+of others like him changed these views; but with what right or wisdom
+they may settle between themselves.  To me, however, it has always
+appeared indispensable that legislation to be wise and successful must
+adjust itself to the manners and maxims of the times.  In conclusion,
+I would beg to remind you of the close understanding which subsists
+between the Huguenots and the Flemish Protestants.  Let us beware of
+exasperating them any further.  Let us not act the part of French
+Catholics towards them, lest they should play the Huguenots against us,
+and, like the latter, plunge their country into the horrors of a civil
+war."
+
+     [No one need wonder, says Burgundias (a vehement stickler for the
+     Roman Catholic religion and the Spanish party), that the speech of
+     this prince evinced so much acquaintance with philosophy; he had
+     acquired it in his intercourse with Balduin.  180.  Barry, 174-178.
+     Hopper, 72.  Strada, 123,124.]
+
+It was, perhaps, not so much the irresistible truth of his arguments,
+which, moreover, were supported by a decisive majority in the senate, as
+rather the ruinous state of the military resources, and the exhaustion
+of the treasury, that prevented the adoption of the opposite opinion
+which recommended an appeal to the force of arms that the Prince of
+Orange had chiefly to thank for the attention which now at last was paid
+to his representations.  In order to avert at first the violence of the
+storm, and to gain time, which was so necessary to place the government
+in a better sate of preparation, it was agreed that a portion of the
+demands should be accorded to the confederates.  It was also resolved to
+mitigate the penal statutes of the Emperor, as he himself would
+certainly mitigate them, were he again to appear among them at that day
+--and as, indeed, he had once shown under circumstances very similar to
+the present that he did not think it derogatory to his high dignity to
+do.  The Inquisition was not to be introduced in any place where it did
+not already exist, and where it had been it should adopt a milder
+system, or even be entirely suspended, especially since the inquisitors
+had not yet been confirmed in their office by the pope.  The latter
+reason was put prominently forward, in order to deprive the Protestants
+of the gratification of ascribing the concessions to any fear of their
+own power, or to the justice of their demands.  The privy council was
+commissioned to draw out this decree of the senate without delay.  Thus
+prepared the confederates were awaited.
+
+
+
+                                THE GUEUX.
+
+The members of the senate had not yet dispersed, when all Brussels
+resounded with the report that the confederates were approaching the
+town.  They consisted of no more than two hundred horse, but rumor
+greatly exaggerated their numbers.  Filled with consternation, the
+regent consulted with her ministers whether it was best to close the
+gates on the approaching party or to seek safety in flight?  Both
+suggestions were rejected as dishonorable; and the peaceable entry of
+the nobles soon allayed all fears of violence.  The first morning after
+their arrival they assembled at Kuilemberg house, where Brederode
+administered to them a second oath, binding them before all other duties
+to stand by one another, and even with arms if necessary.  At this
+meeting a letter from Spain was produced, in which it was stated that a
+certain Protestant, whom, they all knew and valued, had been burned
+alive in that country by a slow fire.  After these and similar
+preliminaries he called on them one after another by name to take the
+new oath and renew the old one in their own names and in those of the
+absent.  The next day, the 5th of April, 1556, was fixed for the
+presentation of the petition.  Their numbers now amounted to between
+three and four hundred.  Amongst them were many retainers of the high
+nobility, as also several servants of the king himself and of the
+duchess.
+
+With the Counts of Nassau and Brederode at their head, and formed in
+ranks of four by four, they advanced in procession to the palace; all
+Brussels attended the unwonted spectacle in silent astonishment.  Here
+were to be seen a body of men advancing with too much boldness and
+confidence to look like supplicants, and led by two men who were not
+wont to be petitioners; and, on the other hand, with so much order and
+stillness as do not usually accompany rebellion.  The regent received
+the procession surrounded by all her counsellors and the Knights of the
+Fleece.  "These noble Netherlanders," thus Brederode respectfully
+addressed her, "who here present themselves before your highness, wish
+in their own name, and of many others besides who are shortly to arrive,
+to present to you a petition of whose importance as well as of their own
+humility this solemn procession must convince you.  I, as speaker of
+this body, entreat you to receive our petition, which contains nothing
+but what is in unison with the laws of our country and the honor of the
+king."
+
+"If this petition," replied Margaret, "really contains nothing which is
+at variance either with the good of the country, or with the authority
+of the king, there is no doubt that it will be favorably considered."
+"They had learnt," continued the spokesman, "with indignation and regret
+that suspicious objects had been imputed to their association, and that
+interested parties had endeavored to prejudice her highness against him;
+they therefore craved that she would name the authors of so grave an
+accusation, and compel them to bring their charges publicly, and in due
+form, in order that he who should be found guilty might suffer the
+punishment of his demerits."  "Undoubtedly," replied the regent, "she
+had received unfavorable rumors of their designs and alliance.  She
+could not be blamed, if in consequence she had thought it requisite to
+call the attention of the governors of the provinces to the matter; but,
+as to giving up the names of her informants to betray state secrets,"
+she added, with an appearance of displeasure, "that could not in justice
+be required of her."  She then appointed the next day for answering
+their petition; and in the meantime she proceeded to consult the members
+of her council upon it.
+
+"Never" (so ran the petition which, according to some, was drawn up by
+the celebrated Balduin), "never had they failed in their loyalty to
+their king, and nothing now could be farther from their hearts; but they
+would rather run the risk of incurring the displeasure of their
+sovereign than allow him to remain longer in ignorance of the evils with
+which their native country was menaced, by the forcible introduction of
+the Inquisition and the continued enforcement of the edicts.  They had
+long remained consoling themselves with the expectation that a general
+assembly of the states would be summoned to remedy these grievances; but
+now that even this hope was extinguished, they held it to be their duty
+to give timely warning to the regent.  They, therefore, entreated her
+highness to send to Madrid an envoy, well disposed, and fully acquainted
+with the state and temper of the times, who should endeavor to persuade
+the king to comply with the demands of the whole nation, and abolish the
+Inquisition, to revoke the edicts, and in their stead cause new and more
+humane ones to be drawn up at a general assembly of the states.  But, in
+the meanwhile, until they could learn the king's decision, they prayed
+that the edicts and the operations of the Inquisition be suspended."
+"If," they concluded, "no attention should be paid to their humble
+request, they took God, the king, the regent, and all her counsellors to
+witness that they had done their part, and were not responsible for any
+unfortunate result that might happen."
+
+The following day the confederates, marching in the same order of
+procession, but in still greater numbers (Counts Bergen and Kuilemberg
+having, in the interim, joined them with their adherents), appeared
+before the regent in order to receive her answer.  It was written on the
+margin of the petition, and was to the effect, "that entirely to suspend
+the Inquisition and the edicts, even temporarily, was beyond her powers;
+but in compliance with the wishes of the confederates she was ready to
+despatch one of the nobles to the king in Spain, and also to support
+their petition with all her influence.  In the meantime, she would
+recommend the inquisitors to administer their office with moderation;
+but in return she should expect on the part of the league that they
+should abstain from all acts of violence, and undertake nothing to the
+prejudice of the Catholic faith."  Little as these vague and general
+promises satisfied the confederates, they were, nevertheless, as much as
+they could have reasonably expected to gain at first.  The granting or
+refusing of the petition had nothing to do with the primary object of
+the league.  Enough for them at present that it was once recognized,
+enough that it was now, as it were, an established body, which by its
+power and threats might, if necessary, overawe the government.  The
+confederates, therefore, acted quite consistently with their designs,
+in contenting themselves with this answer, and referring the rest to
+the good pleasure of the king.  As, indeed, the whole pantomime of
+petitioning had only been invented to cover the more daring plan of the
+league, until it should have strength enough to show itself in its true
+light, they felt that much more depended on their being able to continue
+this mask, and on the favorable reception of their petition, than on its
+speedily being granted.  In a new memorial, which they delivered three
+days after, they pressed for an express testimonial from the regent that
+they had done no more than their duty, and been guided simply by their
+zeal for the service of the king.  When the duchess evaded a
+declaration, they even sent a person to repeat this request in a private
+interview.  "Time alone and their future behavior," she replied to this
+person, "would enable her to judge of their designs."
+
+The league had its origin in banquets, and a banquet gave it form and
+perfection.  On the very day that the second petition was presented
+Brederode entertained the confederates in Kuilemberg house.  About three
+hundred guests assembled; intoxication gave them courage, and their
+audacity rose with their numbers.  During the conversation one of their
+number happened to remark that he had overheard the Count of Barlaimont
+whisper in French to the regent, who was seen to turn pale on the
+delivery of the petitions, that "she need not be afraid of a band of
+beggars (gueux);" (in fact, the majority of them had by their bad
+management of their incomes only too well deserved this appellation.)
+Now, as the very name for their fraternity was the very thing which had
+most perplexed them, an expression was eagerly caught up, which, while
+it cloaked the presumption of their enterprise in humility, was at the
+same time appropriate to them as petitioners.  Immediately they drank to
+one another under this name, and the cry "long live the Gueux!" was
+accompanied with a general shout of applause.  After the cloth had been
+removed Brederode appeared with a wallet over his shoulder similar to
+that which the vagrant pilgrims and mendicant monks of the time used to
+carry, and after returning thanks to all for their accession to the
+league, and boldly assuring them that he was ready to venture life and
+limb for every individual present, he drank to the health of the whole
+company out of a wooden beaker.  The cup went round and every one
+uttered the same vow as be set it to his lips.  Then one after the other
+they received the beggar's purse, and each hung it on a nail which he
+had appropriated to himself.  The shouts and uproar attending this
+buffoonery attracted the Prince of Orange and Counts Egmont and Horn,
+who by chance were passing the spot at the very moment, and on entering
+the house were boisterously pressed by Brederode, as host, to remain and
+drink a glass with them.
+
+     ["But," Egmont asserted in his written defence "we drank only one
+     single small glass, and thereupon they cried 'long live the king
+     and the Gueux!'  This was the first time that I heard that
+     appellation, and it certainly did not please me.  But the times
+     were so bad that one was often compelled to share in much that was
+     against one's inclination, and I knew not but I was doing an
+     innocent thing."  Proces criminels des Comtes d'Egmont, etc.. 7. 1.
+     Egmont's defence, Hopper, 94.  Strada, 127-130.  Burgund., 185,
+     187.]
+
+The entrance of three such influential personages renewed the mirth of
+the guests, and their festivities soon passed the bounds of moderation.
+Many were intoxicated; guests and attendants mingled together without
+distinction; the serious and the ludicrous, drunken fancies and affairs
+of state were blended one with another in a burlesque medley; and the
+discussions on the general distress of the country ended in the wild
+uproar of a bacchanalian revel.  But it did not stop here; what they had
+resolved on in the moment of intoxication they attempted when sober to
+carry into execution.  It was necessary to manifest to the people in
+some striking shape the existence of their protectors, and likewise to
+fan the zeal of the faction by a visible emblem; for this end nothing
+could be better than to adopt publicly this name of Gueux, and to borrow
+from it the tokens of the association.  In a few days the town of
+Brussels swarmed with ash-gray garments such as were usually worn by
+mendicant friars and penitents.  Every confederate put his whole family
+and domestics in this dress.  Some carried wooden bowls thinly overlaid
+with plates of silver, cups of the same kind, and wooden knives; in
+short the whole paraphernalia of the beggar tribe, which they either
+fixed around their hats or suspended from their girdles: Round the neck
+they wore a golden or silver coin, afterwards called the Geusen penny,
+of which one side bore the effigy of the king, with the inscription,
+"True to the king;" on the other side were seen two hands folded
+together holding a wallet, with the words "as far as the beggar's
+scrip."  Hence the origin of the name "Gueux," which was subsequently
+borne in the Netherlands by all who seceded from popery and took up arms
+against the king.
+
+Before the confederates separated and dispersed among the provinces they
+presented themselves once more before the duchess, in order to remind
+her of the necessity of leniency towards the heretics until the arrival
+of the king's answer from Spain, if she did not wish to drive the people
+to extremities.  "If, however," they added, "a contrary behavior should
+give rise to any evils they at least must be regarded as having done
+their duty."
+
+To this the regent replied, "she hoped to be able to adopt such
+measures as would render it impossible for disorders to ensue; but if,
+nevertheless, they did occur, she could ascribe them to no one but the
+confederates.  She therefore earnestly admonished them on their part to
+fulfil their engagements, but especially to receive no new members into
+the league, to hold no more private assemblies, and generally not to
+attempt any novel and unconstitutional measures."  And in order to
+tranquillize their minds she commanded her private secretary, Berti, to
+show them the letters to the inquisitors and secular judges, wherein
+they were enjoined to observe moderation towards all those who had not
+aggravated their heretical offences by any civil crime.  Before their
+departure from Brussels they named four presidents from among their
+number who were to take care of the affairs of the league, and also
+particular administrators for each province.  A few were left behind in
+Brussels to keep a watchful eye on all the movements of the court.
+Brederode, Kuilemberg, and Bergen at last quitted the town, attended by
+five hundred and fifty horsemen, saluted it once more beyond the walls
+with a discharge of musketry, and then the three leaders parted,
+Brederode taking the road to Antwerp, and the two others to Guelders.
+The regent had sent off an express to Antwerp to warn the magistrate of
+that town against him.  On his arrival more than a thousand persons
+thronged to the hotel where he had taken up his abode.  Showing himself
+at a window, with a full wineglass in his hand, he thus addressed them:
+"Citizens of Antwerp!  I am here at the hazard of my life and my
+property to relieve you from the oppressive burden of the Inquisition.
+If you are ready to share this enterprise with me, and to acknowledge me
+as your leader, accept the health which I here drink to you, and hold up
+your hands in testimony of your approbation."  Hereupon he drank to
+their health, and all hands were raised amidst clamorous shouts of
+exultation.  After this heroic deed he quitted Antwerp.
+
+Immediately after the delivery of the "petition of the nobles," the
+regent had caused a new form of the edicts to be drawn up in the privy
+council, which should keep the mean between the commands of the king and
+the demands of the confederates.  But the next question that arose was
+to determine whether it would be advisable immediately to promulgate
+this mitigated form, or moderation, as it was commonly called, or to
+submit it first to the king for his ratification.  The privy council who
+maintained that it would be presumptuous to take a step so important and
+so contrary to the declared sentiments of the monarch without having
+first obtained his sanction, opposed the vote of the Prince of Orange
+who supported the former proposition.  Besides, they urged, there was
+cause to fear that it would not even content the nation.
+
+A "moderation" devised with the assent of the states was what they
+particularly insisted on.  In order, therefore, to gain the consent of
+the states, or rather to obtain it from them by stealth, the regent
+artfully propounded the question to the provinces singly, and first of
+all to those which possessed the least freedom, such as Artois, Namur,
+and Luxemburg.  Thus she not only prevented one province encouraging
+another in opposition, but also gained this advantage by it, that the
+freer provinces, such as Flanders and Brabant, which were prudently
+reserved to the last, allowed themselves to be carried away by the
+example of the others.  By a very illegal procedure the representatives
+of the towns were taken by surprise, and their consent exacted before
+they could confer with their constituents, while complete silence was
+imposed upon them with regard to the whole transaction.  By these means
+the regent obtained the unconditional consent of some of the provinces
+to the "moderation," and, with a few slight changes, that of other
+provinces.  Luxemburg and Namur subscribed it without scruple.  The
+states of Artois simply added the condition that false informers should
+be subjected to a retributive penalty; those of Hainault demanded that
+instead of confiscation of the estates, which directly militated against
+their privileges, another discretionary punishment should be introduced.
+Flanders called for the entire abolition of the Inquisition, and desired
+that the accused might be secured in right of appeal to their own
+province.  The states of Brabant were outwitted by the intrigues of the
+court.  Zealand, Holland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Friesland as being
+provinces which enjoyed the most important privileges, and which,
+moreover, watched over them with the greatest jealousy, were never asked
+for their opinion.  The provincial courts of judicature had also been
+required to make a report on the projected amendment of the law, but we
+may well suppose that it was unfavorable, as it never reached Spain.
+From the principal cause of this "moderation," which, however, really
+deserved its name, we may form a judgment of the general character of
+the edicts themselves.  "Sectarian writers," it ran, "the heads and
+teachers of sects, as also those who conceal heretical meetings, or
+cause any other public scandal, shall be punished with the gallows, and
+their estates, where the law of the province permit it, confiscated; but
+if they abjure their errors, their punishment shall be commuted into
+decapitation with the sword, and their effects shall be preserved to
+their families."  A cruel snare for parental affection!  Less grievous
+heretics, it was further enacted, shall, if penitent, be pardoned; and
+if impenitent shall be compelled to leave the country, without, however,
+forfeiting their estates, unless by continuing to lead others astray
+they deprive themselves of the benefit of this provision.  The
+Anabaptists, however, were expressly excluded from benefiting by this
+clause; these, if they did not clear themselves by the most thorough
+repentance, were to forfeit their possessions; and if, on the other
+hand, they relapsed after penitence, that is, were backsliding heretics,
+they were to be put to death without mercy.  The greater regard for life
+and property which is observable in this ordinance as compared with the
+edicts, and which we might be tempted to ascribe to a change of
+intention in the Spanish ministry, was nothing more than a compulsory
+step extorted by the determined opposition of the nobles.  So little,
+too, were the people in the Netherlands satisfied by this "moderation,"
+which fundamentally did not remove a single abuse, that instead of
+"moderation" (mitigation), they indignantly called it "moorderation,"
+that is, murdering.
+
+After the consent of the states had in this manner been extorted from
+them, the "moderation" was submitted to the council of the state, and,
+after receiving their signatures, forwarded to the king in Spain in
+order to receive from his ratification the force of law.
+
+The embassy to Madrid, which had been agreed upon with the confederates,
+was at the outset entrusted to the Marquis of Bergen, who, however, from
+a distrust of the present disposition of the king, which was only too
+well grounded, and from reluctance to engage alone in so delicate a
+business, begged for a coadjutor.
+
+     [This Marquis of Bergen is to be distinguished from Count William
+     of Bergen, who was among the first who subscribed the covenant.
+     Vigi. ad Hopper, Letter VII.]
+
+He obtained one in the Baron of Montigny, who had previously been
+employed in a similar duty, and had discharged it with high credit.
+As, however, circumstances had since altered so much that he had just
+anxiety as to his present reception in Madrid for his greater safety,
+he stipulated with the duchess that she should write to the monarch
+previously; and that he, with his companion, should, in the meanwhile,
+travel slowly enough to give time for the king's answer reaching him en
+route.  His good genius wished, as it appeared, to save him from the
+terrible fate which awaited him in Madrid, for his departure was delayed
+by an unexpected obstacle, the Marquis of Bergen being disabled from
+setting out immediately through a wound which he received from the blow
+of a tennis-ball.  At last, however, yielding to the pressing
+importunities of the regent, who was anxious to expedite the business,
+he set out alone, not, as he hoped, to carry the cause of his nation,
+but to die for it.
+
+In the meantime the posture of affairs had changed so greatly in the
+Netherlands, the step which the nobles had recently taken had so nearly
+brought on a complete rupture with the government, that it seemed
+impossible for the Prince of Orange and his friends to maintain any
+longer the intermediate and delicate position which they had hitherto
+held between the country and the court, or to reconcile the
+contradictory duties to which it gave rise.  Great must have been
+the restraint which, with their mode of thinking, they had to put on
+themselves not to take part in this contest; much, too, must their
+natural love of liberty, their patriotism, and their principles of
+toleration have suffered from the constraint which their official
+station imposed upon them.  On the other hand, Philip's distrust, the
+little regard which now for a long time had been paid to their advice,
+and the marked slights which the duchess publicly put upon them, had
+greatly contributed to cool their zeal for the service, and to render
+irksome the longer continuance of a part which they played with so much
+repugnance and with so little thanks.  This feeling was strengthened by
+several intimations they received from Spain which placed beyond doubt
+the great displeasure of the king at the petition of the nobles, and his
+little satisfaction with their own behavior on that occasion, while they
+were also led to expect that he was about to enter upon measures, to
+which, as favorable to the liberties of their country, and for the most
+part friends or blood relations of the confederates; they could never
+lend their countenance or support.  On the name which should be applied
+in Spain to the confederacy of the nobles it principally depended what
+course they should follow for the future.  If the petition should be
+called rebellion no alternative would be left them but either to come
+prematurely to a dangerous explanation with the court, or to aid it in
+treating as enemies those with whom they had both a fellow-feeling and a
+common interest.  This perilous alternative could only be avoided by
+withdrawing entirely from public affairs; this plan they had once before
+practically adopted, and under present circumstances it was something
+more than a simple expedient.  The whole nation had their eyes upon
+them.  An unlimited confidence in their integrity, and the universal
+veneration for their persons, which closely bordered on idolatry, would
+ennoble the cause which they might make their own and ruin that which
+they should abandon.  Their share in the administration of the state,
+though it were nothing more than nominal, kept the opposite party in
+check; while they attended the senate violent measures were avoided
+because their continued presence still favored some expectations of
+succeeding by gentle means.  The withholding of their approbation, even
+if it did not proceed from their hearts, dispirited the faction, which,
+on the contrary, would exert its full strength so soon as it could
+reckon even distantly on obtaining so weighty a sanction.  The very
+measures of the government which, if they came through their hands, were
+certain of a favorable reception and issue, would without them prove
+suspected and futile; even the royal concessions, if they were not
+obtained by the mediation of these friends of the people, would fail of
+the chief part of their efficacy.  Besides, their retirement from public
+affairs would deprive the regent of the benefit of their advice at a
+time when counsel was most indispensable to her; it would, moreover,
+leave the preponderance with a party which, blindly dependent on the
+court, and ignorant of the peculiarities of republican character, would
+neglect nothing to aggravate the evil, and to drive to extremity the
+already exasperated mind of the public.
+
+All these motives (and it is open to every one, according to his good or
+bad opinion of the prince, to say which was the most influential) tended
+alike to move him to desert the regent, and to divest himself of all
+share in public affairs.  An opportunity for putting this resolve into
+execution soon presented itself.  The prince had voted for the immediate
+promulgation of the newly-revised edicts; but the regent, following the
+suggestion of her privy council, had determined to transmit them first
+to the king.  "I now see clearly," he broke out with well-acted
+vehemence, "that all the advice which I give is distrusted.  The king
+requires no servants whose loyalty he is determined to doubt; and far be
+it from me to thrust my services upon a sovereign who is unwilling to
+receive them.  Better, therefore, for him and me that I withdraw from
+public affairs."  Count Horn expressed himself nearly to the same
+effect.  Egmont requested permission to visit the baths of Aix-la-
+Chapelle, the use of which had been prescribed to him by his physician,
+although (as it is stated in his accusation) he appeared health itself.
+The regent, terrified at the consequences which must inevitably follow
+this step, spoke sharply to the prince.  "If neither my representations,
+nor the general welfare can prevail upon you, so far as to induce you to
+relinquish this intention, let me advise you to be more careful, at
+least, of your own reputation.  Louis of Nassau is your brother; he and
+Count Brederode, the heads of the confederacy, have publicly been your
+guests.  The petition is in substance identical with your own
+representations in the council of state.  If you now suddenly desert
+the cause of your king will it not be universally said that you favor
+the conspiracy?"  We do not find it anywhere stated whether the prince
+really withdrew at this time from the council of state; at all events,
+if he did, he must soon have altered his mind, for shortly after he
+appears again in public transactions.  Egmont allowed himself to be
+overcome by the remonstrances of the regent; Horn alone actually
+withdrew himself to one of his estates,--[Where be remained three months
+inactive.]--with the resolution of never more serving either emperor or
+king.  Meanwhile the Gueux had dispersed themselves through the
+provinces, and spread everywhere the most favorable reports of their
+success.  According to their assertions, religious freedom was finally
+assured; and in order to confirm their statements they helped
+themselves, where the truth failed, with falsehood.  For example, they
+produced a forged letter of the Knights of the Fleece, in which the
+latter were made solemnly to declare that for the future no one need
+fear imprisonment, or banishment, or death on account of religion,
+unless he also committed a political crime; and even in that case the
+confederates alone were to be his judges; and this regulation was to be
+in force until the king, with the consent and advice of the states of
+the realm, should otherwise dispose.  Earnestly as the knights applied
+themselves upon the first information of the fraud to rescue the nation
+from their delusion, still it had already in this short interval done
+good service to the faction.  If there are truths whose effect is
+limited to a single instant, then inventions which last so long can
+easily assume their place.  Besides, the report, however false, was
+calculated both to awaken distrust between the regent and the knights,
+and to support the courage of the Protestants by fresh hopes, while it
+also furnished those who were meditating innovation an appearance of
+right, which, however unsubstantial they themselves knew it to be,
+served as a colorable pretext for their proceedings.  Quickly as this
+delusion was dispelled, still, in the short space of time that it
+obtained belief, it had occasioned so many extravagances, had introduced
+so much irregularity and license, that a return to the former state of
+things became impossible, and continuance in the course already
+commenced was rendered necessary as well by habit as by despair.
+On the very first news of this happy result the fugitive Protestants had
+returned to their homes, which they had so unwillingly abandoned; those
+who had been in concealment came forth from their hiding-places; those
+who had hitherto paid homage to the new religion in their hearts alone,
+emboldened by these pretended acts of toleration, now gave in their
+adhesion to it publicly and decidedly.  The name of the "Gueux" was
+extolled in all the provinces; they were called the pillars of religion
+and liberty; their party increased daily, and many of the merchants
+began to wear their insignia.  The latter made an alteration in the
+"Gueux" penny, by introducing two travellers' staffs, laid crosswise, to
+intimate that they stood prepared and ready at any instant to forsake
+house and hearth for the sake of religion.  The Gueux league, in short,
+had now given to things an entirely different form.  The murmurs of the
+people, hitherto impotent and despised, as being the cries of
+individuals, had, now that they were concentrated, become formidable;
+and had gained power, direction, and firmness through union.  Every one
+who was rebelliously disposed now looked on himself as the member of a
+venerable and powerful body, and believed that by carrying his own
+complaints to the general stock of discontent he secured the free
+expression of them.  To be called an important acquisition to the league
+flattered the vain; to be lost, unnoticed, and irresponsible in the
+crowd was an inducement to the timid.  The face which the confederacy
+showed to the nation was very unlike that which it had turned to the
+court.  But had its objects been the purest, had it really been as well
+disposed towards the throne as it wished to appear, still the multitude
+would have regarded only what was illegal in its proceedings, and upon
+them its better intentions would have been entirely lost.
+
+
+
+
+                            PUBLIC PREACHING.
+
+No moment could be more favorable to the Huguenots and the German
+Protestants than the present to seek a market for their dangerous
+commodity in the Netherlands.  Accordingly, every considerable town now
+swarmed with suspicious arrivals, masked spies, and the apostles of
+every description of heresy.  Of the religious parties, which had sprung
+up by secession from the ruling church, three chiefly had made
+considerable progress in the provinces.  Friesland and the adjoining
+districts were overrun by the Anabaptists, who, however, as the most
+indigent, without organization and government, destitute of military
+resources, and moreover at strife amongst themselves, awakened the least
+apprehension.  Of far more importance were the Calvanists, who prevailed
+in the southern provinces, and above all in Flanders, who were
+powerfully supported by their neighbors the Huguenots, the republic of
+Geneva, the Swiss Cantons, and part of Germany, and whose opinions, with
+the exception of a slight difference, were also held by the throne in
+England.  They were also the most numerous party, especially among the
+merchants and common citizens.  The Huguenots, expelled from France, had
+been the chief disseminators of the tenets of this party.  The Lutherans
+were inferior both in numbers and wealth, but derived weight from having
+many adherents among the nobility.  They occupied, for the most part,
+the eastern portion of the Netherlands, which borders on Germany, and
+were also to be found in some of the northern territories.  Some of the
+most powerful princes of Germany were their allies; and the religious
+freedom of that empire, of which by the Burgundian treaty the
+Netherlands formed an integral part, was claimed by them with some
+appearance of right.  These three religious denominations met together
+in Antwerp, where the crowded population concealed them, and the
+mingling of all nations favored liberty.  They had nothing in common,
+except an equally inextinguishable hatred of popery, of the Inquisition
+in particular, and of the Spanish government, whose instrument it was;
+while, on the other hand, they watched each other with a jealousy which
+kept their zeal in exercise, and prevented the glowing ardor of
+fanaticism from waxing dull.
+
+The regent, in expectation that the projected "moderation" would be
+sanctioned by the king, had, in the meantime, to gratify the Gueux,
+recommended the governors and municipal officers of the provinces to be
+as moderate as possible in their proceedings against heretics;
+instructions which were eagerly followed, and interpreted in the widest
+sense by the majority, who had hitherto administered the painful duty of
+punishment with extreme repugnance.  Most of the chief magistrates were
+in their hearts averse to the Inquisition and the Spanish tyranny, and
+many were even secretly attached to one or other of the religious
+parties; even the others were unwilling to inflict punishment on
+their countrymen to gratify their sworn enemies, the Spaniards.
+All, therefore, purposely misunderstood the regent, and allowed the
+Inquisition and the edicts to fall almost entirely into disuse.
+This forbearance of the government, combined with the brilliant
+representations of the Gueux, lured from their obscurity the
+Protestants, who, however, had now grown too powerful to be any longer
+concealed.  Hitherto they had contented themselves with secret
+assemblies by night; now they thought themselves numerous and formidable
+enough to venture to these meetings openly and publicly.  This license
+commenced somewhere between Oudenarde and Ghent, and soon spread through
+the rest of Flanders.  A certain Herrnann Stricker, born at Overyssel,
+formerly a monk, a daring enthusiast of able mind, imposing figure, and
+ready tongue, was the first who collected the people for a sermon in the
+open air.  The novelty of the thing gathered together a crowd of about
+seven thousand persons.  A magistrate of the neighborhood, more
+courageous than wise, rushed amongst the crowd with his drawn sword, and
+attempted to seize the preacher, but was so roughly handled by the
+multitude, who for want of other weapons took up stones and felled him
+to the ground, that he was glad to beg for his life.
+
+     [The unheard-of foolhardiness of a single man rushing into the
+     midst of a fanatical crowd of seven thousand people to seize before
+     their eyes one whom they adored, proves, more than all that can be
+     said on the subject the insolent contempt with which the Roman
+     Catholics of the time looked down upon the so-called heretics as an
+     inferior race of beings.]
+
+This success of the first attempt inspired courage for a second.  In the
+vicinity of Aalst they assembled again in still greater numbers; but on
+this occasion they provided themselves with rapiers, firearms, and
+halberds, placed sentries at all the approaches, which they also
+barricaded with carts and carriages.  All passers-by were obliged,
+whether willing or otherwise, to take part in the religious service, and
+to enforce this object lookout parties were posted at certain distances
+round the place of meeting.  At the entrance booksellers stationed
+themselves, offering for sale Protestant catechisms, religious tracts,
+and pasquinades on the bishops.  The preacher,  Hermann Stricker, held
+forth from a pulpit which was hastily constructed for the occasion out
+of carts and  trunks of trees.  A canvas awning drawn over it protected
+him from the sun and the rain; the preacher's  position was in the
+quarter of the wind that the people  might not lose any part of his
+sermon, which consisted principally of revilings against popery.  Here
+the sacraments were administered after the Calvinistic fashion, and
+water was procured from the nearest river to baptize infants without
+further ceremony, after the practice, it was pretended, of the earliest
+times of Christianity.  Couples were also united in wedlock, and the
+marriage ties dissolved between others.  To be present at this meeting
+half the population of Ghent had left its gates; their example was soon
+followed in other parts, and ere long spread over the whole of East
+Flanders.  In like manner Peter Dathen, another renegade monk, from
+Poperingen, stirred up West Flanders; as many as fifteen thousand
+persons at a time attended his preaching from the villages and hamlets;
+their number made them bold, and they broke into the prisons, where some
+Anabaptists were reserved for martyrdom.  In Tournay the Protestants
+were excited to a similar pitch of daring by Ambrosius Ville, a French
+Calvinist.  They demanded the release of the prisoners of their sect,
+and repeatedly threatened if their demands were not complied with to
+deliver up the town to the French.  It was entirely destitute of a
+garrison, for the commandant, from fear of treason, had withdrawn it
+into the castle, and the soldiers, moreover, refused to act against
+their fellow-citizens.  The sectarians carried their audacity to such
+great lengths as to require one of the churches within the town to be
+assigned to them; and when this was refused they entered into a league
+with Valenciennes and Antwerp to obtain a legal recognition of their
+worship, after the example of the other towns, by open force.  These
+three towns maintained a close connection with each other, and the
+Protestant party was equally powerful in all.  While, however, no one
+would venture singly to commence the disturbance, they agreed
+simultaneously to make a beginning with public preaching.  Brederode's
+appearance in Antwerp at last gave them courage.  Six thousand persons,
+men and women, poured forth from the town on an appointed day, on which
+the same thing happened in Tournay and Valenciennes.  The place of
+meeting was closed in with a line of vehicles, firmly fastened together,
+and behind them armed men were secretly posted, with a view to protect
+the service from any surprise.  Of the preachers, most of whom were men
+of the very lowest class--some were Germans, some were Huguenots--and
+spoke in the Walloon dialect; some even of the citizens felt themselves
+called upon to take a part in this sacred work, now that no fears of the
+officers of justice alarmed them.  Many were drawn to the spot by mere
+curiosity to hear what kind of new and unheard-of doctrines these
+foreign teachers, whose arrival had caused so much talk, would set
+forth.  Others were attracted by the melody of the psalms, which were
+sung in a French version, after the custom in Geneva.  A great number
+came to hear these sermons as so many amusing comedies such was the
+buffoonery with which the pope, the fathers of the ecclesiastical
+council of Trent, purgatory, and other dogmas of the ruling church were
+abused in them.  And, in fact, the more extravagant was this abuse and
+ridicule the more it tickled the ears of the lower orders; and a
+universal clapping of hands, as in a theatre, rewarded the speaker who
+had surpassed others in the wildness of his jokes and denunciations.
+But the ridicule which was thus cast upon the ruling church was,
+nevertheless, not entirely lost on the minds of the hearers, as neither
+were the few grains of truth or reason which occasionally slipped in
+among it; and many a one, who had sought from these sermons anything but
+conviction, unconsciously carried away a little also of it.
+
+These assemblies were several times repeated, and each day augmented the
+boldness of the sectarians; till at last they even ventured, after
+concluding the service to conduct their preachers home in triumph, with
+an escort of armed horsemen, and ostentatiously to brave the law.  The
+town council sent express after express to the duchess, entreating her
+to visit them in person, and if possible to reside for a short time in
+Antwerp, as the only expedient to curb the arrogance of the populace;
+and assuring her that the most eminent merchants, afraid of being
+plundered, were already preparing to quit it.  Fear of staking the royal
+dignity on so hazardous a stroke of policy forbade her compliance; but
+she despatched in her stead Count Megen, in order to treat with the
+magistrate for the introduction of a garrison.  The rebellious mob, who
+quickly got an inkling of the object of his visit, gathered around him
+with tumultuous cries, shouting, "He was known to them as a sworn enemy
+of the Gueux; that it was notorious he was bringing upon them prisons
+and the Inquisition, and that he should leave the town instantly."  Nor
+was the tumult quieted till Megen was beyond the gates.  The Calvinists
+now handed in to the magistrate a memorial, in which they showed that
+their great numbers made it impossible for them henceforward to assemble
+in secrecy, and requested a separate place of worship to be allowed them
+inside the town.  The town council renewed its entreaties to the duchess
+to assist, by her personal presence, their perplexities, or at least to
+send to them the Prince of Orange, as the only person for whom the
+people still had any respect, and, moreover, as specially bound to the
+town of Antwerp by his hereditary title of its burgrave.  In order to
+escape the greater evil she was compelled to consent to the second
+demand, however much against her inclination to entrust Antwerp to the
+prince.  After allowing himself to be long and fruitlessly entreated,
+for he had all at once resolved to take no further share in public
+affairs, he yielded at last to the earnest persuasions of the regent
+and the boisterous wishes of the people.  Brederode, with a numerous
+retinue, came half a mile out of the town to meet him, and both parties
+saluted each other with a discharge of pistols.  Antwerp appeared to
+have poured out all her inhabitants to welcome her deliverer.  The high
+road swarmed with multitudes; the roofs were taken off the houses in
+order that they might accommodate more spectators; behind fences, from
+churchyard walls, even out of graves started up men.  The attachment of
+the people to the prince showed itself in childish effusions.  "Long
+live the Gueux!" was the shout with which young and old received him.
+"Behold," cried others, "the man who shall give us liberty."  "He brings
+us," cried the Lutherans, "the Confession of Augsburg!"  "We don't want
+the Gueux now!"  exclaimed others; "we have no more need of the
+troublesome journey to Brussels.  He alone is everything to us!"  Those
+who knew not what to say vented their extravagant joy in psalms, which
+they vociferously chanted as they moved along.  He, however, maintained
+his gravity, beckoned for silence, and at last, when no one would listen
+to him, exclaimed with indignation, half real and half affected, "By
+God, they ought to consider what they did, or they would one day repent
+what they had now done."  The shouting increased even as he rode into
+the town.  The first conference of the prince with the heads of the
+different religious sects, whom he sent for and separately interrogated,
+presently convinced him that the chief source of the evil was the mutual
+distrust of the several parties, and the suspicions which the citizens
+entertained of the designs of the government, and that therefore it must
+be his first business to restore confidence among them all.  First of
+all he attempted, both by persuasion and artifice, to induce the
+Calvinists, as the most numerous body, to lay down their weapons, and in
+this he at last, with much labor, succeeded.  When, however, some wagons
+were soon afterwards seen laden with ammunition in Malines, and the high
+bailiff of Brabant showed himself frequently in the neighborhood of
+Antwerp with an armed force, the Calvinists, fearing hostile
+interruption of their religious worship, besought the prince to allot
+them a place within the walls for their sermons, which should be secure
+from a surprise.  He succeeded once more in pacifying them, and his
+presence fortunately prevented an outbreak on the Assumption of the
+Virgin, which, as usual, had drawn a crowd to the town, and from whose
+sentiments there was but too much reason for alarm.  The image of the
+Virgin was, with the usual pomp, carried round the town without
+interruption; a few words of abuse, and a suppressed murmur about
+idolatry, was all that the disapproving multitudes indulged in against
+the procession.
+
+
+1566.  While the regent received from one province after another the
+most melancholy accounts of the excesses of the Protestants, and while
+she trembled for Antwerp, which she was compelled to leave in the
+dangerous hands of the Prince of Orange, a new terror assailed her from
+another quarter.  Upon the first authentic tidings of the public
+preaching she immediately called upon the league to fulfil its promises
+and to assist her in restoring order.  Count Brederode used this pretext
+to summon a general meeting of the whole league, for which he could not
+have selected a more dangerous moment than the present.  So ostentatious
+a display of the strength of the league, whose existence and protection
+had alone encouraged the Protestant mob to go the length it had already
+gone, would now raise the confidence of the sectarians, while in the
+same degree it depressed the courage of the regent.  The convention took
+place in the town of Liege St. Truyen, into which Brederode and Louis of
+Nassau had thrown themselves at the head of two thousand confederates.
+As the long delay of the royal answer from Madrid seemed to presage no
+good from that quarter, they considered it advisable in any case to
+extort from the regent a letter of indemnity for their persons.
+
+Those among them who were conscious of a disloyal sympathy with the
+Protestant mob looked on its licentiousness as a favorable circumstance
+for the league; the apparent success of those to whose degrading
+fellowship they had deigned to stoop led them to alter their tone; their
+former laudable zeal began to degenerate into insolence and defiance.
+Many thought that they ought to avail themselves of the general
+confusion and the perplexity of the duchess to assume a bolder tone and
+heap demand upon demand.  The Roman Catholic members of the league,
+among whom many were in their hearts still strongly inclined to the
+royal cause, and who had been drawn into a connection with the league by
+occasion and example, rather than from feeling and conviction, now heard
+to their astonishment propositions for establishing universal freedom of
+religion, and were not a little shocked to discover in how perilous an
+enterprise they had hastily implicated themselves.  On this discovery
+the young Count Mansfeld withdrew immediately from it, and internal
+dissensions already began to undermine the work of precipitation and
+haste, and imperceptibly to loosen the joints of the league.
+
+Count Egmont and William of Orange were empowered by the regent to treat
+with the confederates.  Twelve of the latter, among whom were Louis of
+Nassau, Brederode, and Kuilemberg, conferred with them in Duffle, a
+village near Malines.  "Wherefore this new step?"  demanded the regent
+by the mouth of these two noblemen.  "I was required to despatch
+ambassadors to Spain; and I sent them.  The edicts and the Inquisition
+were complained of as too rigorous; I have rendered both more lenient.
+A general assembly of the states of the realm was proposed; I have
+submitted this request to the king because I could not grant it from my
+own authority.  What, then, have I unwittingly either omitted or done
+that should render necessary this assembling in St. Truyen?  Is it
+perhaps fear of the king's anger and of its consequences that disturbs
+the confederates?  The provocation certainly is great, but his mercy is
+even greater.  Where now is the promise of the league to excite no
+disturbances amongst the people?  Where those high-sounding professions
+that they were ready to die at my feet rather, than offend against any
+of the prerogatives of the crown?  The innovators already venture on
+things which border closely on rebellion, and threaten the state with
+destruction; and it is to the league that they appeal.  If it continues
+silently to tolerate this it will justly bring on itself the charge of
+participating in the guilt of their offences; if it is honestly disposed
+towards the sovereign it cannot remain longer inactive in this
+licentiousness of the mob.  But, in truth, does it not itself outstrip
+the insane population by its dangerous example, concluding, as it is
+known to do, alliances with the enemies of the country, and confirming
+the evil report of its designs by the present illegal meeting?"
+
+Against these reproaches the league formally justified itself in a
+memorial which it deputed three of its members to deliver to the council
+of state at Brussels.
+
+"All," it commenced, "that your highness has done in respect to our
+petition we have felt with the most lively gratitude; and we cannot
+complain of any new measure, subsequently adopted, inconsistent with
+your promise; but we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the
+orders of your highness are by the judicial courts, at least, very
+little regarded; for we are continually hearing--and our own eyes attest
+to the truth of the report--that in all quarters our fellow-citizens are
+in spite of the orders of your highness still mercilessly dragged before
+the courts of justice and condemned to death for religion.  What the
+league engaged on its part to do it has honestly fulfilled; it has, too,
+to the utmost of its power endeavored to prevent the public preachings;
+but it certainly is no wonder if the long delay of an answer from Madrid
+fills the mind of the people with distrust, and if the disappointed
+hopes of a general assembly of the states disposes them to put little
+faith in any further assurances.  The league has never allied, nor ever
+felt any temptation to ally, itself with the enemies of the country.  If
+the arms of France were to appear in the provinces we, the confederates,
+would be the first to mount and drive them back again.  The league,
+however, desires to be candid with your highness.  We thought we read
+marks of displeasure in your countenance; we see men in exclusive
+possession of your favor who are notorious for their hatred against us.
+We daily hear that persons are warned from associating with us, as with
+those infected with the plague, while we are denounced with the arrival
+of the king as with the opening of a day of judgment--what is more
+natural than that such distrust shown to us should at last rouse our
+own?  That the attempt to blacken our league with the reproach of
+treason, that the warlike preparations of the Duke of Savoy and of other
+princes, which, according to common report, are directed against
+ourselves; the negotiations of the king with the French court to obtain
+a passage through that kingdom for a Spanish army, which is destined,
+it is said, for the Netherlands--what wonder if these and similar
+occurrences should have stimulated us to think in time of the means of
+self-defence, and to strengthen ourselves by an alliance with our
+friends beyond the frontier?  On a general, uncertain, and vague rumor
+we are accused of a share in this licentiousness of the Protestant mob;
+but who is safe from general rumor?  True it is, certainly, that of our
+numbers some are Protestants, to whom religious toleration would be a
+welcome boon; but even they have never forgotten what they owe to their
+sovereign.  It is not fear of the king's anger which instigated us to
+hold this assembly.  The king is good, and we still hope that he is also
+just.  It cannot, therefore, be pardon that we seek from him, and just
+as little can it be oblivion that we solicit for our actions, which are
+far from being the least considerable of the services we have at
+different times rendered his majesty.  Again, it is true, that the
+delegates of the Lutherans and Calvinists are with us in St. Truyen;
+nay, more, they have delivered to us a petition which, annexed to this
+memorial, we here present to your highness.  In it they offer to go
+unarmed to their preachings if the league will tender its security to
+them, and be willing to engage for a general meeting of the states.  We
+have thought it incumbent upon us to communicate both these matters to
+you, for our guarantee can have no force unless it is at the same time
+confirmed by your highness and some of your principal counsellors.
+Among these no one can be so well acquainted with the circumstances of
+our cause, or be so upright in intention towards us, as the Prince of
+Orange and Counts Horn and Egmont.  We gladly accept these three as
+meditators if the necessary powers are given to them, and assurance is
+afforded us that no troops will be enlisted without their knowledge.
+This guarantee, however, we only require for a given period, before the
+expiration of which it will rest with the king whether he will cancel or
+confirm it for the future.  If the first should be his will it will then
+be but fair that time should be allowed us to place our persons and our
+property in security; for this three weeks will be sufficient.  Finally,
+and in conclusion, we on our part also pledge ourselves to undertake
+nothing new without the concurrence of those three persons, our
+mediators."
+
+The league would not have ventured to hold such bold language if it had
+not reckoned on powerful support and protection; but the regent was as
+little in a condition to concede their demands as she was incapable of
+vigorously opposing them.  Deserted in Brussels by most of her
+counsellors of state, who had either departed to their provinces, or
+under some pretext or other had altogether withdrawn from public
+affairs; destitute as well of advisers as of money (the latter want had
+compelled her, in the first instance, to appeal to the liberality of the
+clergy; when this proved insufficient, to have recourse to a lottery),
+dependent on orders from Spain, which were ever expected and never
+received, she was at last reduced to the degrading expedient of entering
+into a negotiation with the confederates in St. Truyen, that they should
+wait twenty-four days longer for the king's resolution before they took
+any further steps.  It was certainly surprising that the king still
+continued to delay a decisive answer to the petition, although it was
+universally known that he had answered letters of a much later date, and
+that the regent earnestly importuned him on this head.  She had also, on
+the commencement of the public preaching, immediately despatched the
+Marquis of Bergen after the Baron of Montigny, who, as an eye-witness of
+these new occurrences, could confirm her written statements, to move the
+king to an earlier decision.
+
+
+1566.  In the meanwhile, the Flemish ambassador, Florence of Montigny,
+had arrived in Madrid, where he was received with a great show of
+consideration.  His instructions were to press for the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the mitigation of the edicts; the augmentation of the
+council of state, and the incorporation with it of the two other
+councils; the calling of a general assembly of the states, and, lastly,
+to urge the solicitations of the regent for a personal visit from the
+king.  As the latter, however, was only desirous of gaining time,
+Montigny was put off with fair words until the arrival of his coadjutor,
+without whom the king was not willing to come to any final
+determination.  In the meantime, Montigny had every day and at any hour
+that he desired, an audience with the king, who also commanded that on
+all occasions the despatches of the duchess and the answers to them
+should be communicated to himself.  He was, too, frequently admitted to
+the council for Belgian affairs, where he never omitted to call the
+king's attention to the necessity of a general assembly of the states,
+as being the only means of successfully meeting the troubles which had
+arisen, and as likely to supersede the necessity of any other measure.
+He moreover impressed upon him that a general and unreserved indemnity
+for the past would alone eradicate the distrust, which was the source of
+all existing complaints, and would always counteract the good effects of
+every measure, however well advised.  He ventured, from a thorough
+acquaintance with circumstances and accurate knowledge of the character
+of his countrymen, to pledge himself to the king for their inviolable
+loyalty, as soon as they should be convinced of the honesty of his
+intentions by the straightforwardness of his proceedings; while, on the
+contrary, he assured him that there would be no hopes of it as long as
+they were not relieved of the fear of being made the victims of the
+oppression, and sacrificed to the envy of the Spanish nobles.  At last
+Montigny's coadjutor made his appearance, and the objects of their
+embassy were made the subject of repeated deliberations.
+
+
+1566.  The king was at that time at his palace at Segovia, where also he
+assembled his state council.  The members were: the Duke of Alva; Don
+Gomez de Figueroa; the Count of Feria; Don Antonio of Toledo, Grand
+Commander of St. John; Don John Manriquez of Lara, Lord Steward to the
+Queen; Ruy Gomez, Prince of Eboli and Count of Melito; Louis of Quixada,
+Master of the Horse to the Prince; Charles Tyssenacque, President of the
+Council for the Netherlands; Hopper, State Counsellor and Keeper of the
+Seal; and State Counsellor Corteville.  The sitting of the council was
+protracted for several days; both ambassadors were in attendance, but
+the king was not himself present.  Here, then, the conduct of the
+Belgian nobles was examined by Spanish eyes; step by step it was traced
+back to the most distant source; circumstances were brought into
+relation with others which, in reality, never had any connection; and
+what had been the offspring of the moment was made out to be a well-
+matured and far-sighted plan.  All the different transactions and
+attempts of the nobles which had been governed solely by chance, and to
+which the natural order of events alone assigned their particular shape
+and succession, were said to be the result of a preconcerted scheme for
+introducing universal liberty in religion, and for placing all the power
+of the state in the hands of the nobles.  The first step to this end
+was, it was said, the violent expulsion of the minister Granvella,
+against whom nothing could be charged, except that he was in possession
+of an authority which they preferred to exercise themselves.  The second
+step was sending Count Egmont to Spain to urge the abolition of the
+Inquisition and the mitigation of the penal statutes, and to prevail on
+the king to consent to an augmentation of the council of state.  As,
+however, this could not be surreptitiously obtained in so quiet a
+manner, the attempt was made to extort it from the court by a third and
+more daring step--by a formal conspiracy, the league of the Gueux.  The
+fourth step to the same end was the present embassy, which at length
+boldly cast aside the mask, and by the insane proposals which they were
+not ashamed to make to their king, clearly brought to light the object
+to which all the preceding steps had tended.  Could the abolition of the
+Inquisition, they exclaimed, lead to anything less than a complete
+freedom of belief?  Would not the guiding helm of conscience be lost
+with it?  Did not the proposed "moderation" introduce an absolute
+impunity for all heresies?  What was the project of augmenting the
+council of state and of suppressing the two other councils but a
+complete remodelling of the government of the country in favor of
+the nobles?--a general constitution for all the provinces of the
+Netherlands?  Again, what was this compact of the ecclesiastics in their
+public preachings but a third conspiracy, entered into with the very
+same objects which the league of the nobles in the council of state and
+that of the Gueux had failed to effect?
+
+However, it was confessed that whatever might be the source of the evil
+it was not on that account the less important and imminent.  The
+immediate personal presence of the king in Brussels was, indubitably,
+the most efficacious means speedily and thoroughly to remedy it.  As,
+however, it was already so late in the year, and the preparations alone
+for the journey would occupy the short tine which was to elapse before
+the winter set in; as the stormy season of the year, as well as the
+danger from French and English ships, which rendered the sea unsafe, did
+not allow of the king's taking the northern route, which was the shorter
+of the two; as the rebels themselves meanwhile might become possessed of
+the island of Walcheren, and oppose the lauding of the king; for all
+these reasons, the journey was not to be thought of before the spring,
+and in absence of the only complete remedy it was necessary to rest
+satisfied with a partial expedient.  The council, therefore, agreed to
+propose to the king, in the first place, that he should recall the papal
+Inquisition from the provinces and rest satisfied with that of the
+bishops; in the second place, that a new plan for the mitigation of the
+edicts should be projected, by which the honor of religion and of the
+king would be better preserved than it had been in the transmitted
+"moderation;" thirdly, that in order to reassure the minds of the
+people, and to leave no means untried, the king should impart to the
+regent full powers to extend free grace and pardon to all those who had
+not already committed any heinous crime, or who had not as yet been
+condemned by any judicial process; but from the benefit of this
+indemnity the preachers and all who harbored them were to be excepted.
+On the other hand, all leagues, associations, public assemblies, and
+preachings were to be henceforth prohibited under heavy penalties; if,
+however, this prohibition should be infringed, the regent was to be at
+liberty to employ the regular troops and garrisons for the forcible
+reduction of the refractory, and also, in case of necessity, to enlist
+new troops, and to name the commanders over them according as should be
+deemed advisable.  Finally, it would have a good effect if his majesty
+would write to the most eminent towns, prelates, and leaders of the
+nobility, to some in his own hand, and to all in a gracious tone, in
+order to stimulate their zeal in his service.
+
+When this resolution of his council of state was submitted to the king
+his first measure was to command public processions and prayers in all
+the most considerable places of the kingdom and also of the Netherlands,
+imploring the Divine guidance in his decision.  He appeared in his own
+person in the council of state in order to approve this resolution and
+render it effective.  He declared the general assembly of the states to
+be useless and entirely abolished it.  He, however, bound himself to
+retain some German regiments in his pay, and, that they might serve with
+the more zeal, to pay them their long-standing arrears.  He commanded
+the regent in a private letter to prepare secretly for war; three
+thousand horse and ten thousand infantry were to be assembled by her in
+Germany, to which end he furnished her with the necessary letters and
+transmitted to her a sum of three hundred thousand gold florins.  He
+also accompanied this resolution with several autograph letters to some
+private individuals and towns, in which he thanked them in the most
+gracious terms for the zeal which they had already displayed in his
+service and called upon them to manifest the same for the future.
+Notwithstanding that he was inexorable on the most important point,
+and the very one on which the nation most particularly insisted--the
+convocation of the states, notwithstanding that his limited and
+ambiguous pardon was as good as none, and depended too much on arbitrary
+will to calm the public mind; notwithstanding, in fine, that he
+rejected, as too lenient, the proposed "moderation," but which, on the
+part of the people, was complained of as too severe; still he had this
+time made an unwonted step in the favor of the nation; he had sacrificed
+to it the papal Inquisition and left only the episcopal, to which it was
+accustomed.  The nation had found more equitable judges in the Spanish
+council than they could reasonably have hoped for.  Whether at another
+time and under other circumstances this wise concession would have had
+the desired effect we will not pretend to say.  It came too late; when
+(1566) the royal letters reached Brussels the attack on images had
+already commenced.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                 BOOK IV.
+
+
+                             THE ICONOCLASTS.
+
+
+
+The springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be
+sought for so far back as many historians affect to trace them.  It is
+certainly possible, and very probable, that the French Protestants did
+industriously exert themselves to raise in the Netherlands a nursery for
+their religion, and to prevent by all means in their power an amicable
+adjustment of differences between their brethren in the faith in that
+quarter and the King of Spain, in order to give that implacable foe of
+their party enough to do in his own country.  It is natural, therefore,
+to suppose that their agents in the provinces left nothing undone to
+encourage their oppressed brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their
+animosity against the ruling church, and by exaggerating the oppression
+under which they sighed to hurry them imperceptibly into illegal
+courses.  It is possible, too, that there were many among the
+confederates who thought to help out their own lost cause by increasing
+the number of their partners in guilt; who thought they could not
+otherwise maintain the legal character of their league unless the
+unfortunate results against which they had warned the king really came
+to pass, and who hoped in the general guilt of all to conceal their own
+individual criminality.  It is, however, incredible that the outbreak of
+the Iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan, preconcerted, as it
+is alleged, at the convent of St. Truyen.  It does not seem likely that
+in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of whom the greater
+part were the adherents of popery, an individual should be found insane
+enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not so much
+injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under foot all
+respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and which
+could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate.
+Besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in
+its execution altogether, too monstrous to have been anything more than
+the offspring of the moment in which it saw the light; it seemed to flow
+so naturally from the circumstances which preceded it that it does not
+require to be traced far back to remount to its origin.
+
+A rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, made brutal by
+harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town,
+scared from place to place and driven almost to despair, were compelled
+to worship their God, and to hide like a work of darkness the universal,
+sacred privilege of humanity.  Before their eyes proudly rose the
+temples of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged
+in ease their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven
+from the walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced,
+here in the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful
+secrecy to worship the same God; cast out from civil society into a
+state of nature, and reminded in one dread moment of the rights of that
+state!  The greater their superiority of numbers the more unnatural did
+their lot appear; with wonder they perceive the truth.  The free heaven,
+the arms lying ready, the frenzy in their brains and fury in their
+hearts combine to aid the suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the
+occasion calls; no premeditation is necessary where all eyes at once
+declare consent; the resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely
+uttered; ready for any unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what,
+the furious band rushes onwards.  The smiling prosperity of the hostile
+religion insults the poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized
+temples casts contempt on their proscribed belief; every cross they set
+up upon the highway, every image of the saints that they meet, is a
+trophy erected over their own humiliation, and they all must be removed
+by their avenging hands.  Fanaticism suggests these detestable
+proceedings, but base passions carry them into execution.
+
+
+1566.  The commencement of the attack on images took place in West
+Flanders and Artois, in the districts between Lys and the sea.  A
+frantic herd of artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes,
+beggars, vagabonds, and thieves, about three hundred in number,
+furnished with clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords (a few only
+were provided with swords or fire arms), cast themselves, with fanatical
+fury, into the villages and hamlets near St. Omer, and breaking open the
+gates of such churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow
+everywhere the altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and
+trample them under foot.  With their excitement increased by its
+indulgence, and reinforced by newcomers, they press on by the direct
+road to Ypres, where they can count on the support of a strong body of
+Calvinists.  Unopposed, they break into the cathedral, and mounting on
+ladders they hammer to pieces the pictures, hew down with axes the
+pulpits and pews, despoil the altars of their ornaments, and steal the
+holy vessels.  This example was quickly followed in Menin, Comines,
+Verrich, Lille, and Oudenard; in a few days the same fury spreads
+through the whole of Flanders.  At the very time when the first tidings
+of this occurrence arrived Antwerp was swarming with a crowd of
+houseless people, which the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin had
+brought together in that city.  Even the presence of the Prince of
+Orange was hardly sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned
+to imitate the doings of their brethren in St. Omer; but an order from
+the court which summoned him to Brussels, where the regent was just
+assembling her council of state, in order to lay before them the royal
+letters, obliged him to abandon Antwerp to the outrages of this band.
+His departure was the signal for tumult.  Apprehensive of the lawless
+violence of which, on the very first day of the festival, the mob had
+given indications in derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying
+about the image of the Virgin for a short time, brought it for safety
+to the choir, without, as formerly, setting it up in the middle of the
+church.  This incited some mischievous boys from among the people to pay
+it a visit there, and jokingly inquire why she had so soon absented
+herself from among them?  Others mounting the pulpit, mimicked the
+preacher, and challenged the papists to a dispute.  A Roman Catholic
+waterman, indignant at this jest, attempted to pull them down, and blows
+were exchanged in the preacher's seat.  Similar scenes occurred on the
+following evening.  The numbers increased, and many came already
+provided with suspicious implements and secret weapons.  At last it came
+into the head of one of them to cry, "Long live the Gueux!" immediately
+the whole band took up the cry, and the image of the Virgin was called
+upon to do the same.  The few Roman Catholics who were present, and who
+had given up the hope of effecting anything against these desperadoes,
+left the church after locking all the doors except one.  So soon as they
+found themselves alone it was proposed to sing one of the psalms in the
+new version, which was prohibited by the government.  While they were
+yet singing they all, as at a given signal, rushed furiously upon the
+image of the Virgin, piercing it with swords and daggers, and striking
+off its head; thieves and prostitutes tore the great wax-lights from the
+altar, and lighted them to the work.  The beautiful organ of the church,
+a masterpiece of the art of that period, was broken to pieces, all the
+paintings were effaced, the statues smashed to atoms.  A crucifix, the
+size of life, which was set up between the two thieves, opposite the
+high altar, an ancient and highly valued piece of workmanship, was
+pulled to the ground with cords, and cut to pieces with axes, while the
+two malefactors at its side were respectfully spared.  The holy wafers
+were strewed on the ground and trodden under foot; in the wine used for
+the Lord's Supper, which was accidentally found there, the health of the
+Gueux was drunk, while with the holy oil they rubbed their shoes.  The
+very tombs were opened, and the half-decayed corpses torn up and
+trampled on.  All this was done with as much wonderful regularity as if
+each had previously had his part assigned to him; every one worked into
+his neighbor's hands; no one, dangerous as the work was, met with
+injury; in the midst of thick darkness, which the tapers only served to
+render more sensible, with heavy masses falling on all sides, and though
+on the very topmost steps of the ladders, they scuffled with each other
+for the honors of demolition--yet no one suffered the least injury.  In
+spite of the many tapers which lighted them below in their villanous
+work not a single individual was recognized.  With incredible rapidity
+was the dark deed accomplished; a number of men, at most a hundred,
+despoiled in a few hours a temple of seventy altars--after St. Peter's
+at Rome, perhaps the largest and most magnificent in Christendom.
+
+The devastation of the cathedral did not content them; with torches and
+tapers purloined from it they set out at midnight to perform a similar
+work of havoc on the remaining churches, cloisters, and chapels.  The
+destructive hordes increased with every fresh exploit of infamy, and
+thieves were allured by the opportunity.  They carried away whatever
+they found of value--the consecrated vessels, altar-cloths, money, and
+vestments; in the cellars of the cloisters they drank to intoxication;
+to escape greater indignities the monks and nuns abandoned everything to
+them.  The confused noises of these riotous acts had startled the
+citizens from their first sleep; but night made the danger appear more
+alarming than it really was, and instead of hastening to defend their
+churches the citizens fortified themselves in their houses, and in
+terror and anxiety awaited the dawn of morning.  The rising sun at
+length revealed the devastation which had been going on during the
+night; but the havoc did not terminate with the darkness.  Some churches
+and cloisters still remained uninjured; the same fate soon overtook them
+also.  The work of destruction lasted three whole days. Alarmed at last
+lest the frantic mob, when it could no longer find anything sacred to
+destroy, should make a similar attack on lay property and plunder their
+ware houses; and encouraged, too, by discovering how small was the
+number of the depredators, the wealthier citizens ventured to show
+themselves in arms at the doors of their houses.  All the gates of the
+town were locked but one, through which the Iconoclasts broke forth to
+renew the same atrocities in the rural districts.  On one occasion only
+during all this time did the municipal officers venture to exert their
+authority, so strongly were they held in awe by the superior power of
+the Calvinists, by whom, as it was believed, this mob of miscreants
+was hired. The injury inflicted by this work of devastation was
+incalculable.  In the church of the Virgin it was estimated at not less
+than four hundred thousand gold florins.  Many precious works of art
+were destroyed; many valuable manuscripts; many monuments of importance
+to history and to diplomacy were thereby lost.  The city magistrate
+ordered the plundered articles to be restored on pain of death; in
+enforcing this restitution he was effectually assisted by the preachers
+of the Reformers, who blushed for their followers.  Much was in this
+manner recovered, and the ringleaders of the mob, less animated,
+perhaps, by the desire of plunder than by fanaticism and revenge, or
+perhaps being ruled by some unseen head, resolved for the future to
+guard against these excesses, and to make their attacks in regular bands
+and in better order.
+
+The town of Ghent, meanwhile, trembled for a like destiny.  Immediately
+on the first news of the outbreak of the Iconoclasts in Antwerp the
+magistrate of the former town with the most eminent citizens had bound
+themselves to repel by force the church spoilers; when this oath was
+proposed to the commonalty also the voices were divided, and many
+declared openly that they were by no means disposed to hinder so devout
+a work.  In this state of affairs the Roman Catholic clergy found it
+advisable to deposit in the citadel the most precious movables of their
+churches, and private families were permitted in like manner to provide
+for the safety of offerings which had been made by their ancestors.
+Meanwhile all the services were discontinued, the courts of justice were
+closed; and, like a town in momentary danger of being stormed by the
+enemy, men trembled in expectation of what was to come.  At last an
+insane band of rioters ventured to send delegates to the governor with
+this impudent message: "They were ordered," they said, "by their chiefs
+to take the images out of the churches, as had been done in the other
+towns.  If they were not opposed it should be done quietly and with as
+little injury as possible, but otherwise they would storm the churches;"
+nay, they went so far in their audacity as to ask the aid of the
+officers of justice therein.  At first the magistrate was astounded at
+this demand; upon reflection, however, and in the hope that the presence
+of the officers of law would perhaps restrain their excesses, he did not
+scruple to grant their request.
+
+In Tournay the churches were despoiled of their ornaments within sight
+of the garrison, who could not be induced to march against the
+Iconoclasts.  As the latter had been told that the gold and silver
+vessels and other ornaments of the church were buried underground, they
+turned up the whole floor, and exposed, among others, the body of the
+Duke Adolph of Gueldres, who fell in battle at the head of the
+rebellious burghers of Ghent, and had been buried herein Tournay.  This
+Adolph had waged war against his father, and had dragged the vanquished
+old man some miles barefoot to prison--an indignity which Charles the
+Bold afterwards retaliated on him.  And now, again, after more than half
+a century fate avenged a crime against nature by another against
+religion; fanaticism was to desecrate that which was holy in order to
+expose once more to execration the bones of a parricide.  Other
+Iconoclasts from Valenciennes united themselves with those of Tournay to
+despoil all the cloisters of the surrounding district, during which a
+valuable library, the accumulation of centuries, was destroyed by fire.
+The evil soon penetrated into Brabant, also Malines, Herzogenbusch,
+Breda, and Bergen-op-Zoom experienced the same fate.  The provinces,
+Namur and Luxemburg, with a part of Artois and of Hainault, had alone
+the good fortune to escape the contagion of those outrages.  In the
+short period of four or five days four hundred cloisters were plundered
+in Brabant and Flanders alone.
+
+The northern Netherlands were soon seized with the same mania which had
+raged so violently through the southern.  The Dutch towns, Amsterdam,
+Leyden, and Gravenhaag, had the alternative of either voluntarily
+stripping their churches of their ornaments, or of seeing them violently
+torn from there; the determination of their magistrates saved Delft,
+Haarlem, Gouda, and Rotterdam from the devastation.  The same acts of
+violence were practised also in the islands of Zealand; the town of
+Utrecht and many places in Overyssel and Groningen suffered the same
+storms.  Friesland was protected by the Count of Aremberg, and Gueldres
+by the Count of Megen from a like fate. An exaggerated report of these
+disturbances which came in from the provinces spread the alarm to
+Brussels, where the regent had just made preparations for an
+extraordinary session of the council of state.  Swarms of Iconoclasts
+already penetrated into Brabant; and the metropolis, where they were
+certain of powerful support, was threatened by them with a renewal of
+the same atrocities then under the very eyes of majesty.  The regent, in
+fear for her personal safety, which, even in the heart of the country,
+surrounded by provincial governors and Knights of the Fleece, she
+fancied insecure, was already meditating a flight to Mons, in Hainault,
+which town the Duke of Arschot held for her as a place of refuge, that
+she might not be driven to any undignified concession by falling into
+the power of the Iconoclasts.  In vain did the knights pledge life and
+blood for her safety, and urgently beseech her not to expose them to
+disgrace by so dishonorable a flight, as though they were wanting in
+courage or zeal to protect their princess; to no purpose did the town of
+Brussels itself supplicate her not to abandon them in this extremity,
+and vainly did the council of state make the most impressive
+representations that so pusillanimous a step would not fail to encourage
+still more the insolence of the rebels; she remained immovable in this
+desperate condition.  As messenger after messenger arrived to warn her
+that the Iconoclasts were advancing against the metropolis, she issued
+orders to hold everything in readiness for her flight, which was to take
+place quietly with the first approach of morning.  At break of day the
+aged Viglius presented himself before her, whom, with the view of
+gratifying the nobles, she had been long accustomed to neglect.  He
+demanded to know the meaning of the preparations he observed, upon which
+she at last confessed that she intended to make her escape, and assured
+him that he would himself do well to secure his own safety by
+accompanying her.  "It is now two years," said the old man to her, "that
+you might have anticipated these results.  Because I have spoken more
+freely than your courtiers you have closed your princely ear to me,
+which has been open only to pernicious suggestions."  The regent allowed
+that she had been in fault, and had been blinded by an appearance of
+probity; but that she was now driven by necessity.  "Are you resolved,"
+answered Viglius, "resolutely to insist upon obedience to the royal
+commands?"  "I am," answered the duchess.  "Then have recourse to the
+great secret of the art of government, to dissimulation, and pretend to
+join the princes until, with their assistance, you have repelled this
+storm.  Show them a confidence which you are far from feeling in your
+heart.  Make them take an oath to you that they will make common cause
+in resisting these disorders.  Trust those as your friends who show
+themselves willing to do it; but be careful to avoid frightening away
+the others by contemptuous treatment."  Viglius kept the regent engaged
+in conversation until the princes arrived, who he was quite certain
+would in nowise consent to her flight.  When they appeared he quietly
+withdrew in order to issue commands to the town council to close the
+gates of the city and prohibit egress to every one connected with the
+court.  This last measure effected more than all the representations had
+done.  The regent, who saw herself a prisoner in her own capital, now
+yielded to the persuasions of the nobles, who pledged themselves to
+stand by her to the last drop of blood.  She made Count Mansfeld
+commandant of the town, who hastily increased the garrison and armed her
+whole court.
+
+The state council was now held, who finally came to a resolution that it
+was expedient to yield to the emergency; to permit the preachings in
+those places where they had already commenced; to make known the
+abolition of the papal Inquisition; to declare the old edicts against
+the heretics repealed, and before all things to grant the required
+indemnity to the confederate nobles, without limitation or condition.
+At the same time the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Horn, with some
+others, were appointed to confer on this head with the deputies of the
+league.  Solemnly and in the most unequivocal terms the members of the
+league were declared free from all responsibility by reason of the
+petition which had been presented, and all royal officers and
+authorities were enjoined to act in conformity with this assurance,
+and neither now nor for the future to inflict any injury upon any
+of the confederates on account of the said petition.  In return,
+the confederates bound themselves to be true and loyal servants of
+his majesty, to contribute to the utmost of their power to the
+re-establishment of order and the punishment of the Iconiclasts,
+to prevail on the people to lay down their arms, and to afford
+active assistance to the king against internal and foreign enemies.
+Securities, formally drawn up and subscribed by the plenipotentiaries
+of both sides, were exchanged between them; the letter of indemnity, in
+particular, was signed by the duchess with her own hand and attested by
+her seal.  It was only after a severe struggle, and with tears in her
+eyes, that the regent, as she tremblingly confessed to the king, was at
+last induced to consent to this painful step.  She threw the whole blame
+upon the nobles, who had kept her a prisoner in Brussels and compelled
+her to it by force.  Above all she complained bitterly of the Prince of
+Orange.
+
+This business accomplished, all the governors hastened to their
+provinces; Egmont to Flanders, Orange to Antwerp.  In the latter city
+the Protestants had seized the despoiled and plundered churches, and,
+as if by the rights of war, had taken possession of them.  The prince
+restored them to their lawful owners, gave orders for their repair, and
+re-established in them the Roman Catholic form of worship.  Three of the
+Iconoclasts, who had been convicted, paid the penalty of their sacrilege
+on the gallows; some of the rioters were banished, and many others
+underwent punishment.  Afterwards he assembled four deputies of each
+dialect, or nations, as they were termed, and agreed with them that, as
+the approaching winter made preaching in the open air impossible, three
+places within the town should be granted then, where they might either
+erect new churches, or convert private houses to that purpose.  That
+they should there perform their service every Sunday and holiday, and
+always at the same hour, but on no other days.  If, however, no holiday
+happened in the week, Wednesday should be kept by them instead.  No
+religious party should maintain more than two clergymen, and these must
+be native Netherlanders, or at least have received naturalization from
+some considerable town of the provinces.  All should take an oath to
+submit in civil matters to the municipal authorities and the Prince of
+Orange.  They should be liable, like the other citizens, to all imposts.
+No one should attend sermons armed; a sword, however, should be allowed
+to each.  No preacher should assail the ruling religion from the pulpit,
+nor enter upon controverted points, beyond what the doctrine itself
+rendered unavoidable, or what might refer to morals.  No psalm should be
+sung by them out of their appointed district.  At the election of their
+preachers, churchwardens, and deacons, as also at all their other
+consistorial meetings, a person from the government should on each
+occasion be present to report their proceedings to the prince and the
+magistrate.  As to all other points they should enjoy the same
+protection as the ruling religion.  This arrangement was to hold good
+until the king, with consent of the states, should determine otherwise;
+but then it should be free to every one to quit the country with his
+family and his property.  From Antwerp the prince hastened to Holland,
+Zealand, and Utrecht, in order to make there similar arrangements for
+the restoration of peace; Antwerp, however, was, during his absence,
+entrusted to the superintendence of Count Howstraten, who was a mild
+man, and although an adherent of the league, had never failed in loyalty
+to the king.  It is evident that in this agreement the prince had far
+overstepped the powers entrusted to him, and though in the service of
+the king had acted exactly like a sovereign lord.  But he alleged in
+excuse that it would be far easier to the magistrate to watch these
+numerous and powerful sects if he himself interfered in their worship,
+and if this took place under his eyes, than if he were to leave the
+sectarians to themselves in the open air.
+
+In Gueldres Count Megen showed more severity, and entirely suppressed
+the Protestant sects and banished all their preachers.  In Brussels the
+regent availed herself of the advantage derived from her personal
+presence to put a stop to the public preaching, even outside the town.
+When, in reference to this, Count Nassau reminded her in the name of the
+confederates of the compact which had been entered into, and demanded if
+the town of Brussels had inferior rights to the other towns?  she
+answered, if there were public preachings in Brussels before the treaty,
+it was not her work if they were now discontinued.  At the same time,
+however, she secretly gave the citizens to understand that the first who
+should venture to attend a public sermon should certainly be hung.  Thus
+she kept the capital at least faithful to her.
+
+It was more difficult to quiet Tournay, which office was committed to
+Count Horn, in the place of Montigny, to whose government the town
+properly belonged.  Horn commanded the Protestants to vacate the
+churches immediately, and to content themselves with a house of worship
+outside the walls.  To this their preachers objected that the churches
+were erected for the use of the people, by which terms, they said, not
+the heads but the majority were meant.  If they were expelled from the
+Roman Catholic churches it was at least fair that they should be
+furnished with money for erecting churches of their own.  To this the
+magistrate replied even if the Catholic party was the weaker it was
+indisputably the better.  The erection of churches should not be
+forbidden them; they could not, however, after the injury which the town
+had already suffered from their brethren, the Iconoclasts, very well
+expect that it should be further burdened by the erection of their
+churches.  After long quarrelling on both sides, the Protestants
+contrived to retain possession of some churches, which, for greater
+security, they occupied with guards.  In Valenciennes, too, the
+Protestants refused submission to the conditions which were offered to
+them through Philip St. Aldegonde, Baron of Noircarmes, to whom, in the
+absence of the Marquis of Bergen, the government of that place was
+entrusted.  A reformed preacher, La Grange, a Frenchman by birth, who by
+his eloquence had gained a complete command over them, urged them to
+insist on having churches of their own within the town, and to threaten
+in case of refusal to deliver it up to the Huguenots.  A sense of the
+superior numbers of the Calvinists, and of their understanding with the
+Huguenots, prevented the governor adopting forcible measures against
+them.
+
+Count Egmont, also to manifest his zeal for the king's service, did
+violence to his natural kind-heartedness.  Introducing a garrison into
+the town of Ghent, he caused some of the most refractory rebels to be
+put to death.  The churches were reopened, the Roman Catholic worship
+renewed, and all foreigners, without exception, ordered to quit the
+province.  To the Calvinists, but to them alone, a site was granted
+outside the town for the erection of a church.  In return they were
+compelled to pledge themselves to the most rigid obedience to the
+municipal authorities, and to active co-operation in the proceedings
+against the Iconoclasts.  He pursued similar measures through all
+Flanders and Artois.  One of his noblemen, John Cassembrot, Baron of
+Beckerzeel, and a leaguer, pursuing the Iconoclasts at the head of some
+horsemen of the league, surprised a band of them just as they were about
+to break into a town of Hainault, near Grammont, in Flanders, and took
+thirty of them prisoners, of whom twenty-two were hung upon the spot,
+and the rest whipped out of the province.
+
+Services of such importance one would have thought scarcely deserved to
+be rewarded with the displeasure of the king; what Orange, Egmont, and
+Horn performed on this occasion evinced at least as much zeal and had
+as beneficial a result as anything that was accomplished by Noircarmes,
+Megen, and Aremberg, to whom the king vouchsafed to show his gratitude
+both by words and deeds.  But their zeal, their services came too late.
+They had spoken too loudly against his edicts, had been too vehement in
+their opposition to his measures, had insulted him too grossly in the
+person of his minister Granvella, to leave room for forgiveness.  No
+time, no repentance, no atonement, however great, could efface this one
+offence from the memory of their sovereign.
+
+Philip lay sick at Segovia when the news of the outbreak of the
+Iconoclasts and the uncatholic agreement entered into with the Reformers
+reached him.  At the same time the regent renewed her urgent entreaty
+for his personal visit, of which also all the letters treated, which the
+President Viglius exchanged with his friend Hopper.  Many also of the
+Belgian nobles addressed special letters to the king, as, for instance,
+Egmont, Mansfeld, Megen, Aremberg, Noircarmes, and Barlaimont, in which
+they reported the state of their provinces, and at once explained and
+justified the arrangements they had made with the disaffected.  Just at
+this period a letter arrived from the German Emperor, in which he
+recommended Philip to act with clemency towards his Belgian subjects,
+and offered his mediation in the matter.  He had also written direct to
+the regent herself in Brussels, and added letters to the several leaders
+of the nobility, which, however, were never delivered.  Having conquered
+the first anger which this hateful occurrence had excited, the king
+referred the whole matter to his council.
+
+The party of Granvella, which had the preponderance in the council, was
+diligent in tracing a close connection between the behavior of the
+Flemish nobles and the excesses of the church desecrators, which showed
+itself in similarity of the demands of both parties, and especially the
+time which the latter chose for their outbreak.  In the same month,
+they observed, in which the nobles had sent in their three articles of
+pacification, the Iconoclasts had commenced their work; on the evening
+of the very day that Orange quitted Antwerp the churches too were
+plundered.  During the whole tumult not a finger was lifted to take up
+arms; all the expedients employed were invariably such as turned to the
+advantage of the sects, while, on the contrary, all others were
+neglected which tended to the maintenance of the pure faith.  Many of
+the Iconoclasts, it was further said, had confessed that all that they
+had done was with the knowledge and consent of the princes; though
+surely nothing was more natural, than for such worthless wretches to
+seek to screen with great names a crime which they had undertaken solely
+on their own account.  A writing also was produced in which the high
+nobility were made to promise their services to the "Gueux," to procure
+the assembly of the states general, the genuineness of which, however,
+the former strenuously denied.  Four different seditious parties were,
+they said, to be noticed in the Netherlands, which were all more or
+less connected with one another, and all worked towards a common end.
+One of these was those bands of reprobates who desecrated the churches;
+a second consisted of the various sects who had hired the former to
+perform their infamous acts; the "Gueux," who had raised themselves to
+be the defenders of the sects were the third; and the leading nobles who
+were inclined to the "Gueux" by feudal connections, relationship, and
+friendship, composed the fourth.  All, consequently, were alike fatally
+infected, and all equally guilty.  The government had not merely to
+guard against a few isolated members; it had to contend with the whole
+body.  Since, then, it was ascertained that the people were the seduced
+party, and the encouragement to rebellion came from higher quarters, it
+would be wise and expedient to alter the plan hitherto adopted, which
+now appeared defective in several respects.  Inasmuch as all classes had
+been oppressed without distinction, and as much of severity shown to the
+lower orders as of contempt to the nobles, both had been compelled to
+lend support to one another; a party had been given to the latter and
+leaders to the former.  Unequal treatment seemed an infallible expedient
+to separate them; the mob, always timid and indolent when not goaded by
+the extremity of distress, would very soon desert its adored protectors
+and quickly learn to see in their fate well-merited retribution if only
+it was not driven to share it with them.  It was therefore proposed to
+the king to treat the great multitude for the future with more leniency,
+and to direct all measures of severity against the leaders of the
+faction.  In order, however, to avoid the appearance of a disgraceful
+concession, it was considered advisable to accept the mediation of the
+Emperor, and to impute to it alone and not to the justice of their
+demands, that the king out of pure generosity had granted to his Belgian
+subjects as much as they asked.
+
+The question of the king's personal visit to the provinces was now again
+mooted, and all the difficulties which had formerly been raised on this
+head appeared to vanish before the present emergency.  "Now," said
+Tyssenacque and Hopper, "the juncture has really arrived at which the
+king, according to his own declaration formerly made to Count Egmont,
+will be ready to risk a thousand lives.  To restore quiet to Ghent
+Charles V. had undertaken a troublesome and dangerous journey through an
+enemy's country.  This was done for the sake of a single town; and now
+the peace, perhaps even the possession, of all the United Provinces was
+at stake."  This was the opinion of the majority; and the journey of the
+king was looked upon as a matter from which he could not possibly any
+longer escape.
+
+The question now was, whether he should enter upon it with a numerous
+body of attendants or with few; and here the Prince of Eboli and Count
+Figueroa were at issue with the Duke of Alva, as their private interests
+clashed.  If the king journeyed at the head of an army the presence of
+the Duke of Alva would be indispensable, who, on the other hand, if
+matters were peaceably adjusted, would be less required, and must make
+room for his rivals.  "An army," said Figueroa, who spoke first, "would
+alarm the princes through whose territories it must march, and perhaps
+even be opposed by them; it would, moreover, unnecessarily burden the
+provinces for whose tranquillization it was intended, and add a new
+grievance to the many which had already driven the people to such
+lengths.  It would press indiscriminately upon all of the king's
+subjects, whereas a court of justice, peaceably administering its
+office, would observe a marked distinction between the innocent and
+the guilty.  The unwonted violence of the former course would tempt the
+leaders of the faction to take a more alarming view of their behavior,
+in which wantonness and levity had the chief share, and consequently
+induce them to proceed with deliberation and union; the thought of
+having forced the king to such lengths would plunge them into despair,
+in which they would be ready to undertake anything.  If the king placed
+himself in arms against the rebels he would forfeit the most important
+advantage which he possessed over them, namely, his authority as
+sovereign of the country, which would prove the more powerful in
+proportion as he showed his reliance upon that alone.  He would place
+himself thereby, as it were, on a level with the rebels, who on their
+side would not be at a loss to raise an army, as the universal hatred of
+the Spanish forces would operate in their favor with the nation.  By
+this procedure the king would exchange the certain advantage which his
+position as sovereign of the country conferred upon him for the
+uncertain result of military operations, which, result as they might,
+would of necessity destroy a portion of his own subjects.  The rumor of
+his hostile approach would outrun him time enough to allow all who were
+conscious of a bad cause to place themselves in a posture of defence,
+and to combine and render availing both their foreign and domestic
+resources.  Here again the general alarm would do them important
+service; the uncertainty who would be the first object of this warlike
+approach would drive even the less guilty to the general mass of the
+rebels, and force those to become enemies to the king who otherwise
+would never have been so.  If, however, he was coming among them without
+such a formidable accompaniment; if his appearance was less that of a
+sanguinary judge than of an angry parent, the courage of all good men
+would rise, and the bad would perish in their own security.  They would
+persuade themselves what had happened was unimportant; that it did not
+appear to the king of sufficient moment to call for strong measures.
+They wished if they could to avoid the chance of ruining, by acts of
+open violence, a cause which might perhaps yet be saved; consequently,
+by this quiet, peaceable method everything would be gained which by the
+other would be irretrievably lost; the loyal subject would in no degree
+be involved in the same punishment with the culpable rebel; on the
+latter alone would the whole weight of the royal indignation descend.
+Lastly, the enormous expenses would be avoided which the transport of a
+Spanish army to those distant regions would occasion.
+
+"But," began the Duke of Alva, "ought the injury of some few citizens to
+be considered when danger impends over the whole?  Because a few of the
+loyally-disposed may suffer wrong are the rebels therefore not to be
+chastised?  The offence has been universal, why then should not the
+punishment be the same?  What the rebels have incurred by their actions
+the rest have incurred equally by their supineness.  Whose fault is it
+but theirs that the former have so far succeeded?  Why did they not
+promptly oppose their first attempts?  It is said that circumstances
+were not so desperate as to justify this violent remedy; but who will
+insure us that they will not be so by the time the king arrives,
+especially when, according to every fresh despatch of the regent, all is
+hastening with rapid strides to a-ruinous consummation?  Is it a hazard
+we ought to run to leave the king to discover on his entrance into the
+provinces the necessity of his having brought with him a military force?
+It is a fact only too well-established that the rebels have secured
+foreign succors, which stand ready at their command on the first signal;
+will it then be time to think of preparing for war when the enemy pass
+the frontiers?  Is it a wise risk to rely for aid upon the nearest
+Belgian troops when their loyalty is so little to be depended upon?  And
+is not the regent perpetually reverting in her despatches to the fact
+that nothing but the want of a suitable military force has hitherto
+hindered her from enforcing the edicts, and stopping the progress of the
+rebels?  A well-disciplined and formidable army alone will disappoint
+all their hopes of maintaining themselves in opposition to their lawful
+sovereign, and nothing but the certain prospect of destruction will make
+them lower their demands.  Besides, without an adequate force, the king
+cannot venture his person in hostile countries; he cannot enter into any
+treaties with his rebellious subjects which would not be derogatory to
+his honor."
+
+The authority of the speaker gave preponderance to his arguments, and
+the next question was, when the king should commence his journey and
+what road he should take.  As the voyage by sea was on every account
+extremely hazardous, he had no other alternative but either to proceed
+thither through the passes near Trent across.  Germany, or to penetrate
+from Savoy over the Apennine Alps.  The first route would expose him to
+the danger of the attack of the German Protestants, who were not likely
+to view with indifference the objects of his journey, and a passage over
+the Apennines was at this late season of the year not to be attempted.
+Moreover, it would be necessary to send for the requisite galleys from
+Italy, and repair them, which would take several months.  Finally, as
+the assembly of the Cortes of Castile, from which he could not well be
+absent, was already appointed for December, the journey could not be
+undertaken before the spring.  Meanwhile the regent pressed for explicit
+instructions how she was to extricate herself from her present
+embarrassment, without compromising the royal dignity too far; and it
+was necessary to do something in the interval till the king could
+undertake to appease the troubles by his personal presence.  Two
+separate letters were therefore despatched to the duchess; one public,
+which she could lay before the states and the council chambers, and one
+private, which was intended for herself alone.  In the first, the king
+announced to her his restoration to health, and the fortunate birth of
+the Infanta Clara Isabella Eugenia, afterwards wife of the Archduke
+Albert of Austria and Princess of the Netherlands.  He declared to her
+his present firm intention to visit the Netherlands in person, for which
+he was already making the necessary preparations.  The assembling of the
+states he refused, as he had previously done.  No mention was made in
+this letter of the agreement which she had entered into with the
+Protestants and with the league, because he did not deem it advisable at
+present absolutely to reject it, and he was still less disposed to
+acknowledge its validity.  On the other hand, he ordered her to
+reinforce the army, to draw together new regiments from Germany, and to
+meet the refractory with force.  For the rest, he concluded, he relied
+upon the loyalty of the leading nobility, among whom he knew many who
+were sincere in their attachment both to their religion and their king.
+In the secret letter she was again enjoined to do all in her power to
+prevent the assembling of the states; but if the general voice should
+become irresistible, and she was compelled to yield, she was at least to
+manage so cautiously that the royal dignity should not suffer, and no
+one learn the king's consent to their assembly.
+
+While these consultations were held in Spain the Protestants in the
+Netherlands made the most extensive use of the privileges which had been
+compulsorily granted to them.  The erection of churches wherever it was
+permitted was completed with incredible rapidity; young and old, gentle
+and simple, assisted in carrying stones; women sacrificed even their
+ornaments in order to accelerate the work.  The two religious parties
+established in several towns consistories, and a church council of their
+own, the first move of the kind being made in Antwerp, and placed their
+form of worship on a well-regulated footing.  It was also proposed to
+raise a common fund by subscription to meet any sudden emergency of the
+Protestant church in general.  In Antwerp a memorial was presented by
+the Calvinists of that town to the Count of Hogstraten, in which they
+offered to pay three millions of dollars to secure the free exercise of
+their religion.  Many copies of this writing were circulated in the
+Netherlands; and in order to stimulate others, many had ostentatiously
+subscribed their names to large sums.  Various interpretations of this
+extravagant offer were made by the enemies of the Reformers, and all had
+some appearance of reason.  For instance, it was urged that under the
+pretext of collecting the requisite sum for fulfilling this engagement
+they hoped, without suspicion, to raise funds for military purposes; for
+whether they should be called upon to contribute for or against they
+would, it was thought, be more ready to burden themselves with a view of
+preserving peace than for an oppressive and devasting war.  Others saw
+in this offer nothing more than a temporary stratagem of the Protestants
+by which they hoped to bind the court and keep it irresolute until they
+should have gained sufficient strength to confront it.  Others again
+declared it to be a downright bravado in order to alarm the regent, and
+to raise the courage of their own party by the display of such rich
+resources.  But whatever was the true motive of this proposition, its
+originators gained little by it; the contributions flowed in scantily
+and slowly, and the court answered the proposal with silent contempt.
+The excesses, too, of the Iconoclasts, far from promoting the cause of
+the league and advancing the Protestants interests, had done irreparable
+injury to both.  The sight of their ruined churches, which, in the
+language of Viglius, resembled stables more than houses of God, enraged
+the Roman Catholics, and above all the clergy.  All of that religion,
+who had hitherto been members of the league, now forsook it, alleging
+that even if it had not intentionally excited and encouraged the
+excesses of the Iconoclasts it had beyond question remotely led to them.
+The intolerance of the Calvinists who, wherever they were the ruling
+party, cruelly oppressed the Roman Catholics, completely expelled the
+delusion in which the latter had long indulged, and they withdrew their
+support from a party from which, if they obtained the upper hand, their
+own religion had so much cause to fear.  Thus the league lost many of
+its best members; the friends and patrons, too, which it had hitherto
+found amongst the well-disposed citizens now deserted it, and its
+character began perceptibly to decline.  The severity with which some of
+its members had acted against the Iconoclasts in order to prove their
+good disposition towards the regent, and to remove the suspicion of any
+connection with the malcontents, had also injured them with the people
+who favored the latter, and thus the league was in danger of ruining
+itself with both parties at the same time.  The regent had no sooner
+became acquainted with this change in the public mind than she devised a
+plan by which she hoped gradually to dissolve the whole league, or at
+least to enfeeble it through internal dissensions.  For this end she
+availed herself of the private letters which the king had addressed to
+some of the nobles, and enclosed to her with full liberty to use them at
+her discretion.  These letters, which overflowed with kind expressions
+were presented to those for whom they were intended, with an attempt at
+secrecy, which designedly miscarried, so that on each occasion some one
+or other of those who had received nothing of the sort got a hint of
+them.  In order to spread suspicion the more widely numerous copies of
+the letters were circulated.  This artifice attained its object.  Many
+members of the league began to doubt the honesty of those to whom such
+brilliant promises were made; through fear of being deserted by their
+principal members and supporters, they eagerly accepted the conditions
+which were offered them by the regent, and evinced great anxiety for a
+speedy reconciliation with the court.  The general rumor of the
+impending visit of the king, which the regent took care to have widely
+circulated, was also of great service to her in this matter; many who
+could not augur much good to themselves from the royal presence did not
+hesitate to accept a pardon, which, perhaps, for what they could tell,
+was offered them for the last time.  Among those who thus received
+private letters were Egmont and Prince of Orange.  Both had complained
+to the king of the evil reports with which designing persons in Spain
+had labored to brand their names, and to throw suspicion on their
+motives and intentions; Egmont, in particular, with the honest
+simplicity which was peculiar to his character, had asked the monarch
+only to point out to him what he most desired, to determine the
+particular action by which his favor could be best obtained and zeal in
+his service evinced, and it should, he assured him, be done.  The king
+in reply caused the president, Von Tyssenacque, to tell him that he
+could do nothing better to refute his traducers than to show perfect
+submission to the royal orders, which were so clearly and precisely
+drawn up, that no further exposition of them was required, nor any
+particular instruction.  It was the sovereign's part to deliberate, to
+examine, and to decide; unconditionally to obey was the duty of the
+subject; the honor of the latter consisted in his obedence.  It did not
+become a member to hold itself wiser than the head.  He was assuredly to
+be blamed for not having done his utmost to curb the unruliness of his
+sectarians; but it was even yet in his power to make up for past
+negligence by at least maintaining peace and order until the actual
+arrival of the king.  In thus punishing Count Egmont with reproofs like
+a disobedient child, the king treated him in accordance with what he
+knew of his character; with his friend he found it necessary to call in
+the aid of artifice and deceit.  Orange, too, in his letter, had alluded
+to the suspicions which the king entertained of his loyalty and
+attachment, but not, like Egmont, in the vain hope of removing them; for
+this, he had long given up; but in order to pass from these complaints
+to a request for permission to resign his offices.  He had already
+frequently made this request to the regent, but had always received from
+her a refusal, accompanied with the strongest assurance of her regard.
+The king also, to whom he now at last addressed a direct application,
+returned him the same answer, graced with similar strong assurances of
+his satisfaction and gratitude.  In particular he expressed the high
+satisfaction he entertained of his services, which he had lately
+rendered the crown in Antwerp, and lamented deeply that the private
+affairs of the prince (which the latter had made his chief plea for
+demanding his dismissal) should have fallen into such disorder; but
+ended with the declaration that it was impossible for him to dispense
+with his valuable services at a crisis which demanded the increase,
+rather than diminution, of his good and honest servants.  He had
+thought, he added, that the prince entertained a better opinion of him
+than to suppose him capable of giving credit to the idle talk of certain
+persons, who were friends neither to the prince nor to himself.  But, at
+the same time, to give him a proof of his sincerity, he complained to
+him in confidence of his brother, the Count of Nassau, pretended to ask
+his advice in the matter, and finally expressed a wish to have the count
+removed for a period from the Netherlands.
+
+But Philip had here to do with a head which in cunning was superior to
+his own.  The Prince of Orange had for a long time held watch over him
+and his privy council in Madrid and Segovia, through a host of spies,
+who reported to him everything of importance that was transacted there.
+The court of this most secret of all despots had become accessible to
+his intriguing spirit and his money; in this manner he had gained
+possession of several autograph letters of the regent, which she had
+secretly written to Madrid, and had caused copies to be circulated in
+triumph in Brussels, and in a measure under her own eyes, insomuch that
+she saw with astonishment in everybody's hands what she thought was
+preserved with so much care, and entreated the king for the future to
+destroy her despatches immediately they were read. William's vigilance
+did not confine itself simply to the court of Spain; he had spies in
+France, and even at more distant courts.  He is also charged with not
+being over scrupulous as to the means by which he acquired his
+intelligence.  But the most important disclosure was made by an
+intercepted letter of the Spanish ambassador in France, Francis Von
+Alava, to the duchess, in which the former descanted on the fair
+opportunity which was now afforded to the king, through the guilt of
+the Netherlandish people, of establishing an arbitrary power in that
+country.  He therefore advised her to deceive the nobles by the very
+arts which they had hitherto employed against herself, and to secure
+them through smooth words and an obliging behavior.  The king, he
+concluded, who knew the nobles to be the hidden springs of all the
+previous troubles, would take good care to lay hands upon them at the
+first favorable opportunity, as well as the two whom he had already in
+Spain; and did not mean to let them go again, having sworn to make an
+example in them which should horrify the whole of Christendom, even if
+it should cost him his hereditary dominions.  This piece of evil news
+was strongly corroborated by the letters which Bergen and Montigny wrote
+from Spain, and in which they bitterly complained of the contemptuous
+behavior of the grandees and the altered deportment of the monarch
+towards them; and the Prince of Orange was now fully sensible what he
+had to expect from the fair promises of the king.
+
+The letter of the minister, Alava, together with some others from Spain,
+which gave a circumstantial account of the approaching warlike visit of
+the king, and of his evil intentions against the nobles, was laid by the
+prince before his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, Counts Egmont, Horn,
+and Hogstraten, at a meeting at Dendermonde in Flanders, whither these
+five knights had repaired to confer on the measures necessary for their
+security.  Count Louis, who listened only to his feelings of
+indignation, foolhardily maintained that they ought, without loss of
+time, to take up arms and seize some strongholds.  That they ought at
+all risks to prevent the king's armed entrance into the provinces.  That
+they should endeavor to prevail on the Swiss, the Protestant princes of
+Germany, and the Huguenots to arm and obstruct his passage through their
+territories; and if, notwithstanding, he should force his way through
+these impediments, that the Flemings should meet him with an army on the
+frontiers.  He would take upon himself to negotiate a defensive alliance
+in France, in Switzerland, and in Germany, and to raise in the latter
+empire four thousand horse, together with a proportionate body of
+infantry.  Pretexts would not be wanting for collecting the requisite
+supplies of money, and the merchants of the reformed sect would, he felt
+assured, not fail them.  But William, more cautious and more wise,
+declared himself against this proposal, which, in the execution, would
+be exposed to numberless difficulties, and had as yet nothing to justify
+it.  The Inquisition, he represented, was in fact abolished, the edicts
+were nearly sunk into oblivion, and a fair degree of religious liberty
+accorded.  Hitherto, therefore, there existed no valid or adequate
+excuse for adopting this hostile method; he did not doubt, however,
+that one would be presented to them before long, and in good time for
+preparation.  His own opinion consequently was that they should await
+this opportunity with patience, and in the meanwhile still keep a
+watchful eye upon everything, and contrive to give the people a hint of
+the threatened danger, that they might be ready to act if circumstances
+should call for their co-operation.  If all present had assented to the
+opinion of the Prince of Orange, there is no doubt but so powerful a
+league, formidable both by the influence and the high character of its
+members, would have opposed obstacles to the designs of the king which
+would have compelled him to abandon them entirely.  But the
+determination of the assembled knights was much shaken by the
+declaration with which Count Egmont surprised them.  "Rather," said he,
+"may all that is evil befall me than that I should tempt fortune so
+rashly.  The idle talk of the Spaniard, Alava, does not move me; how
+should such a person be able to read the mind of a sovereign so reserved
+as Philip, and to decipher his secrets?  The intelligence which Montigny
+gives us goes to prove nothing more than that the king has a very
+doubtful opinion of our zeal for his service, and believes he has cause
+to distrust our loyalty; and for this I for my part must confess that
+we have given him only too much cause.  And it is my serious purpose,
+by redoubling my zeal, to regain his good opinion, and by my future
+behavior to remove, if possible, the distrust which my actions have
+hitherto excited.  How could I tear myself from the arms of my numerous
+and dependent family to wander as an exile at foreign courts, a burden
+to every one who received me, the slave of every one who condescended to
+assist me, a servant of foreigners, in order to escape a slight degree
+of constraint at home?  Never can the monarch act unkindly towards a
+servant who was once beloved and dear to him, and who has established a
+well-grounded claim to his gratitude.  Never shall I be persuaded that
+he who has expressed such favorable, such gracious sentiments towards
+his Belgian subjects, and with his own mouth gave me such emphatic,
+such solemn assurances, can be now devising, as it is pretended, such
+tyrannical schemes against them.  If we do but restore to the country
+its former repose, chastise the rebels, and re-establish the Roman
+Catholic form of worship wherever it has been violently suppressed,
+then, believe me, we shall hear no more of Spanish troops.  This is the
+course to which I now invite you all by my counsel and my example, and
+to which also most of our brethren already incline.  I, for my part,
+fear nothing from the anger of the king.  My conscience acquits me.
+I trust my fate and fortunes to his justice and clemency."  In vain did
+Nassau, Horn, and Orange labor to shake his resolution, and to open his
+eyes to the near and inevitable danger.  Egmont was really attached to
+the king; the royal favors, and the condescension with which they were
+conferred, were still fresh in his remembrance.  The attentions with
+which the monarch had distinguished him above all his friends had not
+failed of their effect.  It was more from false shame than from party
+spirit that he had defended the cause of his countrymen against him;
+more from temperament and natural kindness of heart than from tried
+principles that he had opposed the severe measures of the government.
+The love of the nation, which worshipped him as its idol, carried him
+away.  Too vain to renounce a title which sounded so agreeable, he had
+been compelled to do something to deserve it; but a single look at his
+family, a harsher designation applied to his conduct, a dangerous
+inference drawn from it, the mere sound of crime, terrified him from his
+self-delusion, and scared him back in haste and alarm to his duty.
+
+Orange's whole plan was frustrated by Egmont's withdrawal.  The latter
+possessed the hearts of the people and the confidence of the army,
+without which it was utterly impossible to undertake anything effective.
+The rest had reckoned with so much certainty upon him that his
+unexpected defection rendered the whole meeting nugatory.  They
+therefore separated without coming to a determination.  All who had met
+in Dendermonde were expected in the council of state in Brussels; but
+Egmont alone repaired thither.  The regent wished to sift him on the
+subject of this conference, but she could extract nothing further from
+him than the production of the letter of Alava, of which he had
+purposely taken a copy, and which, with the bitterest reproofs, he laid
+before her.  At first she changed color at sight of it, but quickly
+recovering herself, she boldly declared that it was a forgery.  "How can
+this letter," she said, "really come from Alava, when I miss none?  And
+would he who pretends to have intercepted it have spared the other
+letters?  Nay, how can it be true, when not a single packet has
+miscarried, nor a single despatch failed to come to hand?  How, too,
+can it be thought likely that the king would have made Alava master
+of a secret which he has not communicated even to me?"
+
+
+
+
+                                CIVIL WAR
+
+1566.  Meanwhile the regent hastened to take advantage of the schism
+amongst the nobles to complete the ruin of the league, which was already
+tottering under the weight of internal dissensions.  Without loss of
+time she drew from Germany the troops which Duke Eric of Brunswick was
+holding in readiness, augmented the cavalry, and raised five regiments
+of Walloons, the command of which she gave to Counts Mansfeld, Megen,
+Aremberg, and others.  To the prince, likewise, she felt it necessary to
+confide troops, both because she did not wish, by withholding them
+pointedly, to insult him, and also because the provinces of which he was
+governor were in urgent need of them; but she took the precaution of
+joining with him a Colonel Waldenfinger, who should watch all his steps
+and thwart his measures if they appeared dangerous.  To Count Egmont the
+clergy in Flanders paid a contribution of forty thousand gold florins
+for the maintenance of fifteen hundred men, whom he distributed among
+the places where danger was most apprehended.  Every governor was
+ordered to increase his military force, and to provide himself with
+ammunition.  These energetic preparations, which were making in all
+places, left no doubt as to the measures which the regent would adopt in
+future.  Conscious of her superior force, and certain of this important
+support, she now ventured to change her tone, and to employ quite
+another language with the rebels.  She began to put the most arbitrary
+interpretation on the concessions which, through fear and necessity, she
+had made to the Protestants, and to restrict all the liberties which she
+had tacitly granted them to the mere permission of their preaching.  All
+other religious exercises and rites, which yet appeared to be involved
+in the former privilege, were by new edicts expressly forbidden, and all
+offenders in such matters were to be proceeded against as traitors.  The
+Protestants were permitted to think differently from the ruling church
+upon the sacrament, but to receive it differently was a crime; baptism,
+marriage, burial, after their fashion, were probibited under pain of
+death.  It was a cruel mockery to allow them their religion, and forbid
+the exercise of it; but this mean artifice of the regent to escape from
+the obligation of her pledged word was worthy of the pusillanimity with
+which she had submitted to its being extorted from her.  She took
+advantage of the most trifling innovations and the smallest excesses to
+interrupt the preachings; and some of the preachers, under the charge of
+having performed their office in places not appointed to them, were
+brought to trial, condemned, and executed.  On more than one occasion
+the regent publicly declared that the confederates had taken unfair
+advantage of her fears, and that she did not feel herself bound by an
+engagement which had been extorted from her by threats.
+
+Of all the Belgian towns which had participated in the insurrection of
+the Iconoclasts none had caused the regent so much alarm as the town of
+Valenciennes, in Hainault.  In no other was the party of the Calvinists
+so powerful, and the spirit of rebellion for which the province of
+Hainault had always made itself conspicuous, seemed to dwell here as in
+its native place.  The propinquity of France, to which, as well by
+language as by manners, this town appeared to belong, rather than to the
+Netherlands, had from the first led to its being governed with great
+mildness and forbearance, which, however, only taught it to feel its own
+importance.  At the last outbreak of the church-desecrators it had been
+on the point of surrendering to the Huguenots, with whom it maintained
+the closest understanding.  The slightest excitement night renew this
+danger.  On this account Valenciennes was the first town to which the
+regent proposed, as soon as should be in her power, to send a strong
+garrison.  Philip of Noircarmes, Baron of St. Aldegonde, Governor of
+Hainault in the place of the absent Marquis of Bergen, had received this
+charge, and now appeared at the head of an army before its walls.
+Deputies came to meet him on the part of the magistrate from the town,
+to petition against the garrison, because the Protestant citizens, who
+were the superior number, had declared against it.  Noircarnes
+acquainted them with the will of the regent, and gave them the choice
+between the garrison or a siege.  He assured them that not more than
+four squadrons of horse and six companies of foot should be imposed upon
+the town; and for this he would give them his son as a hostage.  These
+terms were laid before the magistrate, who, for his part, was much
+inclined to accept them.  But Peregrine Le Grange, the preacher, and the
+idol of the populace, to whom it was of vital importance to prevent a
+submission of which he would inevitably become the victim, appeared at
+the head of his followers, and by his powerful eloquence excited the
+people to reject the conditions.  When their answer was brought to
+Noircarmes, contrary to all law of nations, he caused the messengers to
+be placed in irons, and carried them away with him as prisoners; he was,
+however, by express command of the regent, compelled to set them free
+again.  The regent, instructed by secret orders from Madrid to exercise
+as much forbearance as possible, caused the town to be repeatedly
+summoned to receive the garrison; when, however, it obstinately
+persisted in its refusal, it was declared by public edict to be in
+rebellion, and Noircarmes was authorized to commence the siege in form.
+The other provinces were forbidden to assist this rebellious town with
+advice, money, or arms.  All the property contained in it was
+confiscated.  In order to let it see the war before it began in earnest,
+and to give it time for rational reflection, Noircarmes drew together
+troops from all Hainault and Cambray (1566), took possession of St.
+Amant, and placed garrisons in all adjacent places.
+
+The line of conduct adopted towards Valenciennes allowed the other towns
+which were similarly situated to infer the fate which was intended for
+them also, and at once put the whole league in motion.  An army of the
+Gueux, between three thousand and four thousand strong, which was
+hastily collected from the rabble of fugitives, and the remaining bands
+of the Iconoclasts, appeared in the territories of Tournay and Lille, in
+order to secure these two towns, and to annoy the enemy at Valenciennes.
+The commandant of Lille was fortunate enough to maintain that place by
+routing a detachment of this army, which, in concert with the Protestant
+inhabitants, had made an attempt to get possession of it.  At the same
+time the army of the Gueux, which was uselessly wasting its time at
+Lannoy, was surprised by Noircarmes and almost entirely annihilated.
+The few who with desperate courage forced their way through the enemy,
+threw themselves into the town of Tournay, which was immediately
+summoned by the victor to open its gates and admit a garrison.  Its
+prompt obedience obtained for it a milder fate.  Noircarmes contented
+himself with abolishing the Protestant consistory, banishing the
+preachers, punishing the leaders of the rebels, and again
+re-establishing the Roman Catholic worship, which he found almost
+entirely suppressed.  After giving it a steadfast Roman Catholic as
+governor, and leaving in it a sufficient garrison, he again returned
+with his victorious army to Valenciennes to press the siege.
+
+This town, confident in its strength, actively prepared for defence,
+firmly resolved to allow things to come to extremes before it
+surrendered.  The inhabitants had not neglected to furnish themselves
+with ammunition and provisions for a long siege; all who could carry
+arms (the very artisans not excepted), became soldiers; the houses
+before the town, and especially the cloisters, were pulled down, that
+the besiegers might not avail themselves of them to cover their attack.
+The few adherents of the crown, awed by the multitude, were silent; no
+Roman Catholic ventured to stir himself.  Anarchy and rebellion had
+taken the place of good order, and the fanaticism of a foolhardy priest
+gave laws instead of the legal dispensers of justice.  The male
+population was numerous, their courage confirmed by despair, their
+confidence unbounded that the siege would be raised, while their hatred
+against the Roman Catholic religion was excited to the highest pitch.
+Many had no mercy to expect; all abhorred the general thraldom of an
+imperious garrison.  Noircarmes, whose army had become formidable
+through the reinforcements which streamed to it from all quarters, and
+was abundantly furnished with all the requisites for a long blockade,
+once more attempted to prevail on the town by gentle means, but in vain.
+At last he caused the trenches to be opened and prepared to invest the
+place.
+
+In the meanwhile the position of the Protestants had grown as much worse
+as that of the regent had improved.  The league of the nobles had
+gradually melted away to a third of its original number.  Some of its
+most important defenders, Count Egmont, for instance, had gone over to
+the king; the pecuniary contributions which had been so confidently
+reckoned upon came in but slowly and scantily; the zeal of the party
+began perceptibly to cool, and the close of the fine season made it
+necessary to discontinue the public preachings, which, up to this time,
+had been continued.  These and other reasons combined induced the
+declining party to moderate its demands, and to try every legal
+expedient before it proceeded to extremities.  In a general synod of the
+Protestants, which was held for this object in Antwerp, and which was
+also attended by some of the confederates, it was resolved to send
+deputies to the regent to remonstrate with her upon this breach of
+faith, and to remind her of her compact.  Brederode undertook this
+office, but was obliged to submit to a harsh and disgraceful rebuff, and
+was shut out of Brussels.  He had now recourse to a written memorial, in
+which,--in the name of the whole league, he complained that the duchess
+had, by violating her word, falsified in sight of all the Protestants
+the security given by the league, in reliance on which all of them had
+laid down their arms; that by her insincerity she had undone all the
+good which the confederates had labored to effect; that she had sought
+to degrade the league in the eyes of the people, had excited discord
+among its members, and had even caused many of them to be persecuted as
+criminals.  He called upon her to recall her late ordinances, which
+deprived the Protestants of the free exercise of their religion, but
+above all to raise the siege of Valenciennes, to disband the troops
+newly enlisted, and ended by assuring her that on these conditions and
+these alone the league would be responsible for the general
+tranquillity.
+
+To this the regent replied in a tone very different from her previous
+moderation.  "Who these confederates are who address me in this memorial
+is, indeed, a mystery to me.  The confederates with whom I had formerly
+to do, for ought I know to the contrary, have dispersed.  All at least
+cannot participate in this statement of grievances, for I myself know of
+many, who, satisfied in all their demands, have returned to their duty.
+But still, whoever he may be, who without authority and right, and
+without name addresses me, he has at least given a very false
+interpretation to my word if he asserts that I guaranteed to the
+Protestants complete religious liberty.  No one can be ignorant how
+reluctantly I was induced to permit the preachings in the places where
+they had sprung up unauthorized, and this surely cannot be counted for a
+concession of freedom in religion.  Is it likely that I should have
+entertained the idea of protecting these illegal consistories, of
+tolerating this state within a state?  Could I forget myself so far as
+to grant the sanction of law to an objectionable sect; to overturn all
+order in the church and in the state, and abominably to blaspheme my
+holy religion?  Look to him who has given you such permission, but you
+must not argue with me.  You accuse me of having violated the agreement
+which gave you impunity and security.  The past I am willing to look
+over, but not what may be done in future.  No advantage was to be taken
+of you on account of the petition of last April, and to the best of my
+knowledge nothing of the kind has as yet been done; but whoever again
+offends in the same way against the majesty of the king must be ready to
+bear the consequences of his crime.  In fine, how can you presume to
+remind me of an agreement which you have been the first to break?  At
+whose instigation were the churches plundered, the images of the saints
+thrown down, and the towns hurried into rebellion?  Who formed alliances
+with foregn powers, set on foot illegal enlistments, and collected
+unlawful taxes from the subjects of the king?  These are the reasons
+which have impelled me to draw together my troops, and to increase the
+severity of the edicts.  Whoever now asks me to lay down my arms cannot
+mean well to his country or his king, and if ye value your own lives,
+look to it that your own actions acquit you, instead of judging mine."
+
+All the hopes which the confederates might have entertained of an
+amicable adjustment sank with this high-toned declaration.  Without
+being confident of possessing powerful support, the regent would not,
+they argued, employ such language.  An army was in the field, the enemy
+was before Valenciennes, the members who were the heart of the league
+had abandoned it, and the regent required unconditional submission.
+Their cause was now so bad that open resistance could not make it worse.
+If they gave themselves up defenceless into the hands of their
+exasperated sovereign their fate was certain; an appeal to arms could at
+least make it a matter of doubt; they, therefore, chose the latter, and
+began seriously to take steps for their defence.  In order to insure the
+assistance of the German Protestants, Louis of Nassau attempted to
+persuade the towns of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Tournay, and Valenciennes to
+adopt the confession of Augsburg, and in this manner to seal their
+alliance with a religious union.  But the proposition was not
+successful, because the hatred of the Calvinists to the Lutherans
+exceeded, if possible, that which they bore to popery.  Nassau also
+began in earnest to negotiate for supplies from France, the Palatinate,
+and Saxony.  The Count of Bergen fortified his castles; Brederode threw
+himself with a small force into his strong town of Vianne on the Leek,
+over which he claimed the rights of sovereignty, and which he hastily
+placed in a state of defense, and there awaited a reinforcement from the
+league, and the issue of Nassua's negotiations.  The flag of war was now
+unfurled, everywhere the drum was heard to beat; in all parts troops
+were seen on the march, contributions collected, and soldiers enlisted.
+The agents of each party often met in the same place, and hardly had the
+collectors and recruiting officers of the regent quitted a town when it
+had to endure a similar visit from the agents of the league.
+
+From Valenciennes the regent directed her attention to Herzogenbusch,
+where the Iconoclasts had lately committed fresh excesses, and the party
+of the Protestants had gained a great accession of strength.  In order
+to prevail on the citizens peaceably to receive a garrison, she sent
+thither, as ambassador, the Chancellor Scheiff, from Brabant, with
+counsellor Merode of Petersheim, whom she appointed governor of the
+town; they were instructed to secure the place by judicious means, and
+to exact from the citizens a new oath of allegiance.  At the same time
+the Count of Megen, who was in the neighborhood with a body of troops,
+was ordered to support the two envoys in effecting their commission,
+and to afford the means of throwing in a garrison immediately.  But
+Brederode, who obtained information of these movements in Viane, had
+already sent thither one of his creatures, a certain Anton von Bomber,--
+a hot Calvinist, but also a brave soldier, in order to raise the courage
+of his party, and to frustrate the designs of the regent.  This Bomberg
+succeeded in getting possession of the letters which the chancellor
+brought with him from the duchess, and contrived to substitute in their
+place counterfeit ones, which, by their harsh and imperious language,
+were calculated to exasperate the minds of the citizens.  At the same
+time he attempted to throw suspicion on both the ambassadors of the
+duchess as having evil designs upon the town.  In this he succeeded so
+well with the mob that in their mad fury they even laid hands on the
+ambassadors and placed them in confinement.  He himself, at the head of
+eight thousand men, who had adopted him as their leader, advanced
+against the Count of Megen, who was moving in order of battle, and gave
+him so warm a reception, with some heavy artillery, that he was
+compelled to retire without accomplishing his object.  The regent now
+sent an officer of justice to demand the release of her ambassadors, and
+in case of refusal to threaten the place with siege; but Bomberg with
+his party surrounded the town hall and forced the magistrate to deliver
+to him the key of the town.  The messenger of the regent was ridiculed
+and dismissed, and an answer sent through him that the treatment of the
+prisoners would depend upon Brederode's orders.  The herald, who was
+remaining outside before the town, now appeared to declare war against
+her, which, however, the chancellor prevented.
+
+After his futile attempt on Herzogenhusch the Count of Megen threw
+himself into Utrecht in order to prevent the execution of a design which
+Count Brederode had formed against that town.  As it had suffered much
+from the army of the confederates, which was encamped in its immediate
+neighborhood, near Viane, it received Megen with open arms as its
+protector, and conformed to all the alterations which he made in the
+religious worship.  Upon this he immediately caused a redoubt to be
+thrown up on the bank of the Leek, which would command Viane.
+Brederode, not disposed to await his attack, quitted that rendezvous
+with the best part of his army and hastened to Amsterdam.
+
+However unprofitably the Prince of Orange appeared to be losing his
+time in Antwerp during these operations he was, nevertheless, busily
+employed.  At his instigation the league had commenced recruiting, and
+Brederode had fortified his castles, for which purpose he himself
+presented him with three cannons which he had had cast at Utrecht.
+His eye watched all the movements of the court, and he kept the league
+warned of the towns which were next menaced with attack.  But his chief
+object appeared to be to get possession of the principal places in the
+districts under his own government, to which end he with all his power
+secretly assisted Brederode's plans against Utrecht and Amsterdam.  The
+most important place was the Island of Walcheren, where the king was
+expected to land; and he now planned a scheme for the surprise of this
+place, the conduct of which was entrusted to one of the confederate
+nobles, an intimate friend of the Prince of Orange, John of Marnix,
+Baron of Thoulouse, and brother of Philip of Aldegonde.
+
+
+1567.  Thoulouse maintained a secret understanding with the late mayor
+of Middleburg, Peter Haak, by which he expected to gain an opportunity
+of throwing a garrison into Middleburg and Flushing.  The recruiting,
+however, for this undertaking, which was set on foot in Antwerp, could
+not be carried on so quietly as not to attract the notice of the
+magistrate.  In order, therefore, to lull the suspicions of the latter,
+and at the same time to promote the success of the scheme, the prince
+caused the herald by public proclamation to order all foreign soldiers
+and strangers who were in the service of the state, or employed in other
+business, forthwith to quit the town.  He might, say his adversaries, by
+closing the gates have easily made himself master of all these suspected
+recruits; but be expelled them from the town in order to drive them the
+more quickly to the place of their destination.  They immediately
+embarked on the Scheldt, and sailed down to Rammekens; as, however, a
+marketvessel of Antwerp, which ran into Flushing a little before them
+had given warning of their design they were forbidden to enter the port.
+They found the same difficulty at Arnemuiden, near Middleburg, although
+the Protestants in that place exerted themselves to raise an
+insurrection in their favor.  Thoulouse, therefore, without having
+accomplished anything, put about his ships and sailed back down the
+Scheldt as far as Osterweel, a quarter of a mile from Antwerp, where he
+disembarked his people and encamped on the shore, with the hope of
+getting men from Antwerp, and also in order to revive by his presence
+the courage of his party, which had been cast down by the proceedings of
+the magistrate.  By the aid of the Calvinistic clergy, who recruited for
+him, his little army increased daily, so that at last he began to be
+formidable to the Antwerpians, whose whole territory he laid waste.  The
+magistrate was for attacking him here with the militia, which, however,
+the Prince of Orange successfully opposed by the, pretext that it would
+not be prudent to strip the town of soldiers.
+
+Meanwhile the regent had hastily brought together a small army under the
+command of Philip of Launoy, which moved from Brussels to Antwerp by
+forced marches.  At the same time Count Megen managed to keep the army
+of the Gueux shut up and employed at Viane, so that it could neither
+hear of these movements nor hasten to the assistance of its
+confederates.  Launoy, on his arrival attacked by surprise the dispersed
+crowds, who, little expecting an enemy, had gone out to plunder, and
+destroyed them in one terrible carnage.  Thoulouse threw himself with
+the small remnant of his troops into a country house, which had served
+him as his headquarters, and for a long time defended himself with the
+courage of despair, until Launoy, finding it impossible to dislodge him,
+set fire to the house.  The few who escaped the flames fell on the
+swords of the enemy or were drowned in the Scheldt.  Thoulouse himself
+preferred to perish in the flames rather than to fall into the hands of
+the enemy.  This victory, which swept off more than a thousand of the
+enemy, was purchased by the conqueror cheaply enough, for he did not
+lose more than two men.  Three hundred of the leaguers who surrendered
+were cut down without mercy on the spot, as a sally from Antwerp was
+momentarily dreaded.
+
+Before the battle actually commenced no anticipation of such an event
+had been entertained at Antwerp.  The Prince of Orange, who had got
+early information of it, had taken the precaution the day before of
+causing the bridge which unites the town with Osterweel to be destroyed,
+in order, as he gave out, to prevent the Calvinists within the town
+going out to join the army of Thoulouse.  A more probable motive seems
+to have been a fear lest the Catholics should attack the army of the
+Gueux general in the rear, or lest Launoy should prove victorious, and
+try to force his way into the town.  On the same pretext the gates of
+the city were also shut by his orders, arnd the inhabitants, who did not
+comprehend the meaning of all these movements, fluctuated between
+curiosity and alarm, until the sound of artillery from Osterweel
+announced to them what there was going on.  In clamorous crowds they all
+ran to the walls and ramparts, from which, as the wind drove the smoke
+from the contending armies, they commanded a full view of the whole
+battle.  Both armies were so near to the town that they could discern
+their banners, and clearly distinguish the voices of the victors and the
+vanquished.  More terrible even than the battle itself was the spectacle
+which this town now presented.  Each of the conflicting armies had its
+friends and its enemies on the wall.  All that went on in the plain
+roused on the ramparts exultation or dismay; on the issue of the
+conflict the fate of each spectator seemed to depend.  Every movement on
+the field could be read in the faces of the townsmen; defeat and
+triumph, the terror of the conquered, and the fury of the conqueror.
+Here a painful but idle wish to support those who are giving way, to
+rally those who fly; there an equally futile desire to overtake them,
+to slay them, to extirpate them.  Now the Gueux fly, and ten thousand
+men rejoice; Thoulouse's last place and refuge is in flames, and the
+hopes of twenty thousand citizens are consumed with him.
+
+But the first bewilderment of alarm soon gave place to a frantic desire
+of revenge.  Shrieking aloud, wringing her hands and with dishevelled
+hair, the widow of the slain general rushed amidst the crowds to implore
+their pity and help.  Excited by their favorite preacher, Hermann, the
+Calvinists fly to arms, determined to avenge their brethren, or to
+perish with them; without reflection, without plan or leader, guided by
+nothing but their anguish, their delirium, they rush to the Red Gate of
+the city which leads to the field of battle; but there is no egress, the
+gate is shut and the foremost of the crowd recoil on those that follow.
+Thousands and thousands collect together, a dreadful rush is made to the
+Meer Bridge.  We are betrayed! we are prisoners! is the general cry.
+Destruction to the papists, death to him who has betrayed us!--a sullen
+murmur, portentous of a revolt, runs through the multitude.  They begin
+to suspect that all that has taken place has been set on foot by the
+Roman Catholics to destroy the Calvinists.  They had slain their
+defenders, and they would now fall upon the defenceless.  With fatal
+speed this suspicion spreads through the whole of Antwerp.  Now they
+can, they think, understand the past, and they fear something still
+worse in the background; a frightful distrust gains possession of every
+mind.  Each party dreads the other; every one sees an enemy in his
+neighbor; the mystery deepens the alarm and horror; a fearful condition
+for a populous town, in which every accidental concourse instantly
+becomes tumult, every rumor started amongst them becomes a fact, every
+small spark a blazing flame, and by the force of numbers and collision
+all passions are furiously inflamed.  All who bore the name of
+Calvinists were roused by this report.  Fifteen thousand of them take
+possession of the Meer Bridge, and plant heavy artillery upon it, which
+they had taken by force from the arsenal; the same thing also happens at
+another bridge; their number makes them formidable, the town is in their
+hands; to escape an imaginary danger they bring all Antwerp to the brink
+of ruin.
+
+Immediately on the commencement of the tumult the Prince of Orange
+hastened to the Meer Bridge, where, boldly forcing his way through the
+raging crowd, he commanded peace and entreated to be heard.  At the
+other bridge Count Hogstraten, accompanied by the Burgomaster Strahlen,
+made the same attempt; but not possessing a sufficient share either of
+eloquence or of popularity to command attention, he referred the
+tumultuous crowd to the prince, around whom all Antwerp now furiously
+thronged.  The gate, he endeavored to explain to them, was shut simply
+to keep off the victor, whoever he might be, from the city, which would
+otherwise become the prey of an infuriated soldiery.  In vain! the
+frantic people would not listen, and one more daring than the rest
+presented his musket at him, calling him a traitor.  With tumultuous
+shouts they demanded the key of the Red Gate, which he was ultimately
+forced to deliver into the hands of the preacher Hermann.  But, he added
+with happy presence of mind, they must take heed what they were doing;
+in the suburbs six hundred of the enemy's horse were waiting to receive
+them.  This invention, suggested by the emergency, was not so far
+removed from the truth as its author perhaps imagined; for no sooner had
+the victorous general perceived the commotion in Antwerp than he caused
+his whole cavalry to mount in the hope of being able, under favor of the
+disturbance, to break into the town.  I, at least, continued the Prince
+of Orange, shall secure my own safety in time, and he who follows my
+example will save himself much future regret.  These words opportunely
+spoken and immediately acted upon had their effect.  Those who stood
+nearest followed him, and were again followed by the next, so that at
+last the few who had already hastened out of the city when they saw no
+one coming after them lost the desire of coping alone with the six
+hundred horse.  All accordingly returned to the Meer Bridge, where they
+posted watches and videttes, and the night was passed tumultuously under
+arms.
+
+The town of Antwerp was now threatened with fearful bloodshed and
+pillage.  In this pressing emergency Orange assembled an extraordinary
+senate, to which were summoned all the best-disposed citizens of the
+four nations.  If they wished, said he, to repress the violence of the
+Calvinists they must oppose them with an army strong enough and prepared
+to meet them.  It was therefore resolved to arm with speed the Roman
+Catholic inhabitants of the town, whether natives, Italians, or
+Spaniards, and, if possible, to induce the Lutherans also to join them.
+The haughtiness of the Calvinists, who, proud of their wealth and
+confident in their numbers, treated every other religious party with
+contempt, had long made the Lutherans their enemies, and the mutual
+exasperation of these two Protestant churches was even more inmplacable
+than their common hatred of the dominant church.  This jealousy the
+magistrate had turned to advantage, by making use of one party to curb
+the other, and had thus contrived to keep the Calvinists in check, who,
+from their numbers and insolence, were most to be feared.  With this
+view, he had tacitly taken into his protection the Lutherans, as the
+weaker and more peaceable party, having moreover invited for them, from
+Germany, spiritual teachers, who, by controversial sermons, might keep
+up the mutual hatred of the two bodies.  He encouraged the Lutherans in
+the vain idea that the king thought more favorably of their religious
+creed than that of the Calvinists, and exhorted them to be careful how
+they damaged their good cause by any understanding with the latter.  It
+was not, therefore, difficult to bring about, for the moment, a union
+with the Roman Catholics and the Lutherans, as its object was to keep
+down their detested rivals.  At dawn of day an army was opposed to the
+Calvinists which was far superior in force to their own.  At the head of
+this army, the eloquence of Orange had far greater effect, and found far
+more attention than on the preceding evening, unbacked by such strong
+persuasion.  The Calvinists, though in possession of arms and artillery,
+yet, alarmed at the superior numbers arrayed against them, were the
+first to send envoys, and to treat for an amicable adjustment of
+differences, which by the tact and good temper of the Prince of Orange,
+he concluded to the satisfaction of all parties.  On the proclamation of
+this treaty the Spaniards and Italians immdiately laid down their arms.
+They were followed by the Calvinists, and these again by the Roman
+Catholics; last of all the Lutherans disarmed.
+
+Two days and two nights Antwerp had continued in this alarming state.
+During the tumult the Roman Catholics had succeeded in placing barrels
+of gunpowder under the Meer Bridge, and threatened to blow into the air
+the whole army of the Calvinists, who had done the same in other places
+to destroy their adversaries.  The destruction of the town hung on the
+issue of a moment, and nothing but the prince's presence of mind saved
+it.
+
+Noircarmes, with his army of Walloons, still lay before Valenciennes,
+which, in firm reliance on being relieved by the Gueux, obstinately
+refused to listen to all the representations of the regent, and rejected
+every idea of surrender.  An order of the court had expressly forbidden
+the royalist general to press the siege until he should receive
+reinforcements from Germany.  Whether from forbearance or fear, the king
+regarded with abhorrence the violent measure of storming the place, as
+necessarily involving the innocent in the fate of the guilty, and
+exposing the loyal subject to the same ill-treatment as the rebel.  As,
+however, the confidence of the besieged augmented daily, and emboldened
+by the inactivity of the besiegers, they annoyed him by frequent
+sallies, and after burning the cloisters before the town, retired with
+the plunder--as the time uselessly lost before this town was put to good
+use by the rebels and their allies, Noircarmes besouht the duchess to
+obtain immediate permission from the king to take it by storm.  The
+answer arrived more quickly than Philip was ever before wont to reply.
+As yet they must be content, simply to make the necessary preparations,
+and then to wait awhile to allow terror to have its effect; but if upon
+this they did not appear ready to capitulate, the storming might take
+place, but, at the same time, with the greatest possible regard for the
+lives of the inhabitants.  Before the regent allowed Noircarmes to
+proceed to this extremity she empowered Count Egmont, with the Duke
+Arschot, to treat once more with the rebels amicably.  Both conferred
+with the deputies of the town, and omitted no argument calculated to
+dispel their delusion.  They acquainted them with the defeat of
+Thoulouse, their sole support, and with the fact that the Count of Megen
+had cut off the army of the Gueux from the town, and assured them that
+if they had held out so long they owed it entirely to the king's
+forbearance.  They offered them full pardon for the past; every one was
+to be free to prove his innocence before whatever tribunal he should
+chose; such as did not wish to avail themselves of this privilege were
+to be allowed fourteen days to quit the town with all their effects.
+Nothing was required of the townspeople but the admission of the
+garrison.  To give time to deliberate on these terms an armistice of
+three days was granted.  When the deputies returned they found their
+fellow-citizens less disposed than ever to an accommodation, reports of
+new levies by the Gueux having, in the meantime, gained currency.
+Thoulouse, it was pretended, had conquered, and was advancing with a
+powerful army to relieve the place.  Their confidence went so far that
+they even ventured to break the armistice, and to fire upon the
+besiegers.  At last the burgomaster, with difficulty, succeeded in
+bringing matters so far towards a peaceful settlement that twelve of the
+town counsellors were sent into the camp with the following conditions:
+The edict by which Valenciennes had been charged with treason and
+declared an enemy to the country was required to be recalled, the
+confiscation of their goods revoked, and the prisoners on both sides
+restored to liberty; the garrison was not to enter the town before every
+one who thought good to do so had placed himself and his property in
+security; and a pledge to be given that the inhabitants should not be
+molested in any manner, and that their expenses should be paid by the
+king.
+
+Noircarmes was so indignant with these conditions that he was almost on
+the point of ill-treating the deputies.  If they had not come, he told
+them, to give up the place, they might return forthwith, lest he should
+send them home with their hands tied behind their backs.  Upon this the
+deputies threw the blame on the obstinacy of the Calvinists, and
+entreated him, with tears in their eyes, to keep them in the camp, as
+they did not, they said, wish to have anything more to do with their
+rebellious townsmen, or to be joined in their fate.  They even knelt to
+beseech the intercession of Egmont, but Noircarmes remained deaf to all
+their entreaties, and the sight of the chains which he ordered to be
+brought out drove them reluctantly enough back to Valenciennes.
+Necessity, not severity, imposed this harsh procedure upon the general.
+The detention of ambassadors had on a former occasion drawn upon him the
+reprimand of the duchess; the people in the town would not have failed
+to have ascribed the non-appearance of their present deputies to the
+same cause as in the former case had detained them.  Besides, he was
+loath to deprive the town of any out of the small residue of well-
+disposed citizens, or to leave it a prey to a blind, foolhardy mob.
+Egmont was so mortified at the bad report of his embassy that he the
+night following rode round to reconnoitre its fortifications, and
+returned well satisfied to have convinced himself that it was no longer
+tenable.
+
+Valenciennes stretches down a gentle acclivity into the level plain,
+being built on a site as strong as it is delightful.  On one side
+enclosed by the Scheldt and another smaller river, and on the other
+protected by deep ditches, thick walls, and towers, it appears capable
+of defying every attack.  But Noircarmes had discovered a few points
+where neglect had allowed the fosse to be filled almost up to the level
+of the natural surface, and of these he determined to avail himself in
+storming.  He drew together all the scattered corps by which he had
+invested the town, and during a tempestuous night carried the suburb of
+Berg without the loss of a single man.  He then assigned separate points
+of attack to the Count of Bossu, the young Charles of Mansfeld, and the
+younger Barlaimont, and under a terrible fire, which drove the enemy
+from his walls, his troops were moved up with all possible speed.  Close
+before the town, and opposite the gate under the eyes of the besiegers,
+and with very little loss, a battery was thrown up to an equal height
+with the fortifications.  From this point the town was bombarded with an
+unceasing fire for four hours.  The Nicolaus tower, on which the
+besieged had planted some artillery, was among the first that fell, and
+many perished under its ruins.  The guns were directed against all the
+most conspicuous buildings, and a terrible slaughter was made amongst
+the inhabitants.  In a few hours their principal works were destroyed,
+and in the gate itself so extensive a breach was made that the besieged,
+despairing of any longer defending themselves, sent in haste two
+trumpeters to entreat a parley.  This was granted, but the storm was
+continued without intermission.  The ambassador entreated Noircarmes to
+grant them the same terms which only two days before they had rejected.
+But circumstances had now changed, and the victor would hear no more of
+conditions.  The unceasing fire left the inhabitants no time to repair
+the ramparts, which filled the fosse with their debris, and opened many
+a breach for the enemy to enter by.  Certain of utter destruction, they
+surrendered next morning at discretion after a bombardment of six-and-
+thirty hours without intermission, and three thousand bombs had been
+thrown into the city.  Noircarmes marched into the town with his
+victorious army under the strictest discipline, and was received by a
+crowd of women and children, who went to meet him, carrying green
+boughs, and beseeching his pity.  All the citizens were immediately
+disarmed, the commandant and his son beheaded; thirty-six of the most
+guilty of the rebels, among whom were La Grange and another Calvinistic
+preacher, Guido de Bresse, atoned for their obstinacy at the gallows;
+all the municipal functionaries were deprived of their offices, and the
+town of all its privileges.  The Roman Catholic worship was immediately
+restored in full dignity, and the Protestant abolished.  The Bishop of
+Arras was obliged to quit his residence in the town, and a strong
+garrison placed in it to insure its future obedience.
+
+The fate of Valenciennes, towards which all eyes had been turned, was a
+warning to the other towns which had similarly offended.  Noircarmes
+followed up his victory, and marched immediately against Maestricht,
+which surrendered without a blow, and received a garrison.  From thence
+he marched to Tornhut to awe by his presence the people of Herzogenbusch
+and Antwerp.  The Gueux in this place, who under the command of Bomberg
+had carried all things before them, were now so terrified at his
+approach that they quitted the town in haste.  Noircarmes was received
+without opposition.  The ambassadors of the duchess were immediately set
+at liberty.  A strong garrison was thrown into Tornhut.  Cambray also
+opened its gates, and joyfully recalled its archbishop, whom the
+Calvinists had driven from his see, and who deserved this triumph as
+he did not stain his entrance with blood.  Ghent, Ypres, and Oudenarde
+submitted and received garrisons.  Gueldres was now almost entirely
+cleared of the rebels and reduced to obedience by the Count of Megen.
+In Friesland and Groningen the Count of Aremberg had eventually the same
+success; but it was not obtained here so rapidly or so easily, since the
+count wanted consistency and firmness, and these warlike republicans
+maintained more pertinaciously their privileges, and were greatly
+supported by the strength of their position.  With the exception of
+Holland all the provinces had yielded before the victorious arms of the
+duchess.  The courage of the disaffected sunk entirely, and nothing was
+left to them but flight or submission.
+
+
+
+
+                    RESIGNATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE.
+
+Ever since the establishment of the Guesen league, but more perceptibly
+since the outbreak of the Iconoclasts, the spirit of rebellion and
+disaffection had spread so rapidly among all classes, parties had become
+so blended and confused, that the regent had difficulty in
+distinguishing her own adherents, and at last hardly knew on whom to
+rely.  The lines of demarcation between the loyal and the disaffected
+had grown gradually fainter, until at last they almost entirely
+vanished.  The frequent alterations, too, which she had been obliged to
+make in the laws, and which were at most the expedients and suggestions
+of the moment, had taken from them their precision and binding force,
+and had given full scope to the arbitrary will of every individual whose
+office it was to interpret them.  And at last, amidst the number and
+variety of the interpretations, the spirit was lost and the intention of
+the lawgiver baffled.  The close connection which in many cases
+subsisted between Protestants and Roman Catholics, between Gueux and
+Royalists, and which not unfrequently gave them a common interest, led
+the latter to avail themselves of the loophole which the vagueness of
+the laws left open, and in favor of their Protestant friends and
+associates evaded by subtle distinctions all severity in the discharge
+of their duties.  In their minds it was enough not to be a declared
+rebel, not one of the Gueux, or at least not a heretic, to be authorized
+to mould their duties to their inclinations, and to set the most
+arbitrary limits to their obedience to the king.  Feeling themselves
+irresponsible, the governors of the provinces, the civil functionaries,
+both high and low, the municipal officers, and the military commanders
+had all become extremely remiss in their duty, and presuming upon this
+impunity showed a pernicious indulgence to the rebels and their
+adherents which rendered abortive all the regent's measures of coercion.
+This general indifference and corruption of so many servants of the
+state had further this injurious result, that it led the turbulent to
+reckon on far stronger support than in reality they had cause for, and
+to count on their own side all who were but lukewarm adherents of the
+court.  This way of thinking, erroneous as it was, gave them greater
+courage and confidence; it had the same effect as if it had been well
+founded; and the uncertain vassals of the king became in consequence
+almost as injurious to him as his declared enemies, without at the same
+time being liable to the same measures of severity.  This was especially
+the case with the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont, Bergen, Hogstraten,
+Horn, and several others of the higher nobility.  The regent felt the
+necessity of bringing these doubtful subjects to an explanation, in
+order either to deprive the rebels of a fancied support or to unmask the
+enemies of the king.  And the latter reason was of the more urgent
+moment when being obliged to send an army into the field it was of the
+utmost importance to entrust the command of the troops to none but those
+of whose fidelity she was fully assured.  She caused, therefore, an oath
+to be drawn up which bound all who took it to advance the Roman Catholic
+faith, to pursue and punish the Iconoclasts, and to help by every means
+in their power in extirpating all kinds of heresy.  It also pledged them
+to treat the king's enemies as their own, and to serve without
+distinction against all whom the regent in the king's name should point
+out.  By this oath she did not hope so much to test their sincerity, and
+still less to secure them, as rather to gain a pretext for removing the
+suspected parties if they declined to take it, and for wresting from
+their hands a power which they abused, or a legitimate ground for
+punishing them if they took it and broke it.  This oath was exacted from
+all Knights of the Fleece, all civil functionaries and magistrates, all
+officers of the army--from every one in short who held any appointment
+in the state.  Count Mansfeld was the first who publicly took it in the
+council of state at Brussels; his example was followed by the Duke of
+Arschot, Counts Egmont, Megen, and Barlaimont.  Hogstraten and Horn
+endeavored to evade the necessity.  The former was offended at a proof
+of distrust which shortly before the regent had given him.  Under the
+pretext that Malines could not safely be left any longer without its
+governor, but that the presence of the count was no less necessary in
+Antwerp, she had taken from him that province and given it to another
+whose fidelity she could better reckon upon.  Hostraten expressed his
+thanks that she had been pleased to release him from one of his burdens,
+adding that she would complete the obligation if she would relieve him
+from the other also.  True to his determination Count Horn was living
+on one of his estates in the strong town of Weerdt, having retired
+altogether from public affairs.  Having quitted the service of the
+state, he owed, he thought, nothing more either to the republic or to
+the king, and declined the oath, which in his case appears at last to
+have been waived.
+
+The Count of Brederode was left the choice of either taking the
+prescribed oath or resigning the command of his squadron of cavalry.
+After many fruitless attempts to evade the alternative, on the plea that
+he did not hold office in the state, he at last resolved upon the latter
+course, and thereby escaped all risk of perjuring himself.
+
+Vain were all the attempts to prevail on the Prince of Orange to take
+the oath, who, from the suspicion which had long attached to him,
+required more than any other this purification; and from whom the great
+power which it had been necessary to place in his hands fully justified
+the regent in exacting it.  It was not, however, advisable to proceed
+against him with the laconic brevity adopted towards Brederode and the
+like; on the other hand, the voluntary resignation of all his offices,
+which he tendered, did not meet the object of the regent, who foresaw
+clearly enough how really dangerous he would become, as soon as he
+should feel himself independent, and be no longer checked by any
+external considerations of character or duty in the prosecution of his
+secret designs.  But ever since the consultation in Dendermonde the
+Prince of Orange had made up his mind to quit the service of the King of
+Spain on the first favorable opportunity, and till better days to leave
+the country itself.  A very disheartening experience had taught him how
+uncertain are hopes built on the multitude, and how quickly their zeal
+is cooled by the necessity of fulfilling its lofty promises.  An army
+was already in the field, and a far stronger one was, he knew, on its
+road, under the command of the Duke of Alva.  The time for remonstrauces
+was past; it was only at the head of an army that an advantageous treaty
+could now be concluded with the regent, and by preventing the entrance
+of the Spanish general.  But now where was he to raise this army, in
+want as he was of money, the sinews of warfare, since the Protestants
+had retracted their boastful promises and deserted him in this pressing
+emergency?
+
+     [How valiant the wish, and how sorry the deed was, is proved by the
+     following instance amongst others.  Some friends of the national
+     liberty, Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, had solemnly
+     engaged in Amsterdam to subscribe to a common fund the hundredth
+     penny of their estates, until a sum of eleven thousand florins
+     should be collected, which was to be devoted to the common cause
+     and interests.  An alms-box, protected by three locks, was prepared
+     for the reception of these contributions.  After the expiration of
+     the prescribed period it was opened, and a sum was found amounting
+     to seven hundred florins, which was given to the hostess of the
+     Count of Brederode, in part payment of his unliquidated score.
+     Univ. Hist. of the N., vol. 3.]
+
+Religious jealousy and hatred, moreover, separated the two Protestant
+churches, and stood in the way of every salutary combination against
+the common enemy of their faith.  The rejection of the Confession of
+Augsburg by the Calvinists had exasperated all the Protestant princes of
+Germany, so that no support was to be looked for from the empire.  With
+Count Egmont the excellent army of Walloons was also lost to the cause,
+for they followed with blind devotion the fortunes of their general, who
+had taught them at St. Quentin and Gravelines to be invincible.  And
+again, the outrages which the Iconoclasts had perpetrated on the
+churches and convents had estranged from the league the numerous,
+wealthy, and powerful class of the established clergy, who, before this
+unlucky episode, were already more than half gained over to it; while,
+by her intrigues, the regent daily contrived to deprive the league
+itself of some one or other of its most influential members.
+
+All these considerations combined induced the prince to postpone to
+a more favorable season a project for which the present juncture was
+little suited, and to leave a country where his longer stay could not
+effect any advantage for it, but must bring certain destruction on
+himself.  After intelligence gleaned from so many quarters, after so
+many proofs of distrust, so many warnings from Madrid, he could be no
+longer doubtful of the sentiments of Philip towards him.  If even he
+had any doubt, his uncertainty would soon have been dispelled by the
+formidable armament which was preparing in Spain, and which was to have
+for its leader, not the king, as was falsely given out, but, as he was
+better informed, the Duke of Alva, his personal enemy, and the very man
+he had most cause to fear.  The prince had seen too deeply into Philip's
+heart to believe in the sincerity of his reconciliation after having
+once awakened his fears.  He judged his own conduct too justly to
+reckon, like his friend Egmont, on reaping a gratitude from the king to
+which he had not sown.  He could therefore expect nothing but hostility
+from him, and prudence counselled him to screen himself by a timely
+flight from its actual outbreak.  He had hitherto obstinately refused
+to take the new oath, and all the written exhortations of the regent
+had been fruitless.  At last she sent to him at Antwerp her private
+secretary, Berti, who was to put the matter emphatically to his
+conscience, and forcibly remind him of all the evil consequences which
+so sudden a retirement from the royal service would draw upon the
+country, as well as the irreparable injury it would do to his own fair
+fame.  Already, she informed him by her ambassador, his declining the
+required oath had cast a shade upon his honor, and imparted to the
+general voice, which accused him of an understanding with the rebels, an
+appearance of truth which this unconditional resignation would convert
+to absolute certainty.  It was for the sovereign to discharge his
+servants, but it did not become the servant to abandon his sovereign.
+The envoy of the regent found the prince in his palace at Antwerp,
+already, as it appeared, withdrawn from the public service, and entirely
+devoted to his private concerns.  The prince told him, in the presence
+of Hogstraten, that he had refused to take the required oath because he
+could not find that such a proposition had ever before been made to a
+governor of a province; because he had already bound himself, once for
+all, to the king, and therefore, by taking this new oath, he would
+tacitly acknowledge that he had broken the first.  He had also refused
+because the old oath enjoined him to protect the rights and privileges
+of the country, but he could not tell whether this new one might not
+impose upon him duties which would contravene the first; because, too,
+the clause which bound him to serve, if required, against all without
+distinction, did not except even the emperor, his feudal lord, against
+whom, however, he, as his vassal, could not conscientiously make war.
+He had refused to take this oath because it might impose upon him the
+necessity of surrendering his friends and relations, his children, nay,
+even his wife, who was a Lutheran, to butchery.  According to it,
+moreover, he must lend himself to every thing which it should occur to
+the king's fancy or passion to demand.  But the king might thus exact
+from him things which he shuddered even to think of, and even the
+severities which were now, and had been all along, exercised upon the
+Protestants, were the most revolting to his heart.  This oath, in short,
+was repugnant to his feelings as a man, and he could not take it.  In
+conclusion, the name of the Duke of Alva dropped from his lips in a tone
+of bitterness, and he became immediately silent.
+
+All these objections were answered, point by point, by Berti.  Certainly
+such an oath had never been required from a governor before him, because
+the provinces had never been similarly circumstanced.  It was not
+exacted because the governors had broken the first, but in order to
+remind them vividly of their former vows, and to freshen their activity
+in the present emergency.  This oath would not impose upon him anything
+which offended against the rights and privileges of the country, for the
+king had sworn to observe these as well as the Prince of Orange.  The
+oath did not, it was true, contain any reference to a war with the
+emperor, or any other sovereign to whom the prince might be related; and
+if he really had scruples on this point, a distinct clause could easily
+be inserted, expressly providing against such a contingency.  Care would
+be taken to spare him any duties which were repugnant to his feelings as
+a man, and no power on earth would compel him to act against his wife or
+against his children.  Berti was then passing to the last point, which
+related to the Duke of Alva, but the prince, who did not wish to have
+this part of his discourse canvassed, interrupted him.  "The king was
+coming to the Netherlands," he said, "and he knew the king.  The king
+would not endure that one of his servants should have wedded a Lutheran,
+and he had therefore resolved to go with his whole family into voluntary
+banishment before he was obliged to submit to the same by compulsion.
+But," he concluded, "wherever he might be, he would always conduct
+himself as a subject of the king."  Thus far-fetched were the motives
+which the prince adduced to avoid touching upon the single one which
+really decided him.
+
+Berti had still a hope of obtaining, through Egmont's eloquence, what by
+his own he despaired of effecting.  He therefore proposed a meeting with
+the latter (1567), which the prince assented to the more willingly as he
+himself felt a desire to embrace his friend once more before his
+departure, and if possible to snatch the deluded man from certain
+destruction.  This remarkable meeting, at which the private secretary,
+Berti, and the young Count Mansfeld, were also present, was the last
+that the two friends ever held, and took place in Villebroeck, a village
+on the Rupel, between Brussels and Antwerp.  The Calvinists, whose last
+hope rested on the issue of this conference, found means to acquaint
+themselves of its import by a spy, who concealed himself in the chimney
+of the apartment where it was held.  All three attempted to shake the
+determination of the prince, but their united eloquence was unable to
+move him from his purpose.  "It will cost you your estates, Orange, if
+you persist in this intention," said the Prince of Gaure, as he took him
+aside to a window.  "And you your life, Egmont, if you change not
+yours," replied the former.  "To me it will at least be a consolation in
+my misfortunes that I desired, in deed as well as in word, to help my
+country and my friends in the hour of need; but you, my friend, you are
+dragging friends and country with you to destruction."  And saying these
+words, he once again exhorted him, still more urgently than ever, to
+return to the cause of his country, which his arm alone was yet able to
+preserve; if not, at least for his own sake to avoid the tempest which
+was gathering against him from Spain.
+
+But all the arguments, however lucid, with which a far-discerning
+prudence supplied him, and however urgently enforced, with all the ardor
+and animation which the tender anxiety of friendship could alone
+inspire, did not avail to destroy the fatal confidence which still
+fettered Egmont's better reason.  The warning of Orange seemed to come
+from a sad and dispirited heart; but for Egmont the world still smiled.
+To abandon the pomp and affluence in which he had grown up to youth and
+manhood; to part with all the thousand conveniences of life which alone
+made it valuable to him, and all this to escape an evil which his
+buoyant spirit regarded as remote, if not imaginary; no, that was not a
+sacrifice which could be asked from Egmont.  But had he even been less
+given to indulgence than he was, with what heart could he have consigned
+a princess, accustomed by uninterrupted prosperity to ease and comfort,
+a wife who loved him as dearly as she was beloved, the children on whom
+his soul hung in hope and fondness, to privations at the prospect of
+which his own courage sank, and which a sublime philosophy alone can
+enable sensuality to undergo.  "You will never persuade me, Orange,"
+said Egmont, "to see things in the gloomy light in which they appear to
+thy mournful prudence.  When I have succeeded in abolishing the public
+preachings, and chastising the Iconoclasts, in crushing the rebels, and
+restoring peace and order in the provinces, what can the king lay to my
+charge?  The king is good and just; I have claims upon his gratitude,
+and I must not forget what I owe to myself."  "Well, then," cried
+Orange, indignantly and with bitter anguish, "trust, if you will, to
+this royal gratitude; but a mournful presentiment tells me--and may
+Heaven grant that I am deceived!--that you, Egmont, will be the bridge
+by which the Spaniards will pass into our country to destroy it."  After
+these words, he drew him to his bosom, ardently clasping him in his
+arms.  Long, as though the sight was to serve for the remainder of his
+life, did he keep his eyes fixed upon him; the tears fell; they saw each
+other no more.
+
+The very next day the Prince of Orange wrote his letter of resignation
+to the regent, in which he assured her of his perpetual esteem, and once
+again entreated her to put the best interpretation on his present step.
+He then set off with his three brothers and his whole family for his own
+town of Breda, where he remained only as long as was requisite to
+arrange some private affairs.  His eldest son, Prince Philip William,
+was left behind at the University of Louvain, where he thought him
+sufficiently secure under the protection of the privileges of Brabant
+and the immunities of the academy; an imprudence which, if it was really
+not designed, can hardly be reconciled with the just estimate which, in
+so many other cases, he had taken of the character of his adversary.  In
+Breda the heads of the Calvinists once more consulted him whether there
+was still hope for them, or whether all was irretrievably lost.  "He had
+before advised them," replied the prince, "and must now do so again, to
+accede to the Confession of Augsburg; then they might rely upon aid from
+Germany.  If they would still not consent to this, they must raise six
+hundred thousand florins, or more, if they could."  "The first," they
+answered, "was at variance with their conviction and their conscience;
+but means might perhaps be found to raise the money if he would only let
+them know for what purpose he would use it."  "No!"  cried he, with the
+utmost displeasure, "if I must tell you that, it is all over with the
+use of it."  With these words he immediately broke off the conference
+and dismissed the deputies.
+
+The Prince of Orange was reproached with having squandered his fortune,
+and with favoring the innovations on account of his debts; but he
+asserted that he still enjoyed sixty thousand florins yearly rental.
+Before his departure he borrowed twenty thousand florins from the states
+of Holland on the mortgage of some manors.  Men could hardly persuade
+themselves that he would have succumbed to necessity so entirely, and
+without an effort at resistance given up all his hopes and schemes.  But
+what he secretly meditated no one knew, no one had read in his heart.
+Being asked how he intended to conduct himself towards the King of
+Spain, "Quietly," was his answer, "unless he touches my honor or my
+estates."  He left the Netherlands soon afterwards, and betook himself
+in retirement to the town of Dillenburg, in Nassau, at which place he
+was born.  He was accompanied to Germany by many hundreds, either as his
+servants or as volunteers, and was soon followed by Counts Hogstraten,
+Kuilemberg, and Bergen, who preferred to share a voluntary exile with
+him rather than recklessly involve themselves in an uncertain destiny.
+In his departure the nation saw the flight of its guardian angel; many
+had adored, all had honored him.  With him the last stay of the
+Protestants gave way; they, however, had greater hopes from this man
+in exile than from all the others together who remained behind.  Even
+the Roman Catholics could not witness his departure without regret.
+Them also had he shielded from tyranny; he had not unfrequently
+protected them against the oppression of their own church, and he had
+rescued many of them from the sanguinary jealousy of their religious
+opponents.  A few fanatics among the Calvinists, who were offended with
+his proposal of an alliance with their brethren, who avowed the
+Confession of Augsburg, solemnized with secret thanksgivings the day on
+which the enemy left them.  (1567).
+
+
+
+
+                DECAY AND DISPERSION OF THE GEUSEN LEAGUE.
+
+Immediately after taking leave of his friend, the Prince of Gaure
+hastened back to Brussels, to receive from the regent the reward of his
+firmness, and there, in the excitement of the court and in the sunshine
+of his good fortune, to dispel the light cloud which the earnest
+warnings of the Prince of Orange had cast over his natural gayety.
+The flight of the latter now left him in possession of the stage.
+He had now no longer any rival in the republic to dim his glory.  With
+redoubled zeal he wooed the transient favor of the court, above which he
+ought to have felt himself far exalted.  All Brussels must participate
+in his joy.  He gave splendid banquets and public entertainments, at
+which, the better to eradicate all suspicion from his mind, the regent
+herself frequently attended.  Not content with having taken the required
+oath, he outstripped the most devout in devotion; outran the most
+zealous in zeal to extirpate the Protestant faith, and to reduce by
+force of arms the refractory towns of Flanders.  He declared to his old
+friend, Count Hogstraten, as also to the rest of the Gueux, that he
+would withdraw from them his friendship forever if they hesitated any
+longer to return into the bosom of the church, and reconcile themselves
+with their king.  All the confidential letters which had been exchanged
+between him and them were returned, and by this last step the breach
+between them was made public and irreparable.  Egmont's secession, and
+the flight of the Prince of Orange, destroyed the last hope of the
+Protestants and dissolved the whole league of the Gueux.  Its members
+vied with each other in readiness--nay, they could not soon enough
+abjure the covenant and take the new oath proposed to them by the
+government.  In vain did the Protestant merchants exclaim at this breach
+of faith on the part of the nobles; their weak voice was no longer
+listened to, and all the sums were lost with which they had supplied the
+league.
+
+The most important places were quickly reduced and garrisoned; the
+rebels had fled, or perished by the hand of the executioner; in the
+provinces no protector was left.  All yielded to the fortune of the
+regent, and her victorious army was advancing against Antwerp.  After a
+long and obstinate contest this town had been cleared of the worst
+rebels; Hermann and his adherents took to flight; the internal storms
+had spent their rage.  The minds of the people became gradually
+composed, and no longer excited at will by every furious fanatic, began
+to listen to better counsels.  The wealthier citizens earnestly longed
+for peace to revive commerce and trade, which had suffered severely from
+the long reign of anarchy.  The dread of Alva's approach worked wonders;
+in order to prevent the miseries which a Spanish army would inflict upon
+the country, the people hastened to throw themselves on the gentler
+mercies of the regent.  Of their own accord they despatched
+plenipotentiaries to Brussels to negotiate for a treaty and to hear her
+terms.  Agreeably as the regent was surprised by this voluntary step,
+she did not allow herself to be hurried away by her joy.  She declared
+that she neither could nor would listen to any overtures or
+representations until the town had received a garrison.  Even this was
+no longer opposed, and Count Mansfeld marched in the day after with
+sixteen squadrons in battle array.  A solemn treaty was now made between
+the town and duchess, by which the former bound itself to prohibit the
+Calvinistic form of worship, to banish all preachers of that persuasion,
+to restore the Roman Catholic religion to its former dignity, to
+decorate the despoiled churches with their former ornaments, to
+administer the old edicts as before, to take the new oath which the
+other towns had sworn to, and, lastly, to deliver into the hands of
+justice all who been guilty of treason, in bearing arms, or taking part
+in the desecration of the churches.  On the other hand, the regent
+pledged herself to forget all that had passed, and even to intercede for
+the offenders with the king.  All those who, being dubious of obtaining
+pardon, preferred banishment, were to be allowed a month to convert
+their property into money, and place themselves in safety.  From this
+grace none were to be excluded but such as had been guilty of a capital
+offence, and who were excepted by the previous article.  Immediately
+upon the conclusion of this treaty all Calvinist and Lutheran preachers
+in Antwerp, and the adjoining territory, were warned by the herald to
+quit the country within twenty-four hours.  All the streets and gates
+were now thronged with fugitives, who for the honor of their God
+abandoned what was dearest to them, and sought a more peaceful home for
+their persecuted faith.  Here husbands were taking an eternal farewell
+of their wives, fathers of their children; there whole families were
+preparing to depart.  All Antwerp resembled a house of mourning;
+wherever the eye turned some affecting spectacle of painful separation
+presented itself.  A seal was set on the doors of the Protestant
+churches; the whole worship seemed to be extinct.  The 10th of April
+(1567) was the day appointed for the departure of the preachers.  In the
+town hall, where they appeared for the last time to take leave of the
+magistrate, they could not command their grief; but broke forth into
+bitter reproaches.  They had been sacrificed, they exclaimed, they had
+been shamefully betrayed; but a time would come when Antwerp would pay
+dearly enough for this baseness.  Still more bitter were the complaints
+of the Lutheran clergy, whom the magistrate himself had invited into the
+country to preach against the Calvinists.  Under the delusive
+representation that the king was not unfavorable to their religion they
+had been seduced into a combination against the Calvinists, but as soon
+as the latter had been by their co-operation brought under subjection,
+and their own services were no longer required, they were left to bewail
+their folly, which had involved themselves and their enemies in common
+ruin.
+
+A few days afterwards the regent entered Antwerp in triumph, accompanied
+by a thousand Walloon horse, the Knights of the Golden Fleece, all the
+governors and counsellors, a number of municipal officers, and her whole
+court.  Her first visit was to the cathedral, which still bore
+lamentable traces of the violence of the Iconoclasts, and drew from her
+many and bitter tears.  Immediately afterwards four of the rebels, who
+had been overtaken in their flight, were brought in and executed in the
+public market-place.  All the children who had been baptized after the
+Protestant rites were rebaptized by Roman Catholic priests; all the
+schools of heretics were closed, and their churches levelled to the
+ground.  Nearly all the towns in the Netherlands followed the example of
+Antwerp and banished the Protestant preachers.  By the end of April the
+Roman Catholic churches were repaired and embellished more splendidly
+than ever, while all the Protestant places of worship were pulled down,
+and every vestige of the proscribed belief obliterated in the seventeen
+provinces.  The populace, whose sympathies are generally with the
+successful party, was now as active in accelerating the ruin of the
+unfortunate as a short time before it had been furiously zealous in its
+cause; in Ghent a large and beautiful church which the Calvinists had
+erected was attacked, and in less than an hour had wholly disappeared.
+From the beams of the roofless churches gibbets were erected for those
+who had profaned the sanctuaries of the Roman Catholics.  The places of
+execution were filled with corpses, the prisons with condemned victims,
+the high roads with fugitives.  Innumerable were the victims of this
+year of murder; in the smallest towns fifty at least, in several of the
+larger as many as three hundred, were put to death, while no account was
+kept of the numbers in the open country who fell into the hands of the
+provost-marshal and were immediately strung up as miscreants, without
+trial and without mercy.
+
+The regent was still in Antwerp when ambassadors presented themselves
+from the Electors of Brandenburg, Saxony, Hesse, Wurtemberg, and Baden
+to intercede for their fugitive brethren in the faith.  The expelled
+preachers of the Augsburg Confession had claimed the rights assured to
+them by the religious peace of the Germans, in which Brabant, as part of
+the empire, participated, and had thrown themselves on the protection of
+those princes.  The arrival of the foreign ministers alarmed the regent,
+and she vainly endeavored to prevent their entrance into Antwerp; under
+the guise, however, of showing them marks of honor, she continued to
+keep them closely watched lest they should encourage the malcontents in
+any attempts against the peace of the town.  From the high tone which
+they most unreasonably adopted towards the regent it might almost be
+inferred that they were little in earnest in their demand.  "It was but
+reasonable," they said, "that the Confession of Augsburg, as the only
+one which met the spirit of the gospel, should be the ruling faith in
+the Netherlands; but to persecute it by such cruel edicts as were in
+force was positively unnatural and could not be allowed.  They therefore
+required of the regent, in the name of religion, not to treat the people
+entrusted to her rule with such severity."  She replied through the Count
+of Staremberg, her minister for German affairs, that such an exordium
+deserved no answer at all.  From the sympathy which the German princes
+had shown for the Belgian fugitives it was clear that they gave less
+credit to the letters of the king, in explanation of his measures, than
+to the reports of a few worthless wretches who, in the desecrated
+churches, had left behind them a worthier memorial of their acts and
+characters.  It would far more become them to leave to the King of Spain
+the care of his own subjects, and abandon the attempt to foster a spirit
+of rebellion in foreign countries, from which they would reap neither
+honor nor profit.  The ambassadors left Antwerp in a few days without
+having effected anything.  The Saxon minister, indeed, in a private
+interview with the regent even assured her that his master had most
+reluctantly taken this step.
+
+The German ambassadors had not quitted Antwerp when intelligence from
+Holland completed the triumph of the regent.  From fear of Count Megen
+Count Brederode had deserted his town of Viane, and with the aid of the
+Protestants inhabitants had succeeded in throwing himself into
+Amsterdam, where his arrival caused great alarm to the city magistrate,
+who had previously found difficulty in preventing a revolt, while it
+revived the courage of the Protestants.  Here Brederode's adherents
+increased daily, and many noblemen flocked to him from Utrecht,
+Friesland, and Groningen, whence the victorious arms of Megen and
+Aremberg had driven them.  Under various disguises they found means to
+steal into the city, where they gathered round Brederode, and served him
+as a strong body-guard.  The regent, apprehensive of a new outbreak,
+sent one of her private secretaries, Jacob de la Torre, to the council
+of Amsterdam, and ordered them to get rid of Count Brederode on any
+terms and at any risk.  Neither the magistrate nor de la Torre himself,
+who visited Brederode in person to acquaint him with the will of the
+duchess, could prevail upon him to depart.  The secretary was even
+surprised in his own chamber by a party of Brederode's followers, and
+deprived of all his papers, and would, perhaps, have lost his life also
+if he had not contrived to make his escape.  Brederode remained in
+Amsterdam a full month after this occurrence, a powerless idol of the
+Protestants, and an oppressive burden to the Roman Catholics; while his
+fine army, which he had left in Viane, reinforced by many fugitives from
+the southern provinces, gave Count Megen enough to do without attempting
+to harass the Protestants in their flight.  At last Brederode resolved
+to follow the example of Orange, and, yielding to necessity, abandon a
+desperate cause.  He informed the town council that he was willing to
+leave Amsterdam if they would enable him to do so by furnishing him with
+the pecuniary means.  Glad to get quit of him, they hastened to borrow
+the money on the security of the town council.  Brederode quitted
+Amsterdam the same night, and was conveyed in a gunboat as far as Vlie,
+from whence he fortunately escaped to Embden.  Fate treated him more
+mildly than the majority of those he had implicated in his foolhardy
+enterprise; he died the year after, 1568, at one of his castles in
+Germany, from the effects of drinking, by which he sought ultimately to
+drown his grief and disappoint ments.  His widow, Countess of Moers in
+her own right, was remarried to the Prince Palatine, Frederick III.  The
+Protestant cause lost but little by his demise; the work which he had
+commenced, as it had not been kept alive by him, so it did not die with
+him.
+
+The little army, which in his disgraceful flight he had deserted, was
+bold and valiant, and had a few resolute leaders.  It disbanded, indeed,
+as soon as he, to whom it looked for pay, had fled; but hunger and
+courage kept its parts together some time longer.  One body, under
+command of Dietrich of Battenburgh, marched to Amsterdam in the hope of
+carrying that town; but Count Megen hastened with thirteen companies of
+excellent troops to its relief, and compelled the rebels to give up the
+attempt.  Contenting themselves with plundering the neighboring
+cloisters, among which the abbey of Egmont in particular was hardly
+dealt with, they turned off towards Waaterland, where they hoped the
+numerous swamps would protect them from pursuit.  But thither Count
+Megen followed them, and compelled them in all haste to seek safety in
+the Zuyderzee.  The brothers Van Battenburg, and two Friesan nobles,
+Beima and Galama, with a hundred and twenty men and the booty they had
+taken from the monasteries, embarked near the town of Hoorne, intending
+to cross to Friesland, but through the treachery of the steersman, who
+ran the vessel on a sand-bank near Harlingen, they fell into the hands
+of one of Aremberg's captains, who took them all prisoners.  The Count
+of Aremberg immediately pronounced sentence upon all the captives of
+plebeian rank, but sent his noble prisoners to the regent, who caused
+seven of them to be beheaded.  Seven others of the most noble, including
+the brothers Van Battenburg and some Frieslanders, all in the bloom of
+youth, were reserved for the Duke of Alva, to enable him to signalize
+the commencement of his administration by a deed which was in every way
+worthy of him.  The troops in four other vessels which set sail from
+Medenhlick, and were pursued by Count Megen in small boats, were more
+successful.  A contrary wind had forced them out of their course and
+driven them ashore on the coast of Gueldres, where they all got safe to
+land; crossing the Rhine, near Heusen, they fortunately escaped into
+Cleves, where they tore their flags in pieces and dispersed.  In North
+Holland Count Megen overtook some squadrons who had lingered too long in
+plundering the cloisters, and completely overpowered them.  He
+afterwards formed a junction with Noircarmes and garrisoned Amsterdam.
+The Duke Erich of Brunswick also surprised three companies, the last
+remains of the army of the Gueux, near Viane, where they were
+endeavoring to take a battery, routed them and captured their leader,
+Rennesse, who was shortly afterwards beheaded at the castle of
+Freudenburg, in Utrecht.  Subsequently, when Duke Erich entered Viane,
+he found nothing but deserted streets, the inhabitants having left it
+with the garrison on the first alarm.  He immediately razed the
+fortifications, and reduced this arsenal of the Gueux to an open town
+without defences.  All the originators of the league were now dispersed;
+Brederode and Louis of Nassau had fled to Germany, and Counts
+Hogstraten, Bergen, and Kuilemberg had followed their example.
+Mansfeld had seceded, the brothers Van Battenburg awaited in prison an
+ignomonious fate, while Thoulouse alone had found an honorable death on
+the field of battle.  Those of the confederates who had escaped the
+sword of the enemy and the axe of the executioner had saved nothing but
+their lives, and thus the title which they had assumed for show became
+at last a terrible reality.
+
+Such was the inglorious end of the noble league, which in its beginning
+awakened such fair hopes and promised to become a powerful protection
+against oppression.  Unanimity was its strength, distrust and internal
+dissension its ruin.  It brought to light and developed many rare and
+beautiful virtues, but it wanted the most indispensable of all, prudence
+and moderation, without which any undertaking must miscarry, and all the
+fruits of the most laborious industry perish.  If its objects had been
+as pure as it pretended, or even had they remained as pure as they
+really were at its first establishment, it might have defied the
+unfortunate combination of circumstances which prematurely overwhelmed
+it, and even if unsuccessful it would still have deserved an honorable
+mention in history.  But it is too evident that the confederate nobles,
+whether directly or indirectly, took a greater share in the frantic
+excesses of the Iconoclasts than comported with the dignity and
+blamelessness of their confederation, and many among them openly
+exchanged their own good cause for the mad enterprise of these worthless
+vagabonds.  The restriction of the Inquisition and a mitigation of the
+cruel inhumanity of the edicts must be laid to the credit of the league;
+but this transient relief was dearly purchased, at the cost of so many
+of the best and bravest citizens, who either lost their lives in the
+field, or in exile carried their wealth and industry to another quarter
+of the world; and of the presence of Alva and the Spanish arms.  Many,
+too, of its peaceable citizens, who without its dangerous temptations
+would never have been seduced from the ranks of peace and order, were
+beguiled by the hope of success into the most culpable enterprises, and
+by their failure plunged into ruin and misery.  But it cannot be denied
+that the league atoned in some measure for these wrongs by positive
+benefits.  It brought together and emboldened many whom a selfish
+pusillanimity kept asunder and inactive; it diffused a salutary public
+spirit amongst the Belgian people, which the oppression of the
+government had almost entirely extinguished, and gave unanimity and a
+common voice to the scattered members of the nation, the absence of
+which alone makes despots bold.  The attempt, indeed, failed, and the
+knots, too carelessly tied, were quickly unloosed; but it was through
+such failures that the nation was eventually to attain to a firm and
+lasting union, which should bid defiance to change.
+
+The total destruction of the Geusen army quickly brought the Dutch towns
+also back to their obedience, and in the provinces there remained not a
+single place which had not submitted to the regent; but the increasing
+emigration, both of the natives and the foreign residents, threatened
+the country with depopulation.  In Amsterdam the crowd of fugitives was
+so great that vessels were wanting to convey them across the North Sea
+and the Zuyderzee, and that flourishing emporium beheld with dismay the
+approaching downfall of its prosperity.  Alarmed at this general flight,
+the regent hastened to write letters to all the towns, to encourage the
+citizens to remain, and by fair promises to revive a hope of better and
+milder measures.  In the king's name she promised to all who would
+freely swear to obey the state and the church complete indemnity, and by
+public proclamation invited the fugitives to trust to the royal clemency
+and return to their homes.  She engaged also to relieve the nation from
+the dreaded presence of a Spanish army, even if it were already on the
+frontiers; nay, she went so far as to drop hints that, if necessary,
+means might be found to prevent it by force from entering the provinces,
+as she was fully determined not to relinquish to another the glory of a
+peace which it had cost her so much labor to effect.  Few, however,
+returned in reliance upon her word, and these few had cause to repent it
+in the sequel; many thousands had already quitted the country, and
+several thousands more quickly followed them.  Germany and England were
+filled with Flemish emigrants, who, wherever they settled, retained
+their usages and manners, and even their costume, unwilling to come to
+the painful conclusion that they should never again see their native
+land, and to give up all hopes of return.  Few carried with them any
+remains of their former affluence; the greater portion had to beg their
+way, and bestowed on their adopted country nothing but industrious skill
+and honest citizens.
+
+And now the regent hastened to report to the king tidings such as,
+during her whole administration, she had never before been able to
+gratify him with.  She announced to him that she had succeeded in
+restoring quiet throughout the provinces, and that she thought herself
+strong enough to maintain it.  The sects were extirpated, and the Roman
+Catholic worship re-established in all its former splendor; the rebels
+had either already met with, or were awaiting in prison, the punishment
+they deserved; the towns were secured by adequate garrisons.  There was
+therefore no necessity for sending Spanish troops into the Netherlands,
+and nothing to justify their entrance.  Their arrival would tend to
+destroy the existing repose, which it had cost so much to establish,
+would check the much-desired revival of commerce and trade, and, while
+it would involve the country in new expenses, would at the same time
+deprive them of the only means of supporting them.  The mere rumor of
+the approach of a Spanish army had stripped the country of many
+thousands of its most valuable citizens; its actual appearance would
+reduce it to a desert.  As there was no longer any enemy to subdue, or
+rebellion to suppress, the people would see no motive for the march of
+this army but punishment and revenge, and under this supposition its
+arrival would neither be welcomed nor honored.  No longer excused by
+necessity, this violent expedient would assume the odious aspect of
+oppression, would exasperate the national mind afresh, drive the
+Protestants to desperation, and arm their brethren in other countries in
+their defence.  The regent, she said, had in the king's name promised
+the nation it should be relieved from this foreign army, and to this
+stipulation she was principally indebted for the present peace; she
+could not therefore guarantee its long continuance if her pledge was not
+faithfully fulfilled.  The Netherlands would receive him as their
+sovereign, the king, with every mark of attachment and veneration, but
+he must come as a father to bless, not as a despot to chastise them.
+Let him come to enjoy the peace which she had bestowed on the country,
+but not to destroy it afresh.
+
+
+
+
+            ALVA'S ARMAMENT AND EXPEDITION TO THE NETHERLANDS.
+
+But it was otherwise determined in the council at Madrid.  The minister,
+Granvella, who, even while absent himself, ruled the Spanish cabinet by
+his adherents; the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor, Spinosa, and the Duke of
+Alva, swayed respectively by hatred, a spirit of persecution, or private
+interest, had outvoted the milder councils of the Prince Ruy Gomes of
+Eboli, the Count of Feria, and the king's confessor, Fresneda.  The
+insurrection, it was urged by the former, was indeed quelled for the
+present, but only because the rebels were awed by the rumor of the
+king's armed approach; it was to fear of punishment alone, and not to
+sorrow for their crime, that the present calm was to be ascribed, and
+it would soon again be broken if that feeling were allowed to subside.
+In fact, the offences of the people fairly afforded the king the
+opportunity he had so long desired of carrying out his despotic views
+with an appearance of justice.  The peaceable settlement for which the
+regent took credit to herself was very far from according with his
+wishes, which sought rather for a legitimate pretext to deprive the
+provinces of their privileges, which were so obnoxious to his despotic
+temper.
+
+With an impenetrable dissimulation Philip had hitherto fostered the
+general delusion that he was about to visit the provinces in person,
+while all along nothing could have been more remote from his real
+intentions.  Travelling at any time ill suited the methodical regularity
+of his life, which moved with the precision of clockwork; and his narrow
+and sluggish intellect was oppressed by the variety and multitude of
+objects with which new scenes crowded it.  The difficulties and dangers
+which would attend a journey to the Netherlands must, therefore, have
+been peculiarly alarming to his natural timidity and love of ease.  Why
+should he, who, in all that he did, was accustomed to consider himself
+alone, and to make men accommodate themselves to his principles, not his
+principles to men, undertake so perilous an expedition, when he could
+see neither the advantage nor necessity of it.  Moreover, as it had ever
+been to him an utter impossibility to separate, even for a moment, his
+person from his royal dignity, which no prince ever guarded so
+tenaciously and pedantically as himself, so the magnificence and
+ceremony which in his mind were inseparably connected with such a
+journey, and the expenses which, on this account, it would necessarily
+occasion, were of themselves sufficient motives to account for his
+indisposition to it, without its being at all requisite to call in the
+aid of the influence of his favorite, Ruy Gomes, who is said to have
+desired to separate his rival, the Duke of Alva, from the king.  Little,
+however, as be seriously intended this journey, he still deemed it
+advisable to keep up the expectation of it, as well with a view of
+sustaining the courage of the loyal as of preventing a dangerous
+combination of the disaffected, and stopping the further progress
+of the rebels.
+
+In order to carry on the deception as long as possible, Philip made
+extensive preparations for his departure, and neglected nothing which
+could be required for such an event.  He ordered ships to be fitted out,
+appointed the officers and others to attend him.  To allay the suspicion
+such warlike preparations might excite in all foreign courts, they were
+informed through his ambassadors of his real design.  He applied to the
+King of France for a passage for himself and attendants through that
+kingdom, and consulted the Duke of Savoy as to the preferable route.  He
+caused a list to be drawn up of all the towns and fortified places that
+lay in his march, and directed all the intermediate distances to be
+accurately laid down.  Orders were issued for taking a map and survey of
+the whole extent of country between Savoy and Burgundy, the duke being
+requested to furnish the requisite surveyors and scientific officers.
+To such lengths was the deception carried that the regent was commanded
+to hold eight vessels at least in readiness off Zealand, and to despatch
+them to meet the king the instant she heard of his having sailed from
+Spain; and these ships she actually got ready, and caused prayers to be
+offered up in all the churches for the king's safety during the voyage,
+though in secret many persons did not scruple to remark that in his
+chamber at Madrid his majesty would not have much cause to dread the
+storms at sea.  Philip played his part with such masterly skill that the
+Belgian ambassadors at Madrid, Lords Bergen and Montigny, who at first
+had disbelieved in the sincerity of his pretended journey, began at last
+to be alarmed, and infected their friends in Brussels with similar
+apprehensions.  An attack of tertian ague, which about this time the
+king suffered, or perhaps feigned, in Segovia, afforded a plausible
+pretence for postponing his journey, while meantime the preparations for
+it were carried on with the utmost activity.  At last, when the urgent
+and repeated solicitations of his sister compelled him to make a
+definite explanation of his plans, he gave orders that the Duke of Alva
+should set out forthwith with an army, both to clear the way before him
+of rebels, and to enhance the splendor of his own royal arrival.  He did
+not yet venture to throw off the mask and announce the duke as his
+substitute.  He had but too much reason to fear that the submission
+which his Flemish nobles would cheerfully yield to their sovereign would
+be refused to one of his servants, whose cruel character was well known,
+and who, moreover, was detested as a foreigner and the enemy of their
+constitution.  And, in fact, the universal belief that the king was soon
+to follow, which long survived Alva's entrance into the country,
+restrained the outbreak of disturbances which otherwise would assuredly
+have been caused by the cruelties which marked the very opening of the
+duke's government.
+
+The clergy of Spain, and especially the Inquisition, contributed richly
+towards the expenses of this expedition as to a holy war.  Throughout
+Spain the enlisting was carried on with the utmost zeal.  The viceroys
+and governors of Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, and Milan received orders to
+select the best of their Italian and Spanish troops in the garrisons and
+despatch them to the general rendezvous in the Genoese territory, where
+the Duke of Alva would exchange them for the Spanish recruits which he
+should bring with him.  At the same time the regent was commanded to
+hold in readiness a few more regiments of German infanty in Luxembourg,
+under the command of the Counts Eberstein, Schaumburg, and Lodrona, and
+also some squadrons of light cavalry in the Duchy of Burgundy to
+reinforce the Spanish general immediately on his entrance into the
+provinces.  The Count of Barlaimont was commissioned to furnish the
+necessary provision for the armament, and a sum of two hundred thousand
+gold florins was remitted to the regent to enable her to meet these
+expenses and to maintain her own troops.
+
+The French court, however, under pretence of the danger to be
+apprehended from the Huguenots, had refused to allow the Spanish army to
+pass through France.  Philip applied to the Dukes of Savoy and Lorraine,
+who were too dependent upon him to refuse his request.  The former
+merely stipulated that he should be allowed to maintain two thousand
+infantry and a squadron of horse at the king's expense in order to
+protect his country from the injuries to which it might otherwise be
+exposed from the passage of the Spanish army.  At the same time he
+undertook to provide the necessary supplies for its maintenance during
+the transit.
+
+The rumor of this arrangement roused the Huguenots, the Genevese, the
+Swiss, and the Grisons.  The Prince of Conde and the Admiral Coligny
+entreated Charles IX. not to neglect so favorable a moment of inflicting
+a deadly blow on the hereditary foe of France.  With the aid of the
+Swiss, the Genevese, and his own Protestant subjects, it would, they
+alleged, be an easy matter to destroy the flower of the Spanish troops
+in the narrow passes of the Alpine mountains; and they promised to
+support him in this undertaking with an army of fifty thousand
+Huguenots.  This advice, however, whose dangerous object was not easily
+to be mistaken, was plausibly declined by Charles IX., who assured them
+that he was both able and anxious to provide for the security of his
+kingdom.  He hastily despatched troops to cover the French frontiers;
+and the republics of Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and the Grisons followed his
+example, all ready to offer a determined opposition to the dreaded enemy
+of their religion and their liberty.
+
+On the 5th of May, 1567, the Duke of Alva set sail from Carthagena with
+thirty galleys, which had been furnished by Andrew Doria and the Duke
+Cosmo of Florence, and within eight days landed at Genoa, where the four
+regiments were waiting to join him.  But a tertian ague, with which he
+was seized shortly after his arrival, compelled him to remain for some
+days inactive in Lombardy--a delay of which the neighboring powers
+availed themselves to prepare for defence.  As soon as the duke
+recovered he held at Asti, in Montferrat, a review of all his troops,
+who were more formidable by their valor than by their numbers, since
+cavalry and infantry together did not amount to much above ten thousand
+men.  In his long and perilous march he did not wish to encumber himself
+with useless supernumeraries, which would only impede his progress and
+increase the difficulty of supporting his army.  These ten thousand
+veterans were to form the nucleus of a greater army, which, according as
+circumstances and occasion might require, he could easily assemble in
+the Netherlands themselves.
+
+This array, however, was as select as it was small.  It consisted of the
+remains of those victorious legions at whose head Charles V. had made
+Europe tremble; sanguinary, indomitable bands, in whose battalions the
+firmness of the old Macedonian phalanx lived again; rapid in their
+evolutions from long practice, hardy and enduring, proud of their
+leader's success, and confident from past victories, formidable by their
+licentiousness, but still more so by their discipline; let loose with
+all the passions of a warmer climate upon a rich and peaceful country,
+and inexorable towards an enemy whom the church had cursed.  Their
+fanatical and sanguinary spirit, their thirst for glory and innate
+courage was aided by a rude sensuality, the instrument by which the
+Spanish general firmly and surely ruled his otherwise intractable
+troops.  With a prudent indulgence he allowed riot and voluptuousness
+to reign throughout the camp.  Under his tacit connivance Italian
+courtezans followed the standards; even in the march across the
+Apennines, where the high price of the necessaries of life compelled him
+to reduce his force to the smallest possible number, he preferred to
+have a few regiments less rather than to leave behind these instruments
+of voluptuousness.
+
+     [The bacchanalian procession of this army contrasted strangely
+     enough with the gloomy seriousness and pretended sanctity of his
+     aim.  The number of these women was so great that to restrain the
+     disorders and quarrelling among themselves they hit upon the
+     expedient of establishing a discipline of their own.  They ranged
+     themselves under particular flags, marched in ranks and sections,
+     and in admirable military order, after each battalion, and classed
+     themselves with strict etiquette according to their rank and pay.]
+
+But industriously as Alva strove to relax the morals of his soldiers,
+he enforced the more rigidly a strict military discipline, which was
+interrupted only by a victory or rendered less severe by a battle.
+For all this he had, he said, the authority of the Athenian General
+Iphicrates, who awarded the prize of valor to the pleasure-loving and
+rapacious soldier.  The more irksome the restraint by which the passions
+of the soldiers were kept in check, the greater must have been the
+vehemence with which they broke forth at the sole outlet which was left
+open to them.
+
+The duke divided his infantry, which was about nine thousand strong, and
+chiefly Spaniards, into four brigades, and gave the command of them to
+four Spanish officers.  Alphonso of Ulloa led the Neapolitan brigade of
+nine companies, amounting to three thousand two hundred and thirty men;
+Sancho of Lodogno commanded the Milan brigade, three thousand two
+hundred men in ten companies; the Sicilian brigade, with the same number
+of companies, and consisting of sixteen hundred men, was under Julian
+Romero, an experienced warrior, who had already fought on Belgian
+ground.
+
+     [The same officer who commanded one of the Spanish regiments about
+     which so much complaint had formerly been made in the States-
+     General.]
+
+Gonsalo of Braccamonte headed that of Sardinia, which was raised by
+three companies of recruits to the full complement of the former.  To
+every company, moreover, were added fifteen Spanish musqueteers.  The
+horse, in all twelve hundred strong, consisted of three Italian, two
+Albanian, and seven Spanish squadrons, light and heavy cavalry, and the
+chief command was held by Ferdinand and Frederick of Toledo, the two
+sons of Alva.  Chiappin Vitelli, Marquis of Cetona, was field-marshal;
+a celebrated general whose services had been made over to the King of
+Spain by Cosmo of Florence; and Gabriel Serbellon was general of
+artillery.  The Duke of Savoy lent Alva an experienced engineer, Francis
+Pacotto, of Urbino, who was to be employed in the erection of new
+fortifications.  His standard was likewise followed by a number of
+volunteers, and the flower of the Spanish nobility, of whom the greater
+part had fought under Charles V. in Germany, Italy, and before Tunis.
+Among these were Christopher Mondragone, one of the ten Spanish heroes
+who, near Mithlbehg, swam across the Elbe with their swords between
+their teeth, and, under a shower of bullets from the enemy, brought over
+from the opposite shore the boats which the emperor required for the
+construction of a bridge.  Sancho of Avila, who had been trained to war
+under Alva himself, Camillo of Monte, Francis Ferdugo, Karl Davila,
+Nicolaus Basta, and Count Martinego, all fired with a noble ardor,
+either to commence their military career under so eminent a leader, or
+by another glorious campaign under his command to crown the fame they
+had already won.  After the review the army marched in three divisions
+across Mount Cenis, by the very route which sixteen centuries before
+Hannibal is said to have taken.  The duke himself led the van; Ferdinand
+of Toledo, with whom was associated Lodogno as colonel, the centre; and
+the Marquis of Cetona the rear.  The Commissary General, Francis of
+Ibarra, was sent before with General Serbellon to open the road for the
+main body, and get ready the supplies at the several quarters for the
+night.  The places which the van left in the morning were entered in the
+evening by the centre, which in its turn made room on the following day
+for the rear.  Thus the army crossed the Alps of Savoy by regular
+stages, and with the fourteenth day completed that dangerous passage.
+A French army of observation accompanied it side by side along the
+frontiers of Dauphins, and the course of the Rhone, and the allied army
+of the Genevese followed it on the right, and was passed by it at a
+distance of seven miles.  Both these armies of observation carefully
+abstained from any act of hostility, and were merely intended to cover
+their own frontiers.  As the Spanish legions ascended and descended the
+steep mountain crags, or while they crossed the rapid Iser, or file by
+file wound through the narrow passes of the rocks, a handful of men
+would have been sufficient to put an entire stop to their march, and to
+drive them back into the mountains, where they would have been
+irretrievably lost, since at each place of encampment supplies were
+provided for no more than a single day, and for a third part only of the
+whole force.  But a supernatural awe and dread of the Spanish name
+appeared to have blinded the eyes of the enemy so that they did not
+perceive their advantage, or at least did not venture to profit by it.
+In order to give them as little opportunity as possible of remembering
+it, the Spanish general hastened through this dangerous pass.
+
+Convinced, too, that if his troops gave the slightest umbrage he was
+lost, the strictest discipline was maintained during the march; not a
+single peasant's hut, not a single field was injured; and never,
+perhaps, in the memory of man was so numerous an army led so far in such
+excellent order.
+
+     [Once only on entering Lorraine three horsemen ventured to drive
+     away a few sheep from a flock, of which circumstance the duke was
+     no sooner informed than he sent back to the owner what had been
+     taken from him and sentenced the offenders to be hung.  This
+     sentence was, at the intercession of the Lorraine general, who had
+     come to the frontiers to pay his respects to the duke, executed on
+     only one of the three, upon whom the lot fell at the drum-head.]
+
+Destined as this army was for vengeance and murder, a malignant and
+baleful star seemed to conduct it safe through all dangers; and it would
+be difficult to decide whether the prudence of its general or the
+blindness of its enemies is most to be wondered at.
+
+In Franche Comte, four squadrons of Burgundian cavalry, newly-raised,
+joined the main army, which, at Luxembourg, was also reinforced by three
+regiments of German infantry under the command of Counts Eberstein,
+Schaumburg, and Lodrona.  From Thionville, where he halted a few days,
+Alva sent his salutations to the regent by Francis of Ibarra, who was,
+at the same time, directed to consult her on the quartering of the
+troops.  On her part, Noircarmes and Barlairnont were despatched to the
+Spanish camp to congratulate the duke on his arrival, and to show him
+the customary marks of honor.  At the same time they were directed to
+ask him to produce the powers entrusted to him by the king, of which,
+however, he only showed a part.  The envoys of the regent were followed
+by swarms of the Flemish nobility, who thought they could not hasten
+soon enough to conciliate the favor of the new viceroy, or by a timely
+submission avert the vengeance which was preparing.  Among them was
+Count Egmont.  As he came forward the duke pointed him out to the
+bystanders.  "Here comes an arch-heretic," he exclaimed, loud enough to
+be heard by Egmont himself, who, surprised at these words, stopped and
+changed color.  But when the duke, in order to repair his imprudence,
+went up to him with a serene countenance, and greeted him with a
+friendly embrace, the Fleming was ashamed of his fears, and made light
+of this warning, by putting some frivolous interpretation upon it.
+Egmont sealed this new friendship with a present of two valuable
+chargers, which Alva accepted with a grave condescension.
+
+Upon the assurance of the regent that the provinces were in the
+enjoyment of perfect peace, and that no opposition was to be apprehended
+from any quarter, the duke discharged some German regiments, which had
+hitherto drawn their pay from the Netherlands.  Three thousand six
+hundred men, under the command of Lodrona, were quartered in Antwerp,
+from which town the Walloon garrison, in which full reliance could not
+be placed, was withdrawn; garrisons proportionably stronger were thrown
+into Ghent and other important places; Alva himself marched with the
+Milan brigade towards Brussels, whither he was accompanied by a splendid
+cortege of the noblest in the land.
+
+Here, as in all the other towns of the Netherlands, fear and terror had
+preceded him, and all who were conscious of any offences, and even those
+who were sensible of none, alike awaited his approach with a dread
+similar to that with which criminals see the coming of their day of
+trial.  All who could tear themselves from the ties of family, property,
+and country had already fled, or now at last took to flight.  The
+advance of the Spanish army had already, according to the report of the
+regent, diminished the population of the provinces by the loss of one
+hundred thousand citizens, and this general flight still continued.  But
+the arrival of the Spanish general could not be more hateful to the
+people of the Netherlands than it was distressing and dispiriting to the
+regent.  At last, after so many years of anxiety, she had begun to taste
+the sweets of repose, and that absolute-authority, which had been the
+long-cherished object of eight years of a troubled and difficult
+administration.  This late fruit of so much anxious industry, of so many
+cares and nightly vigils, was now to be wrested from her by a stranger,
+who was to be placed at once in possession of all the advantages which
+she had been forced to extract from adverse circumstances, by a long
+and tedious course of intrigue and patient endurance.  Another was
+lightly to bear away the prize of promptitude, and to triumph by more
+rapid success over her superior but less glittering merits.  Since the
+departure of the minister, Granvella, she had tasted to the full the
+pleasures of independence.  The flattering homage of the nobility, which
+allowed her more fully to enjoy the shadow of power, the more they
+deprived her of its substance, had, by degrees, fostered her vanity to
+such an extent, that she at last estranged by her coldness even the most
+upright of all her servants, the state counsellor Viglius, who always
+addressed her in the language of truth.  All at once a censor of her
+actions was placed at her side, a partner of her power was associated
+with her, if indeed it was not rather a master who was forced upon her,
+whose proud, stubborn, and imperious spirit, which no courtesy could
+soften, threatened the deadliest wounds to her self-love and vanity.  To
+prevent his arrival she had, in her representations to the king, vainly
+exhausted every political argument.  To no purpose had she urged that
+the utter ruin of the commerce of the Netherlands would be the
+inevitable consequence of; this introduction of the Spanish troops; in
+vain had she assured the king that peace was universally restored, and
+reminded him of her own services in procuring it, which deserved, she
+thought, a better guerdon than to see all the fruits of her labors
+snatched from her and given to a foreigner, and more than all, to behold
+all the good which she had effected destroyed by a new and different
+line of conduct.  Even when the duke had already crossed Mount Cenis she
+made one more attempt, entreating him at least to diminish his army; but
+that also failed, for the duke insisted upon acting up to the powers
+entrusted to him.  In poignant grief she now awaited his approach, and
+with the tears she shed for her country were mingled those of offended
+self-love.
+
+On the 22d of August, 1567, the Duke of Alva appeared before the gates
+of Brussels.  His army immediately took up their quarters in the
+suburbs, and he himself made it his first duty to pay his respects to
+the sister of his king.  She gave him a private audience on the plea of
+suffering from sickness.  Either the mortification she had undergone had
+in reality a serious effect upon her health, or, what is not improbable,
+she had recourse to this expedient to pain his haughty spirit, and in
+some degree to lessen his triumph.  He delivered to her letters from the
+king, and laid before her a copy of his own appointment, by which the
+supreme command of the whole military force of the Netherlands was
+committed to him, and from which, therefore, it would appear, that the
+administration of civil affairs remained, as heretofore, in the hands of
+the regent.  But as soon as he was alone with her he produced a new
+commission, which was totally different from the former.  According to
+this, the power was delegated to him of making war at his discretion,
+of erecting fortifications, of appointing and dismissing at pleasure the
+governors of provinces, the commandants of towns, and other officers of
+the king; of instituting inquiries into the past troubles, of punishing
+those who originated them, and of rewarding the loyal.  Powers of this
+extent, which placed him almost on a level with a sovereign prince, and
+far surpassed those of the regent herself, caused her the greatest
+consternation, and it was with difficulty that she could conceal her
+emotion.  She asked the duke whether he had not even a third commission,
+or some special orders in reserve which went still further, and were
+drawn up still more precisely, to which he replied distinctly enough in
+the affirmative, but at the same time gave her to understand that this
+commission might be too full to suit the present occasion, and would be
+better brought into play hereafter with due regard to time and
+circumstances.  A few days after his arrival he caused a copy of the
+first instructions to be laid before the several councils and the
+states, and had them printed to insure their rapid circulation.  As the
+regent resided in the palace, he took up his quarters temporarily in
+Kuilemberg house, the same in which the association of the Gueux had
+received its name, and before which, through a wonderful vicissitude,
+Spanish tyranny now planted its flag.
+
+A dead silence reigned in Brussels, broken only at times by the unwonted
+clang of arms.  The duke had entered the town but a few hours when his
+attendants, like bloodhounds that have been slipped, dispersed
+themselves in all directions.  Everywhere foreign faces were to be seen;
+the streets were empty, all the houses carefully closed, all amusements
+suspended, all public places deserted.  The whole metropolis resembled a
+place visited by the plague.  Acquaintances hurried on without stopping
+for their usual greeting; all hastened on the moment a Spaniard showed
+himself in the streets.  Every sound startled them, as if it were the
+knock of the officials of justice at their doors; the nobility, in
+trembling anxiety, kept to their houses; they shunned appearing in
+public lest their presence should remind the new viceroy of some past
+offence.  The two nations now seemed to have exchanged characters.  The
+Spaniard had become the talkative man and the Brabanter taciturn;
+distrust and fear had scared away the spirit of cheerfulness and mirth;
+a constrained gravity fettered even the play of the features.  Every
+moment the impending blow was looked for with dread.
+
+This general straining of expectation warned the duke to hasten the
+accomplishment of his plans before they should be anticipated by the
+timely flight of his victims.  His first object was to secure the
+suspected nobles, in order, at once and forever, to deprive the faction
+of its leaders, and the nation, whose freedom was to be crushed, of all
+its supporters.  By a pretended affability he had succeeded in lulling
+their first alarm, and in restoring Count Egmont in particular to his
+former perfect confidence, for which purpose he artfully employed his
+sons, Ferdinand and Frederick of Toledo, whose companionableness and
+youth assimilated more easily with the Flemish character.  By this
+skilful advice he succeeded also in enticing Count Horn to Brussels,
+who had hitherto thought it advisable to watch the first measures of the
+duke from a distance, but now suffered himself to be seduced by the good
+fortune of his friend.  Some of the nobility, and Count Egmont at the
+head of them, even resumed their former gay style of living.  But they
+themselves did not do so with their whole hearts, and they had not many
+imitators.  Kuilemberg house was incessantly besieged by a numerous
+crowd, who thronged around the person of the new viceroy, and exhibited
+an affected gayety on their countenances, while their hearts were wrung
+with distress and fear.  Egmont in particular assumed the appearance of
+a light heart, entertaining the duke's sons, and being feted by them in
+return.  Meanwhile, the duke was fearful lest so fair an opportunity for
+the accomplishment of his plans might not last long, and lest some act
+of imprudence might destroy the feeling of security which had tempted
+both his victims voluntarily to put themselves into his power; he only
+waited for a third; Hogstraten also was to be taken in the same net.
+Under a plausible pretext of business he therefore summoned him to the
+metropolis.  At the same time that he purposed to secure the three
+counts in Brussels, Colonel Lodrona was to arrest the burgomaster,
+Strahlen, in Antwerp, an intimate friend of the Prince of Orange, and
+suspected of having favored the Calvinists; another officer was to seize
+the private secretary of Count Egmont, whose name was John Cassembrot
+von Beckerzeel, as also some secretaries of Count Horn, and was to
+possess themselves of their papers.
+
+When the day arrived which had been fixed upon for the execution of this
+plan, the duke summoned all the counsellors and knights before him to
+confer with them upon matters of state.  On this occasion the Duke of
+Arschot, the Counts Mansfeld, Barlaimont, and Aremberg attended on the
+part of the Netherlands, and on the part of the Spaniards besides the
+duke's sons, Vitelli, Serbellon, and Ibarra.  The young Count Mansfeld,
+who likewise appeared at the meeting, received a sign from his father to
+withdraw with all speed, and by a hasty flight avoid the fate which was
+impending over him as a former member of the Geusen league.  The duke
+purposely prolonged the consultation to give time before he acted for
+the arrival of the couriers from Antwerp, who were to bring him the
+tidings of the arrest of the other parties.  To avoid exciting any
+suspicion, the engineer, Pacotto, was required to attend the meeting to
+lay before it the plans for some fortifications.  At last intelligence
+was brought him that Lodrona had successfully executed his commission.
+Upon this the duke dexterously broke off the debate and dismissed the
+council.  And now, as Count Egmont was about to repair to the apartment
+of Don Ferdinand, to finish a game that he had commenced with him, the
+captain of the duke's body guard, Sancho D'Avila, stopped him, and
+demanded his sword in the king's name.  At the same time he was
+surrounded by a number of Spanish soldiers, who, as had been
+preconcerted, suddenly advanced from their concealment.  So unexpected
+a blow deprived Egmont for some moments of all powers of utterance and
+recollection; after a while, however, he collected himself, and taking
+his sword from his side with dignified composure, said, as he delivered
+it into the hands of the Spaniard, "This sword has before this on more
+than one occasion successfully defended the king's cause."  Another
+Spanish officer arrested Count Horn as he was returning to his house
+without the least suspicion of danger.  Horn's first inquiry was after
+Egmont.  On being told that the same fate had just happened to his
+friend he surrendered himself without resistance.  "I have suffered
+myself to be guided by him," he exclaimed, "it is fair that I should
+share his destiny."  The two counts were placed in confinement in
+separate apartments.  While this was going on in the interior of
+Kuilemberg house the whole garrison were drawn out under arms in front
+of it.  No one knew what had taken place inside, a mysterious terror
+diffused itself throughout Brussels until rumor spread the news of this
+fatal event.  Each felt as if he himself were the sufferer; with many
+indignation at Egmont's blind infatuation preponderated over sympathy
+for his fate; all rejoiced that Orange had escaped.  The first question
+of the Cardinal Granvella, too, when these tidings reached him in Rome,
+is said to have been, whether they had taken the Silent One also.  On
+being answered in the negative he shook his head "then as they have let
+him escape they have got nothing."  Fate ordained better for the Count
+of Hogstraten.  Compelled by ill-health to travel slowly, he was met by
+the report of this event while he was yet on his way.  He hastily turned
+back, and fortunately escaped destruction.  Immediately after Egmont's
+seizure a writing was extorted from him, addressed to the commandant of
+the citadel of Ghent, ordering that officer to deliver the fortress to
+the Spanish Colonel Alphonso d'Ulloa.  Upon this the two counts were
+then (after they had been for some weeks confined in Brussels) conveyed
+under a guard of three thousand Spaniards to Ghent, where they remained
+imprisoned till late in the following year.  In the meantime all their
+papers had been seized.  Many of the first nobility who, by the
+pretended kindness of the Duke of Alva, had allowed themselves to be
+cajoled into remaining experienced the same fate.  Capital punishment
+was also, without further delay, inflicted on all who before the duke's
+arrival had been taken with arms in their hands.  Upon the news of
+Egmont's arrest a second body of about twenty thousand inhabitants took
+up the wanderer's staff, besides the one hundred thousand who, prudently
+declining to await the arrival of the Spanish general, had already
+placed themselves in safety.
+
+     [A great part of these fugitives helped to strengthen the army of
+     the Huguenots, who had taken occasion, from the passage of the
+     Spanish army through Lorraine, to assemble their forces, and now
+     pressed Charles IX. hard.  On these grounds the French court
+     thought it had a right to demand aid from the regent of the
+     Netherlands.  It asserted that the Huguenots had looked upon the
+     march of the Spanish army as the result of a preconcerted plan
+     which had been formed against them by the two courts at Bayonne and
+     that this had roused them from their slumber.  That consequently it
+     behooved the Spanish court to assist in extricating the French king
+     from difficulties into which the latter had been brought simply by
+     the march of the Spanish troops.  Alva actually sent the Count of
+     Aremberg with a considerable force to join the army of the Queen
+     Mother in France, and even offered to command these subsidiaries in
+     person, which, however, was declined.  Strada, 206. Thuan, 541.]
+
+After so noble a life had been assailed no one counted himself safe any
+longer; but many found cause to repent that they had so long deferred
+this salutary step; for every day flight was rendered more difficult,
+for the duke ordered all the ports to be closed, and punished the
+attempt at emigration with death.  The beggars were now esteemed
+fortunate, who had abandoned country and property in order to preserve
+at least their liberty and their lives.
+
+
+
+
+      ALVA'S FIRST MEASURES, AND DEPARTURE OF THE DUCHESS OF PARMA.
+
+Alva's first step, after securing the most suspected of the nobles, was
+to restore the Inquisition to its former authority, to put the decrees
+of Trent again in force, abolish the "moderation," and promulgate anew
+the edicts against heretics in all their original severity.  The court
+of Inquisition in Spain had pronounced the whole nation of the
+Netherlands guilty of treason in the highest degree, Catholics and
+heterodox, loyalists and rebels, without distinction; the latter as
+having offended by overt acts, the former as having incurred equal guilt
+by their supineness.  From this sweeping condemnation a very few were
+excepted, whose names, however, were purposely reserved, while the
+general sentence was publicly confirmed by the king.  Philip declared
+himself absolved from all his promises, and released from all
+engagements which the regent in his name had entered into with the
+people of the Netherlands, and all the justice which they had in future
+to expect from him must depend on his own good-will and pleasure.  All
+who had aided in the expulsion of the minister, Granvella, who had taken
+part in the petition of the confederate nobles, or had but even spoken
+in favor of it; all who had presented a petition against the decrees of
+Trent, against the edicts relating to religion, or against the
+installation of the bishops; all who had permitted the public
+preachings, or had only feebly resisted them; all who had worn the
+insignia of the Gueux, had sung Geusen songs, or who in any way
+whatsoever had manifested their joy at the establishment of the league;
+all who had sheltered or concealed the reforming preachers, attended
+Calvinistic funerals, or had even merely known of their secret meetings,
+and not given information of them; all who had appealed to the national
+privileges; all, in fine, who had expressed an opinion that they ought
+to obey God rather than man; all these indiscriminately were declared
+liable to the penalties which the law imposed upon any violation of the
+royal prerogative, and upon high treason; and these penalties were,
+according to the instruction which Alva had received, to be executed on
+the guilty persons without forbearance or favor; without regard to rank,
+sex, or age, as an example to posterity, and for a terror to all future
+times.  According to this declaration there was no longer an innocent
+person to be found in the whole Netherlands, and the new viceroy had it
+in his power to make a fearful choice of victims.  Property and life
+were alike at his command, and whoever should have the good fortune to
+preserve one or both must receive them as the gift of his generosity and
+humanity.  By this stroke of policy, as refined as it was detestable,
+the nation was disarmed, and unanimity rendered impossible.  As it
+absolutely depended on the duke's arbitrary will upon whom the sentence
+should be carried in force which had been passed without exception upon
+all, each individual kept himself quiet, in order to escape, if
+possible, the notice of the viceroy, and to avoid drawing the fatal
+choice upon himself.  Every one, on the other hand, in whose favor he
+was pleased to make an exception stood in a degree indebted to him, and
+was personally under an obligation which must be measured by the value
+he set upon his life and property.  As, however, this penalty could only
+be executed on the smaller portion of the nation, the duke naturally
+secured the greater by the strongest ties of fear and gratitude, and for
+one whom he sought out as a victim he gained ten others whom he passed
+over.  As long as he continued true to this policy he remained in quiet
+possession of his rule, even amid the streams of blood which he caused
+to flow, and did not forfeit this advantage till the want of money
+compelled him to impose a burden upon the nation which oppressed all
+indiscriminately.
+
+In order to be equal to this bloody occupation, the details of which
+were fast accumulating, and to be certain of not losing a single victim
+through the want of instruments; and, on the other hand, to render his
+proceedings independent of the states, with whose privileges they were
+so much at variance, and who, indeed, were far too humane for him, he
+instituted an extraordinary court of justice.  This court consisted of
+twelve criminal judges, who, according to their instructions, to the
+very letter of which they must adhere, were to try and pronounce
+sentence upon those implicated in the past disturbances.  The mere
+institution of such a board was a violation of the liberties of the
+country, which expressly stipulated that no citizen should be tried out
+of his own province; but the duke filled up the measure of his injustice
+when, contrary to the most sacred privileges of the nation, he proceeded
+to give seats and votes in that court to Spaniards, the open and avowed
+enemies of Belgian liberty.  He himself was the president of this court,
+and after him a certain licentiate, Vargas, a Spaniard by birth, of
+whose iniquitous character the historians of both parties are unanimous;
+cast out like a plague-spot from his own country, where he had violated
+one of his wards, he was a shameless, hardened villain, in whose mind
+avarice, lust, and the thirst for blood struggled for ascendancy.  The
+principal members were Count Aremberg, Philip of Noircarmes, and Charles
+of Barlaimont, who, however, never sat in it; Hadrian Nicolai,
+chancellor of Gueldres; Jacob Mertens and Peter Asset, presidents of
+Artois and Flanders; Jacob Hesselts and John de la Porte, counsellors of
+Ghent; Louis del Roi, doctor of theology, and by birth a Spaniard; John
+du Bois, king's advocate; and De la'Torre, secretary of the court.  In
+compliance with the representations of Viglius the privy council was
+spared any part in this tribunal; nor was any one introduced into it
+from the great council at Malines.  The votes of the members were only
+recommendatory, not conclusive, the final sentence being reserved by the
+duke to himself.  No particular time was fixed for the sitting of the
+court; the members, however, assembled at noon, as often as the duke
+thought good.  But after the expiration of the third month Alva began to
+be less frequent in his attendance, and at last resigned his place
+entirely to his favorite, Vargas, who filled it with such odious fitness
+that in a short time all the members, with the exception merely of the
+Spanish doctor, Del Rio, and the secretary, De la Torre, weary of the
+atrocities of which they were compelled to be both eyewitnesses and
+accomplices, remained away from the assembly.
+
+     [The sentences passed upon the most eminent persons (for example,
+     the sentence of death passed upon Strahlen, the burgomaster of
+     Antwerp), were signed only by Vargas, Del Rio, and De la Torre.]
+
+It is revolting to the feelings to think how the lives of the noblest
+and best were thus placed at the mercy of Spanish vagabonds, and how
+even the sanctuaries of the nation, its deeds and charters, were
+unscrupulously ransacked, the seals broken, and the most secret
+contracts between the sovereign and the state profaned and exposed.
+
+     [For an example of the unfeeling levity with which the most
+     important matters, even decisions in cases of life and death, were
+     treated in this sanguinary council, it may serve to relate what is
+     told of the Counsellor Hesselts.  He was generally asleep during
+     the meeting, and when his turn came to vote on a sentence of death
+     he used to cry out, still half asleep: "Ad patibulum!  Ad
+     patibulum!" so glibly did his tongue utter this word.  It is
+     further to be remarked of this Hesselts, that his wife, a daughter
+     of the President Viglius, had expressly stipulated in the marriage-
+     contract that he should resign the dismal office of attorney for
+     the king, which made him detested by the whole nation.  Vigl. ad
+     Hopp. lxvii., L.]
+
+From the council of twelve (which, from the object of its institution,
+was called the council for disturbances, but on account of its
+proceedings is more generally known under the appellation of the council
+of blood, a name which the nation in their exasperation bestowed upon
+it), no appeal was allowed.  Its proceedings could not be revised.  Its
+verdicts were irrevocable and independent of all other authority.  No
+other tribunal in the country could take cognizance of cases which
+related to the late insurrection, so that in all the other courts
+justice was nearly at a standstill.  The great council at Malines was
+as good as abolished; the authority of the council of state entirely
+ceased, insomuch that its sittings were discontinued.  On some rare
+occasions the duke conferred with a few members of the late assembly,
+but even when this did occur the conference was held in his cabinet, and
+was no more than a private consultation, without any of the proper forms
+being observed.  No privilege, no charter of immunity, however carefully
+protected, had any weight with the council for disturbances.
+
+     [Vargas, in a few words of barbarous Latin, demolished at once the
+     boasted liberties of the Netherlands.  "Non curamus vestros
+     privilegios," he replied to one who wished to plead the immunities
+     of the University of Louvain.]
+
+It compelled all deeds and contracts to be laid before it, and often
+forced upon them the most strained interpetations and alterations.  If
+the duke caused a sentence to be drawn out which there was reason to
+fear might be opposed by the states of Brabant, it was legalized without
+the Brabant seal.  The most sacred rights of individuals were assailed,
+and a tyranny without example forced its arbitrary will even into the
+circle of domestic life.  As the Protestants and rebels had hitherto
+contrived to strengthen their party so much by marriages with the first
+families in the country, the duke issued an edict forbidding all
+Netherlanders, whatever might be their rank or office, under pain of
+death and confiscation of property, to conclude a marriage without
+previously obtaining his permission.
+
+All whom the council for disturbances thought proper to summon before it
+were compelled to appear, clergy as well as laity; the most venerable
+heads of the senate, as well as the reprobate rabble of the Iconoclasts.
+Whoever did not present himself, as indeed scarcely anybody did, was
+declared an outlaw, and his property was confiscated; but those who were
+rash or foolish enough to appear, or who were so unfortunate as to be
+seized, were lost without redemption.  Twenty, forty, often fifty were
+summoned at the same time and from the same town, and the richest were
+always the first on whom the thunderbolt descended.  The meaner
+citizens, who possessed nothing that could render their country and
+their homes dear to them, were taken unawares and arrested without any
+previous citation.  Many eminent merchants, who had at their disposal
+fortunes of from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand florins, were
+seen with their hands tied behind their backs, dragged like common
+vagabonds at the horse's tail to execution, and in Valenciennes fifty-
+five persons were decapitated at one time.  All the prisons--and the
+duke immediately on commencing his administration had built a great
+number of them--were crammed full with the accused; hanging, beheading,
+quartering, burning were the prevailing and ordinary occupations of the
+day; the punishment of the galleys and banishment were more rarely heard
+of, for there was scarcely any offence which was reckoned too trival to
+be punished with death.  Immense sums were thus brought into the
+treasury, which, however, served rather to stimulate the new viceroy's
+and his colleagues' thirst for gold than to quench it.  It seemed to be
+his insane purpose to make beggars of the whole people, and to throw all
+their riches into the hands of the king and his servants.  The yearly
+income derived from these confiscations was computed to equal the
+revenues of the first kingdoms of Europe; it is said to have been
+estimated, in a report furnished to the king, at the incredible amount
+of twenty million of dollars.  But these proceedings were the more
+inhuman, as they often bore hardest precisely upon the very persons who
+were the most peaceful subjects, and most orthodox Roman Catholics, whom
+they could not want to injure.  Whenever an estate was confiscated all
+the creditors who had claims upon it were defrauded.  The hospitals,
+too, and public institutions, which such properties had contributed to
+support, were now ruined, and the poor, who had formerly drawn a
+pittance from this source, were compelled to see their only spring of
+comfort dried up.  Whoever ventured to urge their well-grounded claims
+on the forfeited property before the council of twelve (for no other
+tribunal dared to interfere with these inquiries), consumed their
+substance in tedious and expensive proceedings, and were reduced to
+beggary before they saw the end of them.  The histories of civilized
+states furnish but one instance of a similar perversion of justice, of
+such violation of the rights of property, and of such waste of human
+life; but Cinna, Sylla, and Marius entered vanquished Rome as incensed
+victors, and practised without disguise what the viceroy of the
+Netherlands performed under the venerable veil of the laws.
+
+Up to the end of the year 1567 the king's arrival had been confidently
+expected, and the well-disposed of the people had placed all their last
+hopes on this event.  The vessels, which Philip had caused to be
+equipped expressly for the purpose of meeting him, still lay in the
+harbor of Flushing, ready to sail at the first signal; and the town of
+Brussels had consented to receive a Spanish garrison, simply because the
+king, it was pretended, was to reside within its walls.  But this hope
+gradually vanished, as he put off the journey from one season to the
+next, and the new viceroy very soon began to exhibit powers which
+announced him less as a precursor of royalty than as an absolute
+minister, whose presence made that of the monarch entirely superfluous.
+To compete the distress of the provinces their last good angel was now
+to leave them in the person of the regent. From the moment when the
+production of the duke's extensive powers left no doubt remaining as to
+the practical termination of her own rule, Margaret had formed the
+resolution of relinquishing the name also of regent. To see a successor
+in the actual possession of a dignity which a nine years' enjoyment had
+made indispensable to her; to see the authority, the glory, the
+splendor, the adoration, and all the marks of respect, which are the
+usual concomitants of supreme power, pass over to another; and to feel
+that she had lost that which she could never forget she had once held,
+was more than a woman's mind could endure; moreover, the Duke of Alva
+was of all men the least calculated to make her feel her privation the
+less painful by a forbearing use of his newly-acquired dignity.  The
+tranquillity of the country, too, which was put in jeopardy by this
+divided rule, seemed to impose upon the duchess the necessity of
+abdicating.  Many governors of provinces refused, without an express
+order from the court, to receive commands from the duke and to recognize
+him as co-regent.
+
+The rapid change of their point of attraction could not be met by the
+courtiers so composedly and imperturbably but that the duchess observed
+the alteration, and bitterly felt it.  Even the few who, like State
+Counsellor Viglius, still firmly adhered to her, did so less from
+attachment to her person than from vexation at being displaced by
+novices and foreigners, and from being too proud to serve a fresh
+apprenticeship under a new viceroy.  But far the greater number, with
+all their endeavors to keep an exact mean, could not help making a
+difference between the homage they paid to the rising sun and that which
+they bestowed on the setting luminary.  The royal palace in Brussels
+became more and more deserted, while the throng at Kuilemberg house
+daily increased.  But what wounded the sensitiveness of the duchess most
+acutely was the arrest of Horn and Egmont, which was planned and
+executed by the duke without her knowledge or consent, just as if there
+had been no such person as herself in existence.  Alva did, indeed,
+after the act was done, endeavor to appease her by declaring that the
+design had been purposely kept secret from her in order to spare her
+name from being mixed up in so odious a transaction; but no such
+considerations of delicacy could close the wound which had been
+inflicted on her pride.  In order at once to escape all risk of similar
+insults, of which the present was probably only a forerunner, she
+despatched her private secretary, Macchiavell, to the court of her
+brother, there to solicit earnestly for permission to resign the
+regency.  The request was granted without difficulty by the king, who
+accompanied his consent with every mark of his highest esteem.  He would
+put aside (so the king expressed himself) his own advantage and that of
+the provinces in order to oblige his sister.  He sent a present of
+thirty thousand dollars, and allotted to her a yearly pension of twenty
+thousand.
+
+     [Which, however, does not appear to have been very punctually paid,
+     if a pamphlet maybe trusted which was printed during her lifetime.
+     (It bears the title: Discours sur la Blessure de Monseigneur Prince
+     d'Orange, 1582, without notice of the place where it was printed,
+     and is to be found in the Elector's library at Dresden.) She
+     languished, it is there stated, at Namur in poverty, and so ill-
+     supported by her son (the then governor of the Netherlands), that
+     her own secretary, Aldrobandin, called her sojourn there an exile.
+     But the writer goes on to ask what better treatment could she
+     expect from a son who, when still very young, being on a visit to
+     her at Brussels, snapped his fingers at her behind her back.]
+
+At the same time a diploma was forwarded to the Duke of Alva,
+constituting him, in her stead, viceroy of all the Netherlands, with
+unlimited powers.
+
+Gladly would Margaret have learned that she was permitted to resign the
+regency before a solemn assembly of the states, a wish which she had not
+very obscurely hinted to the king.  But she was not gratified.  She was
+particularly fond of solemnity, and the example of the Emperor, her
+father, who had exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of his abdication
+of the crown in this very city, seemed to have great attractions for
+her.  As she was compelled to part with supreme power, she could
+scarcely be blamed for wishing to do so with as much splendor as
+possible.  Moreover, she had not failed to observe how much the general
+hatred of the duke had effected in her own favor, and she looked,
+therefore, the more wistfully forward to a scene, which promised to be
+at once so flattering to her and so affecting.  She would have been glad
+to mingle her own tears with those which she hoped to see shed by the
+Netherlanders for their good regent.  Thus the bitterness of her descent
+from the throne would have been alleviated by the expression of general
+sympathy.  Little as she had done to merit the general esteem during the
+nine years of her administration, while fortune smiled upon her, and the
+approbation of her sovereign was the limit to all her wishes, yet now
+the sympathy of the nation had acquired a value in her eyes as the only
+thing which could in some degree compensate to her for the
+disappointment of all her other hopes.  Fain would she have persuaded
+herself that she had become a voluntary sacrifice to her goodness of
+heart and her too humane feelings towards the Netherlanders.  As,
+however, the king was very far from being disposed to incur any danger
+by calling a general assembly of the states, in order to gratify a mere
+caprice of his sister, she was obliged to content herself with a
+farewell letter to them.  In this document she went over her whole
+administration, recounted, not without ostentation, the difficulties
+with which she had had to struggle, the evils which, by her dexterity,
+she had prevented, and wound up at last by saying that she left a
+finished work, and had to transfer to her successor nothing but the
+punishment of offenders.  The king, too, was repeatly compelled to hear
+the same statement, and she left nothing undone to arrogate to herself
+the glory of any future advantages which it might be the good fortune of
+the duke to realize.  Her own merits, as something which did not admit
+of a doubt, but was at the same time a burden oppressive to her modesty,
+she laid at the feet of the king.
+
+Dispassionate posterity may, nevertheless; hesitate to subscribe
+unreservedly to this favorable opinion.  Even though the united voice of
+her contemporaries, and the testimony of the Netherlands themselves
+vouch for it, a third party will not be denied the right to examine her
+claims with stricter scrutiny.  The popular mind, easily affected, is
+but too ready to count the absence of a vice as an additional virtue,
+and, under the pressure of existing evil, to give excess of praise for
+past benefits.
+
+The Netherlander seems to have concentrated all his hatred upon the
+Spanish name.  To lay the blame of the national evils on the regent
+would tend to remove from the king and his minister the curses which he
+would rather shower upon them alone and undividedly; and the Duke of
+Alva's government of the Netherlands was, perhaps, not the proper point
+of view from which to test the merits of his predecessor.  It was
+undoubtedly no light task to meet the king's expectations without
+infringing the rights of the people and the duties of humanity; but
+in struggling to effect these two contradictory objects Margaret had
+accomplished neither.  She had deeply injured the nation, while
+comparatively she had done little service to the king.  It is true that
+she at last crushed the Protestant faction, but the accidental outbreak
+of the Iconoclasts assisted her in this more than all her dexterity.
+She certainly succeeded by her intrigues in dissolving the league of the
+nobles, but not until the first blow had been struck at its roots by
+internal dissensions.  The object, to secure which she had for many
+years vainly exhaused her whole policy, was effected at last by a single
+enlistment of troops, for which, however, the orders were issued from
+Madrid.  She delivered to the duke, no doubt, a tranquillized country;
+but it cannot be denied that the dread of his approach had the chief
+share in tranquillizing it.  By her reports she led the council in Spain
+astray; because she never informed it of the disease, but only of the
+occasional symptoms; never of the universal feeling and voice of the
+nation, but only of the misconduct of factions.  Her faulty
+administration, moreover, drew the people into the crime, because
+she exasperated without sufficiently awing them.  She it was that
+brought the murderous Alva into the country by leading the king to
+believe that the disturbances in the provinces were to be ascribed, not
+so much to the severity of the royal ordinances, as to the unworthiness
+of those who were charged with their execution.  Margaret possessed
+natural capacity and intellect; and an acquired political tact enabled
+her to meet any ordinary case; but she wanted that creative genius
+which, for new and extraordinary emergencies, invents new maxims, or
+wisely oversteps old ones.  In a country where honesty was the best
+policy, she adopted the unfortunate plan of practising her insidious
+Italian policy, and thereby sowed the seeds of a fatal distrust in the
+minds of the people.  The indulgence which has been so liberally imputed
+to her as a merit was, in truth, extorted from her weakness and timidity
+by the courageous opposition of the nation; she had never departed from
+the strict letter of the royal commands by her own spontaneous
+resolution; never did the gentle feelings of innate humanity lead her
+to misinterpret the cruel purport of her instructions.  Even the few
+concessions to which necessity compelled her were granted with an
+uncertain and shrinking hand, as if fearing to give too much; and she
+lost the fruit of her benefactions because she mutilated them by a
+sordid closeness.  What in all the other relations of her life she was
+too little, she was on the throne too much--a woman!  She had it in her
+power, after Granvella's expulsion, to become the benefactress of the
+Belgian nation, but she did not.  Her supreme good was the approbation
+of her king, her greatest misfortune his displeasure; with all the
+eminent qualities of her mind she remained an ordinary character because
+her heart was destitute of native nobility.  She used a melancholy power
+with much moderation, and stained her government with no deed of
+arbitrary cruelty; nay, if it had depended on her, she would have always
+acted humanely.  Years afterwards, when her idol, Philip II., had long
+forgotten her, the Netherlanders still honored her memory; but she was
+far from deserving the glory which her successor's inhumanity reflected
+upon her.
+
+She left Brussels about the end of December, 1567.  The duke escorted
+her as far as the frontiers of Brabant, and there left her under the
+protection of Count Mansfeld in order to hasten back to the metropolis
+and show himself to the Netherlanders as sole regent.
+
+
+
+
+              TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF COUNTS EGMONT AND HORN.
+
+The two counts were a few weeks after their arrest conveyed to Ghent
+under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, where they were confined in
+the citadel for more than eight months.  Their trial commenced in due
+form before the council of twelve, and the solicitor-general, John Du
+Bois, conducted the proceedings.  The indictment against Egmont
+consisted of ninety counts, and that against Horn of sixty.  It would
+occupy too much space to introduce them here.  Every action, however
+innocent, every omission of duty, was interpreted on the principle which
+had been laid down in the opening of the indictment, "that the two
+counts, in conjunction with the Prince of Orange, had planned the
+overthrow of the royal authority in the Netherlands, and the usurpation
+of the government of the country;" the expulsion of Granvella; the
+embassy of Egmont to Madrid; the confederacy of the Gueux; the
+concessions which they made to the Protestants in the provinces under
+their government--all were made to have a connection with, and reference
+to, this deliberate design.  Thus importance was attached to the most
+insignificant occurrences, and one action made to darken and discolor
+another.  By taking care to treat each of the charges as in itself a
+treasonable offence it was the more easy to justify a sentence of high
+treason by the whole.
+
+The accusations were sent to each of the prisoners, who were required to
+reply to them within five days.  After doing so they were allowed to
+employ solicitors and advocates, who were permitted free access to them;
+but as they were accused of treason their friends were prohibited from
+visiting them.  Count Egmont employed for his solicitor Von Landas, and
+made choice of a few eminent advocates from Brussels.
+
+The first step was to demur against the tribunal which was to try them,
+since by the privilege of their order they, as Knights of the Golden
+Fleece, were amenable only to the king himself, the grand master.  But
+this demurrer was overruled, and they were required to produce their
+witnesses, in default of which they were to be proceeded against /in
+contumaciam./  Egmont had satisfactorily answered to eighty-two counts,
+while Count Horn had refuted the charges against him, article by
+article.  The accusation and the defence are still extant; on that
+defence every impartial tribunal would have acquitted them both.  The
+Procurator Fiscal pressed for the production of their evidence, and the
+Duke of Alva issued his repeated commands to use despatch.  They
+delayed, however, from week to week, while they renewed their protests
+against the illegality of the court.  At last the duke assigned them
+nine days to produce their proofs; on the lapse of that period they were
+to be declared guilty, and as having forfeited all right of defence.
+
+During the progress of the trial the relations and friends of the two
+counts were not idle.  Egmont's wife, by birth a duchess of Bavaria,
+addressed petitions to the princes of the German empire, to the Emperor,
+and to the King of Spain.  The Countess Horn, mother of the imprisoned
+count, who was connected by the ties of friendship or of blood with the
+principal royal families of Germany, did the same.  All alike protested
+loudly against this illegal proceeding, and appealed to the liberty of
+the German empire, on which Horn, as a count of the empire, had special
+claims; the liberty of the Netherlands and the privileges of the Order
+of the Golden Fleece were likewise insisted upon.  The Countess Egmont
+succeeded in obtaining the intercession of almost every German court in
+behalf of her husband.  The King of Spain and his viceroy were besieged
+by applications in behalf of the accused, which were referred from one
+to the other, and made light of by both.  Countess Horn collected
+certificates from all the Knights of the Golden Fleece in Spain,
+Germany, and Italy to prove the privileges of the order.  Alva rejected
+them with a declaration that they had no force in such a case as the
+present.  "The crimes of which the counts are accused relate to the
+affairs of the Belgian provinces, and he, the duke, was appointed by the
+king sole judge of all matters connected with those countries."
+
+Four months had been allowed to the solicitor-general to draw up the
+indictment, and five were granted to the two counts to prepare for their
+defence.  But instead of losing their time and trouble in adducing their
+evidence, which, perhaps, would have profited then but little, they
+preferred wasting it in protests against the judges, which availed them
+still less.  By the former course they would probably have delayed the
+final sentence, and in the time thus gained the powerful intercession of
+their friends might perhaps have not been ineffectual.  By obstinately
+persisting in denying the competency of the tribunal which was to try
+them, they furnished the duke with an excuse for cutting short the
+proceedings.  After the last assigned period had expired, on the 1st of
+June, 1658, the council of twelve declared them guilty, and on the 4th
+of that month sentence of death was pronounced against them.
+
+The execution of twenty-five noble Netherlanders, who were beheaded in
+three successive days in the marketplace at Brussels, was the terrible
+prelude to the fate of the two counts.  John Casembrot von Beckerzeel,
+secretary to Count Egmont, was one of the unfortunates, who was thus
+rewarded for his fidelity to his master, which he steadfastly maintained
+even upon the rack, and for his zeal in the service of the king, which
+he had manifested against the Iconoclasts.  The others had either been
+taken prisoners, with arms in their hands, in the insurrection of the
+"Gueux," or apprehended and condemned as traitors on account of having
+taken a part in the petition of the nobles.
+
+The duke had reason to hasten the execution of the sentence.  Count
+Louis of Nassau had given battle to the Count of Aremberg, near the
+monastery of Heiligerlee, in Groningen, and had the good fortune to
+defeat him. Immediately after his victory he had advanced against
+Groningen, and laid siege to it.  The success of his arms had raised the
+courage of his faction; and the Prince of Orange, his brother, was close
+at hand with an army to support him.  These circumstances made the
+duke's presence necessary in those distant provinces; but he could not
+venture to leave Brussels before the fate of two such important
+prisoners was decided.  The whole nation loved them, which was not a
+little increased by their unhappy fate.  Even the strict papists
+disapproved of the execution of these eminent nobles.  The slightest
+advantage which the arms of the rebels might gain over the duke, or even
+the report of a defeat, would cause a revolution in Brussels, which
+would immediately set the two counts at liberty.  Moreover, the
+petitions and intercessions which came to the viceroy, as well as to
+the King of Spain, from the German princes, increased daily; nay, the
+Emperor, Maximilian II., himself caused the countess to be assured "that
+she had nothing to fear for the life of her spouse."  These powerful
+applications might at last turn the king's heart in favor of the
+prisoners.  The king might, perhaps, in reliance on his viceroy's usual
+dispatch, put on the appearance of yielding to the representations of so
+many sovereigns, and rescind the sentence of death under the conviction
+that his mercy would come too late.  These considerations moved the duke
+not to delay the execution of the sentence as soon as it was pronounced.
+
+On the day after the sentence was passed the two counts were brought,
+under an escort of three thousand Spaniards, from Ghent to Brussels, and
+placed in confinement in the Brodhause, in the great market-place.  The
+next morning the council of twelve were assembled; the duke, contrary to
+his custom, attended in person, and both the sentences, in sealed
+envelopes, were opened and publicly read by Secretary Pranz.  The two
+counts were declared guilty of treason, as having favored and promoted
+the abominable conspiracy of the Prince of Orange, protected the
+confederated nobles, and been convicted of various misdemeanors against
+their king and the church in their governments and other appointments.
+Both were sentenced to be publicly beheaded, and their heads were to be
+fixed upon pikes and not taken down without the duke's express command.
+All their possessions, fiefs, and rights escheated to the royal
+treasury.  The sentence was signed only by the duke and the secretary,
+Pranz, without asking or caring for the consent of the other members of
+the council.
+
+During the night between the 4th and 5th of June the sentences were
+brought to the prisoners, after they had already gone to rest.  The duke
+gave them to the Bishop of Ypres, Martin Rithov, whom he had expressly
+summoned to Brussels to prepare the prisoners for death.  When the
+bishop received this commission he threw himself at the feet of the
+duke, and supplicated him with tears in his eyes for mercy, at least for
+respite for the prisoners; but he was answered in a rough and angry
+voice that he had been sent for from Ypres, not to oppose the sentence,
+but by his spiritual consolation to reconcile the unhappy noblemen to
+it.
+
+Egmont was the first to whom the bishop communicated the sentence of
+death.  "That is indeed a severe sentence," exclaimed the count, turning
+pale, and with a faltering voice.  "I did not think that I had offended
+his majesty so deeply as to deserve such treatment.  If, however, it
+must be so I submit to my fate with resignation.  May this death atone
+for my offence, and save my wife and children from suffering.  This at
+least I think I may claim for my past services.  As for death, I will
+meet it with composure, since it so pleases God and my king."  He then
+pressed the bishop to tell him seriously and candidly if there was no
+hope of pardon.  Being answered in the negative, he confessed and
+received the sacrament from the priest, repeating after him the mass
+with great devoutness.  He asked what prayer was the best and most
+effective to recommend him to God in his last hour.  On being told that
+no prayer could be more effectual than the one which Christ himself had
+taught, he prepared immediately to repeat the Lord's prayer.  The
+thoughts of his family interrupted him; he called for pen and ink, and
+wrote two letters, one to his wife, the other to the king.  The latter
+was as follows:
+
+"Sire,--This morning I have heard the sentence which your majesty has
+been pleased to pass upon me.  Far as I have ever been from attempting
+anything against the person or service of your majesty, or against the
+true, old, and Catholic religion, I yet submit myself with patience to
+the fate which it has pleased God to ordain should suffer.  If, during
+the past disturbances, I have omitted, advised, or done anything that
+seems at variance with my duty, it was most assuredly performed with the
+best intentions, or was forced upon me by the pressure of circumstances.
+I therefore pray your majesty to forgive me, and, in consideration of my
+past services, show mercy to my unhappy wife, my poor children, and
+servants.  In a firm hope of this, I commend myself--to the infinite
+mercy of God.
+
+"Your majesty's most faithful vassal and servant,
+
+"LAMORAL COUNT EGMONT.
+
+"BRUSSELS, June 5, 1568, near my last moments."
+
+
+This letter he placed in the hands of the bishop, with the strongest
+injunctions for its safe delivery; and for greater security he sent a
+duplicate in his own handwriting to State Counsellor Viglius, the most
+upright man in the senate, by whom, there is no doubt, it was actually
+delivered to the king.  The family of the count were subsequently
+reinstated in all his property, fiefs, and rights, which, by virtue of
+the sentence, had escheated to the royal treasury.
+
+Meanwhile a scaffold had been erected in the marketplace, before the
+town hall, on which two poles were fixed with iron spikes, and the whole
+covered with black cloth.  Two-and-twenty companies of the Spanish
+garrison surrounded the scaffold, a precaution which was by no means
+superfluous.  Between ten and eleven o'clock the Spanish guard appeared
+in the apartment of the count; they were provided with cords to tie his
+hands according to custom.  He begged that this might be spared him, and
+declared that he was willing and ready to die.  He himself cut off the
+collar from his doublet to facilitate the executioner's duty.  He wore a
+robe of red damask, and over that a black Spanish cloak trimmed with
+gold lace.  In this dress he appeared on the scaffold, and was attended
+by Don Julian Romero, maitre-de-camp; Salinas, a Spanish captain; and
+the Bishop of Ypres.  The grand provost of the court, with a red wand in
+his hand, sat on horseback at the foot of the scaffold; the executioner
+was concealed beneath.
+
+Egmont had at first shown a desire to address the people from the
+scaffold.  He desisted, however, on the bishop's representing to him
+that either he would not be heard, or that if he were, he might--such at
+present was the dangerous disposition of the people--excite them to acts
+of violence, which would only plunge his friends into destruction.  For
+a few moments he paced the scaffold with noble dignity, and lamented
+that it had not been permitted him to die a more honorable death for his
+king and his country.  Up to the last he seemed unable to persuade
+himself that the king was in earnest, and that his severity would be
+carried any further than the mere terror of execution.  When the
+decisive period approached, and he was to receive the extreme unction,
+he looked wistfully round, and when there still appeared no prospect of
+a reprieve, he turned to Julian Romero, and asked him once more if there
+was no hope of pardon for him.  Julian Romero shrugged his shoulders,
+looked on the ground, and was silent.
+
+He then closely clenched his teeth, threw off his mantle and robe, knelt
+upon the cushion, and prepared himself for the last prayer.  The bishop
+presented him the crucifix to kiss, and administered to him extreme
+unction, upon which the count made him a sign to leave him.  He drew a
+silk cap over his eyes, and awaited the stroke.  Over the corpse and the
+streaming blood a black cloth was immediately thrown.
+
+All Brussels thronged around the scaffold, and the fatal blow seemed to
+fall on every heart.  Loud sobs alone broke the appalling silence.  The
+duke himself, who watched the execution from a window of the townhouse,
+wiped his eyes as his victim died.
+
+Shortly afterwards Count Horn advanced on the scaffold.  Of a more
+violent temperament than his friend, and stimulated by stronger reasons
+for hatred against the king, he had received the sentence with less
+composure, although in his case, perhaps, it was less unjust.  He burst
+forth in bitter reproaches against the king, and the bishop with
+difficulty prevailed upon him to make a better use of his last moments
+than to abuse them in imprecations on his enemies.  At last, however, he
+became more collected, and made his confession to the bishop, which at
+first he was disposed to refuse.
+
+He mounted the scaffold with the same attendants as his friend.  In
+passing he saluted many of his acquaintances; his hands were, like
+Egmont's, free, and he was dressed in a black doublet and cloak, with a
+Milan cap of the same color upon his head.  When he had ascended, he
+cast his eyes upon the corpse, which lay under the cloth, and asked one
+of the bystanders if it was the body of his friend.  On being answered
+in the affirmative, he said some words in Spanish, threw his cloak from
+him, and knelt upon the cushion.  All shrieked aloud as he received the
+fatal blow.
+
+The heads of both were fixed upon the poles which were set up on the
+scaffold, where they remained until past three in the afternoon, when
+they were taken down, and, with the two bodies, placed in leaden coffins
+and deposited in a vault.
+
+In spite of the number of spies and executioners who surrounded the
+scaffold, the citizens of Brussels would not be prevented from dipping
+their handkerchiefs in the streaming blood, and carrying home with them
+these precious memorials.
+
+
+
+
+   SIEGE OF ANTWERP BY THE PRINCE OF PARMA, IN THE YEARS 1584 AND 1585.
+
+It is an interesting spectacle to observe the struggle of man's
+inventive genius in conflict with powerful opposing elements, and to
+see the difficulties which are insurmountable to ordinary capacities
+overcome by prudence, resolution, and a determined will.  Less
+attractive, but only the more instructive, perhaps, is the contrary
+spectacle, where the absence of those qualities renders all efforts of
+genius vain, throws away all the favors of fortune, and where inability
+to improve such advantages renders hopeless a success which otherwise
+seemed sure and inevitable.  Examples of both kinds are afforded by the
+celebrated siege of Antwerp by the Spaniards towards the close of the
+sixteenth century, by which that flourishing city was forever deprived
+of its commercial prosperity, but which, on the other hand, conferred
+immortal fame on the general who undertook and accomplished it.
+
+Twelve years had the war continued which the northern provinces of
+Belgium had commenced at first in vindication simply of their religious
+freedom, and the privileges of their states, from the encroachments of
+the Spanish viceroy, but maintained latterly in the hope of establishing
+their independence of the Spanish crown.  Never completely victors, but
+never entirely vanquished, they wearied out the Spanish valor by tedious
+operations on an unfavorable soil, and exhausted the wealth of the
+sovereign of both the Indies while they themselves were called beggars,
+and in a degree actually were so.  The league of Ghent, which had united
+the whole Netherlands, Roman Catholic and Protestant, in a common and
+(could such a confederation have lasted) invincible body, was indeed
+dissolved; but in place of this uncertain and unnatural combination the
+northern provinces had, in the year 1579, formed among themselves the
+closer union of Utrecht, which promised to be more lasting, inasmuch as
+it was linked and held together by common political and religious
+interests.  What the new republic had lost in extent through this
+separation from the Roman Catholic provinces it was fully compensated
+for by the closeness of alliance, the unity of enterprise, and energy of
+execution; and perhaps it was fortunate in thus timely losing what no
+exertion probably would ever have enabled it to retain.
+
+The greater part of the Walloon provinces had, in the year 1584, partly
+by voluntary submission and partly by force of arms, been again reduced
+under the Spanish yoke.  The northern districts alone had been able at
+all successfully to oppose it.  A considerable portion of Brabant and
+Flanders still obstinately held out against the arms of the Duke
+Alexander of Parma, who at that time administered the civil government
+of the provinces, and the supreme command of the army, with equal energy
+and prudence, and by a series of splendid victories had revived the
+military reputation of Spain.  The peculiar formation of the country,
+which by its numerous rivers and canals facilitated the connection of
+the towns with one another and with the sea, baffled all attempts
+effectually to subdue it, and the possession of one place could only be
+maintained by the occupation of another.  So long as this communication
+was kept up Holland and Zealand could with little difficulty assist
+their allies, and supply them abundantly by water as well as by land
+with all necessaries, so that valor was of no use, and the strength of
+the king's troops was fruitlessly wasted on tedious sieges.
+
+Of all the towns in Brabant Antwerp was the most important, as well
+from, its wealth, its population, and its military force, as by its
+position on the mouth of the Scheldt.  This great and populous town,
+which at this date contained more than eighty thousand inhabitants, was
+one of the most active members of the national league, and had in the
+course of the war distinguished itself above all the towns of Belgium by
+an untamable spirit of liberty.  As it fostered within its bosom all the
+three Christian churches, and owed much of its prosperity to this
+unrestricted religious liberty, it had the more cause to dread the
+Spanish rule, which threatened to abolish this toleration, and by the
+terror of the Inquisition to drive all the Protestant merchants from its
+markets.  Moreover it had had but too terrible experience of the
+brutality of the Spanish garrisons, and it was quite evident that if it
+once more suffered this insupportable yoke to be imposed upon it it
+would never again during the whole course of the war be able to throw it
+off.
+
+But powerful as were the motives which stimulated Antwerp to resistance,
+equally strong were the reasons which determined the Spanish general to
+make himself master of the place at any cost.  On the possession of this
+town depended in a great measure that of the whole province of Brabant,
+which by this channel chiefly derived its supplies of corn from Zealand,
+while the capture of this place would secure to the victor the command
+of the Scheldt.  It would also deprive the league of Brabant, which held
+its meetings in the town, of its principal support; the whole faction of
+its dangerous influence, of its example, its counsels, and its money,
+while the treasures of its inhabitants would open plentiful supplies for
+the military exigencies of the king.  Its fall would sooner or later
+necessarily draw after it that of all Brabant, and the preponderance of
+power in that quarter would decide the whole dispute in favor of the
+king.  Determined by these grave considerations, the Duke of Parma drew
+his forces together in July, 1584, and advanced from his position at
+Dornick to the neighborhood of Antwerp, with the intention of investing
+it.
+
+But both the natural position and fortifications of the town appeared to
+defy attacks.  Surrounded on the side of Brabant with insurmountable
+works and moats, and towards Flanders covered by the broad and rapid
+stream of the Scheldt, it could not be carried by storm; and to blockade
+a town of such extent seemed to require a land force three times larger
+than that which the duke had, and moreover a fleet, of which he was
+utterly destitute.  Not only did the river yield the town all necessary
+supplies from Ghent, it also opened an easy communication with the
+bordering province of Zealand.  For, as the tide of the North Sea
+extends far up the Scheldt, and ebbs and flows regularly, Antwerp enjoys
+the peculiar advantage that the same tide flows past it at different
+times in two opposite directions.  Besides, the adjacent towns of
+Brussels, Malines, Ghent, Dendermonde, and others, were all at this time
+in the hands of the league, and could aid the place from the land side
+also.  To blockade, therefore, the town by land, and to cut off its
+communication with Flanders and Brabant, required two different armies,
+one on each bank of the river.  A sufficient fleet was likewise needed
+to guard the passage of the Scheldt, and to prevent all attempts at
+relief, which would most certainly be made from Zealand.  But by the war
+which he had still to carry on in other quarters, and by the numerous
+garrisons which he was obliged to leave in the towns and fortified
+places, the army of the duke was reduced to ten thousand infantry and
+seventeen hundred horse, a force very inadequate for an undertaking of
+such magnitude.  Moreover, these troops were deficient in the most
+necessary supplies, and the long arrears of pay had excited them to
+subdued murmurs, which hourly threatened to break out into open mutiny.
+If, notwithstanding these difficulties, he should still attempt the
+seige, there would be much occasion to fear from the strongholds of the
+enemy, which were left in the rear, and from which it would be easy, by
+vigorous sallies, to annoy an army distributed over so many places, and
+to expose it to want by cutting off its supplies.
+
+All these considerations were brought forward by the council of war,
+before which the Duke of Parrna now laid his scheme.  However great the
+confidence which they placed in themselves, and in the proved abilities
+of such a leader, nevertheless the most experienced generals did not
+disguise their despair of a fortunate result.  Two only were exceptions,
+Capizucchi and Mondragone, whose ardent courage placed them above all
+apprehensions; the rest concurred in dissuading the duke from attempting
+so hazardous an enterprise, by which they ran the risk of forfeiting the
+fruit of all their former victories and tarnishing the glory they had
+already earned.
+
+But objections, which he had already made to himself and refuted, could
+not shake the Duke of Parma in his purpose.  Not in ignorance of its
+inseparable dangers, not from thoughtless overvaluing his forces had he
+taken this bold resolve.  But that instinctive genius which leads great
+men by paths which inferior minds either never enter upon or never
+finish, raised him above the influence of the doubts which a cold and
+narrow prudence would oppose to his views; and, without being able to
+convince his generals, he felt the correctness of his calculations in a
+conviction indistinct, indeed, but not on that account less indubitable.
+A succession of fortunate results had raised his confidence, and the
+sight of his army, unequalled in Europe for discipline, experience, and
+valor, and commanded by a chosen body of the most distinguished
+officers, did not permit him to entertain fear for a moment.  To those
+who objected to the small number of his troops, he answered, that
+however long the pike, it is only the point that kills; and that in
+military enterprise, the moving power was of more importance than the
+mass to be moved.  He was aware, indeed, of the discontent of his
+troops, but he knew also their obedience; and he thought, moreover, that
+the best means to stifle their murmurs was by keeping them employed in
+some important undertaking, by stimulating their desire of glory by the
+splendor of the enterprise, and their rapacity by hopes of the rich
+booty which the capture of so wealthy a town would hold out.
+
+In the plan which he now formed for the conduct of the siege he
+endeavored to meet all these difficulties.  Famine was the only
+instrument by which he could hope to subdue the town; but effectually to
+use this formidable weapon, it would be expedient to cut off all its
+land and water communications.  With this view, the first object was to
+stop, or at least to impede, the arrival of supplies from Zealand.  It
+was, therefore, requisite not only to carry all the outworks, which the
+people of Antwerp had built on both shores of the Scheldt for the
+protection of their shipping; but also, wherever feasible, to throw up
+new batteries which should command the whole course of the river; and to
+prevent the place from drawing supplies from the land side, while
+efforts were being made to intercept their transmission by sea, all the
+adjacent towns of Brabant and Flanders were comprehended in the plan of
+the siege, and the fall of Antwerp was based on the destruction of all
+those places.  A bold and, considering the duke's scanty force, an
+almost extravagant project, which was, however, justified by the genius
+of its author, and crowned by fortune with a brilliant result.
+
+As, however, time was required to accomplish a plan of this magnitude,
+the Prince of Parma was content, for the present, with the erection of
+numerous forts on the canals and rivers which connected Antwerp with
+Dendermonde, Ghent, Malines, Brussels, and other places.  Spanish
+garrisons were quartered in the vicinity, and almost at the very gates
+of those towns, which laid waste the open country, and by their
+incursions kept the surrounding territory in alarm.  Thus, round Ghent
+alone were encamped about three thousand men, and proportionate numbers
+round the other towns.  In this way, and by means of the secret
+understanding which he maintained with the Roman Catholic inhabitants of
+those towns, the duke hoped, without weakening his own forces, gradually
+to exhaust their strength, and by the harassing operations of a petty
+but incessant warfare, even without any formni siege, to reduce them at
+last to capitulate.
+
+In the meantime the main force was directed against Antwerp, which he
+now closely invested.  He fixed his headquarters at Bevern in Flanders,
+a few miles from Antwerp, where he found a fortified camp.  The
+protection of the Flemish bank of the Scheldt was entrusted to the
+Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry; the Brabant bank to the Count
+Peter Ernest Von Mansfeld, who was joined by another Spanish leader,
+Mondragone.  Both the latter succeeded in crossing the Scheldt upon
+pontoons, notwithstanding the Flemish admiral's ship was sent to oppose
+them, and, passing Antwerp, took up their position at Stabroek in
+Bergen.  Detached corps dispersed themselves along the whole Brabant
+side, partly to secure the dykes and the roads.
+
+Some miles below Antwerp the Scheldt was guarded by two strong forts, of
+which one was situated at Liefkenshoek on the island Doel, in Flanders,
+the other at Lillo, exactly opposite the coast of Brabant.  The last had
+been erected by Mondragone himself, by order of the Duke of Alvaa, when
+the latter was still master of Antwerp, and for this very reason the
+Duke of Parma now entrusted to him the attack upon it.  On the
+possession of these two forts the success of the siege seemed wholly to
+depend, since all the vessels sailing from Zealand to Antwerp must pass
+under their guns.  Both forts had a short time before been strengthened
+by the besieged, and the former was scarcely finished when the Margrave
+of Rysburg attacked it.  The celerity with which he went to work
+surprised the enemy before they were sufficiently prepared for defence,
+and a brisk assault quickly placed Liefkenshoek in the hands of the
+Spaniards.  The confederates sustained this loss on the same fatal day
+that the Prince of Orange fell at Delft by the hands of an assassin.
+The other batteries, erected on the island of Doel, were partly
+abandoned by their defenders, partly taken by surprise, so that in a
+short time the whole Flemish side was cleared of the enemy.  But the
+fort at Lillo, on the Brabant shore, offered a more vigorous resistance,
+since the people of Antwerp had had time to strengthen its
+fortifications and to provide it with a strong garrison.  Furious
+sallies of the besieged, led by Odets von Teligny, supported by the
+cannon of the fort, destroyed all the works of the Spaniards, and an
+inundation, which was effected by opening the sluices, finally drove
+them away from the place after a three weeks' siege, and with the loss
+of nearly two thousand killed.  They now retired into their fortified
+camp at Stabroek, and contented themselves with taking possession of the
+dams which run across the lowlands of Bergen, and oppose a breastwork to
+the encroachments of the East Scheldt.
+
+The failure of his attempt upon the fort of Lillo compelled the Prince
+of Parma to change his measures.  As he could not succeed in stopping
+the passage of the Scheldt by his original plan, on which the success of
+the siege entirely depended, he determined to effect his purpose by
+throwing a bridge across the whole breadth of the river.  The thought
+was bold, and there were many who held it to be rash.  Both the breadth
+of the stream, which at this part exceeds twelve hundred paces, as well
+as its violence, which is still further augmented by the tides of the
+neighboring sea, appeared to render every attempt of this kind
+impracticable.  Moreover, he had to contend with a deficiency of timber,
+vessels, and workmen, as well as with the dangerous position between the
+fleets of Antwerp and of Zealand, to which it would necessarily be an
+easy task, in combination with a boisterous element, to interrupt so
+tedious a work.  But the Prince of Parma knew his power, and his settled
+resolution would yield to nothing short of absolute impossibility.
+After he had caused the breadth as well as the depth of the river to be
+measured, and had consulted with two of his most skilful engineers,
+Barocci and Plato, it was settled that the bridge should be constructed
+between Calloo in Flanders and Ordain in Brabant.  This spot was
+selected because the river is here narrowest, and bends a little to the
+right, and so detains vessels a while by compelling them to tack.  To
+cover the bridge strong bastions were erected at both ends, of which the
+one on the Flanders side was named Fort St. Maria, the other, on the
+Brabant side, Fort St. Philip, in honor of the king.
+
+While active preparations were making in the Spanish camp for the
+execution of this scheme, and the whole attention of the enemy was
+directed to it, the duke made an unexpected attack upon Dendermonde, a
+strong town between Ghent and Antwerp, at the confluence of the Dender
+and the Scheldt.  As long as this important place was in the hands of
+the enemy the towns of Ghent and Antwerp could mutually support each
+other, and by the facility of their communication frustrate all the
+efforts of the besiegers.  Its capture would leave the prince free to
+act against both towns, and might decide the fate of his undertaking.
+The rapidity of his attack left the besieged no time to open their
+sluices and lay the country under water.  A hot cannonade was opened
+upon the chief bastion of the town before the Brussels gate, but was
+answered by the fire of the besieged, which made great havoc amongst the
+Spaniards.  It increased, however, rather than discouraged their ardor,
+and the insults of the garrison, who mutilated the statue of a saint
+before their eyes, and after treating it with the most contumelious
+indignity, hurled it down from the rampart, raised their fury to the
+highest pitch.  Clamorously they demanded to be led against the bastion
+before their fire had made a sufficient breach in it, and the prince, to
+avail himself of the first ardor of their impetuosity, gave the signal
+for the assault.  After a sanguinary contest of two hours the rampart
+was mounted, and those who were not sacrificed to the first fury of the
+Spaniards threw themselves into the town.  The latter was indeed now
+more exposed, a fire being directed upon it from the works which had
+been carried; but its strong walls and the broad moat which surrounded
+it gave reason to expect a protracted resistance.  The inventive
+resources of the Prince of Parma soon overcame this obstacle also.
+While the bombardment was carried on night and day, the troops were
+incessantly employed in diverting the course of the Dender, which
+supplied the fosse with water, and the besieged were seized with despair
+as they saw the water of the trenches, the last defence of the town,
+gradually disappear.  They hastened to capitulate, and in August, 1584,
+received a Spanish garrison.  Thus, in the space of eleven days, the
+Prince of Parrna accomplished an undertaking which, in the opinion of
+competent judges, would require as many weeks.
+
+The town of Ghent, now cut off from Antwerp and the sea, and hard
+pressed by the troops of the king, which were encamped in its vicinity,
+and without hope of immediate succor, began to despair, as famine, with
+all its dreadful train, advanced upon them with rapid steps.  The
+inhabitants therefore despatched deputies to the Spanish camp at Bevern,
+to tender its submission to the king upon the same terms as the prince
+had a short time previously offered.  The deputies were informed that
+the time for treaties was past, and that an unconditional submission
+alone could appease the just anger of the monarch whom they had offended
+by their rebellion.  Nay, they were even given to understand that it
+would be only through his great mercy if the same humiliation were not
+exacted from them as their rebellious ancestors were forced to undergo
+under Charles V., namely, to implore pardon half-naked, and with a cord
+round their necks.  The deputies returned to Ghent in despair, but three
+days afterwards a new deputation was sent to the Spanish camp, which at
+last, by the intercession of one of the prince's friends, who was a
+prisoner in Ghent, obtained peace upon moderate terms.  The town was to
+pay a fine of two hundred thousand florins, recall the banished papists,
+and expel the Protestant inhabitants, who, however, were to be allowed
+two years for the settlement of their affairs.  All the inhabitants
+except six, who were reserved for capital punishment (but afterwards
+pardoned), were included in a general amnesty, and the garrison, which
+amounted to two thousand men, was allowed to evacuate the place with the
+honors of war.  This treaty was concluded in September of the same year,
+at the headquarters at Bevern, and immediately three thousand Spaniards
+marched into the town as a garrison.
+
+It was more by the terror of his name and the dread of famine than by
+the force of arms that the Prince of Parma had succeeded in reducing
+this city to submission, the largest and strongest in the Netherlands,
+which was little inferior to Paris within the barriers of its inner
+town, consisted of thirty-seven thousand houses, and was built on twenty
+islands, connected by ninety-eight stone bridges.  The important
+privileges which in the course of several centuries this city had
+contrived to extort from its rulers fostered in its inhabitants a spirit
+of independence, which not unfrequently degenerated into riot and
+license, and naturally brought it in collision with the Austrian-Spanish
+government.  And it was exactly this bold spirit of liberty which
+procured for the Reformation the rapid and extensive success it met with
+in this town, and the combined incentives of civil and religious freedom
+produced all those scenes of violence by which, during the rebellion, it
+had unfortunately distinguished itself.  Besides the fine levied, the
+prince found within the walls a large store of artillery, carriages,
+ships, and building materials of all kinds, with numerous workmen and
+sailors, who materially aided him in his plans against Antwerp.
+
+Before Ghent surrendered to the king Vilvorden and Herentals had fallen
+into the hands of the Spaniards, and the capture of the block-houses
+near the village of Willebrock had cut off Antwerp from Brussels and
+Malines.  The loss of these places within so short a period deprived
+Antwerp of all hope of succor from Brabant and Flanders, and limited all
+their expectations to the assistance which might be looked for from
+Zealand.  But to deprive them also of this the Prince of Parma was now
+making the most energetic preparations.
+
+The citizens of Antwerp had beheld the first operations of the enemy
+against their town with the proud security with which the sight of their
+invincible river inspired them.  This confidence was also in a degree
+justified by the opinion of the Prince of Orange, who, upon the first
+intelligence of the design, had said that the Spanish army would
+inevitably perish before the walls of Antwerp.  That nothing, however,
+might be neglected, he sent, a short time before his assassination, for
+the burgomaster of Antwerp, Philip Marnix of St. Aldegonde, his intimate
+friend, to Delft, where he consulted with him as to the means of
+maintaining defensive operations.  It was agreed between then that it
+would be advisable to demolish forthwith the great dam between Sanvliet
+and Lillo called the Blaaugarendyk, so as to allow the waters of the
+East Scheldt to inundate, if necessary, the lowlands of Bergen, and
+thus, in the event of the Scheldt being closed, to open a passage for
+the Zealand vessels to the town across the inundated country.  Aldegonde
+had, after his return, actually persuaded the magistrate and the
+majority of the citizens to agree to this proposal, when it was resisted
+by the guild of butchers, who claimed that they would be ruined by such
+a measure; for the plain which it was wished to lay under water was a
+vast tract of pasture land, upon which about twelve thousand oxen--were
+annually put to graze.  The objection of the butchers was successful,
+and they managed to prevent the execution of this salutary scheme until
+the enemy had got possession of the dams as well as the pasture land.
+
+At the suggestion of the burgomaster St.  Aldegonde, who, himself a
+member of the states of Brabant, was possessed of great authority in
+that council, the fortifications on both sides the Scheldt had, a short
+time before the arrival of the Spaniards, been placed in repair, and
+many new redoubts erected round the town.  The dams had been cut through
+at Saftingen, and the water of the West Scheldt let out over nearly the
+whole country of Waes.  In the adjacent Marquisate of Bergen troops had
+been enlisted by the Count of Hohenlohe, and a Scotch regiment, under
+the command of Colonel Morgan, was already in the pay of the republic,
+while fresh reinforcements were daily expected from England and France.
+Above all, the states of Holland and Zealand were called upon to hasten
+their supplies.  But after the enemy had taken strong positions on both
+sides of the river, and the fire of their batteries made the navigation
+dangerous, when place after place in Brabant fell into their hands, and
+their cavalry had cut off all communication on the land side, the
+inhabitants of Antwerp began at last to entertain serious apprehensions
+for the future.  The town then contained eighty-five thousand souls, and
+according to calculation three hundred thousand quarters of corn were
+annually required for their support.  At the beginning of the siege
+neither the supply nor the money was wanting for the laying in of such a
+store; for in spite of the enemy's fire the Zealand victualing ships,
+taking advantage of the rising tide, contrived to make their way to the
+town.  All that was requisite was to prevent any of the richer citizens
+from buying up these supplies, and, in case of scarcity, raising the
+price.  To secure his object, one Gianibelli from Mantua, who had
+rendered important services in the course of the siege, proposed a
+property tax of one penny in every hundred, and the appointment of a
+board of respectable persons to purchase corn with this money, and
+distribute it weekly.  And until the returns of this tax should be
+available the richer classes should advance the required sum, holding
+the corn purchased, as a deposit, in their own magazines; and were also
+to share in the profit.  But this plan was unwelcome to the wealthier
+citizens, who had resolved to profit by the general distress.  They
+recommended that every individual should be required to provide himself
+with a sufficient supply for two years; a proposition which, however it
+might suit their own circumstances, was very unreasonable in regard to
+the poorer inhabitants, who, even before the siege, could scarcely find
+means to supply themselves for so many months.  They obtained indeed
+their object, which was to reduce the poor to the necessity of either
+quitting the place or becoming entirely their dependents.  But when they
+afterwards reflected that in the time of need the rights of property
+would not be respected, they found it advisable not to be over-hasty in
+making their own purchases.
+
+The magistrate, in order to avert an evil that would have pressed upon
+individuals only, had recourse to an expedient which endangered the
+safety of all.  Some enterprising persons in Zealand had freighted a
+large fleet with provisions, which succeeded in passing the guns of the
+enemy, and discharged its cargo at Antwerp.  The hope of a large profit
+had tempted the merchants to enter upon this hazardous speculation; in
+this, however, they were disappointed, as the magistrate of Antwerp had,
+just before their arrival, issued an edict regulating the price of all
+the necessaries of life.  At the same time to prevent individuals from
+buying up the whole cargo and storing it in their magazines with a view
+of disposing of it afterwards at a dearer rate, he ordered that the
+whole should be publicly sold in any quantities from the vessels.  The
+speculators, cheated of their hopes of profit by these precautions, set
+sail again, and left Antwerp with the greater part of their cargo, which
+would have sufficed for the support of the town for several months.
+
+This neglect of the most essential and natural means of preservation can
+only be explained by the supposition that the inhabitants considered it
+absolutely impossible ever to close the Scheldt completely, and
+consequently had not the least apprehension that things would come to
+extremity.  When the intelligence arrived in Antwerp that the prince
+intended to throw a bridge over the Scheldt the idea was universally
+ridiculed as chimerical.  An arrogant comparison was drawn between the
+republic and the stream, and it was said that the one would bear the
+Spanish yoke as little as the other.  "A river which is twenty-four
+hundred feet broad, and, with its own waters alone, above sixty feet
+deep, but which with the tide rose twelve feet more--would such a
+stream," it was asked, "submit to be spanned by a miserable piece of
+paling?  Where were beams to be found high enough to reach to the bottom
+and project above the surface?  and how was a work of this kind to stand
+in winter, when whole islands and mountains of ice, which stone walls
+could hardly resist, would be driven by the flood against its weak
+timbers, and splinter them to pieces like glass?  Or, perhaps, the
+prince purposed to construct a bridge of boats; if so, where would he
+procure the latter, and how bring them into his intrenchments?  They
+must necessarily be brought past Antwerp, where a fleet was ready to
+capture or sink them."
+
+But while they were trying to prove the absurdity of the Prince of
+Parma's undertaking he had already completed it.  As soon as the forts
+St. Maria and St. Philip were erected, and protected the workmen and the
+work by their fire, a pier was built out into the stream from both
+banks, for which purpose the masts of the largest vessels were employed;
+by a skilful arrangement of the timbers they contrived to give the whole
+such solidity that, as the result proved, it was able to resist the
+violent pressure of the ice.  These timbers, which rested firmly and
+securely on the bottom of the river, and projected a considerable height
+above it, being covered with planks, afforded a commodious roadway.  It
+was wide enough to allow eight men to cross abreast, and a balustrade
+that ran along it on both sides, protected them from the fire of small-
+arms from the enemy's vessels.  This "stacade," as it was called, ran
+from the two opposite shores as far as the increasing depth and force of
+the stream allowed.  It reduced the breadth of the river to about eleven
+hundred feet; as, however, the middle and proper current would not admit
+of such a barrier, there remained, therefore, between the two stacades a
+space of more than six hundred paces through which a whole fleet of
+transports could sail with ease.  This intervening space the prince
+designed to close by a bridge of boats, for which purpose the craft must
+be procured from Dunkirk.  But, besides that they could not be obtained
+in any number at that place, it would be difficult to bring them past
+Antwerp without great loss.  He was, therefore, obliged to content
+himself for the time with having narrowed the stream one-half, and
+rendered the passage of the enemy's vessels so much the more difficult.
+Where the stacades terminated in the middle of the stream they spread
+out into parallelograms, which were mounted with heavy guns, and served
+as a kind of battery on the water.  From these a heavy fire was opened
+on every vessel that attempted to pass through this narrow channel.
+Whole fleets, however, and single vessels still attempted and succeeded
+in passing this dangerous strait.
+
+Meanwhile Ghent surrendered, and this unexpected success at once rescued
+the prince from his dilemma.  He found in this town everything necessary
+to complete his bridge of boats; and the only difficulty now was its
+safe transport, which was furnished by the enemy themselves.  By cutting
+the dams at Saftingen a great part of the country of Waes, as far as the
+village of Borcht, had been laid under water, so that it was not
+difficult to cross it with flat-bottomed boats.  The prince, therefore,
+ordered his vessels to run out from Ghent, and after passing Dendermonde
+and Rupelmonde to pass through the left dyke of the Scheldt, leaving
+Antwerp to the right, and sail over the inundated fields in the
+direction of Borcht.  To protect this passage a fort was erected at the
+latter village, which would keep the enemy in check.  All succeeded to
+his wishes, though not without a sharp action with the enemy's flotilla,
+which was sent out to intercept this convoy.  After breaking through a
+few more dams on their route, they reached the Spanish quarters at
+Calloo, and successfully entered the Scheldt again.  The exultation of
+the army was greater when they discovered the extent of the danger the
+vessels had so narrowly escaped.  Scarcely had they got quit of the
+enemy's vessels when a strong reinforcement from Antwerp got under
+weigh, commanded by the valiant defender of Lillo, Odets von Teligny.
+When this officer saw that the affair was over, and that the enemy had
+escaped, he took possession of the dam through which their fleet had
+passed, and threw up a fort on the spot in order to stop the passage of
+any vessels from Ghent which might attempt to follow them.
+
+By this step the prince was again thrown into embarrassment.  He was far
+from having as yet a sufficient number of vessels, either for the
+construction of the bridge or for its defence, and the passage by which
+the former convoy had arrived was now closed by the fort erected by
+Teligny.  While he was reconnoitring the country to discover a new way
+for his, fleets an idea occurred to him which not only put an end to his
+present dilemma, but greatly accelerated the success of his whole plan.
+Not far from the village of Stecken, in Waes, which is within some five
+thousand paces of the commencement of the inundation, flows a small
+stream called the Moer, which falls into the Scheldt near Ghent.  From
+this river he caused a canal to be dug to the spot where the inundations
+began, and as the water of these was not everywhere deep enough for the
+transit of his boats, the canal between Bevern and Verrebroek was
+continued to Calloo, where it was met by the Scheldt.  At this work five
+hundred pioneers labored without intermission, and in order to cheer the
+toil of the soldiers the prince himself took part in it.  In this way
+did he imitate the example of the two celebrated Romans, Drusus and
+Corbulo, who by similar works had united the Rhine with the Zuyder Zee,
+and the Maes with the Rhine?
+
+This canal, which the army in honor of its projector called the canal of
+Parma, was fourteen thousand paces in length, and was of proportion able
+depth and breadth, so as to be navigable for ships of a considerable
+burden.  It afforded to the vessels from Ghent not only a more secure,
+but also a much shorter course to the Spanish quarters, because it was
+no longer necessary to follow the many windings of the Scheldt, but
+entering the Moer at once near Ghent, and from thence passing close to
+Stecken, they could proceed through the canal and across the inundated
+country as far as Calloo.  As the produce of all Flanders was brought to
+the town of Ghent, this canal placed the Spanish camp in communication
+with the whole province.  Abundance poured into the camp from all
+quarters, so that during the whole course of the siege the Spaniards
+suffered no scarcity of any kind.  But the greatest benefit which the
+prince derived from this work was an adequate supply of flat-bottomed
+vessels to complete his bridge.
+
+These preparations were overtaken by the arrival of winter, which, as
+the Scheldt was filled with drift-ice, occasioned a considerable delay
+in the building of the bridge.  The prince had contemplated with anxiety
+the approach of this season, lest it should prove highly destructive to
+the work he had undertaken, and afford the enemy a favorable opportunity
+for making a serious attack upon it.  But the skill of his engineers
+saved him from the one danger, and the strange inaction of the enemy
+freed him from the other.  It frequently happened, indeed, that at
+flood-time large pieces of ice were entangled in the timbers, and shook
+them violently, but they stood the assault of the furious element, which
+only served to prove their stability.
+
+In Antwerp, meanwhile, important moments had been wasted in futile
+deliberations; and in a struggle of factions the general welfare was
+neglected.  The government of the town was divided among too many heads,
+and much too great a share in it was held by the riotous mob to allow
+room for calmness of deliberation or firmness of action.  Besides the
+municipal magistracy itself, in which the burgomaster had only a single
+voice, there were in the city a number of guilds, to whom were consigned
+the charge of the internal and external defence, the provisioning of the
+town, its fortifications, the marine, commerce, etc.; some of whom must
+be consulted in every business of importance.  By means of this crowd of
+speakers, who intruded at pleasure into the council, and managed to
+carry by clamor and the number of their adherents what they could not
+effect by their arguments, the people obtained a dangerous influence
+in the public debates, and the natural struggle of such discordant
+interests retarded the execution of every salutary measure.
+A government so vacillating and impotent could not command the respect
+of unruly sailors and a lawless soldiery.  The orders of the state
+consequently were but imperfectly obeyed, and the decisive moment was
+more than once lost by the negligence, not to say the open mutiny, both
+of the land and sea forces.  The little harmony in the selection of the
+means by which the enemy was to be opposed would not, however, have
+proved so injurious had there but existed unanimity as to the end.  But
+on this very point the wealthy citizens and poorer classes were divided;
+so the former, having everything to apprehend from allowing matters to
+be carried to extremity, were strongly inclined to treat with the Prince
+of Parma.  This disposition they did not even attempt to conceal after
+the fort of Liefkenshoek had fallen into the enemy's hands, and serious
+fears were entertained for the navigation of the Scheldt.  Some of them,
+indeed, withdrew entirely from the danger, and left to its fate the
+town, whose prosperity they had been ready enough to share, but in whose
+adversity they were unwilling to bear a part.  From sixty to seventy of
+those who remained memorialized the council, advising that terms should
+be made with the king.  No sooner, however, had the populace got
+intelligence of it than their indignation broke out in a violent uproar,
+which was with difficulty appeased by the imprisonment and fining of the
+petitioners.  Tranquillity could only be fully restored by publication
+of an edict, which imposed the penalty of death on all who either
+publicly or privately should countenance proposals for peace.
+
+The Prince of Parma did not fail to take advantage of these
+disturbances; for nothing that transpired within the city escaped his
+notice, being well served by the agents with whom he maintained a secret
+understanding with Antwerp, as well as the other towns of Brabant and
+Flanders.  Although he had already made considerable progress in his
+measures for distressing the town, still he had many steps to take
+before he could actually make himself master of it; and one unlucky
+moment might destroy the work of many months.  Without, therefore,
+neglecting any of his warlike preparations, he determined to make one
+more serious attempt to get possession by fair means.  With this object
+he despatched a letter in November to the great council of Antwerp, in
+which he skilfully made use of every topic likely to induce the citizens
+to come to terms, or at least to increase their existing dissensions.
+He treated them in this letter in the light of persons who had been led
+astray, and threw the whole blame of their revolt and refractory conduct
+hitherto upon the intriguing spirit of the Prince of Orange, from whose
+artifices the retributive justice of heaven had so lately liberated
+them.  "It was," he said, "now in their power to awake from their long
+infatuation and return to their allegiance to a monarch who was ready
+and anxious to be reconciled to his subjects.  For this end he gladly
+offered himself as mediator, as he had never ceased to love a country in
+which he had been born, and where he had spent the happiest days of his
+youth.  He therefore exhorted them to send plenipotentiaries with whom
+he could arrange the conditions of peace, and gave them hopes of
+obtaining reasonable terms if they made a timely submission, but also
+threatened them with the severest treatment if they pushed matters to
+extremity."
+
+This letter, in which we are glad to recognize a language very different
+from that which the Duke of Alva held ten years before on a similar
+occasion, was answered by the townspeople in a respectful and dignified
+tone.  While they did full justice to the personal character of the
+prince, and acknowledged his favorable intentions towards them with
+gratitude, they lamented the hardness of the times, which placed it out
+of his power to treat them in accordance with his character and
+disposition.  They declared that they would gladly place their fate in
+his hands if he were absolute master of his actions, instead of being
+obliged to obey the will of another, whose proceedings his own candor
+would not allow him to approve of.  The unalterable resolution of the
+King of Spain, as well as the vow which he had made to the pope, were
+only too well known for them to have any hopes in that quarter.  They at
+the same time defended with a noble warmth the memory of the Prince of
+Orange, their benefactor and preserver, while they enumerated the true
+cases which had produced this unhappy war, and had caused the provinces
+to revolt from the Spanish crown.  At the same time they did not
+disguise from him that they had hopes of finding a new and a milder
+master in the King of France, and that, if only for this reason, they
+could not enter into any treaty with the Spanish king without incurring
+the charge of the most culpable fickleness and ingratitude.
+
+The united provinces, in fact, dispirited by a succession of reverses,
+had at last come to the determination of placing themselves under the
+protection and sovereignty of France, and of preserving their existence
+and their ancient privileges by the sacrifice of their independence.
+With this view an embassy had some time before been despatched to Paris,
+and it was the prospect of this powerful assistance which principally
+supported the courage of the people of Antwerp.  Henry III., King of
+France, was personally disposed to accept this offer; but the troubles
+which the intrigues of the Spaniards contrived to excite within his own
+kingdom compelled him against his will to abandon it.  The provinces now
+turned for assistance to Queen Elizabeth of England, who sent them some
+supplies, which, however, came too late to save Antwerp.  While the
+people of this city were awaiting the issue of these negotiations, and
+expecting aid from foreign powers, they neglected, unfortunately, the
+most natural and immediate means of defence; the whole winter was lost,
+and while the enemy turned it to greater advantage the more complete was
+their indecision and inactivity.
+
+The burgomaster of Antwerp, St. Aldegonde, had, indeed, repeatedly urged
+the fleet of Zealand to attack the enemy's works, which should be
+supported on the other side from Antwerp.  The long and frequently
+stormy nights would favor this attempt, and if at the same time a sally
+were made by the garrison at Lillo, it seemed scarcely possible for
+the enemy to resist this triple assault.  But unfortunately
+misunderstandings had arisen between the commander of the fleet, William
+von Blois von Treslong, and the admiralty of Zealand, which caused the
+equipment of the fleet to be most unaccountably delayed.  In order to
+quicken their movements Teligny at last resolved to go himself to
+Middleburg, were the states of Zealand were assembled; but as the enemy
+were in possession of all the roads the attempt cost him his freedom and
+the republic its most valiant defender.  However, there was no want of
+enterprising vessels, which, under the favor of the night and the
+floodtide, passing through the still open bridge in spite of the enemy's
+fire, threw provisions into the town and returned with the ebb.  But as
+many of these vessels fell into the hands of the enemy the council gave
+orders that they should never risk the passage unless they amounted to a
+certain number; and the result, unfortunately, was that none attempted
+it because the required number could not be collected at one time.
+Several attacks were also made from Antwerp on the ships of the
+Spaniards, which were not entirely unsuccessful; some of the latter were
+captured, others sunk, and all that was required was to execute similar
+attempts on a grand scale.  But however zealously St. Aldegonde urged
+this, still not a captain was to be found who would command a vessel for
+that purpose.
+
+Amid these delays the winter expired, and scarcely had the ice begun to
+disappear when the construction of the bridge of boats was actively
+resumed by the besiegers.  Between the two piers a space of more than
+six hundred paces still remained to be filled up, which was effected in
+the following manner: Thirty-two flat-bottomed vessels, each sixty-six
+feet long and twenty broad, were fastened together with strong cables
+and iron chains, but at a distance from each other of about twenty feet
+to allow a free passage to the stream.  Each boat, moreover, was moored
+with two cables, both up and down the stream, but which, as the water
+rose with the tide, or sunk with the ebb, could be slackened or
+tightened.  Upon the boats great masts were laid which reached from one
+to another, and, being covered with planks, formed a regular road,
+which, like that along the piers, was protected with a balustrade.  This
+bridge of boats, of which the two piers formed a continuation, had,
+including the latter, a length of twenty-four thousand paces.  This
+formidable work was so ingeniously constructed, and so richly furnished
+with the instruments of destruction, that it seemed almost capable, like
+a living creature, of defending itself at the word of command,
+scattering death among all who approached.  Besides the two forts of St.
+Maria and St.  Philip, which terminated the bridge on either shore, and
+the two wooden bastions on the bridge itself, which were filled with
+soldiers and mounted with guns on all sides, each of the two-and-thirty
+vessels was manned with thirty soldiers and four sailors, and showed the
+cannon's mouth to the enemy, whether he carne up from Zealand or down
+from Antwerp.  There were in all ninety-seven cannon, which were
+distributed beneath and above the bridge, and more than fifteen hundred
+men who were posted, partly in the forts, partly in the vessels, and, in
+case of necessity, could maintain a terrible fire of small-arms upon the
+enemy.
+
+But with all this the prince did not consider his work sufficiently
+secure.  It was to be expected that the enemy would leave nothing
+unattempted to burst by the force of his machines the middle and weakest
+part.  To guard against this, he erected in a line with the bridge of
+boats, but at some distance from it, another distinct defence, intended
+to break the force of any attack that might be directed against the
+bridge itself.  This work consisted of thirty-three vessels of
+considerable magnitude, which were moored in a row athwart the stream
+and fastened in threes by masts, so that they formed eleven different
+groups.  Each of these, like a file of pikemen, presented fourteen long
+wooden poles with iron heads to the approaching enemy.  These vessels
+were loaded merely with ballast, and were anchored each by a double but
+slack cable, so as to be able to give to the rise and fall of the tide.
+As they were in constant motion they got from the soldiers the name of
+"swimmers."  The whole bridge of boats and also a part of the piers were
+covered by these swimmers, which were stationed above as well as below
+the bridge.  To all these defensive preparations was added a fleet of
+forty men-of-war, which were stationed on both coasts and served as a
+protection to the whole.
+
+This astonishing work was finished in March, 1585, the seventh month of
+the siege, and the day on which it was completed was kept as a jubilee
+by the troops.  The great event was announced to the besieged by a grand
+/fete de joie/, and the army, as if to enjoy ocular demonstration of its
+triumph, extended itself along the whole platform to gaze upon the proud
+stream, peacefully and obediently flowing under the yoke which had been
+imposed upon it.  All the toil they had undergone was forgotton in the
+delightful spectacle, and every man who had had a hand in it, however
+insignificant he might be, assumed to himself a portion of the honor
+which the successful execution of so gigantic an enterprise conferred on
+its illustrious projector.  On the other hand, nothing could equal the
+consternation which seized the citizens of Antwerp when intelligence was
+brought them that the Scheldt was now actually closed, and all access
+from Zealand cut off.  To increase their dismay they learned the fall of
+Brussels also, which had at last been compelled by famine to capitulate.
+An attempt made by the Count of Hohenlohe about the same time on
+Herzogenbusch, with a view to recapture the town, or at least form a
+diversion, was equally unsuccessful; and thus the unfortunate city lost
+all hope of assistance, both by sea and land.
+
+These evil tidings were brought them by some fugitives who had succeeded
+in passing the Spanish videttes, and had made their way into the town;
+and a spy, whom the burgomaster had sent out to reconnoitre the enemy's
+works, increased the general alarm by his report.  He had been seized
+and carried before the Prince of Parma, who commanded him to be
+conducted over all the works, and all the defences of the bridge to be
+pointed out to him.  After this had been done he was again brought
+before the general, who dismissed him with these words: "Go," said he,
+"and report what you have seen to those who sent you.  And tell them,
+too, that it is my firm resolve to bury myself under the ruins of this
+bridge or by means of it to pass into your town."
+
+But the certainty of danger now at last awakened the zeal of the
+confederates, and it was no fault of theirs if the former half of the
+prince's vow was not fulfilled.  The latter had long viewed with
+apprehension the preparations which were making in Zealand for the
+relief of the town.  He saw clearly that it was from this quarter that
+he had to fear the most dangerous blow, and that with all his works he
+could not make head against the combined fleets of Zealand and Antwerp
+if they were to fall upon him at the same time and at the proper moment.
+For a while the delays of the admiral of Zealand, which he had labored
+by all the means in his power to prolong, had been his security, but now
+the urgent necessity accelerated the expedition, and without waiting for
+the admiral the states at Middleburg despatched the Count Justin of
+Nassau, with as many ships as they could muster, to the assistance of
+the besieged.  This fleet took up a position before Liefkenshoek, which
+was in possession of the Spaniards, and, supported by a few vessels from
+the opposite fort of Lillo, cannonaded it with such success that the
+walls were in a short time demolished, and the place carried by storm.
+The Walloons who formed the garrison did not display the firmness which
+might have been expected from soldiers of the Duke of Parma; they
+shamefully surrendered the fort to the enemy, who in a short time were
+in possession of the whole island of Doel, with all the redoubts
+situated upon it.  The loss of these places, which were, however, soon
+retaken, incensed the Duke of Parma so much that he tried the officers
+by court-martial, and caused the most culpable among them to be
+beheaded.  Meanwhile this important conquest opened to the Zealanders a
+free passage as far as the bridge, and after concerting with the people
+of Antwerp the time was fixed for a combined attack on this work.  It
+was arranged that, while the bridge of boats was blown up by machines
+already prepared in Antwerp, the Zealand fleet, with a sufficient supply
+of provisions, should be in the vicinity, ready to sail to the town
+through the opening.
+
+While the Duke of Parma was engaged in constructing his bridge an
+engineer within the walls was already preparing the materials for its
+destruction.  Frederick Gianibelli was the name of the man whom fate had
+destined to be the Archimedes of Antwerp, and to exhaust in its defence
+the same ingenuity with the same want of success.  He was born in
+Mantua, and had formerly visited Madrid for the purpose, it was said,
+of offering his services to King Philip in the Belgian war.  But wearied
+with waiting the offended engineer left the court with the intention of
+making the King of Spain sensibly feel the value of talents which he had
+so little known how to appreciate.  He next sought the service of Queen
+Elizabeth of England, the declared enemy of Spain, who, after witnessing
+a few specimens of his skill, sent him to Antwerp.  He took up his
+residence in that town, and in the present extremity devoted to its
+defence his knowledge, his energy, and his zeal.
+
+As soon as this artist perceived that the project of erecting the bridge
+was seriously intended, and that the work was fast approaching to
+completion, he applied to the magistracy for three large vessels, from a
+hundred and fifty to five hundred tons, in which he proposed to place
+mines.  He also demanded sixty boats, which, fastened together with
+cables and chains, furnished with projecting grappling-irons, and put in
+motion with the ebbing of the tide, were intended to second the
+operation of the mine-ships by being directed in a wedgelike form
+against the bridge.  But he had to deal with men who were quite
+incapable of comprehending an idea out of the common way, and even where
+the salvation of their country was at stake could not forget the
+calculating habits of trade.
+
+His scheme was rejected as too expensive, and with difficulty he at last
+obtained the grant of two smaller vessels, from seventy to eighty tons,
+with a number of flat-bottomed boats.  With these two vessels, one of
+which he called the "Fortune" and the other the "Hope," he proceeded in
+the following manner: In the hold of each he built a hollow chamber of
+freestone, five feet broad, three and a half high, and forty long.  This
+magazine he filled with sixty hundredweight of the finest priming powder
+of his own compounding, and covered it with as heavy a weight of large
+slabs and millstones as the vessels could carry.  Over these he further
+added a roof of similar stones, which ran up to a point and projected
+six feet above the ship's side.  The deck itself was crammed with iron
+chains and hooks, knives, nails, and other destructive missiles; the
+remaining space, which was not occupied by the magazine, was likewise
+filled up with planks.  Several small apertures were left in the chamber
+for the matches which were to set fire to the mine.  For greater
+certainty he had also contrived a piece of mechanism which, after the
+lapse of a given time, would strike out sparks, and even if the matches
+failed would set the ship on fire.  To delude the enemy into a belief
+that these machines were only intended to set the bridge on fire, a
+composition of brimstone and pitch was placed in the top, which could
+burn a whole hour.  And still further to divert the enemy's attention
+from the proper seat of danger, he also prepared thirty-two flatbottomed
+boats, upon which there were only fireworks burning, and whose sole
+object was to deceive the enemy.  These fire-ships were to be sent down
+upon the bridge in four separate squadrons, at intervals of half an
+hour, and keep the enemy incessantly engaged for two whole hours, so
+that, tired of firing and wearied by vain expectation, they might at
+last relax their vigilance before the real fire-ships came.  In addition
+to all this he also despatched a few vessels in which powder was
+concealed in order to blow up the floating work before the bridge, and
+to clear a passage for the two principal ships.  At the same time he
+hoped by this preliminary attack to engage the enemy's attention, to
+draw them out, and expose them to the full deadly effect of the volcano.
+
+The night between the 4th and 5th of April was fixed for the execution
+of this great undertaking.  An obscure rumor of it had already diffused
+itself through the Spanish camp, and particularly from the circumstance
+of many divers from Antwerp having been detected endeavoring to cut the
+cables of the vessels.  They were prepared, therefore, for a serious
+attack; they only mistook the real nature of it, and counted on having
+to fight rather with man than the elements.  In this expectation the
+duke caused the guards along the whole bank to be doubled, and drew up
+the chief part of his troops in the vicinity of the bridge, where he was
+present in person; thus meeting the danger while endeavoring to avoid
+it.
+
+No sooner was it dark than three burning vessels were seen to float down
+from the city towards the bridge, then three more, and directly after
+the same number.  They beat to arms throughout the Spanish camp, and the
+whole length of the bridge was crowded with soldiers.  Meantime the
+number of the fire-ships increased, and they came in regular order down
+the stream, sometimes two and sometimes three abreast, being at first
+steered by sailors on board them.  The admiral of the Antwerp fleet,
+Jacob Jacobson (whether designedly or through carelessness is not
+known), had committed the error of sending off the four squadrons of
+fire-ships too quickly one after another, and caused the two large mine-
+ships also to follow them too soon, and thus disturbed the intended
+order of attack.
+
+The array of vessels kept approaching, and the darkness of night still
+further heightened the extraordinary spectacle.  As far as the eye could
+follow the course of the stream all was fire; the fire-ships burning as
+brilliantly as if they were themselves in the flames; the surface of the
+water glittered with light; the dykes and the batteries along the shore,
+the flags, arms, and accoutrements of the soldiers who lined the rivers
+as well as the bridges were clearly distinguishable in the glare.  With
+a mingled sensation of awe and pleasure the soldiers watched the unusual
+sight, which rather resembled a fete than a hostile preparation, but
+from the very strangeness of the contrast filled the mind with a
+mysterious awe.  When the burning fleet had come within two thousand
+paces of the bridge those who had the charge of it lighted the matches,
+impelled the two mine-vessels into the middle of the stream, and leaving
+the others to the guidance of the current of the waves, they hastily
+made their escape in boats which had been kept in readiness.
+
+Their course, however, was irregular, and destitute of steersmen they
+arrived singly and separately at the floating works, where they
+continued hanging or were dashed off sidewise on the shore.  The
+foremost powder-ships, which were intended to set fire to the floating
+works, were cast, by the force of a squall which arose at that instant,
+on the Flemish coast.  One of the two, the "Fortune," grounded in its
+passage before it reached the bridge, and killed by its explosion some
+Spanish soldiers who were at work in a neighboring battery.  The other
+and larger fire-ship, called the "Hope," narrowly escaped a similar
+fate.  The current drove her against the floating defences towards the
+Flemish bank, where it remained hanging, and had it taken fire at that
+moment the greatest part of its effect would have been lost.  Deceived
+by the flames which this machine, like the other vessels, emitted, the
+Spaniards took it for a common fire-ship, intended to burn the bridge of
+boats.  And as they had seen them extinguished one after the other
+without further effect all fears were dispelled, and the Spaniards began
+to ridicule the preparations of the enemy, which had been ushered in
+with so much display and now had so absurd an end.  Some of the boldest
+threw themselves into the stream in order to get a close view of the
+fire-ship and extinguish it, when by its weight it suddenly broke
+through, burst the floating work which had detained it, and drove with
+terrible force on the bridge of boats.  All was now in commotion on the
+bridge, and the prince called to the sailors to keep the vessel off with
+poles, and to extinguish the flames before they caught the timbers.
+
+At this critical moment he was standing at the farthest end of the left
+pier, where it formed a bastion in the water and joined the bridge of
+boats.  By his side stood the Margrave of Rysburg, general of cavalry
+and governor of the province of Artois, who had formerly-served the
+states, but from a protector of the republic had become its worst enemy;
+the Baron of Billy, governor of Friesland and commander of the German
+regiments; the Generals Cajetan and Guasto, with several of the
+principal officers; all forgetful of their own danger and entirely
+occupied with averting the general calamity.  At this moment a Spanish
+ensign approached the Prince of Parma and conjured him to remove from a
+place where his life was in manifest and imminent peril.  No attention
+being paid to his entreaty he repeated it still more urgently, and at
+last fell at his feet and implored him in this one instance to take
+advice from his servant.  While he said this he had laid hold of the
+duke's coat as though he wished forcibly to draw him away from the spot,
+and the latter, surprised rather at the man's boldness than persuaded by
+his arguments, retired at last to the shore, attended by Cajetan and
+Guasto.  He had scarcely time to reach the fort St. Maria at the end of
+the bridge when an explosion took place behind him, just as if the earth
+had burst or the vault of heaven given way.  The duke and his whole army
+fell to the ground as dead, and several minutes elapsed before they
+recovered their consciousness.
+
+But then what a sight presented itself!  The waters of the Scheldt had
+been divided to its lowest depth, and driven with a surge which rose
+like a wall above the dam that confined it, so that all the
+fortifications on the banks were several feet under water.  The earth
+shook for three miles round.  Nearly the whole left pier, on which the
+fire-ship had been driven, with a part of the bridge of boats, had been
+burst and shattered to atoms, with all that was upon it; spars, cannon,
+and men blown into the air.  Even the enormous blocks of stone which had
+covered the mine had, by the force of the explosion, been hurled into
+the neighboring fields, so that many of them were afterwards dug out of
+the ground at a distance of a thousand paces from the bridge.  Six
+vessels were buried, several had gone to pieces.  But still more
+terrible was the carnage which the murderous machine had dealt amongst
+the soldiers.  Five hundred, according to other reports even eight
+hundred, were sacrificed to its fury, without reckoning those who
+escaped with mutilated or injured bodies.  The most opposite kinds of
+death were combined in this frightful moment.  Some were consumed by the
+flames of the explosion, others scalded to death by the boiling water of
+the river, others stifled by the poisonous vapor of the brimstone; some
+were drowned in the stream, some buried under the hail of falling masses
+of rock, many cut to pieces by the knives and hooks, or shattered by the
+balls which were poured from the bowels of the machine.  Some were found
+lifeless without any visible injury, having in all probability been
+killed by the mere concussion of the air.  The spectacle which presented
+itself directly after the firing of the mine was fearful.  Men were seen
+wedged between the palisades of the bridge, or struggling to release
+themselves from beneath ponderous masses of rock, or hanging in the
+rigging of the ships; and from all places and quarters the most
+heartrending cries for help arose, but as each was absorbed in his own
+safety these could only be answered by helpless wailings.
+
+Many had escaped in the most wonderful manner.  An officer named Tucci
+was carried by the whirlwind like a feather high into the air, where he
+was for a moment suspended, and then dropped into the river, where he
+saved himself by swimming.  Another was taken up by the force of the
+blast from the Flanders shore and deposited on that of Brabant,
+incurring merely a slight contusion on the shoulder; he felt, as he
+afterwards said, during this rapid aerial transit, just as if he had
+been fired out of a cannon.  The Prince of Parma himself had never been
+so near death as at that moment, when half a minute saved his life.  He
+had scarcely set foot in the fort of St. Maria when he was lifted off
+his feet as if by a hurricane, and a beam which struck him on the head
+and shoulders stretched him senseless on the earth.  For a long time he
+was believed to be actually killed, many remembering to have seen him on
+the bridge only a few minutes before the fatal explosion.  He was found
+at last between his attendants, Cajetan and Guasto, raising himself up
+with his hand on his sword; and the intelligence stirred the spirits of
+the whole army.  But vain would be the attempt to depict his feelings
+when he surveyed the devastation which a single moment had caused in the
+work of so many months.  The bridge of boats, upon which all his hopes
+rested, was rent asunder; a great part of his army was destroyed;
+another portion maimed and rendered ineffective for many days; many of
+his best officers were killed; and, as if the present calamity were not
+sufficient, he had now to learn the painful intelligence that the
+Margrave of Rysburg, whom of all his officers he prized the highest, was
+missing.  And yet the worst was still to come, for every moment the
+fleets of the enemy were to be expected from Antwerp and Lillo, to which
+this fearful position of the army would disable him from offering any
+effectual resistance.  The bridge was entirely destroyed, and nothing
+could prevent the fleet from Zealand passing through in full sail; while
+the confusion of the troops in this first moment was so great and
+general that it would have been impossible to give or obey orders, as
+many corps had lost their commanding officers, and many commanders their
+corps; and even the places where they had been stationed were no longer
+to be recognized amid the general ruin.  Add to this that all the
+batteries on shore were under water, that several cannon were sunk, that
+the matches were wet, and the ammunition damaged.  What a moment for the
+enemy if they had known how to avail themselves of it!
+
+It will scarcely be believed, however, that this success, which
+surpassed all expectation, was lost to Antwerp, simply because nothing
+was known of it.  St. Aldegonde, indeed, as soon as the explosion of the
+mine was heard in the town, had sent out several galleys in the
+direction of the bridge, with orders to send up fire-balls and rockets
+the moment they had passed it, and then to sail with the intelligence
+straight on to Lillo, in order to bring up, without delay, the Zealand
+fleet, which had orders to co-operate.  At the same time the admiral of
+Antwerp was ordered, as soon as the signal was given, to sail out with
+his vessels and attack the enemy in their first consternation.  But
+although a considerable reward was promised to the boatmen sent to
+reconnoitre they did not venture near the enemy, but returned without
+effecting their purpose, and reported that the bridge of boats was
+uninjured, and the fire-ship had had no effect.  Even on the following
+day also no better measures were taken to learn the true state of the
+bridge; and as the fleet at Lillo, in spite of the favorable wind, was
+seen to remain inactive, the belief that the fire-ships had accomplished
+nothing was confirmed.  It did not seem to occur to any one that this
+very inactivity of the confederates, which misled the people of Antwerp,
+might also keep back the Zealanders at Lille, as in fact it did.  So
+signal an instance of neglect could only have occurred in a government,
+which, without dignity of independence, was guided by the tumultuous
+multitude it ought to have governed.  The more supine, however, they
+were themselves in opposing the enemy, the more violently did their rage
+boil against Gianibelli, whom the frantic mob would have torn in pieces
+if they could have caught him.  For two days the engineer was in the
+most imminent danger, until at last, on the third morning, a courier
+from Lillo, who had swam under the bridge, brought authentic
+intelligence of its having been destroyed, but at the same time
+announced that it had been repaired.
+
+This rapid restoration of the bridge was really a miraculous effort of
+the Prince of Parma.  Scarcely had he recovered from the shock, which
+seemed to have overthrown all his plans, when he contrived, with
+wonderful presence of mind, to prevent all its evil consequences.  The
+absence of the enemy's fleet at this decisive moment revived his hopes.
+The ruinous state of the bridge appeared to be a secret to them, and
+though it was impossible to repair in a few hours the work of so many
+months, yet a great point would be gained if it could be done even in
+appearance.  All his men were immediately set to work to remove the
+ruins, to raise the timbers which had been thrown down, to replace those
+which were demolished, and to fill up the chasms with ships.  The duke
+himself did not refuse to share in the toil, and his example was
+followed by all his officers.  Stimulated by this popular behavior, the
+common soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost; the work was carried
+on during the whole night under the constant sounding of drums and
+trumpets, which were distributed along the bridge to drown the noise of
+the work-people.  With dawn of day few traces remained of the night's
+havoc; and although the bridge was restored only in appearance, it
+nevertheless deceived the spy, and consequently no attack was made upon
+it.  In the meantime the prince contrived to make the repairs solid,
+nay, even to introduce some essential alterations in the structure.  In
+order to guard against similar accidents for the future, a part of the
+bridge of boats was made movable, so that in case of necessity it could
+be taken away and a passage opened to the fire-ships.  His loss of men
+was supplied from the garrisons of the adjoining places, and by a German
+regiment which arrived very opportunely from Gueldres.  He filled up the
+vacancies of the officers who were killed, and in doing this he did not
+forget the Spanish ensign who had saved his life.
+
+The people of Antwerp, after learning the success of their mine-ship,
+now did homage to the inventor with as much extravagance as they had a
+short time before mistrusted him, and they encouraged his genius to new
+attempts.  Gianibelli now actually obtained the number of flat-bottomed
+vessels which he had at first demanded in vain, and these he equipped in
+such a manner that they struck with irresistible force on the bridge,
+and a second time also burst and separated it.  But this time, the wind
+was contrary to the Zealand fleet, so that they could not put out, and
+thus the prince obtained once more the necessary respite to repair the
+damage.  The Archimedes of Antwerp was not deterred by any of these
+disappointments.  Anew he fitted out two large vessels which were armed
+with iron hooks and similar instruments in order to tear asunder the
+bridge.  But when the moment came for these vessels to get under weigh
+no one was found ready to embark in them.  The engineer was therefore
+obliged to think of a plan for giving to these machines such a self-
+impulse that, without being guided by a steersman, they would keep the
+middle of the stream, and not, like the former ones, be driven on the
+bank by the wind.  One of his workmen, a German, here hit upon a strange
+invention, if Strada's description of it is to be credited.  He affixed
+a sail under the vessel, which was to be acted upon by the water, just
+as an ordinary sail is by the wind, and could thus impel the ship with
+the whole force of the current.  The result proved the correctness of
+his calculation; for this vessel, with the position of its sails
+reversed, not only kept the centre of the stream, but also ran against
+the bridge with such impetuosity that the enemy had not time to open it
+and was actually burst asunder.  But all these results were of no
+service to the town, because the attempts were made at random and were
+supported by no adequate force.  A new fire-ship, equipped like the
+former, which had succeeded so well, and which Gianibelli had filled
+with four thousand pounds of the finest powder was not even used; for a
+new mode of attempting their deliverance had now occurred to the people
+of Antwerp.
+
+Terrified by so many futile attempts from endeavoring to clear a
+passage for vessels on the river by force, they at last came to the
+determination of doing without the stream entirely.  They remembered the
+example of the town of Leyden, which, when besieged by the Spaniards ten
+years before, had saved itself by opportunely inundating the surrounding
+country, and it was resolved to imitate this example.  Between Lillo and
+Stabroek, in the district of Bergen, a wide and somewhat sloping plain
+extends as far as Antwerp, being protected by numerous embankments and
+counter-embankments against the irruptions of the East Scheldt.  Nothing
+more was requisite than to break these dams, when the whole plain would
+become a sea, navigable by flat-bottomed vessels almost to the very
+walls of Antwerp.  If this attempt should succeed, the Duke of Parma
+might keep the Scheldt guarded with his bridge of boats as long as he
+pleased; a new river would be formed, which, in case of necessity, would
+be equally serviceable for the time.  This was the very plan which the
+Prince of Orange had at the commencement of the siege recommended, and
+in which he had been strenuously, but unsuccessfully, seconded by St.
+Aldegonde, because some of the citizens could not be persuaded to
+sacrifice their own fields.  In the present emergency they reverted to
+this last resource, but circumstances in the meantime had greatly
+changed.
+
+The plain in question is intersected by a broad and high dam, which
+takes its name from the adjacent Castle of Cowenstein, and extends for
+three miles from the village of Stabroek, in Bergen, as far as the
+Scheldt, with the great dam of which it unites near Ordam.  Beyond this
+dam no vessels can proceed, however high the tide, and the sea would be
+vainly turned into the fields as long as such an embankment remained in
+the way, which would prevent the Zealand vessels from descending into
+the plain before Antwerp.  The fate of the town would therefore depend
+upon the demolition of this Cowenstein dam; but, foreseeing this, the
+Prince of Parma had, immediately on commencing the blockade, taken
+possession of it, and spared no pains to render it tenable to the last.
+At the village of Stabroek, Count Mansfeld was encamped with the
+greatest part of his army, and by means of this very Cowenstein dam kept
+open the communication with the bridge, the headquarters, and the
+Spanish magazines at Calloo.  Thus the army formed an uninterrupted line
+from Stabroek in Brabant, as far as Bevern in Flanders, intersected
+indeed, but not broken by the Scheldt, and which could not be cut off
+without a sanguinary conflict.  On the dam itself within proper
+distances five different batteries had been erected, the command of
+which was given to the most valiant officers in the army.  Nay, as the
+Prince of Parma could not doubt that now the whole fury of the war would
+be turned to this point, he entrusted the defence of the bridge to Count
+Mansfeld, and resolved to defend this important post himself.  The war,
+therefore, now assumed a different aspect, and the theatre of it was
+entirely changed.
+
+Both above and below Lillo, the Netherlanders had in several places cut
+through the dam, which follows the Brabant shore of the Scheldt; and
+where a short time before had been green fields, a new element now
+presented itself, studded with masts and boats.  A Zealand fleet,
+commanded by Count Hohenlohe, navigated the inundated fields, and made
+repeated movements against the Cowenstein dam, without, however,
+attempting a serious attack on it, while another fleet showed itself in
+the Scheldt, threatening the two coasts alternately with a landing, and
+occasionally the bridge of boats with an attack.  For several days this
+manoeuvre was practised on the enemy, who, uncertain of the quarter
+whence an attack was to be expected, would, it was hoped, be exhausted
+by continual watching, and by degrees lulled into security by so many
+false alarms.  Antwerp had promised Count Hohenlohe to support the
+attack on the dam by a flotilla from the town; three beacons on the
+principal tower were to be the signal that this was on the way.  When,
+therefore, on a dark night the expected columns of fire really ascended
+above Antwerp, Count Hohenlohe immediately caused five hundred of his
+troops to scale the dam between two of the enemy's redoubts, who
+surprised part of the Spanish garrison asleep, and cut down the others
+who attempted to defend themselves.  In a short time they had gained a
+firm footing upon the dam, and were just on the point of disembarking
+the remainder of their force, two thousand in number, when the Spaniards
+in the adjoining redoubts marched out and, favored by the narrowness of
+the ground, made a desperate attack on the crowded Zealanders.  The guns
+from the neighboring batteries opened upon the approaching fleet, and
+thus rendered the landing of the remaining troops impossible; and as
+there were no signs of co-operation on the part of the city, the
+Zealanders were overpowered after a short conflict and again driven down
+from the dam.  The victorious Spaniards pursued them through the water
+as far as their boats, sunk many of the latter, and compelled the rest
+to retreat with heavy loss.  Count Hohenlohe threw the blame of this
+defeat upon the inhabitants of Antwerp, who had deceived him by a false
+signal, and it certainly must be attributed to the bad arrangement of
+both parties that the attempt failed of better success.
+
+But at last the allies determined to make a systematic assault on the
+enemy with their combined force, and to put an end to the siege by a
+grand attack as well on the dam as on the bridge.  The 16th of May,
+1585, was fixed upon for the execution of this design, and both armies
+used their utmost endeavors to make this day decisive.  The force of the
+Hollanders and Zealanders, united to that of Antwerp, exceeded two
+hundred ships, to man which they had stripped their towns and citadels,
+and with this force they purposed to attack the Cowenstein dam on both
+sides.  The bridge over the Scheldt was to be assailed with new machines
+of Gianibelli's invention, and the Duke of Parma thereby hindered from
+assisting the defence of the dam.
+
+Alexander, apprised of the danger which threatened him, spared nothing
+on his side to meet it with energy.  Immediately after getting
+possession of the dam he had caused redoubts to be erected at five
+different, places, and had given the command of them to the most
+experienced officers of the army.  The first of these, which was called
+the Cross battery, was erected on the spot where the Cowenstein darn
+enters the great embankment of the Scheldt, and makes with the latter
+the form of a cross; the Spaniard, Mondragone, was appointed to the
+command of this battery.  A thousand paces farther on, near the castle
+of Cowenstein, was posted the battery of St. James, which was entrusted
+to the command of Camillo di Monte.  At an equal distance from this lay
+the battery of St. George, and at a thousand paces from the latter, the
+Pile battery, under the command of Gamboa, so called from the pile-work
+on which it rested; at the farthest end of the darn, near Stabroek, was
+the fifth redoubt, where Count Mansfeld, with Capizuechi, an Italian,
+commanded.  All these forts the prince now strengthened with artillery
+and men; on both sides of the dam, and along its whole extent, he caused
+piles to be driven, as well to render the main embankment firmer, as to
+impede the labor of the pioneers, who were to dig through it.
+
+Early on the morning of the 16th of May the enemy's forces were in
+motion.  With the dusk of dawn there came floating down from Lillo, over
+the inundated country, four burning vessels, which so alarmed the guards
+upon the dams, who recollected the former terrible explosion, that they
+hastily retreated to the next battery.  This was exactly what the enemy
+desired.  In these vessels, which had merely the appearance of fire-
+ships, soldiers were concealed, who now suddenly jumped ashore, and
+succeeded in mounting the dam at the undefended spot, between the St.
+George and Pile batteries.  Immediately afterward the whole Zealand
+fleet showed itself, consisting of numerous ships-of-war, transports,
+and a crowd of smaller craft, which were laden with great sacks of
+earth, wool, fascines, gabions, and the like, for throwing up
+breastworks wherever necessary, The ships-of-war were furnished with
+powerful artillery, and numerously and bravely manned, and a whole army
+of pioneers accompanied it in order to dig through the dam as soon as it
+should be in their possession.
+
+The Zealanders had scarcely begun on their side to ascend the dam when
+the fleet of Antwerp advanced from Osterweel and attacked it on the
+other.  A high breastwork was hastily thrown up between the two nearest
+hostile batteries, so as at once to divide the two garrisons and to
+cover the pioneers.  The latter, several hundreds in number, now fell to
+work with their spades on both sides of the dam, and dug with such
+energy that hopes were entertained of soon seeing the two seas united.
+But meanwhile the Spaniards also had gained time to hasten to the spot
+from the two nearest redoubts, and make a spirited assault, while the
+guns from the battery of St. George played incessantly on the enemy's
+fleet.  A furious battle now raged in the quarter where they were
+cutting through the dike and throwing up the breastworks.  The
+Zealanders had drawn a strong line of troops round the pioneers to keep
+the enemy from interrupting their work, and in this confusion of battle,
+in the midst of a storm of bullets from the enemy, often up to the
+breast in water, among the dead and dying, the pioneers pursued their
+work, under the incessant exhortations of the merchants, who impatiently
+waited to see the dam opened and their vessels in safety.  The
+importance of the result, which it might be said depended entirely upon
+their spades, appeared to animate even the common laborers with heroic
+courage.  Solely intent upon their task, they neither saw nor heard the
+work of death which was going on around them, and as fast as the
+foremost ranks fell those behind them pressed into their places.  Their
+operations were greatly impeded by the piles which had been driven in,
+but still more by the attacks of the Spaniards, who burst with desperate
+courage through the thickest of the enemy, stabbed the pioneers in the
+pits where they were digging, and filled up again with dead bodies the
+cavities which the living had made.  At last, however, when most of
+their officers were killed or wounded, and the number of the enemy
+constantly increasing, while fresh laborers were supplying the place of
+those who had been slain, the courage of these valiant troops began to
+give way, and they thought it advisable to retreat to their batteries.
+Now, therefore, the confederates saw themselves masters of the whole
+extent of the dam, from Fort St. George as far as the Pile battery.  As,
+however, it seemed too long to wait for the thorough demolition of the
+dam, they hastily unloaded a Zealand transport, and brought the cargo
+over the dam to a vessel of Antwerp, with which Count Hohenlohe sailed
+in triumph to that city.  The sight of the provisions at once filled the
+inhabitants with joy, and as if the victory was already won, they gave
+themselves up to the wildest exultation.  The bells were rung, the
+cannon discharged, and the inhabitants, transported by their unexpected
+success, hurried to the Osterweel gate, to await the store-ships which
+were supposed to be at hand.
+
+In fact, fortune had never smiled so favorably on the besieged as at
+that moment.  The enemy, exhausted and dispirited, had thrown themselves
+into their batteries, and, far from being able to struggle with the
+victors for the post they had conquered, they found themselves rather
+besieged in the places where they had taken refuge.  Some companies of
+Scots, led by their brave colonel, Balfour, attacked the battery of St.
+George, which, however, was relieved, but not without severe loss, by
+Camillo di Monte, who hastened thither from St. James' battery.  The
+Pile battery was in a much worse condition, it being hotly cannonaded by
+the ships, and threatened every moment to crumble to pieces.  Gainboa,
+who commanded it, lay wounded, and it was unfortunately deficient in
+artillery to keep the enemy at a distance.  The breastwork, too, which
+the Zealanders had thrown up between this battery and that of St.
+George cut off all hope of assistance from the Scheldt.  If, therefore,
+the Belgians had only taken advantage of this weakness and inactivity of
+the enemy to proceed with zeal and perseverance in cutting through the
+dam, there is no doubt that a passage might have been made, and thus put
+an end to the whole siege.  But here also the same want of consistent
+energy showed itself which had marked the conduct of the people of
+Antwerp during the whole course of the siege.  The zeal with which the
+work had been commenced cooled in proportion to the success which
+attended it.  It was soon found too tedious to dig through the dyke; it
+seemed far easier to transfer the cargoes from the large store-ships
+into smaller ones, and carry these to the town with the flood tide.  St.
+Aldegonde and Hohenlohe, instead of remaining to animate the industry of
+the workmen by their personal presence, left the scene of action at the
+decisive moment, in order, by sailing to the town with a corn vessel, to
+win encomiums on their wisdom and valor.
+
+While both parties were fighting on the dam with the most obstinate fury
+the bridge over the Scheldt had been attacked from Antwerp with new
+machines, in order to give employment to the prince in that quarter.
+But the sound of the firing soon apprised him of what was going on at
+the dyke, and as soon as he saw the bridge clear he hastened to support
+the defence of the dyke.  Followed by two hundred Spanish pikemen, he
+flew to the place of attack, and arrived just in time to prevent the
+complete defeat of his troops.  He hastily posted some guns which he had
+brought with him in the two nearest redoubts, and maintained from thence
+a heavy fire upon the enemy's ships.  He placed himself at the head of
+his men, and, with his sword in one hand and shield in the other, led
+them against the enemy.  The news of his arrival, which quickly spread
+from one end of the dyke to the other, revived the drooping spirits of
+his troops, and the conflict recommenced with renewed violence, made
+still more murderous by the nature of the ground where it was fought.
+Upon the narrow ridge of the dam, which in many places was not more than
+nine paces broad, about five thousand combatants were fighting; so
+confined was the spot upon which the strength of both armies was
+assembled, and which was to decide the whole issue of the siege.  With
+the Antwerpers the last bulwark of their city was at stake; with the
+Spaniards it was to determine the whole success of their undertaking.
+Both parties fought with a courage which despair alone could inspire.
+From both the extremities of the dam the tide of war rolled itself
+towards the centre, where the Zealanders and Antwerpers had the
+advantage, and where they had collected their whole strength.  The
+Italians and Spaniards, inflamed by a noble emulation, pressed on from
+Stabroek; and from the Scheldt the Walloons and Spaniards advanced, with
+their general at their head.  While the former endeavored to relieve the
+Pile battery, which was hotly pressed by the enemy, both by sea and
+land, the latter threw themselves on the breastwork, between the St.
+George and the Pile batteries, with a fury which carried everything
+before it.  Here the flower of the Belgian troops fought behind a well-
+fortified rampart, and the guns of the two fleets covered this important
+post.  The prince was already pressing forward to attack this formidable
+defence with his small army when he received intelligence that the
+Italians and Spaniards, under Capizucchi and Aquila, had forced their
+way, sword in hand, into the Pile battery, had got possession of it, and
+were now likewise advancing from the other side against the enemy's
+breastwork.  Before this intrenchment, therefore, the whole force of
+both armies was now collected, and both sides used their utmost efforts
+to carry and to defend this position.  The Netherlanders on board the
+fleet, loath to remain idle spectators of the conflict, sprang ashore
+from their vessels.  Alexander attacked the breastwork on one side,
+Count Mansfeld on the other; five assaults were made, and five times
+they were repulsed.  The Netherlanders in this decisive moment surpassed
+themselves; never in the whole course of the war had they fought with
+such determination.  But it was the Scotch and English in particular who
+baffled the attempts of the enemy by their valiant resistance.  As no
+one would advance to the attack in the quarter where the Scotch fought,
+the duke himself led on the troops, with a javelin in his hand, and up
+to his breast in water.  At last, after a protracted struggle, the
+forces of Count Mansfeld succeeded with their halberds and pikes in
+making a breach in the breastwork, and by raising themselves on one
+another's shoulders scaled the parapet.  Barthelemy Toralva, a Spanish
+captain, was the first who showed himself on the top; and almost at the
+same instant the Italian, Capizucchi, appeared upon the edge of it; and
+thus the contest of valor was decided with equal glory for both nations.
+It is worth while to notice here the manner in which the Prince of
+Parma, who was made arbiter of this emulous strife, encouraged this
+delicate sense of honor among his warriors.  He embraced the Italian,
+Capizucchi, in presence of the troops, and acknowledged aloud that it
+was principally to the courage of this officer that he owed the capture
+of the breastwork.  He caused the Spanish captain, Toralva, who was
+dangerously wounded, to be conveyed to his own quarters at Stabroek,
+laid on his own bed, and covered with the cloak which he himself had
+worn the day before the battle.
+
+After the capture of the breastwork the victory no longer remained
+doubtful.  The Dutch and Zealand troops, who had disembarked to come to
+close action with the enemy, at once lost their courage when they looked
+about them and saw the vessels, which were their last refuge, putting
+off from the shore.
+
+For the tide had begun to ebb, and the commanders of the fleet, from
+fear of being stranded with their heavy transports, and, in case of an
+unfortunate issue to the engagement, becoming the prey of the enemy,
+retired from the dam, and made for deep water.  No sooner did Alexander
+perceive this than he pointed out to his troops the flying vessels, and
+encouraged them to finish the action with an enemy who already despaired
+of their safety.  The Dutch auxiliaries were the first that gave way,
+and their example was soon followed by the Zealanders.  Hastily leaping
+from the dam they endeavored to reach the vessels by wading or swimming;
+but from their disorderly flight they impeded one another, and fell in
+heaps under the swords of the pursuers.  Many perished even in the
+boats, as each strove to get on board before the other, and several
+vessels sank under the weight of the numbers who rushed into them.  The
+Antwerpers, who fought for their liberty, their hearths, their faith,
+were the last who retreated, but this very circumstance augmented their
+disaster.  Many of their vessels were outstripped by the ebb-tide, and
+grounded within reach of the enemy's cannon, and were consequently
+destroyed with all on board.  Crowds of fugitives endeavored by swimming
+to gain the other transports, which had got into deep water; but such
+was the rage and boldness of the Spaniards that they swam after them
+with their swords between their teeth, and dragged many even from the
+ships.  The victory of the king's troops was complete but bloody; for of
+the Spaniards about eight hundred, of the Netherlanders some thousands
+(without reckoning those who were drowned), were left on the field, and
+on both sides many of the principal nobility perished.  More than thirty
+vessels, with a large supply of provisions for Antwerp, fell into the
+hands of the victors, with one hundred and fifty cannon and other
+military stores.  The dam, the possession of which had been so dearly
+maintained, was pierced in thirteen different places, and the bodies of
+those who had cut through it were now used to stop up the openings.
+
+The following day a transport of immense size and singular construction
+fell into the hands of the royalists.  It formed a floating castle, and
+had been destined for the attack on the Cowenstein dam.  The people of
+Antwerp had built it at an immense expense at the very time when the
+engineer Gianibelli's useful proposals had been rejected on account of
+the cost they entailed, and this ridiculous monster was called by the
+proud title of "End of the War," which appellation was afterwards
+changed for the more appropriate sobriquet of "Money lost!"  When this
+vessel was launched it turned out, as every sensible person had
+foretold, that on account of its unwieldly size it was utterly
+impossible to steer it, and it could hardly be floated by the highest
+tide.  With great difficulty it was worked as far as Ordain, where,
+deserted by the tide, it went aground, and fell a prey to the enemy.
+
+The attack upon the Cowenstein dam was the last attempt which was made
+to relieve Antwerp.  From this time the courage of the besieged sank,
+and the magistracy of the town vainly labored to inspirit with distant
+hopes the lower orders, on whom the present distress weighed heaviest.
+Hitherto the price of bread had been kept down to a tolerable rate,
+although the quality of it continued to deteriorate; by degrees,
+however, provisions became so scarce that a famine was evidently near at
+hand.  Still hopes were entertained of being able to hold out, at least
+until the corn between the town and the farthest batteries, which was
+already in full ear, could be reaped; but before that could be done the
+enemy had carried the last outwork, and had appropriated the whole
+harvest to their use.  At last the neighboring and confederate town of
+Malines fell into the enemy's hands, and with its fall vanished the only
+remaining hope of getting supplies from Brabant.  As there was,
+therefore, no longer any means of increasing the stock of provisions
+nothing was left but to diminish the consumers.  All useless persons,
+all strangers, nay even the women and children were to be sent away out
+of the town, but this proposal was too revolting to humanity to be
+carried into execution.  Another plan, that of expelling the Catholic
+inhabitants, exasperated them so much that it had almost ended in open
+mutiny.  And thus St. Aldegonde at last saw himself compelled to yield
+to the riotous clamors of the populace, and on the 17th of August, 1585,
+to make overtures to the Duke of Parma for the surrender of the town.
+
+
+
+
+
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